Venison

I harvested a medium sized doe yesterday, and I want to try my hand and grinding it up myself instead of taking it to a processor. My question is, do I HAVE to mix beef fat? I won't need it to mold into patties or balls, my family's fave uses of ground venison are chili, spaghetti, taco soups, and casseroles. I'll be cutting up and cubing, I'll check back this evening. Thanks in advance, you guys are awesome!

No. Only time you need to add fat is if you want to make hamburgers or sausage. Anything that is "loose" doesnt require fat unless you just love beef or pork fat. Adding fat also reduces shelf life in freezer

You’re going to get lots and lots of opinions on this. The short answer is no. Grind it up, fry a handful up and taste it. If you like it, perfect, you’re all set.
I’ve mixed my venison with beef burger, beef tallow, pork shoulder, pork fat, and bacon. My personal preference is to mix my venison with 15-20% bacon ends and pieces.

I never add fat to my grinding. I trim my venison very well and remove all fat. This way my ground venison will work in any way, I can add fat when thawed if needed. I also cube alot for stews. My venison is farmland so I have little game flavors.
Josh

It’s really up to your taste buds.I normally don’t add fat but will sometimes mix a pound of venison with a pound of grass fed beef at cooking time.Depends on venison supply also.I do mix bacon in for hamburgers though.I’m kinda heavy on the bacon.2parts venison 1 part bacon and grind 3 times.Just my 2 cents.

my favorite bone out video

get the meat off the bones cut the extra tallow off , cut in strips that fit in your grinder and grind . then vacuum pack if you can it keeps several years vacuum packed and frozen

I keep the back straps and tenderloins to make little medallion steaks and grind the rest , if my youngest wants to make jerky the rounds get cut into thin a strips as I can get with a knife

if you can lay your meat on cookie sheets or meat lugs and get it close to frozen it grinds faster

we add no other beef or pork or fat , great in chili , sloppy joe's / Sloppy Doe's , stew, meatloaf and tacos

I do all my own wild game processing (elk,deer,moose) and don't add anything to my ground meat but I think it'll all depend on your preference.

a good grinder is a long term investment in doing your own meat

I have an LEM #12 big bite 3/4 hp have had it since around 2009 and still runs like new , they have replacement knives and plates available when you do wear out a set also the nylon thrust washers that is the wear point


Horn a member here can get you set up with knives , a meat hook and a scabbard. the meat hook is a real hand saver

No.I never have.

No you do not have to but it's a lot harder to cook if you do not. You'll probably add butter or oil in order to fry it so you might as well add some fat. I use ribeye fat and it not only improves the flavor, but it also makes the meat a lot easier to cook whether you are making patties or just loose meat. Fat is good for you and really improves the meat in a lot of ways in my opinion.

If you grind the venison, add some other type of meat to make a few patties, it would be smart to have some of the ground venison in 1 pound packages. Because once you thaw the ground venison, you can't add the other meat and then re-freeze it. We grind our venison and do that. So, when we want to make burgers, we will add regular ground beef. Venison is too lean for grilling on its own. The addition of regular ground beef keeps it together, IMO.

We add 1/3 fatty pork

Same here..

My answer is "No, I never have." We don't make burgers from our ground vension. My wife does make venison meatballs but most of the ground is used for chilli, tacos, and lasagna.

I don't understand those who say it is up to your taste buds. Does that mean they don't like backstrap or roasts because they can't add beef or pork fat to it???

I think when they say taste, they don't really mean "flavor". Ground deer, or beef, without any fat added... will be dry. It's that dryness people are referring to when they say taste. Steaks, on the other hand, aren't dry like that due to cooking them to no more than medium. Some roasts ARE dry, but people tend to cover that up with gravy, broth or what have you. Buy a package of 97/3 ground beef. If you like that, you'll probably like venison without added fat.

To the OP, since all your meat will be ground for browning crumbles in a skillet, you can add fat (lard, butter, etc) to the frying pan when you cook it if desired.

Angela, the pork that I put into my burger is in large part for the pattie to stay with together!! Goes the same for meatballs, but with those eggs help too...Just the way I roll...

10-15% pork butt or picnic roast added to every wild game burger we grind. Especially for brats.

I add 20% beef fat. We have for 50 years. Never make burgers but sometimes make meatballs. Good fat is better than just any old fat.

No you don't have to just grind it.

I just got this out of the freezer. Going to be too cold to play outside for a few days so I'll use this pork fat I saved from trimming pork butts I smoked for a wedding earlier this fall. I'll grind it to add to the ground deer for summer sausage and/or sticks and use some of the deer as is for jerky. My family doesn't care for it in place of ground beef but processed it's pretty good!

If you aren't trying to make it stick together for something like patties you don't need to add anything.

It will definitely taste different without the fat!

Have never had a problem making patties with my deer meat with nothing added.

[quote=SNIPERB🦝] Only time you need to add fat is if you want to make hamburgers or sausage./quote]

I always process my own venison hamburger, have never added beef or fat to it. It taste great too, & is healthier & less expensive doing it the way I've been doing it. It also creates less mess when I cook it because it is so lean.

... grind brisket in with it

I agree with Bruce T. When I was growing up my mother always added beef suet to the venison burger. Barf. She would chop that crap up and stuff it in the grinder as I turned the crank....yeah, it had an armstrong motor and I was the arm. I detested venison burger. After I and my Bride were the only ones in charge of burger, be that procurement, grinding and packaging..........and I flat refused to add anything to the venison. To this day I prefer it contains nothing but 100% pure, well trimmed deer.

P.S. to above......my mother did not like my burger at all. She insisted it needed suet to "give it flavor"! Go figure.

You spelled bacon wrong.

Well, the "add nothing" posts convinced me to go 100% venison. It's all ground up, vacuum sealed, and freezing. My wife and I talked, and she can add butter, lard or as she prefers, coconut oil. We fixed some up tonight, and it turned out great. She said it was moist enough as is. They need killing, they're getting fat on my ryegrass and turn row soybeans and corn. Thanks for your comments, I appreciate all of them.

Nice.You won't regret it.Healther to boot.

Good choice. I just finished eating 1 myself. 100% venison. Tasted amazing.

You guys can have that straight ground venison, all I use it for is jerky.

The house is smelling good today though, summer sausage, meat sticks and jerky....

Nothing beats a nice juicy all venison cheeseburger....yum...yum

Same here.I don't add anything.

YUP.I fry up mushrooms and onions in a separate pan to top off my burger.Also a Big slab of onion,then a nice slice of swiss cheese on top of all that.I like my burgers SLOPPY.

You ever try beef? lol

ADC,,I buy whole "Choice" Ribeyes from my local meat locker all the time.18-20 pounders.What I don't buy is burger. I will buy London broils and bottom rounds on sale and grind my own though. Also,,raised my own beefers for quite a few years.

Then you are aware something does beat an all venison burger.

BTW Chuck roasts make the best ground beef.

Why yes.A Venison burger with mushrooms, onions and a slice of swiss on it,,beats and all venison burger, And chuck roasts DO grind into good burger.

With beef you get that lard flavor.I would much rather have a 100% venison cheeseburger myself.

Lard comes from pigs I think.

Lol..... my mistake.Have always said lard.Just looked it up guess I should have said tallow flavor instead of lard flaver.

I grind through the course grinder plate twice. If I add beef fat, I do about 10% and add on first trip through the grinder. For what you are using it for, I probably wouldn't go out of my way to buy beef fat. If it's available, it doesn't hurt in my opinion.

No matter which way you spell it, it = great taste! It's why ribeye steaks are the best steaks.

Beef is fine but pure venison has a much better flavor to me.

And is healthier

Favorite thing to make with the backstraps
https://midwestniceblog.com/deer-wellington/

Takes a while but boy is it worth it.