Steves frozen deer got me thinking.... Is it ok to have a deer freeze, thaw out to process, cut up, and freeze the meat again? Is it the same as any other meat that you're not supposed to thaw and freeze again? At least that's what I've heard. I've been cutting up deer for over 20 years and this is the first time I've thought about this. 95% of the time over the years this hasn't been the case, but I'm sure I've had a few here and there over the years that have frozen stiff before butchering.
Why are you not supposed to thaw and freeze again? I do it all the time with ducks and my last deer I let hang with lows that was in the 20's highs in the 40's for a few days. Other than the meat was COLD when I cut it cant see a reason why you couldn't do it.
It is done up here all the time. I would rather cut it up right away though. Just a lot less hassle. Tim
Done all the time here too. But I'm with Tim as I would rather butcher it right away. I had stuff going on last night so I couldn't butcher it.
I bought this from iBooks for 99¢ for reading on my iPad / iPhone. I thought it was going to be a butcher's guide. However, it had lots of information way beyond that including whether / where to shoot, hanging a deer in cold weather, the best way to thaw it for cooking, and a really good chapter on the history of the herd. Easily worth 99¢. The Ultimate Guide to Butchering Deer: A Step-by-Step Guide to Field Dressing, Skinning, Aging, and Butchering Deer (The Ultimate Guides) http://amzn.com/1616083212
The reason you're not supposed to freeze, defrost and re-freeze is when you defrost you lose much of the moisture from the meat causing a less desirable, drier piece/cut of meat. Also bacteria can build up on the meat if left defrosted too long and re-freezing will trap that in the meat and build again when defrosted again. Sent from my iPad Mini using Tapatalk Bows, Broadheads and Backstraps
Its been my experience that freezing , thaw and refreeze turns the meat into poo... Process how you want it then freeze thaw and enjoy.
While I agree with VA and am also Food Safe Certified, freezing & thawing a whole deer is not the end of the world. In fact, 90% of the deer I shoot in WI I have to thaw before I can butcher. A deer with it's hide still on will retain most of it's moisture, unlike a cut piece of meat that goes through the freeze-thaw-freeze cycle. Like VA mentioned, the biggest thing to know is that freezing doesn't kill bacteria. If your meat is out for two days then frozen, then out for a day, the bacteria levels will be similar to if it had just sat out 3 days.
And I agree with Fitz. I was referring to freezing primal cuts then defrosting to cut into sub-primal cuts and re-freezing. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I thaw, butcher, rethaw, butcher, put all the pieces in a blender...blend, thaw, and then drink the concoction.
Now it's just getting silly! Nobody would waste Jim Beam doing that! Sent from my iPad Mini using Tapatalk Bows, Broadheads and Backstraps
