Thread: Tough Backstrap - help...

Make a paste of vitamin C tablets and water and coat the meat and leave overnight....orange juice works as well.

I find that when the very first knife cuts are being made ( at gutting) that I get a good idea of how tough or tender they are, if they are tough to cut they are mince. I suggest that you have done everything right, but maybe your old fridge has a leaky door seal ?

Some general tips:

After removing from the animal hang and let cool down until they are very cool to the touch before packing away

When carrying out with boned out meat in bags, always put the backstakes on top of the pile of meat inside meat bags and make sure any leg meat is cool to touch as well or you will allow the backsteaks to heat up again from surface contact with that meat.


Sika backsteaks can be on the thin side and I find it’s best to vacuum pack them immediately and let them age in the bags for a week to 10 days so that they don’t dry out in the open air in the fridge.

At the end of the day it’s game meat and with any game animal you will encounter tough ones from time to time. Just like you get thick grain backsteaks and thin grain ones.

When cooking, I’ve always had my best results from under cooking on BBQ (cooking them just below rare) and then finishing them off on a dinner plate tightly wrapped in tinfoil. After a few mins the tin foil will be too hot to touch and I leave it like this for about 5 mins and then loosen foil and leave for another 5 before serving.

I have the option(usually) of hanging any animal (whole) overnight then into fridge as legs and back straps. Back straps don’t last long…. Then break down into muscle groups for freezing. As I break down into legs etc all the trim goes straight into bags and frozen for small goods.


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Yeh, I run across tough ones too at times and it doesn't seem related to the treatment the carcase gets which the same each time. I once thought it might be adrenaline from being chased prior to shooting but have ruled that out. The vast majority of mine are oblivious prior to copping a bullet. Even ones in top condition can be less than tender at times.

Speaking of condition, here's a large-bodied sika stag we scored on the weekend. There were litres of fat globules in its gut

Originally Posted by louiannz

Is it just blended up fresh Pineapple?

Yes. It it will tenderise, but probably won't reverse the drying out.

General point. The inside of a well functioning fridge is a dry environment. I dry age my fish fillets and within 24 hours, they start to curl at either end. I do the same with cuts of meat, but hanging cuts of meat is different to hanging a whole animal with a nice covering of fat.

Kiwi fruit will do a good job too - the acidity/enzymes helps break down the meat.
The same method can be used in low n slow smoking, when cooking briskets etc.

Originally Posted by MB

Yes. It it will tenderise, but probably won't reverse the drying out.

awesome I knew I grew a pineapple plant for a reason

I think I just found out why haha

Iv found now that I head shoot animals and they do at the most a couple of kicks they are a lot more tender

animal conditon/if its just had a fawn/piglets/how stressed it was during the death process

if all else fails curries and stews are a good use of more chewy animals

Originally Posted by 6x47

Yeh, I run across tough ones too at times and it doesn't seem related to the treatment the carcase gets which the same each time. I once thought it might be adrenaline from being chased prior to shooting but have ruled that out. The vast majority of mine are oblivious prior to copping a bullet. Even ones in top condition can be less than tender at times.

Speaking of condition, here's a large-bodied sika stag we scored on the weekend. There were litres of fat globules in its gut

Well that fat bastard must of been tough if you needed to cut it up on the sawbench. I always hang from the front end to take the weight off the back legs and back steaks

I recken you are a bit unlucky and just struck a tough one, I sometimes just hang the deer in my basement garage overnight and cut up the next day and the back steaks and infact all the meat is tender as.

As someone else said a good clean kill helps the meat to be tender.

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

Well that fat bastard must of been tough if you needed to cut it up on the sawbench...

Yeh, it's a two hour clean-up getting the shower of meat particles off the ceiling..

Have noticed that of late the sika we have tried has been tough, don't know why but the reds we get are all good. Sika tend to live in harsher environments which may contribute to the meat tenderness, were as the reds we get do have access to good quality grass along forestry roads and on clear cuts.
Looking at the picture of the sika stag above I would think he came from a block with plenty of good grass to have fat like that on him, he should be a good eater.

the red spiker we got on Sunday...tried bit of backsteak and heart tonight....no worries about that being tough....faaark it was good.
venison farts tonight for me LOL....