Wild Animal Fat

[treillw]

I have always thought that you were supposed to remove all of the fat from wild game (specifically elk and deer) while processing it. I've heard that the fat doesn't melt the same way as beef/pork fat and produces a gamey taste with a waxy mouth feel when cooked. I've always done my best to remove all the fat, silver skin, and junk from my meat.

My buddy told me to watch the below video. The butcher seems very knowledgeable, but I'm surprised to see him keeping the elk fat in the grind, roasts, etc. It just made me wonder about it.

Thoughts? Should fat be removed? Why is he keeping it? Are there any game species which you keep the fat for?

Thanks!

 

[xcutter]

I've always done the same as you. Remove all fat and silver skin. Curious to hear other opinions.

I will say that a guy at work uses all the fat and leaves sliver skin but I'm not so sure he can taste much of anything. Deer fat and silver skin always tastes gross to me.

 

[jmez]

I trim all fat. I only remove large pieces of silver skin that fillet off easily.


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[Tod osier]

I've eaten the fat plenty of times and it isn't something I want on my steaks. I have made braised dishes with a decent amount of fat and that is OK to me.

 

[chutinlead]

Deer fat is like like waxy peanut butter that tastes like gasoline. Left some on a set of ribs and was not worth the wood chips to smoke it. Also deer fat will go rancid in the freezer and mess with the taste of your meat.

We save our bacon grease and will use that when cooking wild game.

 

[HighUintas]

I ground some elk fat (the thick tallow like stuff) into my ground elk last year and when making straight burgers without seasoning it is has a distinct flavor and I don't like it. I did it primarily because I wanted all the goodness the animal had to give and thought I'd just see if the flavor was noticeable. Not sure if I'll do it again.

 

[Howdoyoulikemenow]

It all comes off. Always.

 

[black dawg]

We tried using the fat off of a moose, ground into burger. Did a test batch that we cooked up that night (all fresh off the bone and not frozen yet) and it was really good. Even being in the freezer just a couple weeks, and something was changing.......got to the point it was not edible (for me, and I have eaten mostly wild game my whole life).

About half the burger we did from that moose we used beef fat and or bacon, and it was all good.....and in the same freezer.

 

[FLATHEAD]

No problems with the fat on acorn fed Eastern Whitetails.
I especially like it on a Roast.

 

[chicoredneck]

I like that fat, usually. One thing I do when butchering game is to take a small hunk of fat off the animal I’m about to butcher, fry it up in a pan, and taste it. If it tastes good, I save as much fat as I can.

On cuts I know I’m going to eat in the next month, I’ll leave the fat on. If the meat is going to sit in the freezer for longer than that I trim all the fat off. The fat goes rancid otherwise, even if frozen. I take the fat trimmings and render them down. I bottle and save the rendered grease for cooking. The rendered grease is stable and doesn’t go bad.

I have found mule deer fat to vary widely in flavor, but often has a lamb like taste. I like lamb so deer fat is one of my favorites. Elk fat is often very beef like. My wife prefers the elk fat. Antelope is usually pretty mild, but can vary widely.

 

[jzelk]

I trim all deer fat because I do not like the taste or the waxy feel it leaves in the mouth. I leave some elk and moose fat, I like the taste of the fat from each of them.

 

[deerhunt1988]

Trim all whitetail fat! Can't stand that waxy stuff. I leave some elk fat on, it cooks better and tastes better. Like someone previously mentioned, with elk fat there is a SLIGHT resemblance to beef fat for me.

 

[Laramie]

I remove absolutely anything that isn't red. It takes a lot of time to remove all silver skin but it makes a huge difference on the dinner table. Muscle doesn't hold gamey flavor... Remove everything that does and you are left with consistently great tasting meat.

 

[Bazer3]

I trim all the fat and silver skin. Seems to help with the gamey flavor as well.

 

[Hackleback]

Im not a fan of deer fat. Some of the worst venison steaks I have ever had were cut on a bands saw with the fat cap. A very distinctive taste and the melted tallow coated my mouth and solidified. That was 30 plus years ago, I still remember it.

 

[wapitibob]

The worst tasting game meat I've ever had was from a shop cutting it up like a beef. I wouldn't go near that place with a game animal.

 

[ericwh]

I've used deer fat in burger and sausage. Beforehand I fried some in a pan and tasted it and it was good to go so I used it. This was a fat deer near agricultural fields FWIW probably corn fed.

 

[msalm]

When I was a kid I remember my dad butchering deer shot in northern WI and he always left a fat cap on the loin steaks, about 1/4” worth. I also still remember drinking a glass of cold milk after eating said loin steaks pan fried….never forget that coating of ‘wax’ on the inside of your mouth! Taste was excellent, the after effects not so much. On a ‘good’ one, bear fat is supposed to be excellent, and I’ve read it makes the best deep fried doughnuts. I render out the bear fat separately and can it for use as a patch lubricant for traditional muzzleloaders though.

 

[WyoKid]

Game fat in the freezer causes the meat to go rancid quicker. I trim all fat and silver skin.

The only fat worth saving is bear fat (but not on the meat) that gets rendered for baking and frying.

 

[seww]

I'm glad I found this thread! I've heard a lot of people talk about removing deer fat, just never understood why.
So far, never had deer or elk here in the US but I did get some ground moose last year, which had bacon in it, for fat. Not sure why?

Back in Sweden, we always use the fat from the moose to add flavor and fat content to the grounded meat. We even boil some bones and meat and fat into a broth and then we save it. The fat content is so high that once it cools, it can act as a lid on the jars, like an inch thick.
Never experienced the meat going rancid in the freezer or the fat.

Is it a different diet for the game here in North America? Like the sage brush that I've heard make the meat taste very gamey. Or are we just different people and less people here like the fat?