As most of us know, game animals lead a very active life and as a consequence to this, their muscles are somewhat lean. This aspect leads to make the game meat drier in comparison with the meat from the domestic animals. For this particular reason, it is crucial to use specific cooking techniques that add flavor and juiciness to the drier cuts of the game meat. This article will try to offer you a few game meat cooking tips that are worth to follow:
1. Put all of the game meat in a refrigerator at 40 degrees Fahrenheit, or below. The game meat is very often filled with bacterial content and its shelf-life is limited. The game meat should be used in 24 hours max;
2. If you haven’t removed all the fat when the game carcass was cut, you should trim it away before cooking the meat. The wild game fat has the tendency to become rancid very fast leading to the well-known “gamey” flavor. In addition to this, the game fat also has the tendency to be very “solid”, thus giving a somewhat “greasy” feeling in the mouth. This is most likely to occur when it cools off after cooking;
3. It is recommended to add other fats in order to prevent the game meat from becoming too dry. Here are some suggestions: rub a roast with butter, margarine, and salt pork, and bacon fat, sour cream in order to obtain the desired moisture, flavor and richness. Another suggestion would be to baste very lean cuts with additional fat for extra flavor. If you plan on making your very own rolled roasts, you should add pork or beef fat to the inside & outside of the roast before it is tied – this procedure is known as “larding”;
4. In order to make sure that you will know the exact moment when the meat is done, you should use a meat thermometer;
5. Braise or roast in an oven that was preheated at 325-350 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 25 minutes per pound of boneless meat. Toughening the wild game will most likely occur if you roast it at over 375 degrees;
6. The game meat should be served very cold or very hot ( we recommend the latter option );
7. Marinades can enhance, disguise or tenderize game flavors to suit each and every taste. As you may already know, a wide variety of “off the shelf” products are available for marinating game meats, such as: tomato and fruit juice like lemon, pineapple or even mixtures of several juices; French dressing, undiluted tomato soup as well as others;
8. Also about marinades, it is important to know that they shouldn’t be used on the cooked meat unless they are brought to a rolling boil for about 3 minutes to kill any “living” bacteria;
9. Steaks and ribs retain more juice if the cuts are thick (1 to 1 1/4"). Tenderness will be the guide for choosing dry or moist heat cookery;
10. Our last advice is about the fact that the meat from any part of the carcass can be ground. Make sure that the game meat is used immediately after thawing. The ground game meat, because of its high bacterial content, often spoils faster in comparison with other ground meat. The meat should be cooked thoroughly.
All things considered, preparing the game meat isn’t as simple as you might have thought because several steps should be followed in order to maintain or enhance the taste of the game meat. Bon appetite!
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