Tough chewy meet from a fawn??

[BallisticV]

Ok I have a question. My first kill of the season was a fawn followed up a few minutes later by a large Doe. I was excited about the fawn for some quality meet for the freezer. I took the mature doe to the processor, but the fawn was so small I didn't wNt to pay the money to drop her off too. Plus I thought it would be good experience to butcher her my self... I cooked some back strap from the self butchered fawn and it was very tough and chewy! I realize this is most likely my fault... But I want to know why. So here is the process I went through. I had her gutted within 45 minutes of the Kill. Then skinned her right away and removed the meat. So I didn't age the meet... After getting the meet I separated it into bags... I added some ice around the bags because I had a hour drive home. After I got home I rinsed the meet and made sure it was cut clean with no skin or dirt. I cooked up some back strap after marinating it for a few hours.. So it had never been frozen. The meet tasted amazing!!!!! But was pretty chewy and tough? I would like to know what I did wrong that caused the meet to be so chewy... I hope to learn from my mistake and get better at processing in the future...

 

[in the dog house]

My first guess is you over cooked it. You want it still red in the middle. Very easy to over cook it. You also could have cut with the grain, instead of across it?

 

[BallisticV]

UeH I may have cut the with the grain. I have a relative telling me about this... Crazy that just cutting it wrong will mKe it chewy...

 

[catman529]

cutting against the grain will help a little, but I've never had a "tough" fawn and I'm guessing you over cooked it. The toughest fawn meat I had wasn't super tough, but a little tougher than usual, and was the tenderloins from a fresh button buck that I killed that morning. I cooked it over a fire and i think it was med-well but it should have been med or med rare. Regardless, it was some very delicious steak. Also, letting the meat sit in the fridge a few days, whether you dry age it correctly or just let it sit in the fridge, will make it more tender.

The grain of backstrap is at a funny angle but kind of goes along the spine almost parallel. If you cut the whole strap out and then cut it crossways into medallion steaks, you are cutting against the grain so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[barkscaler]

Overcooked.I've never had a tough fawn.Always tender.

 

[MUP]

Listen to catman, he's the fawnisseur of tndeer!

 

[Bow Hunter]

Listen to catman, he's the fawnisseur of tndeer!

X-2

 

[Sea-ark]

Ha ha you cut up a big batch of jerky!!!!

 

[7mm08]

Overcooked it.
My rule of thumb.... 4 min per side.

 

[Winchester]

Yep must have been overcooked because nothing else you listed should have had any negative effect on the meat, and fawns are normally very tender!

 

[Urban_Hunter]

I would say cooked too long. Best advice I heard many years ago... Lower the temp not the time; and look at the color of the meat, not the juice.

 

[scn]

I'll be the contrarian on this one. Many years ago, I saw the same thing happen. Our group killed a fawn in the morning, processed it, and cooked up one of the backstraps for lunch. It was cooked by a great cook who knows how to fry up tenderloin. It was very tasty, but almost impossible to chew.

My guess is it has to do with the lack of any time to age or even get through the rigor mortis process.

We still talk about that meal!

 

[Bone Collector]

Overcooked. Anything past medium is too done IMO. I eat mine Medium Rare

 

[BallisticV]

Thanks for all the info!

 

[Dbllunger]

Listen to catman, he's the fawnisseur of tndeer!

Now that's funny.

 

[timberjack86]

Never met a fawn I didn't like.

 

[treefarmer]

Sunday I grilled several backstrap steaks from doe meat kept in a cooler with ice water for a week. In addition to there being no flavor from sitting in water it was tough enough my wife and I commented on it. I had grilled it at a low temp. and it was pink in the middle. It was cut against the grain. We commented that maybe meat sitting in water causes toughness as well as flavor loss.

 

[stringtalker]

It helps if you tenderize it too, yes it was young and should be tender but i tenderize all my deer meat with a meat hammer, or whatever they are called, lol

 

[smalljawbasser]

Toughness is only caused by two things. Age/condition of the animal or freezing/cooking/butchering before rigor mortis has passed.

During rigor, muscle fibers contract. After it passed they expand back out. Time from death to onset of rigor can vary based on factors including speed of death (adrenalin?), temperature, etc. once it begins, it takes 6-24 hours to pass depending on temperature.

It sounds to me like you cooked a backstrap that was in full rigor. Over cooking will not make a tender piece of meat tough and chewy. Neither does keeping it in an ice bath.

 

[BallisticV]

"Meat Hammer" if that's not what it's called, it should be!

 

[Boone 58]

 

[Crosshairy]

Deer meat should not be stored in water. Ideally, keep the meat clean during the butchering process such that you don't do much/any rinsing.

Soaking in tap water is like an anti-marinade. The lack of salt water outside the meat draws moisture (and flavor) out. That is the basic concept for osmotic pressure. Either put it in a brine solution, or just keep it well sealed from air AND water. If storing deer meat in a cooler, keep in bags to prevent the meat from actually contacting the water.