Reading through Marianski's book, Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages, I ran across this interesting information... I thought it might be helpful to many members...
To me, it appears the completion of rigor, prior to cooling the meat, will provide a much superior product.... Anywho, something to think about when processing your valuable meats..
Processing slaughtered meats
Fig. 1.1. Effect of rigor mortis. Times for onset and resolution of rigor
...........................Time to onset of rigor .............Time for resolution of rigor
Cattle ......................12 - 24 hours ................................2 - 10 days
Pigs ..........................6 - 12 hours ...................................1 - 2 days
Lamb...................... 7 - 8 hours ......................................1 day
Turkey ....................½ - 2 hours.................................... 6 - 24 hours
Chicken................. ½ - 1 hours .......................................4 - 6 hours
Rabbit ..................12 - 20 hours .....................................2 - 7 days
Venison ...............24 - 36 hours ....................................6 - 14 days
Looking at the above data, it becomes conclusive that the aging process is more important for animals which are older at the slaughter time (cattle, venison). Warm meat of a freshly slaughtered animal exhibits the highest quality and juiciness.
Unfortunately there is a very narrow window of opportunity for processing it. The slaughter house and the meat plant must be located within the same building to be effective. Meat that we buy in a supermarket has already been aged by a packing house.
If an animal carcass is cooled too rapidly (below 50° F, 10° C) before the onset of the rigor (within 10 hours), the muscles may contract which results in tough meat when cooked. This is known as “cold shortening.” To prevent this the carcass is kept at room temperature for some hours to accelerate rigor and then aged at between 30-41° F, (-1 - 5° C).
Marianski, Stanley. Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages (Kindle Locations 51-83). Bookmagic LLC. Kindle Edition.
To me, it appears the completion of rigor, prior to cooling the meat, will provide a much superior product.... Anywho, something to think about when processing your valuable meats..
Processing slaughtered meats
Fig. 1.1. Effect of rigor mortis. Times for onset and resolution of rigor
...........................Time to onset of rigor .............Time for resolution of rigor
Cattle ......................12 - 24 hours ................................2 - 10 days
Pigs ..........................6 - 12 hours ...................................1 - 2 days
Lamb...................... 7 - 8 hours ......................................1 day
Turkey ....................½ - 2 hours.................................... 6 - 24 hours
Chicken................. ½ - 1 hours .......................................4 - 6 hours
Rabbit ..................12 - 20 hours .....................................2 - 7 days
Venison ...............24 - 36 hours ....................................6 - 14 days
Looking at the above data, it becomes conclusive that the aging process is more important for animals which are older at the slaughter time (cattle, venison). Warm meat of a freshly slaughtered animal exhibits the highest quality and juiciness.
Unfortunately there is a very narrow window of opportunity for processing it. The slaughter house and the meat plant must be located within the same building to be effective. Meat that we buy in a supermarket has already been aged by a packing house.
If an animal carcass is cooled too rapidly (below 50° F, 10° C) before the onset of the rigor (within 10 hours), the muscles may contract which results in tough meat when cooked. This is known as “cold shortening.” To prevent this the carcass is kept at room temperature for some hours to accelerate rigor and then aged at between 30-41° F, (-1 - 5° C).
Marianski, Stanley. Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages (Kindle Locations 51-83). Bookmagic LLC. Kindle Edition.
