Cool is key. Don't always need it on ice the millisecond it's dead. mtmuley
Well fattened bucks
- Thread starter Point Creep
- Start date
Feels like there’s two things being discussed here- flavor and tenderness.
Flavor is best preserved by getting the meat “cool” as quick as you can. Skinned out and hanging in a shady spot with a breeze is good enough to accomplish this in most cases, whether it’s in game bags or a whole carcass in a tree. The flavor of an animal never improves after death- you can only preserve what’s there or make it worse. This goes double (or triple) for pronghorn, given their higher internal temp and normally hot temps they get chased around in.
Tenderness/toughness is a problem affected by species, age, sex, rigor mortis, and aging time and temp. Rigor sets in within hours of death, and takes at least 24 hours to release. If you get the meat cold too fast, then you get “cold shortening” that is like rigor mortis on steroids (but this is rare). Aging also imparts natural enzymatic breakdown of the tissue if given enough time at the right temp (above freezing, but below 45 to inhibit harmful bacteria). Aging is predominantly for tenderness, and nothing else. Unless you inoculate the meat with some fungus or bacteria to alter the flavor, that is.
Antelope aren’t as chewy as deer. Fawns aren’t as tough as old bucks. There’s a reason we eat lamb instead of mutton, and steers instead of old bulls.
Antelope tends to not get chewy like deer or elk with rigor mortis, but letting it age/relax a day or two isn’t the worst thing ever. You can still do it through wet aging in the fridge if you were clean enough in your processing.
To the point- I’ve had whitetail buck tenderloins the same day that were chewier than antelope eye of round that “aged” a day. That same buck had incredibly tender steaks after a week.
So- you don’t need to age pronghorn, but it doesn’t hurt anything if you do.
Flavor is best preserved by getting the meat “cool” as quick as you can. Skinned out and hanging in a shady spot with a breeze is good enough to accomplish this in most cases, whether it’s in game bags or a whole carcass in a tree. The flavor of an animal never improves after death- you can only preserve what’s there or make it worse. This goes double (or triple) for pronghorn, given their higher internal temp and normally hot temps they get chased around in.
Tenderness/toughness is a problem affected by species, age, sex, rigor mortis, and aging time and temp. Rigor sets in within hours of death, and takes at least 24 hours to release. If you get the meat cold too fast, then you get “cold shortening” that is like rigor mortis on steroids (but this is rare). Aging also imparts natural enzymatic breakdown of the tissue if given enough time at the right temp (above freezing, but below 45 to inhibit harmful bacteria). Aging is predominantly for tenderness, and nothing else. Unless you inoculate the meat with some fungus or bacteria to alter the flavor, that is.
Antelope aren’t as chewy as deer. Fawns aren’t as tough as old bucks. There’s a reason we eat lamb instead of mutton, and steers instead of old bulls.
Antelope tends to not get chewy like deer or elk with rigor mortis, but letting it age/relax a day or two isn’t the worst thing ever. You can still do it through wet aging in the fridge if you were clean enough in your processing.
To the point- I’ve had whitetail buck tenderloins the same day that were chewier than antelope eye of round that “aged” a day. That same buck had incredibly tender steaks after a week.
So- you don’t need to age pronghorn, but it doesn’t hurt anything if you do.
