Wild Meat

[Sundance]

Do you like wild meat, or does it taste too gamey?

[Buenchico]

The 'gamey' flavour often associated with wild meat usually has little or nothing to do with the origins of the meat. It's more usually to do with the fact that wild meat is often allowed to 'hang' much longer than farmed meat. It's the natural decomposition of the meat which occurs during 'hanging' which accounts for much of the 'gamey' flavour. (Traditionalists often insist that wildfowl are allowed to hang for at least a fortnight before cooking. Many insist that venison should be left to hang for several weeks). I love the strong 'gamey' flavours which these extended hanging period produce but I can understand why others do not!

Chris

[Clanad]

While agreeing in principal with Chris, we that live here in the western U.S. find that the lack of quality in the meat of game animals can be attributed almost entirely to lack of care after killing the animal. This especially true for Pronghorn Antelope, since the season is much earlier than, say, for elk or even mule deer. The season for the "goat", as it is often called here, is in mid-September and the weather can be quite warm. The season for elk doesn't usually begin until mid-October and the weather is more conducive to cooling out the carcass immediately. Elk's habitat is high in the mountains, as well, hence much cooler. Additionally, the animal may have been gut shot or finally killed after a chase and the naturally occurring hormones (adrenalin, etc.) have been pumped throughout the stressed animal's body. The animal that was killed quickly, field dressed and cooled and blood shot parts cut away produces distinctly superior table meat. The Pronghorn also has scent glands on the insides of the back legs. One has to be cautious about getting any of this brushed against the meat as well. Actually, I've found, over a life time of hunting, that if the weather is cool enough, the quality of the meat increases with the aging process Chris describes..

[Laura-sakura]

I also like the taste. Tastes more "natural" than a supermarket chicken. It's the same with eggs. I miss my chickens eggs because they were so tasty. Supermarket eggs are quite bland in comparison.

[logman]

I agree with Laura-sakura. Iused to keep a few hens which scratched around in my yard for many happy years, eating just what they wanted,incects mostly,and the taste was out of this world!! The closest i ever got from a shop bought egg is "old cotswold leg bar (free range) Which actually come in blues and browns and various sizes