Percentage of fat in ground meat

[perma]

I did 10% for it all, wouldn’t mind jumping up to 15%.

 

[44hunter45]

Zero.

If you need it to hold together for patties mix in egg whites after you thaw.

 

[jlong17]

Sometimes if I’m able to get my hands on high quality suet, I’ll add roughly 10% of that. For me personally I don’t like the idea of adding low quality fat to high quality meat. It’s like dipping back straps in ketchup

 

[npaden]

Here we can generally get very high quality beef fat for free. Stuff they trim off of steaks and brisket.

 

[millerkiller77]

For sausage in casing I'm a huge fan of pork belly at 20-30%. Hamburger specific grind I like 15% beef fat and my local butcher gives it to me for free so thats the ratio im sticking with. . For the general grind I use 10- 15% pork shoulder which I think makes for a 10% fat ratio overall

 

[SD_Prairie_Goat]

I run about 10%. Beef fat for brats, sticks, and burger patties.

Pork loin for ground burger, but there I'll do meat and fat from the loin like 20-30% by weight. But that's cause I can't get just pure pork fat like I can beef fat

 

[Boarmaster]

Generally and for my initial processing I’m in the zero camp. I always added 20-30% fatty pork trimmings to my ground whitetail. About 6 years ago I decided to go straight up venison. If I make a burger I add a bit of olive oil or avocado oil. I buy 4 -5 big rib roasts a couple times a year when my Publix store has them on sale. I cut them into ribeyes and beef ribs. Theres a lot of fat that I trim from those. I vac pak that fat and occasionally grind it with venison for some tacos or a cheeseburger. For that I mix at a 30% ratio.

 

[Mark Nichols]

When I started hunting back in the 70s I took all of my game in to a local processor. The ground meat was okay but I wouldn't call it great. Venison burger would leave a chalking residue in the skillet, and you didn't want to ever bite into a cold deer burger ! Some years passed before I had a great conversation with a butcher. First he explained that the difference in grading beef between select, choice and prime was largely due to difference in fat content. Fat, he told me, is what contributes the most to the flavor and tenderness of the meat. Deer fat contains a lot of steric acid which creates that chalking, sticky residue and also imparts a lot of game flavor.. especially if the deer's diet has been a lot of pungent forbs like sage. So for the best flavor he explained, you need to make sure there is no deer fat or other tissue in the meat.

He owned a beef/pork processing shop but also did game during the hunting season. The problem he explained was that for the $175 they charged to process a deer they couldn't take a lot of time to separate all of the game fat. To get optimal yield from an animal they cut all of the meat off, such as the flank meat covering the ribs, etc and threw it all into the grinder. Fat included.

Although its a little off the topic of fat, he also warned me that much of the "gamey" taste people report in there meat was the result of improper handling, namely getting the meat skinned and cooled down as quickly as possible. He told me many stories of meat that had "soured" even when temps were very cold. I cant remember all of the detail snow but he explained the chemical response of the blood in the meat when it wasn't cooled quickly and how gasses build up throughout the animal's body, not just the stomach cavity, and contribute to a gamey flavor. I looked back on a few of my own animals, such as an elk bull I left gutted but laying in 10" of snow for several hours, that I called gamey but now realize were probably a result of not getting them skinned and cooled ASAP. Now no matter the situation, I now carry a tarp and game bags and skin and quarter every animal immediately on the spot. I learned the hard way too that putting a bunch of warm meat in a backpack and humping it for a couple of hours is also detrimental.. especially if it is a warm day.

So I process all of my own game meat now. I make sure only pure red meat goes into the mix. While I respect those that want minimal or no fat in there burger, I find that the flavor of venison is really enhanced by grinding it with beef and pork trim. For antelope and mule deer I also grind in pork shoulder. My standard mix is about 16% beef fat and 5-8% pork fat. For mule deer I will get about 50-55 lbs. of boned out meat from a decent size buck. To that I will add about 8 lbs beef fat and 3 lbs of pork fat and then also grind it with an 8-10 lb pork shoulder. People cant believe they are eating a rutting mulie! Super flavorful and juicy.

For elk I skip the pork shoulder and go with about 20% beef fat and 5% pork.

 

[thusby]

If you can make a burger medium rare you can get away with no fat added. The people that I know aren’t good enough cooks to keep a burger under 170 degrees. So I recommend they add 20% if they ever want to feed it to me.

 

[Buffs35]

10% or less, if I wanted greasy meat, i'd hunt cattle.

 

[ShutdownDB]

If we're making sausage I'm typically 20% pork fat. This year we bumped it to 30% and the family preferred it, but I feel like it loses a little of the spirit of the wild game. Ultimately anything works if that's how you like it!

 

[Khunter]

zero percent. I like eating pure wild game.
No problem cooking it. Sometimes, not always, I may add an egg or olive oil and bread crumbs when making burgers. Sometimes I add bacon grease as making patties.

 

[Mallardsx2]

I ground up bacon (ends and pieces bought in bulk from the butcher) and put it in at a 20% ratio into my deer burger the other day.

I can honestly say that it was one of the best wild game burgers I have ever had.

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

I jumped around from 5-10% beef fat and finally settled on 7%.