Thread: Ageing vs. wastage

Is there a way to reduce how much meat you trim to waste after ageing?

I age my meat in an old fridge, ideally around 7 days, but I’ll pull it when it starts growing white fuzz. I’m losing an awful lot when I trim, around 30 - 50%. It’s particularly galling on thinner cuts like backstraps of smaller animals.

Yeah, I’m fairly fussy but need to be for the wife & three daughters to appreciate it.

I try to carry hindquarters out & age them whole because I definitely lose less meat that way, but it depends how far I have to walk. I’ve heard about wet ageing but don’t have a vacuum sealer and we try to minimise our plastic use anyway.

Do you guys have any tips, or is that just to be expected?

You can get reusable vacuum sealer bags and containers
If that helps

wipe with vinegar before aging can help

https://zeropak.co.nz/zeropak-handyv...vacuum-sealer/
https://zeropak.co.nz/handyvac-vacuu...ealer-bag-zip/

I age with real heavy duty plastic rubbish bags and a vacuum cleaner - a fallow I will bone it all out - leave the hind quarters as a whole - put into the plastic bag and suck all the air out with the vacuum cleaner- twist the top and knot it of- in fridge for around 5 days- seems to work -

I break down and vac pac all my meat as soon as it gets home. It then sits in the fridge for a week or so before freezing. Next to no waste

I use a vacuum sealer and straight into the fridge to age before freezing.
I seal the bags oversize and then after use clean and dry them well, reuse them maybe 2-3 times then into the soft recycling.

Really cut down on the wasted meat from aging and keeps far better.

Something is WRONG if your loosing meat after 7 days. My double bucket method in fridge we loose none at all. By stirring it around each day( every 2nd at least) the blood drops out into 2nd collection bucket and meat stays fresh. Possible you need to turn fridge down more till just above freezing,something definitely not right if need to trim to any extent,silver skin yes but nothing else should need removed.

Try using more venison mince. Then everything can go through the mincer. They won't notice the difference

Originally Posted by Deanohit

I use a vacuum sealer and straight into the fridge to age before freezing.
I seal the bags oversize and then after use clean and dry them well, reuse them maybe 2-3 times then into the soft recycling.

Really cut down on the wasted meat from aging and keeps far better.

+1 this is my method also, works really well and no waste.

Amateur here but this is what I do.
Hanging whole : Take tenderloins out and age with skin on. Result = bugger all wastage.
Legs and backstraps : Vacuum pack backstraps immediately and hang legs with skin on = only waste is a thin layer of exposed meat on the legs.
Boned out : Vacuum pack backstraps & tenderloins immediately. Micky Duck's double bucket method or mince immediately(if turning it into mince anyway).

Originally Posted by mopheadrob

Is there a way to reduce how much meat you trim to waste after ageing?

I age my meat in an old fridge, ideally around 7 days, but I’ll pull it when it starts growing white fuzz. I’m losing an awful lot when I trim, around 30 - 50%. It’s particularly galling on thinner cuts like backstraps of smaller animals.

Yeah, I’m fairly fussy but need to be for the wife & three daughters to appreciate it.

I try to carry hindquarters out & age them whole because I definitely lose less meat that way, but it depends how far I have to walk. I’ve heard about wet ageing but don’t have a vacuum sealer and we try to minimise our plastic use anyway.

Do you guys have any tips, or is that just to be expected?

With regards to the sealing the bags and reduced wastage, many years ago in another job we sold little hand held pumps that sucked the aitr out of freezer bags. These were popular for freezing everything from fruit to meat to fish.. I was looking for one recently and cannot find one but they were a simple thing like a bike pump made from cardboard with the valve the other way around....

7 Days is really a minimum time for aging. at 7 days you should be wasting nothing, the outer surface will only just have started to create a skin. Having said that, the longer you age for, the more waste you will have to trim off. Wet aging does work well and there is no waste, however you are not removing moisture from the meat like a dry age, this lack of moisture becomes important when you get to the cooking part, it is much easier to get a good sear on dry aged meat vs wet aged. One way to reduce the amount of wastage on dry aged meat is to use dry aging bags which create a permeable membrane on the surface of the meat, this has the added bonus of reducing the risk of contamination of the meat and can be done in the family fridge, you wont get funny looks from the Mrs about the smelly fuzz growing chunk of venison.

Great info, guys.

We have a little pump that the mrs got with the fancy KitchenAid storage containers that New World was giving away a while back... I'll try that with a plastic bag. Would those reuseable bags work with that, @zeropak?

Your point re dry vs. wet is why I hadn't really looked into it, but if I do that for the cuts I'm going to mince at least, it would save a lot of waste.

No dramas re. smelly / fuzzy meat, I have an old Kelvinator in the garage purely for ageing

Originally Posted by mopheadrob

Great info, guys.

We have a little pump that the mrs got with the fancy KitchenAid storage containers that New World was giving away a while back... I'll try that with a plastic bag. Would those reuseable bags work with that, @zeropak?

Your point re dry vs. wet is why I hadn't really looked into it, but if I do that for the cuts I'm going to mince at least, it would save a lot of waste.

No dramas re. smelly / fuzzy meat, I have an old Kelvinator in the garage purely for ageing

Yeah pretty sure that pump will work with the reuseable bag but I do have a few stray hand pumps sitting around the warehouse which will work and i can give you to do the job. If you go ahead with that let me know so I can chuck one in the package. I am away hunting for 10 days as of early tomorrow with not much cell or internet.