Age Moose Meat
How long should you wait?

Why you should age moose meat? The act of dry aging meat does a couple of things.

First, the fibers of the meat will soften with some time making for more tender meat. The natural enzymes within the meat will do this.

Second, the meat dries out somewhat and this will cause an increase in flavor of your moose meat.

Typically in a controlled meat cooler moose meat should be dry aged for 14 days in order to achieve the best results.

Hanging meat in a meat cooler or locker is called dry aging.

Dry aging of meat is the BEST form of aging meat.

Dry Aging Moose Meat

Why is that?

It takes longer. Good things come to those who wait.

Wet Age Moose Meat

We don't recommend this type of aging. If you are in a hurry the wet aging method will work, you can wrap your moose in plastic wrap.

Most meat that is sold across the counter today has been wet aged. The meat is wrapped in plastic and placed in a vacuum. This speeds up the process, the meat doesn't dry at all. In the end you pay more for this product because of the excess moisture. Did I mention it's fast! Meat producers are doing this to speed it up, to get the product to the stores faster. They don't care about the product being the best it can be!

Dry aging moose meat will ultimately give you the best product. You have invested a lot of time and money to get a moose... look after it!

Should we age calf moose meat?

As with any wild meat, in order to achieve the most tender meat it should be aged. I would suggest hanging a calf moose the same amount of time as any adult animal.

What temperature should moose meat be aged at?

The ideal temperature for aging meat is below 40 degrees but about 32 degrees. Meat does not age when frozen.
Hunters who hang their harvests at camp before getting the carcasses to a butcher are often speeding up the aging process even though they don't realize this is happening.

Wild game that hangs at a constant temperature, such as in a controlled meat cooler will age at a constant rate. Two weeks in a controlled atmosphere is ideal.
However; the meat that hangs for days at camp where daytime temperatures are often much warmer than that at night actually causes the meat to age quicker.

The change in temperature, especially if extreme will cause the meat to sweat, which is not an ideal situation. The hanging meat will dry out sooner and this results in meat that is aged sooner.

In warm temperatures care must be taken to avoid bone sour.

Top of Page

1. Home
›
2. Moose Meat