Butchers often advertise game and other meat as having been hung for several days, sometimes weeks, to improve the flavour. Dead animals that have lain undiscovered for a few days usually smell dreadful. What鈥檚 the difference?
鈥� Any hunter or farmer knows that as soon as an animal is 鈥渉arvested鈥� it must be bled, gutted and skinned as quickly as possible. The meat can then be hung in cold storage to age, which allows muscle tissue to break down and thus become more tender. However, if an animal is not properly treated after being killed, gas can form in the gut which can permeate the stomach lining and taint the meat.
Leaving the skin on the body for a long period can also cause the meat to retain body heat which leads to souring. Lastly, if not properly bled, any blood left in the animal will coagulate and remain in the body tissue. These issues adversely affect the flavour and table quality of the meat.
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Paul Mikesh, Portland, Oregon, US
鈥� The difference is the slaughtered animal that is to be hung is quickly eviscerated to remove its intestines, which contain digested food and putrefying microbes. If these are not removed, anaerobic putrefying tastes and smells get into the meat. Once eviscerated the carcass is put into a cooler at 4 掳C for up to two weeks. Even at this temperature enzymes slowly continue to break down the tissue, tenderising the meat and, for some people at least, improving the flavour.
Boone Mora, Garden Valley, California, US
鈥� Meat is hung in cool conditions to allow the cellular enzymes to autolyse and hence tenderise the meat.
Because the inside of meat is sterile, any bacterial rotting proceeds slowly from the outside inwards and this layer is trimmed by the butcher.
Meat can indeed be overhung and can drop from the bones to form an unpleasant mess. Some people relish the flavour of certain overhung meats, and so you get meat such as the 鈥渉igh hare鈥�. This is a furred, but cleaned and eviscerated, hare that is hung for longer than usual. The fur, acting as a sterile wrap, limits inward decay.
Bill Jackson Toronto, Ontario, Canada