Why do I use milk in game recipes?

[liz_s]

Hi!

I'm not sure if this is an appropriate question for this forum, but I was wondering why milk takes the game "flavor" out of game. My boyfriend made elk meatloaf and I was pretty terrified, but the milk made a huge difference! It's called for in all of the game recipes, and I figure it has something to do with enzymes... I don't know. I'm a biologist with a chemistry background, but no biochem. Anybody know, or know where I can find out? You guys know everything, and I'm so curious!

Thanks!

 

[Tala]

Pasteurized milk doesn't really have much enzymatic goodness left in it that I know of.

We always used homemade cultured buttermilk - it was the good bacteria that did the trick for us, as far as I know.

Maybe somebody else can shed more light on the subject, pretty please

 

[liz_s]

Excellent point about the pasteurized milk. Also, I used non-fat, so it was probably even more useless! The suspense is killing me

 

[2DogsFarm]

I was always told the milk drew out any "gamy" flavor from the meat.

Then a friend - bow & rifle hunter - told me it didn't make any difference if you soaked in milk but that hunting in a cornfield rather than a pine forest made a huge difference.
If the deer fed on the corn their meat didn't have any of the pine resin that made it taste gamy.

He shared his vension with me and I never had to treat it. I had pot roasts, loin chops, steaks and ground venison that all tasted wonderful w/o any soaking in milk.

 

[liz_s]

This elk was definitely caught in a forest, and she was a pretty old lady, which probably doesn't help. We have the meat in other forms too (snack sticks, summer sausage, bratwurst) and it is pretty gamey, except for the summer sausage. I have definitely had elk in a recipe that wasn't gamey, but I don't know where it was caught.