Home processers

[Admin]

Question for those of you that process your own venison, when you grind your meat, do you trim out all the deer fat or do you mix it in the grind?
Just curious. Personally I don't care for the tallowy texture and taste of deer fat so I trim it out. My burger is ground 100% venison but I add about 30% pork fat into my sausage making.
How do you go about it?

[TRAPnHUNT]

I've always trimmed it up and then added pork fat.

[patricimo54]

I am a trimmer. I have been know to add 10% to 20% bacon ends and pieces to my ground venison. Years ago there was a local mom and pop grocery that we would buy beef fat to add to our ground venison, again the same ratio.

[trapperbud]

I trim mine and add 1/3 bacon to mine gives it a good flavor .

[woodsman416]

I trim mine. I agree with JC. I don't like that "tallowy" taste from deer fat. I mix my hamburgers with 12% beef suet for moisture and hold. 20% pork for sausage. Ground meat for loose ground meat recipes I don't mix at all.

[trapperandhunter]

i trim all the fat as well, and mix with pork. may try with bacon this year.

[coalbank]

Most all through the grinder is red. We don't add anything till cook time, spices mostly.

[Nutso]

We normally trim off the fat, but we mix in pork butt. I feel that it adds moisture not just "fat". I like my sausage pretty lean, so I add the same amount for both sausage and burger.

[Admin]

I see we all have similar methods. When I first moved up here I was cutting up a deer for an older gentlemen and his wif was there. She kept taking all the s**t I was trimming off and putting it in a bag to grind.
OMG that must have been fricken horrible

There was no way I was eating over there

[Canadian trapper]

I remove as much fat and anything else I don't want to see in my food. I usually mix it with about 50% pork for sausage and meat pies.
The Canadian Trapper

[woodsman416]

Oct 21, 2011 19:37:05 GMT -5 Admin said:

She kept taking all the s**t I was trimming off and putting it in a bag to grind.
OMG that must have been fricken horrible

There was no way I was eating over there

That's how my father in law is. I think it has something to do with growing up during the depression.

He moved in with us one year, right before bow season. I killed a deer and brought it home in the back of my truck. He came out to see it and asked "Where's the rest of it?".

"The rest of it? What do you mean the rest of it?" I asked. "

"You know, the heart, the liver, the kidneys, the lungs."

"They're in a big pile in the woods where they belong."

He proceeded to tell me how he uses the WHOLE deer. Big stress on the WHOLE. He said I should cut out the tongue and the brains too. Next couple of deer I kept the liver, kidneys and heart. I wasn't crazy about the liver and kidneys but I still take the heart out of every deer I kill. Funny thing though, yesterday Outdoor Life magazine came in the mail. Inside I find an article about using the WHOLE deer. Even the lungs!

[tinknocker1]

i trim mine also no junk goes into the burger ..i don't add anything to it like pork or beef ..if i make up sausage i add fresh ground pork or beef that day .. goes into the freezer 100% deer

[Ipostbulls**t]

I add pork as well! for sausage and a small amount of beef for hamburger.

[bnolan]

trim off deer fat and add beef kidney suet but have also used pork. both do well

[dsmith7136]

Remove ALL fat and as much "silver skin" as possible. I'm positively anal about it. Add beef kidney suet if you can get it from a good source (commercial meat processor, neighborhood butcher). Couple guys I know grind bacon into the mix -30-40%. Main thing is get the fat out, add only prime ingredients.

[lookout]

Oct 22, 2011 12:32:57 GMT -5 downhome said:

most of that stuff goes to the chickens. as well as the carcass.
So you could say I do use the whole Deer just not first hand.

really? deer parts?
I'm raising my first batch of chickens this spring so I'm curious. I know they get protein from bugs and such, but I didn't know you could feed them meat and fat bits.

[adksasquatch]

Oct 24, 2011 21:50:54 GMT -5 lookout said:

Oct 22, 2011 12:32:57 GMT -5 downhome said:

most of that stuff goes to the chickens. as well as the carcass.
So you could say I do use the whole Deer just not first hand.

really? deer parts?
I'm raising my first batch of chickens this spring so I'm curious. I know they get protein from bugs and such, but I didn't know you could feed them meat and fat bits.

Just wait. Chickens are almost as bad as pigs. The first year we were butchering chickens up here, the birds that were still roaming around were fighting over the guts bucket and the clots in the blood buckets... made me want to gag watching a chicken slide a big blood clot down his throat...

[ninedeer]

me no like tallow in my deer meat I trim all that and the silver skin off my venison.nothing but yummy red meat. ;D

[rhyla]

I trimmed the fat away first when I got my deer. Never tried it the other way. But it was just for ground meat for tacos or whatever else, not sausages. I think I'd probably add pork fat for sausages based on what I've read from others, not that I have any personal experience there yet.

[lookout]

Very nice, I'll let that guide me this spring!