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  • Striper69

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 31, 2014
    1,400
    Iowa
    OK. What are the ins and outs of making this stuff?:)
     

    HeatSeeker

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 18, 2012
    3,058
    Maryland
    Needs lots of seasoning and some fat. I add egg and seasoning to mine when I am pattying them up. Deer has ZERO fat so it will fall apart in the pan or on the grill when cooking. Some butchers will mix a little pork in when grinding. That makes for good binder and flavor too.
     

    E.Shell

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 5, 2007
    10,245
    Mid-Merlind
    Also, be sure to clean the meat well, meaning you should remove all fat and connective tissue prior to grinding to improve flavor. Deer fat carries a strong 'gamey' flavor and the melting point is above that of the human mouth, so it will congeal as you eat it.
     

    Archeryrob

    Undecided on a great many things
    Mar 7, 2013
    3,064
    Washington Co. - Fairplay
    You can add 1 - 2# of pork fat when grinding/mixing or mix 50/5o with 73% ground beef. Then they will not burn. I use the latter as the wife is sensitive to "wild game" tastes. Basically, if its not corn feed her tastes buds don't like it much. So you want deer flavor just add a bit of pork fat.

    My M-i-L cook them straight and uses bacon grease or olive oil for the same result.
     

    44man

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 19, 2013
    10,129
    southern md
    Make darn sure you get all the glands, fat and cartilage out of the meat

    Use only meat that was shot, gutted and cleaned and quartered quickly

    We add 1 lb bacon to 10 lbs of deer burger so it has enough fat to fry and not stick and burn
     

    bigjohn

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 29, 2007
    2,752
    Clean all the fat and silver skin off. I use cheap bacon ends instead of fat when I grind mine. I do 20%. You don’t really notice the bacon unless you make burgers. When in other things like chili or spaghetti, just a little flavor difference. For the good of course
     

    Pushrod

    Master Blaster
    Aug 8, 2007
    2,979
    WV High Country
    Clean all the fat and silver skin off. I use cheap bacon ends instead of fat when I grind mine. I do 20%. You don’t really notice the bacon unless you make burgers. When in other things like chili or spaghetti, just a little flavor difference. For the good of course

    I do this also with the bacon. It works great.
    However, I will say that grinding burger is my LEAST favorite part of processing deer meat. It is just a pain in the ass all around. (I use an old manual grinder, so that may be why it is such a PITA).
     

    44man

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 19, 2013
    10,129
    southern md
    I do this also with the bacon. It works great.
    However, I will say that grinding burger is my LEAST favorite part of processing deer meat. It is just a pain in the ass all around. (I use an old manual grinder, so that may be why it is such a PITA).

    Hand grinding sucks

    Once we had a drive shaft hooked to a tractor to a reduction gear then to a #32 grinder, it was great till it ripped the shirt off my back, lol

    Then we bought the meat section of an a and p that was closing, so now grinding is my favorite part
     
    venison is closer to pork in texture and cooking time than beef. I use uncured pork belly I buy at the Korean market. 80/20 or 75/25 ratio works. Do not season or add anything to it other than fat until you are ready to use it. I use onion soup mix in my burgers and brown mustard and brown sugar in my meatloaf.
     

    davsco

    Ultimate Member
    Oct 21, 2010
    8,607
    Loudoun, VA
    we don't add anything to deer burger. the whole point is that it is a nice lean meat so we keep it that way. most of our burger ends up in casseroles, meat loaf, etc.
     

    SCV/SAR Patriot

    UNRECONSTRUCTED
    A couple years ago I started grinding applewood and hickory smoked bacon into my grind. You talk about good! I do a 70/30 venison to bacon ratio. I weight it out and mix in a 5 gallon bucket. Put it in the freezer for about a half hour or more as well as the grinder tray, knife, auger and plates-makes grinding easier. Double grind, first with the course then the fine plate. 7 lbs venison to 3 pounds bacon for 10 pounds finished product. 3 1/2 to 1 1/2 for 5 pounds of finished product.
     

    bigjohn

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 29, 2007
    2,752
    I do this also with the bacon. It works great.
    However, I will say that grinding burger is my LEAST favorite part of processing deer meat. It is just a pain in the ass all around. (I use an old manual grinder, so that may be why it is such a PITA).

    I did the hand grinder for years. Got a cheap one from gander mountain and haven’t looked back. Best investment I’ve made.
     

    Archeryrob

    Undecided on a great many things
    Mar 7, 2013
    3,064
    Washington Co. - Fairplay
    Hand grinding sucks

    Once we had a drive shaft hooked to a tractor to a reduction gear then to a #32 grinder, it was great till it ripped the shirt off my back, lol

    Then we bought the meat section of an a and p that was closing, so now grinding is my favorite part

    My buddy told me the story of hooking the grinder up, without the gear reduction. He said "we had meat all over the ceiling" :lol2:
     

    SCV/SAR Patriot

    UNRECONSTRUCTED
    Yes as others said, clean the meat and the smaller the pieces the better. I have an LEM grinder that was given to me for Christmas one year from Bass Pro. Lightly freezing by tightening up the meat and freezing the grinder components that makes contact with the meat makes all the difference in the word.
     

    44man

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 19, 2013
    10,129
    southern md
    My buddy told me the story of hooking the grinder up, without the gear reduction. He said "we had meat all over the ceiling" :lol2:

    We tried that, tractor barely running and it was still turning about 300 rpm and shot meat 6’

    What a mess, hence the reduction gear

    I saw a guy once who used a model t transmission for the reduction gear, it was cool to look at and easier to hook up than ours since it had yokes for the u joints on it already
     

    remrug

    Ultimate Member
    Mar 13, 2009
    1,762
    manchester md
    I just spice it up.....never the same way tho. Add a little liquid,about a tablespoon per pound of Heinz 57,teriyaki,soy sauce or any other that you may like.Sometimes an egg.
    You dont have to add fat to keep burgers from falling apart,just dont turn them too soon.

    Just remember....they will never taste exactly like beef burgers,but pretty fine eating if you ask me
     

    GuitarmanNick

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 9, 2017
    2,221
    Laurel
    Haven't been able to hunt for many years, but I never added anything to my ground deer until we were ready to cook it. Then, simply season it as you would lean ground beef and add an egg or so for a binder. Always made sure to clean all of the meat well before grinding. Some of the best tasting ground meat I have ever had. We would use it just like ground beef in all of our cooking.
     

    Biggfoot44

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 2, 2009
    32,884
    Davsco has a point . If you are going for the high protein/ lowest fat , then strictly deer in the "deer burger " . If you mainly use it in casseroles, chilli, etc , your good to go . Cooking as literal burgers it is tricky not to burn and dry it out .

    Most commercial processors will add beef fat unless customer declines . 1lb of cheap bacon per deer is the prefered .

    Personally , I like to use default marginal cuts for jerky instead of burger .
     

    Speed3

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 19, 2011
    7,816
    MD
    As said, clean the meat as thorough as you can, no silver skin, fat, tissue etc. This is the MOST important part of it.

    Recipe, completely up to you. When I first got my grinder, I made 5-10 different versions of burger and fed them to my wife/kids/father. They all agreed on the same recipe and that is what I stuck with.

    80%deer, 20% pork shoulder. run through the grinder twice on the large setting and once on the small. Once complete, I would add 1/3 lb of bacon to each 1lb of the deer/pork mix and that's what stuck for us. We eat lots of burger meat in the form of a hamburger, so the fat content was key to us. I've used in tacos, spaghetti, etc and it tastes fine. However, if I was going to not eat it in burger form, I'd just grind the deer 100% and use that for the other foods.
     

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