venison burger

[schultz's honor]

We have the fun job of grinding up venison burger this week end.
What does everybody use to grind in with there deer to add a bit of fat?
I have heard of adding beef tallow, but not sure of the proportions?
I have also heard of a 50/50 mixture of hamburger.

[mustad]

I don't grind anything up with it.

Once it's ground, and depending on what I'm going to do with it, I may put some pork, veal or lamb in with the meat.

Sausage - I blend pork

Sauce alla Bolognese - I blend Veal

Köfta - I blend Lamb.

Burgers - I don't add anything

If you blend before you grind, you'll limit the possibilities.

Good luck

[JMDenney]

I'm with mustad...grind it straight, then mix in whatever you think you need when it's time to consume.

For what it's worth, I've heard grinding it straight allows it to keep longer in the freezer, too. Not usually an issue at our place, though.

[Rick Hall]

A bit of "Boston butt" pork gets mixed with all our ground venison, much mo better than beef fat.

[cjs180]

I just grind mine straight too. I don't use it for hamburgers as it is too dry but things like tacos, spaghetti, chili, it is fine. I ground up 3 that are in the freezer this year. I think the last time I actually bought hamburger was over 12 years ago.

[Tony]

We add about 5% ground beef so it will stick together.

[huntinweim]

Saw a recipe that added smoked bacon into the ground venison to us as burgers

[cjs180]

I did the bacon thing a few years back. I think I added 1 lb of bacon to 5 lb of burger. It was pretty good as I remember. You could actually make burgers for the grill and they tasted good.

[Steve Anker]

HEATHENS!

Pork, pork and pork! ...just the squeal, not too much,

Burn one fer me will ya,

[Joe C.]

It's been a couple of weeks since anyone posted on this thread, but I still must add a couple of comments;

First the most important thing when butchering and grinding venison is the illimination of all of the wild fat, silver skin, membrane, tendons etc. The cleaner the meat, (to start with), the better it will taste, (mine has no wild taste). I agree with not mixing anything with the meat, until cooking time, (if you feel you must). Sometimes we'll cut the meat with the cheapest mixture of ground beef, (70/30) to make the venison go further. A raw egg can be used as a binder if that's all you're worried about.

[JC]

for someone who doesn't care for venison, or if you want yours to go furthur- simply buy an inexpensive chuck roast, grind them both up together- provides all the fat you need- real good beef fat from your butcher shop mixed with lean venison is great- total amount- 1/20th fat to meat, by size not weight

I take all my lean venison I can't make into steak and grind it as ground venison- pan fry it with salt, pepper, and garlic, cook it rare-pack it together well and cook it on my George Foreman Grill

[JC]

MY Turn :

From Someone who does all her own skining and meat prossing(sp) I agree with all the Guys Grind it stright. If I were going to make sausage I would grind in some Boston Butt (its the pork fat thing) spices and package.

When it comes time to do venison burgers, Be it deer or elk or pronghorn meat, I use 1 1/2lb game meat to 1lb of beef burger not to lean.
little BBQ sauce whatever brand of sauce floats your boat, mix real good let it sit for about 1 hr and then let them hit the grill, Down Here in New Mexico, some of us will throw a little green chili & a slice of your fav cheese on it right before it comes of the grill.

When we butcher it really depends on my mood after I have gotten a nice roast cut, and the loins & backstrap out as to if the rest is ground or cut for stew or deer Mc nuggets.

MY hubby made the mistake of thinking, me being a girl and all and my reg visits to get my nails done ,I was usless in the field ,boy did he have a big suprise coming. I was taught: You shoot, you gut & clean it. So he pretty much stands clear, I get my 2 fav knives out and I get to taking care of the biz at hand.

that is good- nice way of putting it

charcoaling venison- which like GSPmom says- includes all the deer family I like to lay a sliced onion on top and then a slice of cheese over it when the burgers are about 1/2 done- cheese melts thru the onion and arround the burger

also- I'll take bell peppers, slice them like small conoes following the sections, put them on that grill with those burgers- as they start to brown I'll pour in soya sauce, and lay two different types cheese in the canoe like section- like them almost black- soya souce and cheese has a tendency to drip on the coals as I'm generous with it- ahhh the aroma -and it adds a bit of flavor to the burgers

usually a neighbor see's the smoke and goes "what's for dinner"
so I'll say- "come over here, got something for you to try"

I like to eat the peppers hot off the grill- most times there's nonce left by the time i take the burgers off

[Hunters Edge]

A good rule of thumb is 15% to 20% of fat to whatever lean meat you are making burger with. This will allow cooking without falling apart or burning. Suet or beef fat is ok for this use and adds a little taste and also keeps for long stays in the freezer. Pork in the freezer can become rancid and break down but there is nothing better to add pork butt and the same percentage to get a good tasting burger and no burning but shelf life is limited. A good freezer wrap paper tight, then inserted in freezer bags usually takes care of any freezer burn but pork can break down even in the freezer and has a much shorter shelf life.

If your planning on making sausage then add the percentage in breakfast sausage to your taste they have different flavors but it will add the fat and the spices to help in preperation for the final dish. You will have to experiment to what flavor you or your family like when added but it can add quite a bit of difference in the final product.

If you use straight venison and no fat keep the flame/heat low and add a little butter. To be purist is to add some type of fat because ultimately that is hamburger, chuck etc with suet to produce hamburger.