# Meat Color VS Hang time



## Sededl (Jan 14, 2011)

Recently received some Elk meat from a friend. 

Opened the package, and the meat is this rich, dark red. About two pounds, Ground up.

Started to think, and comparing to ground beef, as it is always a brownish tan gray color, once the fake dye wears off.

Is the elk meat contain more blood since it wouldnt have required time to rest and hang, as beef does?

Or is the meat really that dark?


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Ever seen REAL, LEAN ground beef, it is not grey. Sounds like good fresh meat. REAL ground beef is lean, it is the fat that turns grey. Many hunters hang elk the same as beef, some people hang it with the hide on if it is good and cold and will cool quickly. Helps keep the meat cleaner if they have to travel a long way. Any animal should be bled out for best meat. Elk meat is RED as it is very lean....James


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

Fresh meat color comes from myoglobin. The more myoglobin, the darker the meat. And the more exercise the muscle gets, the darker it will be. That's why a turkey breast is white and the legs are dark. A roping steer would have darker meat than a feedlot steer. A bull has darker meat than a calf because myoglobin also increases with age. A wild elk will be darker than a pen raised elk.


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

The fresh ground beef (80%) we get from the butcher is pink with white chunks of fat. It's never treated and does not turn brown until it gets pretty old, but it also turns faster when exposed to air.

We mix it with venison, and that is rich dark red. Venison fat is gross, so we trim as much off as possible. Figure we end up with something about 90% lean when we are done - and it's what we use for ground meat most of the time. 

We age the venison several days before grinding. Sometimes we also grind up whole chunks of beef, and I've not noticed any difference in quantity of blood. 

Elk is good eating! every once in a while we'll get some from a friend, but he does not always get an elk tag, or an elk.


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

Sededl said:


> Started to think, and comparing to ground beef, as it is always a brownish tan gray color, _*once the fake dye wears off*_.


*WHERE* are you buying your beef???


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## Sededl (Jan 14, 2011)

suitcase_sally said:


> *WHERE* are you buying your beef???


I was always told that the color change is because the meat has red dye added in, :huh:

Unfortunatly we cant raise our own and have very limited freezer space, so the grocery store is it :awh:


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

I have been around the slaughter and processing of cattle all my life. 
In those 40-something years I have never once seen anyone ever add red dye to ground beef.
Well, except for hotdogs and bologna. Those processed meats do have dye added to them. 
That 'pink' color is there to create the illusion of a consistent product everytime you buy it. 

With fresh meat there is no 'consistent' color. Each animal, or LOT of grinds will be slightly different depending on the age of the cattle and the handling of the product.
The weather, temps in the coolers, sharpness of the grinder, and age/fat content of the muscle all contribute to how the grinds LOOK.

It is in fact the fat content and exposure to air that cause meat to turn grey.
With new modern 'gas packs' (like walmart does) meat does not turn color. It's kind of spooky how red that meat stays (to me).

I, for one, am not afraid to eat any beef that is a bit grey, or even 'green' colored. 
If it doesn't smell rotty, it is just the air having gotten to it and the fat content.

Trust your nose when it comes to meat, not your eyes. It all changes color when you cook it anyway.

Hope this helps. It is a pet peeve of mine when people blame the discoloration on 'dyes'.

Your elk meat is red because of the myoglobin like Ed Norman said, and also because it has minimal fat, AND because it has been handled w/o getting hot or left to sit out very long.

Enjoy that stuff, it is the real deal. It still turns brown when you cook it.


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## maters (May 25, 2011)

The only time I have had elk, I purchased it from an elk farm. It smelled amazing. I wanted to just take a bite out of it raw. It had a deep and rich color. It tasted amazing (cooked). If I had the money to put up really tall fences, I would get a few elk to raise for meat. There's nothing like it.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

When I was growing up we didn't have a freezer so we salted meat in crocks. After a couple of months (yes months) you would skim the goop off the crock and take a long fork to get the meat out (10 gallon crock is fairly tall) You would have to be careful if it was a crock of all sliced steaks because the meat was so tender that it would fall apart. (and a little green). Made great hot beef sandwiches and gravy though....James


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