meat to fat grind ratio

[Trial153]

If your going to grind in beef fat make sure you use fat and not suet. Suet has very high melting point do to the increased amount of triglyceride, which will make for an unpleasant experience in say a medium rare burger. The absolute best fat to use in grinds is off the outside of the loin or the outside of the hinds, be it beef or pork. Suit ( kidney fat ) is best used in some limited baking applications.

 

[MDR]

Sausages typically get 15-20% fat. Burgers I like a bit leaner at 10-12% by weight

 

[Robinhood21]

I do some catering events on the side so whenever I have beef trimmings (expecially beef tenderloin trimmings) I like to use that for my venison grind. I don't weight it, Ijust eyeball it... it's probably close to 15-20%.

If I don't have beef trimmings I'll substitute bacon and it really does make fantastic wild game burgers!

 

[DavePwns]

I use 15% to 20% bacon ends, very tasty burger but still keeps the tasty flavor of the elk, I have tried beef trimmings and had a horrible experience

 

[Rky Mtn Farmer]

I guess I am the odd one of the bunch, I use organic olive oil I get from Sams. It adds good flavor and helps the meat to hold together as well as not stick to the pan when cooking. I usually just dump a bunch in with my meat, if I had to guess, 4 to 5 cups per 20-25 lbs. Main way i check is fry up a patty and see how it cooks.

My dad started doing it years ago, said it was cheaper and better for you. He always said that it didn’t make sense to him to add domesticated animal fat to high quality organic venison. As farmer he said that the chemicals, heavy metals, hormones and other crap that makes meat non-organic settles mostly in the fat of that animal. By mixing it in you are getting a higher concentrations of it. I will be honest, I never fact checked his claims, so don’t take this as gospel. It made sense to me and I enjoyed the flavor and so I have carried the practice on with my family.

 

[Fatcamp]

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.

We do this as well.

 

[JoeDirt]

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.

Ive never had issues with needing fat to hold a burger together. I think its a myth you hear repeated a lot. I single grind 1/4" plate no fat no issues.....

The protein activation is interesting, I guess you can grind 3 or 4 times and get the same effect, never tied it though.

 

[Laramie]

Ive never had issues with needing fat to hold a burger together. I think its a myth you hear repeated a lot. I single grind 1/4" plate no fat no issues.....

The protein activation is interesting, I guess you can grind 3 or 4 times and get the same effect, never tied it though.

I learned that from a chef- he used the trick for any ground recipes where he wanted the meat to really stick together. Meat balls, meat loaf, burgers, etc... It works really well.

 

[Rob5589]

Typically I do around 80/20 with pure pork fat.

 

[roadrunner]

Go to any grocery store and buy a 3 lb pack of bacon ends and pieces, add 10% by weight and you're fine.

Don't overthink it. This is less difficult than rocket science.

 

[jmez]

I grind burger 10% beef tallow
Sausage 20% pork butt (shoulder)

Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk

 

[ScottB]

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.

I don't add any fat. I like the test of 100% deer or elk.

 

[BigLebowski]

I agree I prefer beef fat for the flavor with venison.

 

[Jn78]

A few folks have said they don't add pork fat because of the temperature to which pork has to be cooked. I think that the high temperature recommendation is a thing of the past because trichinosis is no longer found in domestic pork.

Regardless, different people like different amounts of fat.

If you have a good butcher in town just give him a call and tell him what you will use your grind for. He should be able to set you up.

 

[Huntinaz]

I like it leaner, usually 6-10% beef fat

 

[Lytro]

I occasionally grind venison with 20% bacon for burger patties, but I grind my regular burger 100% lean all venison. It cooks fine and tastes just as good IMO.

 

[weatherbow21]

I've been doing 8% beef suet. I tried 15% on a batch in the past hoping for a little more fatty juicy flavor but ended up just being too much fat and left your mouth with a fatty coating, pretty unappetizing. I also do 30% bacon mix which I make right into patties and freeze as its the only way I eat it is on a burger, its really good stuff

 

[MeatBuck]

I usually do 5:1 venison to bacon ends and pieces. Basically I just add a three pound package to roughly 15 lbs of ground venison. That’s about what I grind from each deer so batches are pretty consistent.
In the past I’ve added high fat content ground beef and pork fat but it kinda takes the healthy aspect from the equation so I dumped the beef and lessened the amount of pork fat. Basically the bacon ends and pieces are for flavor more so than for adding fat content.

 

[JJ8277]

I use 15-25% depending on what I'm mixing with the meat. I've used pork butts, beef brisket, and even bacon. For burger patties I like to use bacon ends and pieces. Grind them up and add 20% to your ground venison. Makes great burgers and that ratio works well for snack sticks (slim jims) too.

 

[jmazz]

I do 10% pork belly and we’ve been really happy with the results over the last few years. We don’t make burgers though so don’t have to worry about temperature as much.