Experienced burger and sausage makers (question)

[wt]

I have traditionally trimmed a lot ( sinu,silver skin, tendon, fat) off my grind meat. However this year I ended up with a lot of blood shot meat (that's another thread I'll start later). So this year I'm trying to use more "questionable material" my concern is flavor primarily as I've heard venison fat isn't good and I don't want to make a large batch of sausage or burger that is to "gamey" and that I can't share with friends and family that aren't as enamored with game meat as I am. Thank you for your input. As a side note ;What are your guide lines on salvaging blood shot meat? I would definitely dis-guard the immediate area around the bullet, but the blood migrated all over the place. The area the blood migrated too, but the meat was not otherwise damaged is my question.

[TomT]

I've never tried to salvage bloodshot meat, so I cannot comment on that.

In my opinion, venison fat is pretty awful and I always trim as much as possible away.  I add about 15% beef fat (which you can get from most butchers, I just paid $1.20lb) and grind with the venison.   Even friends that "don't like venison" like this burger.

Good luck!

[The Weazle]

I've never tried to salvage bloodshot meat, so I cannot comment on that.

In my opinion, venison fat is pretty awful and I always trim as much as possible away.  I add about 15% beef fat (which you can get from most butchers, I just paid $1.20lb) and grind with the venison.   Even friends that "don't like venison" like this burger.

Good luck!

What he said.
Unfortunately blood shot meat is just a waste.  I wouldn't save any of it. 
I use pork butt/shoulder and just grind it up and use it as the fat.  usually a pound or two of pork to about 10/11 pounds of venison.  For making actual hamburgers, I use 3 lbs of bacon ends and pieces to 10 lbs venison and a half bottle of Worcestershire sauce.

[grundy53]

I've never tried to salvage bloodshot meat, so I cannot comment on that.

In my opinion, venison fat is pretty awful and I always trim as much as possible away.  I add about 15% beef fat (which you can get from most butchers, I just paid $1.20lb) and grind with the venison.   Even friends that "don't like venison" like this burger.

Good luck!

What he said.
Unfortunately blood shot meat is just a waste.  I wouldn't save any of it. 
I use pork butt/shoulder and just grind it up and use it as the fat.  usually a pound or two of pork to about 10/11 pounds of venison.  For making actual hamburgers, I use 3 lbs of bacon ends and pieces to 10 lbs venison and a half bottle of Worcestershire sauce.

What they said.

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[jrebel]

In my opinion, bloodshot meat is a big "NO" go.  It is as bad as hairy and gut shot meat.  I would rather have fat, sinu and tendon over blood shot.  With that said I cut it all out. 

I will often cut my venison with beef burger so I can stretch the net weight / product.  It also give me adequate fat percentages to make the burger fantastic.  I stay as far away from beef suet as humanly possible.....suet will spoil fast and if you get bad suet your burger will taste like garbage.  Some people I know will grind their burger with pork shoulder or butt to increase fat content.....I do this when making breakfast sausage. 

My math...1/4 to 1/3 beef burger added depending on how old the deer is or if it was in the rut.  (Deer Meat 33 lbs + 17 lbs of burger) 

1/3 to 1/2 pork shoulder / butt when making sausage. 

[Humptulips]

I used to skirt the edges of bloodshot and save some, not any of the real damaged just the bloody but solid meat. IMO it tastes fine but since the information about lead traveling beyond the initial wound in the blood stream came out I have stopped doing this.

As to burger I never add any fat and I do trim all fat off when cutting. Tastes fine that way to me and better for you. When making burgers I find they will hang together just fine if you work the meat a bit while making it into pattys. I usually add some onion powder, garlic, basil, oregano and Worcestershire sauce so when I finish working it in the pattys seem to stick together fine.

[TexasRed]

Sounds to me like you're familiar with the time and dedication it takes to cut and process your own meat.... I would say this: Is a few lbs of questionable meat worth risking your whole batch? Or inadvertantly turning someone away from wild game forever??? I'm not super particular but I alawys stop and ask myself, 'would I feel good feeding this cut to a non-hunter?' in the end you're responseable for your table fare. No one should judge your for throwing out bloodshot, dirty or spoiled meat. I've reluctantly thrown out most of entire front shoulders before.... Yeah it sucks but I put plenty of time in to every other oz of meat to make up for it. Don't sweat it! Keep the good trash the bad! Good on you for caring enough to ask about it. 

[lokidog]

I used to skirt the edges of bloodshot and save some, not any of the real damaged just the bloody but solid meat. IMO it tastes fine but since the information about lead traveling beyond the initial wound in the blood stream came out I have stopped doing this.

As to burger I never add any fat and I do trim all fat off when cutting. Tastes fine that way to me and better for you. When making burgers I find they will hang together just fine if you work the meat a bit while making it into pattys. I usually add some onion powder, garlic, basil, oregano and Worcestershire sauce so when I finish working it in the pattys seem to stick together fine.

   Except I don't worry about the lead, too many other higher level sources in our environment to worry about this in my venison.  We've added 1 part lean pork shoulder to 4 or 5 parts venison for our pepperoni, turns out great.     A lot of times, if you are careful, you can separate the bloodshot layers as the blood is between the muscle groups. 

I don't keep any bloodshot meat, though it makes good crab bait.

[Bean Counter]

Sounds to me like you're familiar with the time and dedication it takes to cut and process your own meat.... I would say this: Is a few lbs of questionable meat worth risking your whole batch? Or inadvertantly turning someone away from wild game forever??? I'm not super particular but I alawys stop and ask myself, 'would I feel good feeding this cut to a non-hunter?' in the end you're responseable for your table fare. No one should judge your for throwing out bloodshot, dirty or spoiled meat. I've reluctantly thrown out most of entire front shoulders before.... Yeah it sucks but I put plenty of time in to every other oz of meat to make up for it. Don't sweat it! Keep the good trash the bad! Good on you for caring enough to ask about it. 

 

From wanting to use the blood shot meat to saving the fat, it seems as though you want to use as much of the deer as possible. That's good and is commendable. However, think about how frustrated you'll be if some of the final product is disgusting and you're now tempted to toss it all out.

[MuleySniper]

I cut away any blood shot meat. Like others said, all the fat, little ligaments, silver skin, all that goes too. For deer sausage we grind and add 50% pork shoulder. My elk this year, I ground 75 lbs of trim and neck meat and added 25% pork shoulder to that.
MS

[Stein]

Definitely trim the blood shot out, but you don't have to go overboard.  Use a sharp knife and just keep trimming until it is gone.  Also trim all visible fat.

I grind my wild game without additional fat.  If I am making sausage, I add pork shoulder or back fat, but not with the burger.

[Whitpirate]

There is no saving blood shot meat.  Trim it out and focus on the next opportunity to preserve more of what you love to eat.  I yell at all the guys I hunt with no high shoulders

[gilroym]

blood shot meat and all the other trimmings can get ground up and turned into dog food. Depends on how accustom your dogs are to game meat. But our dogs take the lower legs while we cut the deer up so they dont mind the scraps.

[The Weazle]

blood shot meat and all the other trimmings can get ground up and turned into dog food. Depends on how accustom your dogs are to game meat. But our dogs take the lower legs while we cut the deer up so they dont mind the scraps.

This is a great idea!  We already use all of our bones, chicken carcasses, and left over vegetables to boil down for dog food, I never thought about the deer trimmings.