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Welcome to Season Four of the Hunt Gather Talk podcast! In this season, we will be talking about all things preservation, from meat and fish to plants and mushrooms, from drying to fermenting to canning and more.
In this episode, I talk with Australian BBQ expert and meat scientist Jess Pryles all about dry aging meat, with an emphasis on beef and venison.
Hunt Gather Talk is sponsored by Filson, E-Fish and Foraged Market; their generosity makes this podcast happen.
Key Links
- My article on dry aging venison, which will give you more details on the process.
- Jess Pryles’ website, where you will find all sorts of good information on barbecue, cooking meat, and yes, dry aging.
- Jess’s book Hardcore Carnivore.
- If you are so inclined, here are links to the Dry Ager I use, as well as the Steak Locker, which Jess uses.
- This is the device you can use to regulate humidity and temperature with a regular fridge.
If you have a suggestion for a podcast topic, drop me a line at hank@huntgathercook.com.
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More Podcast Info
You can find archives of this season and the three previous seasons on my podcast page.
My most mind-boggling experience with dry aging:
Years ago I hunted Dall sheep in Alaska. I managed to shoot my ram the second day and we packed the animal off the mountain arriving in camp 2am. The next day the quarters were wrapped in cheesecloth and hung beneath a tarp in a breezy area as there was no electricity in camp. The weather changed, and the temperature spiked up into the 80’s for the next few days. The outfitter said “Don’t worry, the meat will be fine”.
We then flew to a spike camp to do some fishing and more hunting for a couple days. With storms rolling in, we were flown back to town instead of to main camp where our meat and gear remained. We had to call the airport each day to see if they could fly to bring our meat and gear out. After 2 more days of waiting, we were finally told everything had been flown out and was sitting in a pile on the sidewalk at the airport.
We took a cab to the airport and found the meat, wrapped in black plastic contractor bags, piled with our gear. After arriving back at the hotel I told my friend we had to bone out the meat and get it into the hotel freezer so we could pack it into coolers for the flight home the next day. After hanging for days in 80F temperatures, I believe my exact words were “This may not be pretty”.
When I unwrapped the hindquarters, the outside looked like jerky. Expecting the worst, I sliced into the meat and was met with only the sweet smell of aged meat, not the rancid odor of decomposition. We trimmed the rind, boned, froze and brought the meat home, and to this day it was some of the finest meat I have ever eaten. And that ram was 9 1/2 years old.
I was gifted with a chunk of venison and that sent me to look for a recipe on how to cook deer as I haven’t a clue. I came across your site, thank you, it has so much. I don’t know from what part this piece came from, but I’ll use the salt- sugar rub that I decided to let sit for 24 hrs. I’ll be back to your site often I’m sure as you cover everything. I’m excited to have found you and look Forword to learning more like hunting mushrooms. Hope I receive more gifts so I can try other recopies THANK YOU
Love reading your recipes, I make a lot of deer jerky and summer sausage and have made it for many years.
My grand dad had 1800 hogs and many cattle and sheep, we always cured our hams and bacons and lots of sausage. There is nothing like going into the smoke house and getting a slab of bacon and frying it up on a cold
winter day. Most Foks are missing out and have no clue about good home cured food. Keep writing your good recipes.