Ground venison - what kind and how much other meat/fat to add?

[mazzgolf]

OK, I've heard and read different things from different people, and now I'm confused  What do you mix (and how much) to your ground venison?

Yes, I managed to process my first deer yesterday. Took me forever, but I managed to skin, quarter, and cut up everything I could after having it hang in the garage for over 24 hours. I survived the Wrath of Wife (actually, she was only a little annoyed; it wasn't as bad a reaction as I expected - but I did manage to give her back her garage and kitchen quickly so that helped. Happy Wife - Happy Life!  )

OK - my question. I've heard mix 10% pork fat, mix 25% pork, mix 1 pound of pork for 1 pound of venison. You can mix beef, not pork (oh, unless sausage - that needs pork). Use just pork fat. No, you can buy pork shoulders. If you use pure pork fat, use this much; if pork shoulders buy this much...

And when I hear "25% pork" - 25% of what? Is that the percentage of the final weight of the total combination of pork/venision? Or is that the percentage of the amount of venison you have? 

So you can see - it's all confusing.

I'm sure asking here I'm gonna get 100 different answers... but feel free to tell me what you do. I'll average out all the answers and go with that  

 

 

[BHC]

When I make meatloaf I have 2 lbs of venison and add 1 lb of ground pork, it works out great

[jerseyjay1970]

I only use beef fat @ a 20% ratio. 

 

[Stan Putz]

Ask 20 people, you will get 20 answers….

When I ran my processing business and now, I go with (by weight) a mix of 3 parts well trimmed venison : 1 part fatty pork trim or fatback. It is still quite lean, but not dry like eating a pencil eraser.

Edited January 17, 2020 by Stan Putz

[SPEARFISH]

There's no set requirements on what you add, only personal preference.  If making tacos or chili I don't add anything.  For sausage and snack sticks I add around 25% pork.  I usually get a shoulder or pork belly.  It's all good.  And no, I don't calculate exactly 25%, just somewhere close.

[rocky]

I do a 80-20% mix. 80% venison and 20% bacon. 

[Northjerseyoutdoorsman]

My favorite combo  that I have switched to is 90 percent venison . 10 percent bacon   all personal preference though. 

[archer36]

Are you asking what to add BEFORE you freeze or when you are cooking it? I would not add pork, beef, or anything else ahead of time. There are so many ways to make ground venison that some does not need anything added. I can always find recipes for anything that does not call for adding pork, beef, fat. Adding ground pork to venison when making meatballs, meatloaf, etc will "soften" the venison flavor. You can add "fat" in many ways that don't include pork or beef fat. For instance in meatballs you can add Ricotta to the mix. In Burgers you can add Mayo. Like I said, putting something in before you freeze limits your cooking choices. If you make a Tomato Meat Sauce as well as Sloppy Joe's, you don't need anything added. I always freeze my ground venison "pure" and add later if needed. 

[mazzgolf]

9 minutes ago, archer36 said:

I always freeze my ground venison "pure" and add later if needed. 

Interesting... didn't think of it that way. I may just do that.

[mazzgolf]

11 minutes ago, archer36 said:

I always freeze my ground venison "pure" and add later if needed. 

So when you do this, I assume you grind up the pure venison with one pass-through using the coarse plate in your grinder? Then if you later add something to it, you'll add the bacon (or whatever you add) and put it through the fine plate?

Edited January 17, 2020 by mazzgolf

[archer36]

32 minutes ago, mazzgolf said:

So when you do this, I assume you grind up the pure venison with one pass-through using the coarse plate in your grinder? Then if you later add something to it, you'll add the bacon and put it through the fine plate?

You can put the final grind whatever you decide before you freeze. If you add anything, just grind it the same degree as the venison. If you grind bacon, I would do it in an almost frozen state so it doesn't bind inside the grinder. This applies to all meat being put through a grinder, it must be COLD, almost frozen.  In buy ready ground pork in 1 lb packages so I don't have to worry about that. 

Edited January 17, 2020 by archer36

[newjerseyhunter]

11 minutes ago, archer36 said:

I always freeze my ground venison "pure" and add later if needed. 

 

1 minute ago, mazzgolf said:

Interesting... didn't think of it that way. I may just do that.

Agreed, this is my preference. Most of the things I make with venison are 100% venison. Tacos, burgers, whatever. Personally, I don't care if my burger falls apart I care more about the fact that I know exactly where the burger came from. 

If I do add something later, I do it by hand in a bowl, no further grinding.

[Lunatic]

Don't add anything for chili. Ground venison is the perfect meat for it

Edited January 17, 2020 by Lunatic

[Bowhunter444]

I've been grinding up bacon with mine 1lb bacon to 5 lbs venison. Makes the best burgers I've eaten in a while

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[Hitemnasty]

I do 20% beef fat. Not sure why people use pork when beef is a comparable red meat and pork as has been discussed on here has cooking limitations on what’s safe and what’s not. I’ll never worry about my burgers being cooked rare to med rare with beef fat. I get it from a local grass fed beef butcher for a few dollars a pound. 

Nobody has ever complained about the flavor it’s actually quite the contrary!

Edited January 17, 2020 by Hitemnasty