Grind: Pork or Beef Fat?

[airlocksniffer]

I typically grind my venison with 10% beef fat but was thinking about trying pork fat this year. For anybody who has done both, what do you prefer and why?

 

[Bulldawg]

Using beef fat leaves more of a beef flavor in the meat and the pork tends to be more mild to me and leaves the meat to have the flavor of that particular animal which I like. Pork for me because I like the taste of elk and deer and don't want to cover it up. I have been doing mine lately with no fat at all though.

 

[Elkfitness]

I think it's all a preference, but agree with the mildness of pork. I like it all. My wife's family has always used beef and my family has always used pork.

That said, for the last ten years or so, my deer get the beef fat and my elk get the pork fat. 10% as well.

 

[wapitibob]

None this year. Straight up

 

[Eagle]

It depends on the situation. If I was going to store the meat for an extended period after grinding, I'd use beef, as pork will oxidize in the freezer eventually. If I knew it was all going to be used within 5 months or so, pork would work fine.

What I do if I have a lot to grind and store is grind it without anything added, and then if I want to make burgers, I'll mince up 4 slices of bacon and mix that in with 24 oz of ground venison before making my patties

 

[danarnold]

beef for deer, elk straight up unless making meatballs, the wife uses pork sausage for that

 

[airlocksniffer]

It depends on the situation. If I was going to store the meat for an extended period after grinding, I'd use beef, as pork will oxidize in the freezer eventually.

Hmm, haven't thought of that. Would the packaging method affect how quickly the pork fat will oxidize? I normally use plastic bread bags and freezer paper but I'm going to try the poly meat bags that I can grind right in to from my grinder. You can get those twisted down pretty tight with very little air left.

 

[Graindrain]

I use uncured bacon, or fat back. I use 10-15%.

I get it for around .25/pound when I go to the store.

Beef is high and the fat I have got from the butcher is usually hard and doesn't mix as well.

I also notice when I cook the beef fat it smells worse and the family doesn't like it as much. The pork never has an off smell and mixes better.


I keep the scrap pieces in a separate bag for jerky or chili and do not mix any fat with them. Both bags look the same around 10 months later. So I don't have any experience with the oxidizing.

Just remember to keep the fat, meat, and grinder cold. Every so often I will through a piece of ice in the grinder just to cool things off too.

 

[rayporter]

i can eat it either way but the cook prefers some fat in the mix. we just dug out some elk from 2013 with pork in it. it was delicious. we have rarely had a problem with older meat in the freezer. we just defrosted and some stuff from 2011 was just moved to the top to finish off. and we dont add water either.

last year it was 6 % beef in the deer and this year we done 10% beef, just cause we had a lot of fat. there is still 12 lbs of beef fat frozen just in case we can grind more.

i dont use a food saver, just freezer bags or freezer paper. [ which ever is around]

 

[jtw]

I grind and freeze with zero fat. What I do is make sure to put fat in when I cook it so I use butter, bacon, oil, etc. It gives me more culinary options and it lasts long since theres no fat to turn.

 

[Roy68]

Pork fat for us, and only with deer not in elk. I use it only in my sausages not in my burger. If we make venison burgers we add 1 egg per pound, mix, and make patties. The egg will bind the meat and hold your burger together.

Bulk sausage goes in poly bags and we have never had issues with the oxidation. It will occur but the less exposure it as to air the better.
Cased sausages are either vac sealed or wrapped in freezer paper. Again I've had no issues with the oxidation.

We typically run out of the sausage about the time season rolls around again. Make sure the fat is as fresh as you can get.

 

[Riverwalker]

Pork

 

[bobhunts]

My best burgers came from grinding in Bacon ends. But for regular use like Spagetti or other meals Beef works well. All of it depends on taste. And I try and taste it all. None of it will be bad.

 

[KMT]

I use either beef or pork fat randomly, mostly because I can never remember which one I used "last year." My tastebuds are so underdeveloped that I can't tell the difference. This is with elk meat.

 

[xcutter]

A mixture of cheap fatty bacon and beef fat in deer is very tasty. I try to shoot for 10% to 15% fat. A little greasier but tastes awesome.

 

[airlocksniffer]

Picked up 5 lbs of pork fat from the butcher so I'll give it a go and report back. Appreciate all the feedback.

 

[sab]

I don't add any fat. One big benefit of wild game meat is the lack of fat!

 

[Laelkhunter]

I freeze the ground Elk with nothing else in it. If making burgers, I will usually add 20% beef fat before cooking. If making sausage, I add 50% pork butt roast. I didn't have any beef fat this last weekend, and grilled Elk burgers with no fat added, and they came out really good (just don't overcook them).

 

[Murdy]

It depends what you are doing with it. If most of it ends up in chili, casseroles, spaghetti sauce, and such, you really don't need to add any fat to it. When I make these dishes using beef, I pre cook it and pour off the excess fat anyway. If you are making burgers, a little fat is necessary to hold it together, and for that , it's personal preference as to the type. I've worked in 2 production facilities where we primarily made non-game sausage, but also processed venison sausage (summer, wieners, breakfast sausage, ring bologna, etc.) on the side, and we used pork exclusively for sausage.

I also will vacuum pack a certain amount of my meat in large chunks (not whole loins usually as they are too big for my vacuum packer), and take it out and grind it later.

 

[Broomd]

Pork fat spoils far easier than beef fat if the meat isn't in constant deep freeze....