Roasts or Burger?

[Jbehredt]

No roasts. Steaks and burger.

 

[elkguide]

Deer, backstraps and tender loins are always cut into steaks. Most everything else goes into bacon burger.
Elk, if it can be cut into a steak, done. Everything else is burger.
No roasts in our house. Found that we always ended up grinding them up later.

 

[Wrench]

I just made #175 burger and #75 of sausage. I keep the best, grind the rest....except lately I've been making 30 pounds into chile Colorado every year and freeze drying it.

 

[Bugger]

Another good option if you’re overloaded on ground is to make a big ol batch of barbacoa style shredded meat with shoulder, trim, and neck meat. Slide it into burger bags a pound or so each and refreeze to use later. It’s super easy to thaw in the fridge or toss in water for a couple hours and make tacos, hash, pita pockets or my kids favorite sloppy does. It takes other seasonings really well when reheating in a pan.

 

[Erict]

Cut, weigh, vaccuum seal and freeze roasts.
Grind bits and pieces and the "lesser" cuts to get a few packs of ready to go ground meat.
Thaw and use roasts as is, or grind fresh, or chip, slice, dice for whatever is on the menu.

You can't ungrind good roasts.

 

[COJoe]

My wife and I enjoy a roast cooked low and slow and the option to shred it after the first meal with it. I also like to slice up left over meat to put on a tortilla with smoked gouda cheese, warmed up in a toaster oven at work for lunch, mmmm. But I'll do that with ground beef too. I'm all talk this year though with no elk. Buying a meat package from a local ranch on Monday and it's half ground burger.

 

[5MilesBack]

I grind most everything except tenderloin and back strap, but sometimes I save a roast or two for Mississippi pot roast over mashed potatoes. We use a lot of ground. And if we want any other kind of meat it's generally a good prime rib or ribeyes.

 

[long hunter]

Back straps , tender loins are cut to fillets, these are fine wrapped in some good bacon and slow cooked over hickory coals especially in a lazy fish camp during the spring trout season with home fries a couple eggs and sour dough bread with sweet butter and a smear of home made wild blue berry jam, hind quarters are broken down to muscle groups for Jerky and pastrami the rest is ground for bologna since I make my own its actually a rather easy process sometimes I will keep a few steaks from a hind quarter I like them done low and slow over a good bed of hickory coals with sea salt and a good grind of fresh black pepper.

 

[camping1601]

Burger but keep a couple pieces for roasts. I like to make roasts from pieces like the neck, shanks, or front legs. Sometimes laziness when butchering has me making more roasts.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

I always get just the primal cuts..if I want steaks or burgers I just make it out the roasts.

 

[stooxie]

Another vote for backstraps and loins whole, rest ground up. Once I figured out a really good meatball recipe, I'll go through two pounds of ground venison a week.

-Stooxie

 

[butcherboy]

I cut my backstraps into 6”-8” roasts and smoke them wrapped in bacon. Slice for a thick steak when done or even thin for some kind of sandwich or Philly cheesesteak. Tenderloins are left whole and smoked as well. One or two inside rounds are cut then tenderized for country fried steak or steak fingers. The rest is all ground for burger and usually pressed jerky and summer sausage. We eat a lot of burger in my house.

 

[JoeDirt]

I just do burger and roasts, easier to process. Create whatever you want with that in the off season.

Larger roasts go in the crock pot

Smaller roasts get seasoned for 24hours, then grilled/seared, once the roast is browned you baste with some garlic herb butter. Then slice your perfectly cooked steaks.

Pictures of my tailgate tenderloins

 

[thinhorn_AK]

There are times when I’m cutting up my deer or elk and have to decide if I want a roast or turn it into burger.

I don’t mind roasts, easy to make and tasty.
Burger has a lot more options in the kitchen

Seems like I tend to make more burger than roasts.

What’s your preference?

I lean more towards ground. Nom just not into roasts all that much. Just American thing though, I’ve never really liked pot roast or any of that stringy type meat ever since I was a kid. I always weigh things more towards the grind.

 

[JNDEER]

Grind everything but the backstraps and tenderloins.

100% This.

For pig and bear its breakfast sausage instead of burger.

 

[LookinforDirt]

I like to take a few roasts a year and make shredded bbq venison for tacos and burritos. I also like a classic style roast. Carrots, onions, potato’s, gravy. Good stuff.

 

[Michael95]

90% burger other than blackstraps and 2 roasts out of 3 deer this year

 

[chindits]

I usually cut for 3 different packages: steak, burger, stew meat and take frozen shanks to the bandsaw. This year I said no more. There was hardly room for this year’s elk because the wifey isn’t cooking last year’s moose and my 2022 elk enough so it’s up to me to make room in the freezer.

So this year some steaks but everything else including neck, shanks and flanks went burger. Not counting the heart of course. I can cook up and eat burgers 3 times a day.

 

[PredatoronthePrairie]

Elk
Steaks and burger mostly.

Deer
Have a few reliable butchers that make great brats, ring bologna, and deer bacon. So usually send a deer or 2 that way every year.

Will keep a few roasts to make classic pot roast. And want to try pastrami this year.

But the wife prefers venison canned. So usually a whole deer is processed that way. Just makes things so simple on busy weeknights. Especially when you forget to pull something out of the freezer.

Ended up with 54 pints and the straps off an archery buck this year

 

[EvanG17]

Cardinal sin so judge if you like. I put everything into burger. Back straps and all. I have a wife and 2 kids and it’s all they enjoy to eat so that’s what we do with it