Who soaks game meat in milk?

[WoodOx]

Like Matt, Ive never noticed any difference between a spike whitetail, to a rutty mature mule deer.

I dont honestly understand how the smell from their hair/glands could possibly penatrate into their muscle tissue. Would your biceps taste like deoderant?
=P

[quadrakid]

one day you will find out when the wife refuses to allow a piece meat from your last critter to be cooked in her house cause of the stink. doesn,t happen often but some critters stink even if taken well cared for. just my experience.

[~T-BONE~]

Yup I've seen some real stinkers in thae late season being a meatcutter!!
I shot a 5x5 blacktail last fall that was so emaciated (sp?) that there was no fat on his entire body except for around his face! The vail arond his intestines and stomach had no fat in it either. But all his guts were in good shape.. Needless to say after trying to fry up the tenders the whole house stunk and the flavour was the sh#ts!! Friends of mine couldn't even eat the pepperoni that was mixed with 40% pk!

As far as soaking the meat in milk/cream I've only seen it done with liver!

[mrdoog]

Soaking yourself, and your guests in a 6 pack of anything removes any vulgar taste.
I guess I've been lucky, no venison that has a gamey taste at all.

[Krico]

I tried that a couple years ago with meat from a caribou I shot-it tasted horrible, but I chalked it up to the meat, not the milk...

[dawn2dusk]

Liver soaked in milk overnight takes blood and taste out. I think the blood and fat of game holds alot of that gamey taste. So make sure you trim and squeeze blood out

[trigger]

Any of you try caribou. That stuff will stink you right out of your house. I like game. alot actually. The first couple of boo dinners i had to choke down, after that no more. couldnt do it. I heard that if you get them in like september or something they arent as bad. Anyways, i thought i would dress this thread up by adding a pic of when i was 13 packing out a caribou.

[mapguy]

sounds like sour meat to me . the cause is heat .if your packing meat out of the bush debone it .exhaust fumes are bad so the trunk of car is not good to transport.a little vinegar and water to wipe it down after you skin it .keep it out of the rain.open the meat to the bone if your hanging it outdoors.

[wetcoaster]

Well I tried it and here is what I found:

First of all this meat was from a young region 5-14 doe shot over thanksgiving that was peacefully grazing when shot and didn't move a step after the bullet entered it's boiler. It was immediately gutted and was back at camp 2 hours later and skinned immediately and hung in below zero temperatures for 1.5 days before it was at the meat cutter. So in reality it likely wasn't gamey to start with.

I soaked it for about 8 hours in plain old 2% milk with some salt and pepper in it in a glass dish. I googled it and there is all kinds of information on doing this, it seems to be a pretty wide practice. When I pulled them out I noticed that the milk was pinkish grey having absorbed all kinds of blood and crud. Down the sink it went. I patted the chops dry with some paper towel. As I did this I noticed all the fat had turned to a pasty liquid. I rubbed the chops with the towel and it all wiped right off. Maybe from the acid in the milk? After they were dry I rubbed them with some olive oil garlic, rosemary, lemon pepper and threw them on the grill over high heat and seared them to medium rare and then onto the plates.

It was excellent and my guests who were unsure about game meat were chewing the bones for scraps when it was all said and done. They were incredibly tender and mild compared to those I have done without the milk. I like the taste of game and didn't find that this made them tasteless for me there was still enough there to be enjoyed. These were the first cuts I have tried from this deer, I am going to have some more chops later this week from it and won't do this milk thing so I will be able to compare the results when they are fresh in my mind and it isn't an apples to oranges comparison.

[dawn2dusk]

I like your observative and empirical approach wetcoaster. Look forward to your conclusion.