meat to fat grind ratio

[Fadetoblack188]

what ratio do you guys use when grinding your venison. I want to make burgers for the first time. if i grind 1.5lbs of venison how much pork fat should i add to 1.5 pounds of venison. also i heard you can just add like fat back bacon. Same as that how much would you grind into 1.5 pounds of vension.

 

[Patton]

I like a lean 85/15 ratio for burger. Bacon is great to add if you want a bacon burger, pork butt works great, beef fat trimmings is my preferred mix.

 

[Fadetoblack188]

10% = 4 ½ lb. venison, ½ lb. fat

20% = 4 lb. venison, 1 lb. fat

this look accurate. i heard use fat back bacon, or pork fat back to add. ??

 

[Jwknutson17]

I'm usually in that 15-18% camp for burger. We grind in beef suet in ours for burger and grind in pork suet for sausages. Mix up a batch and throw some right on the grill to test it out before you process it all.

 

[MThuntr]

Honestly I don't add fat to my stand alone burger so I have flexibility in what I want to use it for. I'm not much of a venison burger person and tend to stay away from bacon as it requires more heat than I'm willing to cook my burgers.

For sausage, I go heavy on the fatty pork but still don't have a good measure but it bet it's 20%. Locally pork trimmings cost as much as pork shoulder (when on sale I buy 3 or 4) and just use that.

 

[GunsAreFun]

MeatEater has an article about this recently. Basically it’s personal preference, but he has some good logic about having different ratios depending on what you’d be using the meat for.

How Much Fat Should You Add to Ground Venison?

For some hunters, adding domestic fat to venison is taboo. For others, it’s a necessity. One thing is for sure (and no more evident than here at MeatEater): at-home butchers have a wide range of preferences regarding fat content and there are no set rules. Here are some of our thoughts on adding...

www.themeateater.com

 

[silverbullet555]

Depends. I'm a rookie. And there are varying opinions.

Most of my grind is pure.

Some gets 16% bacon ends and pieces. 5 lbs venison/antelope/elk and 1lb bacon ends and pieces. This is specifically for burgers.

Some gets 20% pork fat. This would be for meatballs, loose sausage,, etc.

 

[Drenalin]

I like mine with a little beef fat, maybe 10-15%. I ground an entire whitetail once and added bacon to every bit of it - won't do that ever again. If you want hamburgers, go ahead with the bacon, but it was pretty much terrible in everything else.

 

[Laramie]

For elk, I add 10% ribeye fat. I get mine for free - many beef processors end up throwing this out daily. For deer, I actually blend 60% deer to 40% beef burger (75/25 mixture). Both mixtures result in a 10% fat content burger. The elk turns out amazing for recipes where you really don't hide the taste of the meat. The deer mixture works great for everything else - including feeding people who don't like the taste of deer. Both work great for burgers on the grill but the elk is better. I only use pork fat when I make breakfast or Italian sausage.

Pro tips -

never grind in the deer or elk fat, connective tissue, silver skin etc - only grind pure red meat. If you take the time to completely trim prior to grinding, your end result will be much better table fare.

Keep your meat, fat, and grinder very cold while grinding. It will grind much easier and prevent clogging.

After the first grind, thoroughly mix the burger so fat is evenly distributed. Then grind it all again.

 

[bsnedeker]

100% venison, 0% fat. I enjoy the flavor of venison. Just make sure to get a good sear and flip the burger carefully so it doesn't fall apart. Med. rare venison burgers are juicy and delicious!

 

[Jwknutson17]

Keep your meat, fat, and grinder very cold while grinding. It will grind much easier and prevent clogging.

This. I usually freeze the fat and run it through my big 1.5 horse grinder. Then keep the frozen ground fat in the freezer til I run it through with the meat. Nothing worse then the fat getting warm and slimey.

 

[Laramie]

100% venison, 0% fat. I enjoy the flavor of venison. Just make sure to get a good sear and flip the burger carefully so it doesn't fall apart. Med. rare venison burgers are juicy and delicious!

I enjoy 100% venison as well but don't do this often since most of my family prefers some fat. Many people think the burgers will fall apart if no fat is added. They absolutely will if you don't prep properly. To keep 100% lean burgers together, a person should knead the meat ball for about 60 seconds to activate the proteins in the meat prior to patting them into shape. If a guy does this, they hold together perfectly.

 

[Ucsdryder]

I’m in the zero fat for burger grind. When I make sausage that’s a different story but I like the burgers as is. Add an egg yoke and some bread crumbs if you want a little bit of a binder. Don’t cook your burgers past medium rare

 

[Fadetoblack188]

so the fat back bacon is a no go with the burger grind??

 

[Laramie]

so the fat back bacon is a no go with the burger grind??

It's just "ok" to me. I would do a ton of it until you try it. I did a whole deer once and it took almost 2 years to use it all. About the only thing I liked to use it for was sliders in the smoker or as a very plain breakfast sausage. It sounds a lot better than what the end result is.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

Some folks are not going to like this but I know a lot of processors in my area do this...just add some 80/20 ground beef to the batch and skip the fat. I do this for burgers as it keeps them from falling apart on the grill but grind for other purposes I do zero fat.

 

[MThuntr]

so the fat back bacon is a no go with the burger grind??

I won't add it to burger being used for hamburgers since the temp to "cook it" is much higher than the temp I feel is necessary to make a decent burger. As others have said sneak in some beef/beef fat if you need to add fat.

A friend is trying olive oil or coconut oil as the high quality versions will freeze solid although I'm not sure how they'll work.

 

[JakeSCH]

I typically do 5 lb of elk / deer with 1 lb of beef suet for my standard grind.

I do like to use 1.5 lb of pork suet per 5 lbs when making sausage or burgers for non-game eaters (aka most people I know outside my family).

My buddy added a smoked bacon in his ground (only did very course grind) and it was awful!! stringy bacon ground elk was not good.

 

[Fadetoblack188]

ok so maybe ill just to the beef fat to start for my burgers.

 

[danarnold]

beef fat for burgers is the bomb' this year i'm 100 lean/ no fat