Anything described as having a gamey taste can only mean that its flavor is very strong. If you have gamey meat, you will have to use a lot of seasoning, spices, and other ingredients to mask the taste and make it more enjoyable to eat.
Read on to find out more about gamey taste and whether it is entirely a bad thing, or a good thing camouflaged as a bad thing.
What does a gamey taste mean?
Gamey-tasting food always refers to the strong flavor found in meat from a hunted animal. It is meat from wild animals rather than farm-raised animals such as chicken, pork, or beef.
Gamey tastes are more pronounced and intense than farm-raised animals’ subdued flavors. The wildest games have a very lean, tough texture because of the large amount of muscle tone within cuts from wild animals, which also describes texture.
SEE: What Does Goat Taste Like?
What makes a gamey taste in beef?
The animal might turn out gamey if it receives poor care or consumes inferior hay or grass. It will taste gamey if the animal lacks a comfortable place to rest, is constantly competing for food, or is under other pressures.
What does gamey taste like?
Compared to the mild flavors of farm-raised animals, a gamey flavor is stronger and more intense.
How to get rid of the gamey taste in lamb
Because older mutton has a stronger flavor than lamb, there is a perception that it has a gamey flavor.
This can be prevented by selecting the proper meat, and any gamey flavor in lamb or mutton can be successfully subdued with a milk soak the evening before cooking.
Additionally, this method lessens the gaminess of wild meats.
- To begin with, cut down the gamey flavor by buying young lamb. For the juiciest young lamb, look for red meat with fine marbling.
- Cut off the fat beneath the fell, a papery film covering the lamb’s exterior contributes significantly to its gamey flavor.
- Pour enough milk over the lamb in the baking dish to fully cover the meat. Wrap the pan in foil and place it in the fridge for eight hours or overnight.
- Rinse the lamb after removing it from the milk. Throw away the milk.
- The lamb should now be placed back in the baking dish along with your choice of the marinade and covered with fresh foil.
- As the lamb marinates, chill it for between two and six hours.
- After cooking the meat to 155 degrees Fahrenheit using your preferred method, discard the marinade.
SEE: Goat And Lamb Differences You Should Know
How to remove the gamey taste from grass-fed beef
Now that you know what gave the meat its gamey flavor in the first place, you’ll want to help to improve the flavor of any meat you’ve already bought.
It doesn’t need to be thrown away because the meat isn’t bad, and eating it won’t hurt you. Please refrain from trying to cure it with citric acid, as doing so will ruin the flavor and texture. What you should do is:
Use buttermilk
Game hunters use this method to give their venison a distinctively wild flavor. Before cooking, let the meat sit in buttermilk for an entire night in the refrigerator. Discard the buttermilk before cooking and use paper towels to pat the meat dry.
Trim fat
The fat will have most of the wild taste. Before cooking, trim any extra fat from your beef cuts.
Apply lemon
Instead of simply seasoning your meat with salt and pepper after it has been cooked, add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice to the dish. This tastes especially good on barbecued steaks.
Make a tasty marinade
A marinade with strong sweet and sour flavors will cover up the gamey flavor and aid in tenderizing your meat.
SEE: What Does Rabbit Taste Like?
How to get the gamey taste out of chicken
If you follow this method meticulously, you should be able to get rid of the gamey taste in your chicken easily.
With cold water, thoroughly clean the chicken
- The best way to reduce the offensive gamey smell is to wash meat with cold water.
- Make sure your chicken is thoroughly cleaned by running it under freely flowing cold water.
- Now use a fresh paper towel to pat it dry. Then you can start preparing your recipe.
Clean the chicken with lemon or vinegar
- Vinegar is a fantastic acidic liquid that can be used in removing and repairing the foul taste and smell of the meat.
- Lemon juice also works well. Put your chicken inside a shallow glass or ceramic dish.
- Give the chicken a generous drizzling of vinegar or lemon juice, cover it, and refrigerate it for about ten minutes to marinate.
- Pat cooks it after patting it dry with a paper towel.
SEE: Can You Cook Chicken In The Marinade Or Not?
Pick the proper recipes
- Sauté it in ways that mask the flavor if you need to finish a batch of chicken with a gamey flavor.
- As recipes call for the addition of red wine like coq au vin, spicy curries are a good choice.
- A charcoal fire used for barbecuing will give the meat a delicious smoky flavor and aroma.
- Take it a step even further and first soak the chicken in a delectable sauce.
- You might think about switching where you buy chicken if the chicken there continuously has a flavor you don’t like.
- Look for a source that is organic and free-range because natural chickens are said to taste and smell better than conventional factory-farmed chickens because they are fed differently.
SEE: What Does Raccoon Taste Like?
FAQs
What causes a gamey taste?
A game’s flavor will be very distinct and almost metallic when it has a higher iron concentration which often leads to a gamey taste.
Any animal that lives in the wild rather than on a farm will lead a more exercise regime and have a faster heart rate.
SEE: Get a BOGO Offer or Free Meal at M&M Food Market
Why does some pork taste gamey?
When male pigs hit puberty, certain secretions and intestinal products are produced, according to studies on the subject.
When the pork is cooked, these substances are released after being assimilated into the pig’s flesh. You’ll then detect a distinctly gamey flavor.
What is a gamey smell?
A gamey stench might have a powerful, pungent wild animal miasma. It might, however, also imply spoiled or tainted.
SEE: Get A Chance To Win a $500 Gift Card At Giant Foods
Conclusion
Animals not given proper care or fed subpar grass will become stressed. For instance, if they constantly must fight for food, if the water supply is inadequate, or if they lack a comfortable place to rest in the shade. The flavor of the meat will suffer because of this stress.
Additionally, the main cause of gamey flavor in the meat is feeding. A cow cannot simply be left in a field by a farmer and is expected to survive. They need access to essential nutrient-dense grasses and legumes, and their diet must be meticulously supervised.
Moreover, if the animal was under stress mostly during the slaughtering process, which results in the release of adrenaline, your meat might have a gamey flavor.
Conclusively, the taste and gentleness of the meat are affected by the hang time following the slaughter. At least two weeks should pass before good beef is hung.
Thanks for reading.
If you enjoyed reading this article, view Cheffist for more.
