Ground Venison the Right Way

Ground Venison

All my hunting life…ground venison has been hit or miss….mostly miss…in fact, until I learned how to make it right….it was always just better adding to a sauce or killing the flavor with taco seasoning. About 10 years ago a friend sat me down and showed me how to make venison the right way. I have never looked back. In fact, most of my hunting friends trade me meat, fish, or garden vegetables so they can get in on a batch of my ground venison. It doesn’t matter if you clean and process your whole deer or if you use a processor, you can still make wonderful ground venison. Most processors will grind your venison for you…….but if you have ever thawed out a package of ground venison and tried to make burgers you surely found out that they fall to pieces and taste dry. No fat……. Some processors will add fat, but I find that they just don’t know how to do it right, there is either too much fat, too little, they add pork fat in some cases, who knows. If you have a meat grinder you are half-way there. This is easy to do and will get you some of the best burger meat you have ever tasted.

First, get a good grinder from any store, check the link here or below for the one I got from Amazon (I am an amazon affiliate so I can earn $$ from some qualified purchases…so thanks in advance). Next you will need a medium to large cookie sheet and some parchment paper.
If you take your deer to a processor, ask them to separate the front legs and hind quarter muscles into roasts. If they can vacuum seal them….all the better, if not, take them home, get them out of the butcher paper, and seal them (don’t forget to label and date).
- First, I always ask for the back straps and tenderloins to be separate. Save these for grilling. Grinding these is a waste of the best meat you have.
- Second, once you have all of the muscles\roasts\bits and pieces in front of you, make a decision on what pieces look best for roasting. Save those for pot roasts or other slow cooked recipes.
- Last, older bucks can be a bit tough and gamey. The bigger and older my deer, the more I tend to grind. A small 2 year old doe is about as tender as you can get, I will most often keep all muscles for grilling or cooking.
Next, go to your local butcher (or to your grocery store butcher counter if you don’t have a local guy) and ask for some beef fat. I usually ask for the fat from a standing rib roast (prime rib\rib eye). It may take them a few days to get the fat together for you. I usually call my guy and within a few days he has over 5 lbs cut, bagged, and frozen for me. This fat is the best in my humble opinion. You know the kind… it is the fat on the steak that you should not eat…but it tastes so good that you eat it anyway…. I take this fat and freeze it (vacuum seal it) in 1 pound bags.
So when you are ready to grind…. go pull the meat out of your freezer. You want 1 lb of fat to 5 lbs of venison. It does not have to be exact. I feel that this is a perfect combination of flavor and fat content.
You will want to thaw both the venison and the fat for an hour before you start. VERY IMPORTANT—- DO NOT THAW ALL THE WAY!!! You want the both the meat and the fat to be semi-frozen, this will help it go through the grinder without “gumming up” . The grinder will get hot and once the fat gets hot\warm it will not grind easily. Trust me, this whole process gets really difficult. Most butchers have commercial grade grinders that are strong and powerful, so this is not an issue for them. Most home use grinders are not as bad ass…trust me leave it on the frozen side.
- Cut both the venison and fat into chunks that will fit in the top of your grinder.
Next, grind the venison and place on the parchment paper (on the cookie sheet). Spread the ground meat evenly over the pan and remember how many pounds you have ground.
After the grinding is done or after you have filled the cookie sheet, move on and grind the fat. Same thing here, grind the fat (1 lb fat to each 5lbs of venison). As the fat comes out of the grinder, use your hands and place the fat evenly over the venison.
Almost done, when all the fat is ground and placed evenly over the venison, use your hands and re-grind the fat and venison together. This last step will mix the fat with the ground meat evenly and it will almost look like you purchased it at the store.
Now, put the meat in 1, 2, or 3 lb. bags (whatever suits you), vacuum seal, and freeze. Sometimes I pre-make burgers or a meat loaf and freeze them, mostly I just leave the meat in 1 lb bags and thaw when ready.
That is all, cook medium rare to medium, get some good buns, and amaze people with your awesome butcher abilities.