How much do you trim meat before grinding?

[gonhunting247]

Separate every muscle then fillet the outer casing off those muscles and you won't have to really "trim" anything at that point. All your meat, be it steaks, roast, or burger will be clean.

^^^^ I totally agree! I trim the outer part first, then separate every muscle, because it's easier for me, but get the same outcome.

 

[Hunt'nFish]

I used to trim everything so meticulously that it made people leave in the middle of an elk because it took so long. But I have been doing about 4 elk and a dozen deer and just as many antelope every year lately so I started leaving more silver skin on the meat and I believe it comes out better. The silver skin holds the burger meat together better when you have to work with it. The key is you need a good grinder, and keep the meat as cold as possible and if the grinder heats up stop and let it cool.

Same experience here. I used to fillet all the silver skin off for years. Then I started leaving some on and I have to say I found the burger to "behave" much better on the grill. And considering a lot of that silver skin is glucosamine (which is good for us older guys), there is no harm in leaving some in.
I still trim out most of the larger tendon material, but leave the thin silver skin on for burger grind.
However, I still prefer my steaks and roast free of silver skin.

Someone mentioned canning meat.... again all I do is trim/fillet off the larger tendons and chunk it up for canning. Very little prep.

A tip for butchering...... I find myself packaging up more & more whole roasts rather than cutting it up into steaks. Much of my time sink is deciding what to cut it up into. Hummm....should I steak this, cube it for stew meat, save for jerky or canning meat, or leave it as a roast???? Hum.....
Making the decision to pkg roasts, and defer usage decisions to my wife, speeds up my butchering time greatly. Now I just mark the pkg with "roast" and what muscle it came from. Some muscles are known to be tender and others are known for their tenderness. I can always cut it up into steaks (or run it through the slicer for jerky) once it's defrosted a touch, besides we all know half frozen meat steaks up much easier anyway.
Hunt'nFish