Venison Burger

[dale2242]

I am going to have some venison burger made.
I had pork shoulder added before but heard adding beef fat was better and cheaper.
Does anyone here add beef fat to their venison and at what ratio?....dale

[redhawk0]

I either have beef fat or pork fat added. I generally have no more than 10% added. Venison is so lean...you have to add something or it cooks up to a hockey puck.

Personally...I prefer pork fat given the choice...but...beef is good too.

redhawk

[725]

I butcher my own & I add some of that cheap Wal-Mart burger in the tube to my grind. there is so much fat in the wal mart stuff, that it makes a pretty dandy venison burger.

[Driver33]

I usually mind in a pack of cheap hickory smoked bacon when I grind burger .about 10 pounds of deer to one pack bacon. Works pretty good for me

[Omega]

My last mix was 50/50 venison and cheap Walmart beef, pretty tasty. Gonna have to try the bacon, already has me drooling.

[NSB]

I add beef steak fat (strip steak) and add it at 12-15% of the weight of the venison being ground. I quit add other stuff to it years ago when a butcher told me to try the strip steak fat instead. It makes the venison taste like ground filet.....the best burger I've ever eaten. I have yet to find one person who doesn't love it that way. I've had people who hated venison tell my how good it was and that they never knew it could taste that good. I even had one older gentleman take up hunting in his late sixties just to get a doe and have it processed into burger. I do two deer a year for myself just in burger. I used to get the fat for free, but due to the increased popularity of adding this fat it's become a competitive product in my area (my fault, I shouldn't have told everyone about it and given samples). Still, it's only fifty cents a pound and three-four pounds will do a whole deer.

[trapper9260]

I do up my own and use the trimmings when cut up the deer and do not add anything to it when ground up and cook it slow and it is just right for me. When I do beaver that is when get the cheapest beef from the store and add that to the beaver that is ground up and that works that way.

[bosterr]

I stopped using beef suet and started using the cheap 80/20 Walmart burger, anywhere from 30% to 50% to ten pounds of ground deer. I also add some Jimmy Dean's sausage, usually the hot flavor if we have more than one deer.

[Pine Baron]

I usually mind in a pack of cheap hickory smoked bacon when I grind burger .about 10 pounds of deer to one pack bacon. Works pretty good for me

^That's what I do also. Been doing it this way forever. I'll sometimes add a pack of onion soup mix in also.

[farmerjim]

+ 1 more for the cheep Walmart ground beef. I can sometimes find 30% fat burger meat and add it 1 to 2 deer. I grind everything but the backstraps.

[JBinMN]

I was not going to post here since we use pork most of the time when we grind our own.

I have not tried bacon or beef, but am now interested after reading some of the posts here, so I decided to post anyway.

My firearms deer hunting season starts tomorrow, and I will hopefully be able to try some of the suggestions here using beef & bacon in some small batches to test it out.

70% venison to 30% pork is the usual ratio we are looking for. ( usually we buy a case of pork butts for the pork & fat, but we have found any fatty cut will "do" as far as we are concerned.)

I have also used pork tallow straight up with the venison a couple times, but I do not have the ratio to give if anyone wanted it. I just try to get the same "consistency" as the mix is when it is done with just pork. If I had to guess it would be about 90/10 or 95/5 deer to tallow. It just "looked & tasted right" when I have done it in small batches.

We "test" fry some "as we go" when trying new mixes, as well as when we are making up brats & sticks to check spices/recipes & see how it cooks up & tastes. That is what I will do with any beef or bacon to try it out before I commit more than what we usually do for our regular "tried & true" recipe.

It seems to me that everyone has different tastes, so what works for some may not work for others.

Thanks to all who provide tips & recipes! & G'Luck! to the OP , dale2242, and any others who try out any new recipes from here!
:)

[ShooterAZ]

I usually mix in some pork sausage. 10% or so does it for me.

[JSH]

If I add anything to it, I do so when I am going to use it. Venison is lean enough it keeps well when frozen. Adding any of the fats to it, then storing it tends to make it rancid over time. YMMV

[WebMonkey]

as above, you must add fat.
as to what fat?

whichever tastes the best for your application.

i get pork fat for 50 cents a pound so i put that in ground venison destined for sausages normally pork based.

cheap, fatty ground beef is added to ground venison destined for 'products' associated with beef. like cheeseburgers, summer sausage, bologna/hotdogs.

either will be fine, just a small difference in taste.

:)

[MaryB]

I always had beef fat added...

[Traffer]

I have had straight ground venison that I just mixed in about 5% shortening in a pinch. I didn't have any fatty meat so I gobbed a couple of big scoops of shortening in and mixed it in. It turned out remarkably good. So good that it will be my go to method from now on.

[redriverhunter]

what I do is one pound of venison and a pound of either ground pork or ground beef.

[mac60]

^That's what I do also. Been doing it this way forever. I'll sometimes add a pack of onion soup mix in also.

I buy "bacon ends and pieces" in 2 lb. boxes. I cube my deer meat up and when I run it through the grinder I put in 1 handful of deer meat then a handful of the bacon. Love it. Makes a great burger. It's just about a 1 to 1 ratio and it's not for everyone, but it's popular around here.

[Oily]

Have to try that bacon recipe, I too am drooling on that one! I use 15% Jimmy Dean regular sausage on everything but the backstrap and tenderloin. I get quite a bit of tenderloin from hunters who don't even know where the tenderloin is. Quite a bit means maybe 3 to 4 pounds a year. I just hang around when they are processing there kill and ask if I can have the carcass and usually get it for hauling it off. Some bigger ones even have ribs that are meaty enough to smoke. And smaller ribs will have enough meat to strip for ground jerky. I just hate wasting any of this great eating animal. My cousin and his brother in laws take the backstrap and hind quarters and toss the rest. You can bet Oily is on the spot to collect the carcass! Deer jerky smoked over hickory or pecan is like filet mignon to me.

[Chad5005]

we like using boston butt 80/20

[richhodg66]

I must be weird, but we grind all of ours pure. I don't make regular hamburgers using it much, but for spaghetti, chili, meat loaf etc, that's the way I like it now.

I used to add the cheap burger years ago, seems like I used to do about two parts deer to one part cheap beef, but haven't for a long time.

[winelover]

I keep mine pure, also. When making burgers, we add either ground pork, breakfast sausage or bacon ends. Approximately, a quarter pound to one pound of venison. Had burger made with beef suet, once. Never again. Completely, different taste.

Winelover

[Lloyd Smale]

same thing I do. A 3lb tube added to about 10bs of lean venison makes good burger. tried just using beef fat I got from the local butcher but it was just to hard to grind and mix with the burger. Never did care for pork fat added. My dad did it that way and us kids never did care for the burger we were fed around deer season. Adding 2 or 3 lbs of bacon works too but its expensive and some things I make with burger like chili and spaghetti I don't want a bacon taste in. Anymore if I want bacon on my burger I just fry up some bacon. Im not a big fan of just grinding lean venison either. Its tough to keep together when cooking and fat adds flavor.
I butcher my own & I add some of that cheap Wal-Mart burger in the tube to my grind. there is so much fat in the wal mart stuff, that it makes a pretty dandy venison burger.

[Hardcast416taylor]

My FIL was a butcher with a `brick & mortar` store. He processed deer for hunters and tried to do their `dream` order as good as possible considering how shot up the carcass was. On the burger he would do it as you wanted it done or offer suggestions on the mix of meat and fats. Beef trimmings of fat was usually the add in so when it was cooked you wouldn`t have a hockey puck for a game later. He told me about mixing antelope burger with pork sausage 50/50, talk about great with eggs and home made toast with hash browns!Robert

[Lloyd Smale]

used to mix in venison with my sausage. Found I like just pork in my sauage better. Pork buts are about the perfect meat to fat ration for fresh sausage like breakfast, Italian or bratts. Now summer sausage I make is 80 percent venison 20 percent pork but. Same with other stick sausages like peperoni salami ect. plus I like some spice in my sausage and mixing it with breakfast sausage 5050 without adding more spice would be a bit to bland for me. Dad does the same thing though. he buys bulk sausage and cuts it with venison 5050
My FIL was a butcher with a `brick & mortar` store. He processed deer for hunters and tried to do their `dream` order as good as possible considering how shot up the carcass was. On the burger he would do it as you wanted it done or offer suggestions on the mix of meat and fats. Beef trimmings of fat was usually the add in so when it was cooked you wouldn`t have a hockey puck for a game later. He told me about mixing antelope burger with pork sausage 50/50, talk about great with eggs and home made toast with hash browns!Robert

[dale2242]

Thanks for the replies.
Keep them coming....dale

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Never tried beef, but I'm sure it's not bad! We usually use pork fat from our homegrown hogs. Sometimes it has some lean in it, sometimes not. One time I used the trimmings off of our homemade bacon, that went over well! In a pinch, I've just added a scoop of lard to the frying pan, works just fine for tacos, etc, not sure how well it'd work for burgers.

I ground up a batch today and probably added 30% pork trimmings. I figure I got it right if I brown up a pan of meat and there is nothing to pour off. I don't know how they define commercial 80/20, but it sure isn't 80% meat to 20% fat, as there is always plenty of grease to drain off. Commercial sausage is even worse. By the looks of it, some brands could be 75%+ fat. All the better for mixing with venison, I suppose.

[MyFlatline]

THe best I have had was mixed with Ribeye fat, 20%. You would swear a ribeye was on the grill from the aroma. That is what I will try next.

[Hogtamer]

I've always done my own. Killed a young buck saturday w/20 ga slug. Went through an he never even kicked. 229980 Neat thing about the slug, good pass through at 60 yds but very little damage to surrounding meat. This is the exit side. Within 2 hrs had him cleaned and on ice. Made burger out of most of this one and I'm lucky in that the club where I cook uses some choice but mostly prime beef. I'm selective about the fat I use but have been accumulating for a couple of months and cryovac the trim immediately and freeze. Thawed the trim Sunday and ground and vacuum sealed Monday, quickly in the freezer. Also selective about the venison, removing all silver skin and connective tissue. As mentioned before, Gotta have moisture, at least 20% fat for a good burger. That may sound like a lot to some but a lot of that cooks out. Another source of moisture, I used 2 med - large sweet onions finely diced and about 1/4 of fresh garlic, also diced. Seasoned with salt and pepper. This was with about 23 lb of venison. Had about 1/2 bottle of decent savigon cabernet, poured over the whole tub and mixed well. Let it sit in the cooler about an hour then mix again. This assure the seasonings are well blended as well as the fatty beef and venison. A qt of apple cider or juice works as well. cryovaccuumed in 2 lb portions and froze. The next one or two will be mixed with pork and if you don't have access to good trim like I do, boston butt is naturally 30% fat in itself. 2 - 8 lb butts with a good fat cap does okay with an equal amount of lean venison. I like the old original Leggs sausage seasoning, 1 bag per 25 lbs meat. Moisture is still needed as this is a fairly lean sausage, so 1 cup or so of cider or white wine, plus 1/4 cup fresh garlic. Some additional fresh sage if you've got it, about 2 tablespoons of crushed red pepper plus 2 tablespoons of coarse grind black pepper. Mix, let it sit in the cooler and mix again. The liquid is the medium to assure the mix is even and the peppers offer flavor as well as a visual to see if it's mixed evenly. Grind and always cook a sample to see if it needs more seasoning.
I've done this a looong time and these combos work to most peoples taste. I used to stuff into hog casings but now mostly put it up bulk in 2 lb. packages. Generally if you use the Leggs you don't need additional salt. Once you get the sausage down to your taste it's hard to beat. Not much better than a couple of sausage biscuits with a fried egg on top of the sausage anytime. Plus good GRITS of course. Hah! I know that will get some of you going!
229983

[dk17hmr]

Straight up venison. Most of the meals people use ground meat for don't require a fat anyways. If you want to make burger patties out of it I'd suggest adding a little olive oil to the lean game meat first before forming the patties, or mix it pound for pound with beef burger at the time you are cooking it.

[Lloyd Smale]

next year when I make summer sausage again im going to try a batch with the apple cider replacing the water you mix the spice in. Never though of doing that. thanks.
I've always done my own. Killed a young buck saturday w/20 ga slug. Went through an he never even kicked. 229980 Neat thing about the slug, good pass through at 60 yds but very little damage to surrounding meat. This is the exit side. Within 2 hrs had him cleaned and on ice. Made burger out of most of this one and I'm lucky in that the club where I cook uses some choice but mostly prime beef. I'm selective about the fat I use but have been accumulating for a couple of months and cryovac the trim immediately and freeze. Thawed the trim Sunday and ground and vacuum sealed Monday, quickly in the freezer. Also selective about the venison, removing all silver skin and connective tissue. As mentioned before, Gotta have moisture, at least 20% fat for a good burger. That may sound like a lot to some but a lot of that cooks out. Another source of moisture, I used 2 med - large sweet onions finely diced and about 1/4 of fresh garlic, also diced. Seasoned with salt and pepper. This was with about 23 lb of venison. Had about 1/2 bottle of decent savigon cabernet, poured over the whole tub and mixed well. Let it sit in the cooler about an hour then mix again. This assure the seasonings are well blended as well as the fatty beef and venison. A qt of apple cider or juice works as well. cryovaccuumed in 2 lb portions and froze. The next one or two will be mixed with pork and if you don't have access to good trim like I do, boston butt is naturally 30% fat in itself. 2 - 8 lb butts with a good fat cap does okay with an equal amount of lean venison. I like the old original Leggs sausage seasoning, 1 bag per 25 lbs meat. Moisture is still needed as this is a fairly lean sausage, so 1 cup or so of cider or white wine, plus 1/4 cup fresh garlic. Some additional fresh sage if you've got it, about 2 tablespoons of crushed red pepper plus 2 tablespoons of coarse grind black pepper. Mix, let it sit in the cooler and mix again. The liquid is the medium to assure the mix is even and the peppers offer flavor as well as a visual to see if it's mixed evenly. Grind and always cook a sample to see if it needs more seasoning.
I've done this a looong time and these combos work to most peoples taste. I used to stuff into hog casings but now mostly put it up bulk in 2 lb. packages. Generally if you use the Leggs you don't need additional salt. Once you get the sausage down to your taste it's hard to beat. Not much better than a couple of sausage biscuits with a fried egg on top of the sausage anytime. Plus good GRITS of course. Hah! I know that will get some of you going!
229983

[Lloyd Smale]

Im a bit different then most when making something like chili or spaghetti sauce. I like fat in my bugger. Not like that Walmart tube burger but 10-15 percent and I don't drain it off after cooking the meat. the meat and fat go in the sauce or chili. To me it adds a lot of flavor. You don't cut the fat off a ribeye steak and throw it away (at least most of us) I eat it. WHY? because it tastes good. Why leave out that taste or throw it in the garbage. About any resteraunt that brags on there burger or calls them gourmet burgers us burger with fat in them. Again why? Because there not concerned with your cholesterol count there concerned with your taste buds and whether you will come back for another one. I remember when I started working as a lineman. My partner also ran a dairy farm. When his cows got to a certain age he slaughtered them and cut up the whole cow and made it into ground beef. He had the butcher leave out as much fat as possible and his selling point was that his meat was lean beef and wasn't just the junk cuts. even the tenderloins were ground up. He sold it for a buck a lb more then the going price of ground chuck. He had people on waiting lists to buy it. He asked me if I wanted to buy some one year and I told him most of my burger came from deer and buffalo. So he brought me in 5 lbs and told me just try it and id be convinced. He wasn't to happy when I told him it was probably the worse burger I ever ate. It was dry and fell apart and had little taste. Might work ok in chili and that's what I did with the last 4 lbs. But to eat as a burger it sucked.
Straight up venison. Most of the meals people use ground meat for don't require a fat anyways. If you want to make burger patties out of it I'd suggest adding a little olive oil to the lean game meat first before forming the patties, or mix it pound for pound with beef burger at the time you are cooking it.

[dk17hmr]

For me adding farm raised, hormone infused meat to my pure organic meat defeats the purpose of killing my own groceries. If you want to add fat by all means go for it. But try olive oil mixed in and you might change your mind.

I had a bad experience with pork shoulder going rancid in and ruining about 75 pounds of burger from a bull elk I killed a couple years ago, I couldn't eat it and ended up throwing most of it out or feeding it to my dog. You won't catch me mixing store bought meat into my burger again, unless I'm making sausage.

[MT Gianni]

I like beef fat for burger fairly lean, 9%-10%. I grind it first then rough grind the venison, mix and final grind.
I like venison sausage mixed 50-50 with commercial sausage.

[MyFlatline]

For us, unless it was to be cooked on the grill, all ground was pure. The truth in the pudding came out after about a year after the daughter had been diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. On one test the Doctor seemed puzzled. He was confused that her A1C's had dropped over a point, he asked about her diet. I had to explain that we were living off of venison as it was all we had. We were told then, that that was the best thing we could do to help her diabetes. That was 25 years ago, my how time flies.

So to this day, unless it is sausage or hamburger for the grill, no fat added..

[Lloyd Smale]

pork fat spoils faster then beef fat. Most butchers will tell you about 3 months in the freezer is about it for pork. Probably why some don't like the taste of burger with pork fat. probably why I grew up hating my dads burger with pork fat mixed in. Also when you pack burger don't do it in glad freezer bags that leave air in the bag. either get a stuffer and some ground meat bags and pack it in tight or vaccum pack it. Ive never had a bit of burger spoil using either methods and ive had some that weve ate that is close to two years in the freezer.
For me adding farm raised, hormone infused meat to my pure organic meat defeats the purpose of killing my own groceries. If you want to add fat by all means go for it. But try olive oil mixed in and you might change your mind.

I had a bad experience with pork shoulder going rancid in and ruining about 75 pounds of burger from a bull elk I killed a couple years ago, I couldn't eat it and ended up throwing most of it out or feeding it to my dog. You won't catch me mixing store bought meat into my burger again, unless I'm making sausage.

[toallmy]

I grind everything after trimming , pack in quart ' vacuum sealed ' freezer bags stored in the freezer , the little darling will mix in a pound of hot and spicy sausage when preparing it to be cooked , I have kept it stored like this for 2 years at a time . I go through around 50 lb of ground venison a year and it just works for me / although I thought about Loyds summer sausage .

[Lloyd Smale]

love my summer sausage but its a lot of work and isn't cheap to make and I need to do burger to offset the cost of fuel running back and forth to the farm. I figure each trip costs us 20 bucks in gas and we split all the deer so if we each get 5lbs of burger off each deer we easily pay for the gas. The rest of the meat is our profit. So my routine is put 5lbs of scrap off the first deer I butcher that day goes in the burger pile and then the rest of the scrap off that deer is sausage meat. When we shoot more then one I ususally put half in the burger pile and half in the sausage pile. I butcher a bit different then someone that only shoots one or two deer a year. I take the back straps and tenderloins for grilling. the three good muscles on the hind quarter go to cube steaks. The football muscle is a roast or I give some to my sun to make jerky and the rest of the deer is burger and sausage meat. I figure we go through about 200lbs of burger a year and try to put up at least that. Another problem with summer sausage is you end up giving half of it away to family and friends.
I grind everything after trimming , pack in quart ' vacuum sealed ' freezer bags stored in the freezer , the little darling will mix in a pound of hot and spicy sausage when preparing it to be cooked , I have kept it stored like this for 2 years at a time . I go through around 50 lb of ground venison a year and it just works for me / although I thought about Loyds summer sausage .

[snowwolfe]

Been making our own venison burger for a couple of years now. Generally I shoot for a 85/15 mix. We did some blind taste tests with family members using beef fat in one batch and pork fat in the other. No one could detect a difference. Our local supermarket is great. All you need to do is call them a day in advance and they will hold and even wrap all the beef or pork fat you want for free. Just picked up 13 pounds tonight as we have to make burger this weekend.

[yeahbub]

. . . it was probably the worse burger I ever ate. It was dry and fell apart and had little taste. Might work ok in chili and that's what I did with the last 4 lbs. But to eat as a burger it sucked.

I'm with Lloyd on the fat content. I use my ground venison mostly for meatloaf and chilli, mixing it 1/1 with ground pork or beef on the day I cook it, which prevents the "stale fat" taste from being frozen a long time. For burgers too, and I generally mix minced onions and garlic into the patties when I'm mixing it. Yum. Like others have stated - enough fat for a bit left in the skillet.

I once had the misfortune of going to a hog roast and getting moist, tender, falling-off-the-bone pulled pork that had not a smidgeon, not a particle, not a molecule of fat anywhere in it. I commented to my GF, "What th'. . ? There's no fat in it!" and the two guys who perpetrated this admittedly amazing feat proudly said, "Yessirree, not a bit!!" I didn't want to seem unappreciative, but that was the most tasteless and difficult to swallow meat I ever had - it just didn't want to go down. I spent the next 20 minutes melting in margarine (nothing else handy) in an attempt to sauce it up and help it out. I needed to eat, so I got it down, but it was no joy and more like work. . . Who in the world goes to a hog roast to get health food?

[Kimber1911]

Burger we usually use straight venison, for sausage I use 75/25 venison and pork shoulder. I have found the pork with fat is a good option, I have used pork fat only, but the mix of meat and fat seems to be better. I grind the two meats together, then add spices, then grind again.

[Lloyd Smale]

yup that's about like sticking to your diet by going out Friday night and drinking 20 lite beers.

[dale2242]

I went with 10% beef fat and it definitely gives it a beefy flavor.
I`m OK with the flavor but it won`t make a patty that will hold together.
It cooks up crumbly, which is fine.
We use it in tacos, spaghetti, chili etc.
When we had breakfast sausage made we had 20% pork shoulder added.
This is enough to make a patty hold together.

[rl69]

I don't add anything to my ground meat. It works well in chilly spaghetti tocos and such. If I want burgers I just add a little ground sausage to the mix

[toallmy]

I have started mixing around 2 -3 lb ground venison with one lb hot spicy tube sausage to make some delicious chopped steak with brown gravy .

[DLCTEX]

My butcher gives me pork fat trimmings free, it would go in the garbage otherwise.. I mix it it with my venison at 1 1/2# to 10# and grind. I brine the venison overnight before grinding.

[Kimber1911]

What do you use to brine the meat? Just salt water? Salt and sugar?

[Camper64]

For ground venison we use 1# fatty beef to 5# ground deer.
For breakfast sausages we use 1# bacon ends to 5# ground deer and sausage seasoning from Hy-Vee/Fairway.

[Tripplebeards]

I just grind mine up pure and don’t add anything. My corn fed deer taste great!

So much for everyone keeping their meat healthy.lol

Adding beef,pork fat, and bacon is like going to Mc Donald’s and ordering a salad...with fried chicken strips in it.

[JWFilips]

Don't know much about burgers....but when I had 100% ground venison I used to make a mean meatloaf out of it with my favorite seasonings and a nice chunk of "Fat Back" cut up in to small cubes! Would think that would work for burgers also!

[Tripplebeards]

Pure ground burger has trouble sticking together when making actual burger patties. You have to baby them when flipping.

I normally soak it in milk for an hour and drain before frying it up with virgin olive oil. Kills all the wild game taste. If I’m using it for bbq,chili,etc. I toss some brown sugar and seasonings in when frying it up and make sure to keep draining all the water and grease out every so often untill it fries up a little crispy. All the rancid wild game taste is completely gone by then and there no way you know it was deer meat.