How to Mask Game Taste in Ground Beef

You may have heard of many methods to remove the gamy flavour from venison. Well, we tested 12 of them to see what worked… and what didn't.

Gamy venison (or gamey, depending on your preferred spelling). Nobody likes it. In that location are some people who claim they practice – just I say that they probably haven't had a truly gamy piece of meat. This article is Non about removing the flavor of venison. Yes, venison tastes different than beef or pork. But different doesn't mean "gamy", and most deer you consume, if properly handled all the fashion from the shot through to the freezer –  won't accept a gamy flavor.

But if you eat enough venison, or are unfortunate to take some poorly handled/poorly processed venison – at some signal you will encounter some truly gamy meat. What causes it? The two biggest causes of that venison "funk" are simple: spoilage and hormones. Spoilage happens a number of ways: bad shot, poor field dressing, and improper aging being the major contenders. All of these, y'all equally the hunter, have a degree of command over. The hormonal gaminess you tin can control likewise. If you come across that buck of a lifetime, with the big rack, and the neck that'due south as thick every bit a California Scarlet Wood – if you decide to shoot him – expect some funk. That little 3×3 or that doe will gustatory modality MUCH better – though I'm by NO ways advocating shooting a young deer. I like my venison a proficient ii.5 years or older..

At present, I'm not hither to chastise your hunting or processing techniques. Let'southward just say you lot have a deer in the freezer that's got some gaminess. Every bit I said: it's going to happen at some indicate. Let's focus on what you can exercise with it.

Equally information technology so happens, I take a buck in the freezer right now that I would classify as a mildly gamy deer. He is perfectly in the "adequate" flavor range to me: non the greatest, but not a deal billow either. The wife on the other hand – yeah, his season is a deal billow.

In prepping for our test, we tried to maintain consistency across all variables – from the thickness of the cuts, to the cooking and resting times.

So, I decided to test out some techniques that I've heard (and some I've used) that people take claimed to remove that gamy season. I took a "scientific" approach to continue things fair. I cutting all samples of meat to be tested from the buck's loin, into equal thicknesses and sizes. I placed all chunks of meat in split plastic bags, each with its ain "game removing solution".

I did two samples for each method I tested – one sample was aged for one solar day, the other for two days. At the end of each waiting menstruum, each piece of meat was rinsed in water, and patted dry out with a paper towel. I then cooked each piece of meat in an oven at 400° for 7 minutes. Next I removed from the oven, covered with foil, and allow rest for five minutes.

All our test subjects later on marinading for 2 days.

I was a little surprised past some of the results. As it turns out, of all 12 methods tested, manifestly former milk was past FAR the best for giving a non-gamy steak with no flavors added. There are some methods I will probable never try again, like vinegar or lemon juice. Turns out they DO work, merely the meat transformed into something y'all wouldn't want to feed to anyone. For those of you interested, I'll encompass each method in detail below. And for everyone else who "just want to encounter the results already!", without further ado:

You desire to remove gaminess? Turns out the secret is probably sitting right in your fridge.

Following is the breakdown on each method. It turns out that soaking for an additional twenty-four hour period did not further reduce the gaminess in any of the samples, and so I won't get into detail on the twenty-four hours 2 results. Just proceed in mind: these were sparse slices – if y'all have a big roast y'all want to treat, y'all should consider soaking it longer, slicing it, or poking holes in it so the fluid tin can attain more surface expanse.

Buttermilk:

I was sadly disappointed. I had non previously tried this method, but information technology just SOUNDS like it would be good. Butter. Milk. Come on! But no. It had next to no affect on the gaminess, but it did impart an acidy gustation to the steak that wasn't all that pleasant. Information technology DID have a balmy tenderizing bear upon, though I likely wouldn't utilise it again.

Milk:

The champion of the test. I've heard from many people who use milk to marinade their wild game: from venison to fish. And information technology truly works – the best of all 12 ways nosotros tried. We used whole milk – I may need to practice further testing to compare the various fat contents of milk, merely the result was dandy. There was no gaminess left in the cooked steak, and it did not alter the gustatory modality of the steak. The only downside was the result was slightly less tender than other methods. If you lot use milk, you will want to additionally employ a chemical or physical method of tenderizing the meat before y'all cook information technology.

Yogurt:

Nosotros used vanilla yogurt –  which may not have been the best pick. It was fairly effective at removing the gamy flavor, but information technology did impart a vanilla season to the meat that was not that enjoyable. Vanilla flavor is skilful for ice cream. Not steak. It did have a better tenderizing effect than manifestly milk though. In future tests I'll try a plain yogurt.

Vinegar:

I similar pickled heart. The consequence here was about the aforementioned. Only I won't ever pickle a steak again. Though it WAS constructive at removing gaminess. The vinegar inverse the construction of the meat. It became jello-similar when raw, merely still cooked firmly. The acid in the vinegar really "cooked" the meat – if you expect at the cross section of it above, yous'll see there is no red in the cooked eye. Never once more.

Vino:

Nosotros used a carmine wine. Information technology was very effective at removing the gaminess, though it imparted an acidy, overpowering wine taste to the meat. I use carmine wine all the time in irksome cooking venison – I will probably stick to using information technology for those recipes. It also fabricated the steak tough – so it's probably not worth it to effort once again even for a shorter soak time.

Salt Water:

Salt water was very effective at removing gaminess, and also fabricated a very tender steak. On the downside, the result was VERY salty. If we soaked it again for another night in evidently water, information technology may accept helped – but and so y'all accept a two footstep process to become through.

Plain Water:

I constantly hear hunters say that they will continually soak their whole deer in ice water for several days later on quartering it or butchering it (irresolute the water several times). I accept personally never done this. And later this exam, I never would. The theory is that it gets the blood out, and therefore the gamy flavor. What we establish in our test (and we all agreed), was that the sample soaked in plain water tasted MORE gamy than the sample that we didn't exercise anything to. On top of that, it was TOUGHER. Now, this was one test, so I'thou not claiming information technology's the be all, end all on the bailiwick – but it's a practice I accept no plans for trying out once again.

Italian Dressing:

This was a middle of the roader. The dressing didn't do a lot to change the gaminess, but it added a masking flavor to the meat that was pleasant. Though the gaminess still was apparent.It likewise had trivial to no bear upon on tenderness.

Steak Marinade:

We used KC Masterpiece's Original Steakhouse marinade – which we like for general steak cooking of any kind. It was good at removing the gaminess, and it had a nice tender result that had a nice BBQ/smoky flavor. This one was a tough call, just we'd say it was merely slightly less constructive than the milk method at removing the gaminess. One other note – the marinade seemed to have a like "cooking" process to the vinegar and lemon juice. The day ane result wasn't noticeable, just the "rare" line in the 24-hour interval two sample was noticeably thin and uniform, and not from the oven cooking.

Command:

Our unadulterated sample – nothing applied but fourth dimension. Which interestingly is a method some people claim will impact the gaminess: aging. This is some other activity that I don't do. Sometimes I butcher my deer the same day I kill it, and it hits the freezer unremarkably inside 24 hours of that. At most, it's done in 1 to 2 days – and that'southward based on circumstance – when do I have time, was information technology an evening hunt, etc. A number of respected resources on the matter will say yous typically shouldn't age your deer for more 4 days. At present, with this test, we didn't go that long. Just I did examination 3 cooked versions of this one: the mean solar day nosotros started the test, subsequently day ane, and so the day ii round. We did not notice whatever touch on gaminess by aging the samples. There seemed to be a tenderness advantage to crumbling – just that was subjectively debated. For our examination, the aged samples were just really effective at being comparative objects nosotros could sample the other methods against. No reward otherwise.

Lemon Juice:

Lemon juice is a potent acid similar vinegar. It was effective at removing the gaminess. Merely it added flavor that was far worse! And similar to vinegar, you can see in the cross-section image in a higher place, the lemon effectively cooked the meat through by acerbity alone. I've heard of cooking trout this fashion. I won't practice information technology to venison again…

Coffee:

Coffee was surprisingly constructive at removing gaminess. Though it added an overpowering, unpleasant java taste. I like java. Simply this was more like "coffee breath" season. Yes, non good. This might exist interesting in a slow cooker recipe, simply it was non good on the steak. It was also the TOUGHEST sample we tried.

Honorable Mention – Corned Venison:

I would be remiss if I didn't bring upwardly corning venison every bit a method to remove gamey flavor. It is more effective than ANY of the tests nosotros did here, but I excluded it from the test because of the fourth dimension needed for the process, and it'due south really all-time for tough roasts.

So at that place you have it. If you have some gamy venison, and y'all have some milk in the refrigerator, soak it for a twenty-four hour period or two and you'll be practiced to go. Who knew, that whole "keep information technology simple" philosophy really DOES work…

Tagged equally: gamy venison

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Source: https://venisonthursday.com/twelve-methods-removing-gamy-flavor-put-test

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