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Meat from old animals


Shalmanese

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I'm trying to find out more information about meat from animals that are killed far older than standard and what the effects of age are on both flavor and tenderness. Such meat is rare to find through conventional channels as the goal is to kill animals young to decrease cost. About the only exception I can think of are stewing hens.

In addition, the USDA seems to regard young beef as a plus, with regulation that makes beef over a certain age ineligible for higher grades. However, I've heard stories from other countries where beef from specially reared old animals is not only more flavorful but also more tender than young steer. In addition, with modern cooking techniques like Sous Vide, it should be possible to counteract some of the toughening effects of age and result in a superior product.

Does anyone have stories of cooking meat from old animals?

PS: I am a guy.

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In general (I'm sure there must be exceptions), as an animal ages, the flavour goes up, and tenderness goes down.

I have friends who kept chickens and slaughtered them according to need, rather than because they (the chickens, that is) were a certain age, so most of the time, only extended, low-temperature cooking methods yielded an end result that was chewable with standard-issue molars. The flavour was incredible, however.

On one occasion, before I understood what I was dealing with, I pan fried a couple of breasts: The only way to make them edible was to shred them and use them in a chili; that was one athletic old animal.

My friends also kept sheep and geese, and the same things held true for these; they made a lot of braises, and I've never had better (they were also fantastic in pasties).

Michaela, aka "Mjx"
Manager, eG Forums
mscioscia@egstaff.org

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As above ... altho' I'll add there are maybe a couple of beasts where the flavour imparted by age isn't desireable. Baby goat is vastly superior to grandma/pa goat.

Chris Taylor

Host, eG Forums - ctaylor@egstaff.org

 

I've never met an animal I didn't enjoy with salt and pepper.

Melbourne
Harare, Victoria Falls and some places in between

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During my recent country adventure my hosts were pretty clear about their preference for older lambs and hogget. However, most people I know find meat from older lambs too strong. I can't remember all the classifications off the top of my head (2-tooth, 4-tooth and ??) but I know that what we ate was definitely from the older animals and had a much stronger (though very enjoyable) taste. I did learn that the lambs going to the halal slaughterhouses were older, because there was a cultural preference for stronger-tasting meat. I don't know at what age a sheep is considered inedible, but I'll ask around!

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Ive had goat both ways. for me younger goat is vastly superiour and kid (< 1 year, 9M better ) is a delicacy you can only probably fined in TX.

on beef: Oxtail ( from an old Ox, not a young cow ) is what goes into Oxtail soup that you can probably only get in the rare restaurant.

Costo sells frozen "ox tails" but they are from standard young beef: after all they either go their or into hotdogs or cambell's soup. taste nothing like true "Ox"

next time you are at a good butcher show ask about "Ox tails"

I bet the chuck on these animals properly deconstructed and SV's is worth a look.

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Being a hunter, and having worked on a farm, I agree with the trend. Some observations -

Lamb to me tastes like mutton at about 60 pounds dressed weight. I buy small ones at the local Indo-Pak grocery.

Deer - Bucks are stronger tasting than does at any age. Younger is always more tender and milder. So meat hunting I shoot Bambi's mom, not Bambi... (I hate that movie. The book is okay but I really hate Disney. Talking food - why?). Under 2 years, I can't taste a difference. Proper handling of the meat seems to be more important than age or sex overall (ice it as fast as possible). Same for Elk and Moose.

Wild Hogs - under 200 pounds - as they get huge, the flavor becomes nasty. Sows again taste better than boars, unless they are under 100 pounds where it doesn't matter.

Bison - don't notice a difference in flavor with age or sex but, oh my, are bulls tougher than cows. Amazingly so. Liver is surprisingly good from both.

Small game - younger and smaller rather than older. I stopped eating 'dillos when I found they carry leprosy - tasty thro - and rabbits can carry some nasty crap so I tend to buy those. I haven't eaten enough guinea pig to know.

Birds - most of our roosters are killed young when they start getting aggressive. Guinea fowl - no difference to me. Wild birds - I ain't a good enough wing shot to know. Only ever ate one peacock.

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This question has always fascinated me.

For one, any recipe for chicken from a book that's more than a couple of decades old specifies how old the bird should be for the recipe. "Find a young fryer" or "an old stewing bird" etc. Julia Child illustrates this graphically with about 8 different birds in the roast chicken episode of the French Chef. Richard Olney goes into great detail about the different ages of chickens in the Poultry volume of the Good Cook.

But where is there a butcher who will sell me older chickens? If I go to my local quality butchers and ask, will they have stewing birds? Maybe I should just try :rolleyes:

(Chinese supermarkets always have a variety of different birds, but they still seem to be battery-raised and don't taste as good to me as Murray's. I've tried going to a vivero in Washington Heights to buy live poultry, but I walked out after a few minutes. The smell was just a turn-off. There was also a process issue with the different windows & nobody really eager to help, and since I was walking and it was in the 90s outside, it just didn't feel good to think about walking around with a few pounds of freshly killed chicken. Will try again at some point.)

Edited by patrickamory (log)
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The grillers in Spain search out ready-for-retirement farm cattle and oxen, "rest" and feed them for some months before butchering them. Some of the most fabulous beef of my life was at Etchebari in Axpe, Basque country. It was 18 year old draft animal. I've heard reports of 22 year old ox from this kitchen. Wonderful flavor and tender as love.

eGullet member #80.

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i sure would like to taste some of that ox tail and SV some of the shoulder. Ive lived in Spain for two years and didnt know about this. i was only a kid.

but special restaurants next to bull rings ( Plaza de Toros ) sell "Bull" its thought to be a delicacy amongs other things

:wink:

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The grillers in Spain search out ready-for-retirement farm cattle and oxen, "rest" and feed them for some months before butchering them. Some of the most fabulous beef of my life was at Etchebari in Axpe, Basque country. It was 18 year old draft animal. I've heard reports of 22 year old ox from this kitchen. Wonderful flavor and tender as love.

That's exactly what I'm talking about. I'd love to figure out a way to get a taste of some of that kind of beef in the US.

PS: I am a guy.

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But where is there a butcher who will sell me older chickens? If I go to my local quality butchers and ask, will they have stewing birds? Maybe I should just try :rolleyes:

I've seen stewing hens at plenty of places in Chicago and Philadelphia. They are often frozen if that makes any difference. Even if your butcher doesn't carry them regularly, they should be able to special order them for you.

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