Adding Fat to Venison

[Bean Counter]

Comments also welcome on fat selection, pork fat vs. beef fat, suet, etc...

[bow4elk]

About 7-8% quality beef suet or you can buy pork bacon "bits and pieces" at the grocery store.  I will add less of this, maybe 5% but you do need some fat to hold burger together.

[popeshawnpaul]

I use beef fat in pretty high quantities to keep it from getting dry and so it is palatable for my wife and other friends.  I will use 20% or more sometimes.  I cut all the venison fat and sinuet off as it has a lot of the game taste in it.

[EastWaViking]

NEVER!  Wild game is lean and good for you, I cannot understand why anybody would add fat to it?  Some people say it's to help it stick together, I never have had any problem with venison or even antelope burger, which is even leaner, falling apart on the grill, you just have to make sure is if ground nice and fine.   It's a pet peeve when the butcher asks if I want suet added....almost as bad as when somebody puts steak sauce on wild game....I don't get it!

[Coasthunterjay]

back in the days ide use less than 10% suet.......

but know have become accustumed to eating it just the way it is after i ground it......

[bobcat]

None for me, ever. I like it just fine the way it is.

[bowsandhose]

None for me, ever. I like it just fine the way it is.

[Wea300mag]

I can see the thinking behind not adding any fat but if you get married to someone who is not used to a "straight shot" of game, you can turn them away in a hurry.

[bobcat]

My wife had never eaten any wild game before she met me and she's never had a problem with it not having fat added.  She also has never bought hamburger from the store since we've been together. I guess I just don't get how somebody could dislike ground deer or elk meat.

[bow4elk]

On the topic of taste - wild game is just palatable as any domestic meat IF (big IF) you do your part in the field and at home with the trimming.  If you have trimmed anything "white" (fat, sinew, silverskin, etc.) from your meat, that meat will not be "gamey" when cooked, even pan fried.

No amount of suet or pork fat will cover bad game care and crappy cutting (NO BANDSAWS OR BONE-IN MEAT - NEVER).

[ICEMAN]

Buy beef burger for burgers. Use your venison for stew meat, fajitas, canning.....  

[Wea300mag]

I hear what you guys are saying, guess that's why I divorced her.

I process my own meat too, no bones, fat, or silverskin

[bowelkin]

I buy the cheapest bacon I can find.  One pound bacon per twenty pounds of whatever (deer, elk, moose, etc.)  That comes to about 5%.
Bowelkin

[The Weazle]

I couldnt vote becuase it didnt have the "it depends" choice.  For breakfast sausage its 25 pounds game to 10 pounds pork.  For summer sausage its 20 pounds game to 5 pounds pork.  For burger its not cut with pork until I know how I am going to use it.  For a recipe calling for ground meat, it gets no pork.  For burgers, I use bacon ends and peices and grind a 1/3 to 1/2 pound of that to a 1 1/2 of burger for some killer bacon burgers.

[robb92]

Only time I add fat to my ground venison is when I am making sausage, then depending ont he recipe it will either be 70-20 or 80-20, I use pork shoulder or pork butt.