Suarnituluni – Wild Tasting / Gamey
Una tuntuq suarnituu’uq. – This deer has a wild taste.
Wild meats can have a gamey taste. There are people who claim to like this flavor, but most prefer to avoid eating gamey steaks and roasts. To prevent filling their larders with wild-tasting deer, elk, goat, or bear, Alutiiqs take two essential steps: they harvest the right animals at the right time of year, and they process their kills carefully.
Good meat care also will improve the flavor of an animal. Hunters who bleed their kills have better-tasting meat that preserves well. Alutiiq Elders recall their fathers hanging meat for many days, even weeks, to tenderize it. This process cannot remove a gamey taste, but it does make meats like Sitka deer, which are naturally low in fat, less stringy and easier to chew.
Source: Alutiiq Museum
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