AMERICAN HUNTER
Wild-game is nothing like the meat you find on store shelves, and preparing it wrong can lead to disaster. Here are some wild-game cooking mistakes you can avoid.
By Georgia Pellegrini (RSS) – May 16, 2012
1. Not Aging the Game First
Unlike domestic animals, wild ones have a rich, variable flavor, because they are often older at death, exercise freely and enjoy a mixed diet. The wild flavors that result from cooking these animals are often described as “gamy.” In Old World Europe, game was hung until it began to rot—a treatment they called mortification—which not only tenderized the meat but heightened the wild, gamy flavor even further. We don’t practice this today because society is accustomed to eating farmed animals.
Aging is a change in the activity of muscle enzymes. At death, the enzymes begin to deteriorate cell molecules indiscriminately. Large flavorless molecules become smaller, flavorful segments; proteins become savory amino acids; glycogen becomes sweet glucose and fats become aromatic. All of this deterioration and the breakdown of cell molecules creates intense flavor, which improves further upon cooking.
This shift in enzyme activity also tenderizes the meat by weakening the proteins that hold things in their place. The collagen in connective tissue begins to weaken, causing it to dissolve into gelatin during cooking, and help it retain moisture.