Asked this in the past but cant find the thread. Want to process a deer i shot and have never done it. Have the equipment but looking for help with how much fat to add for sausage and ground meet and do I ask the butcher for trimmed fat or but a pork but or something similar?

Any help is appreciated.

I save up my trimmed brisket fat all year and use that, but have had to go to a butcher to get beef fat before. The local Michochana in downtown Frisco did not charge me for the fat. Hirsch's in Plano charged me $.99 a pound. Call before you go and have them save the trimmed beef fat for you.

As for ratio, how do you like your burgers? I do 90/10. If you prefer 80/20 or 85/15 burger meat, that is how you should do your deer.

Unclebubba got it right. If you like bacon burgers use about 15 to 25 percent bacon for the fat.

For removal of the silver skin from backstraps and individual muscles these make it easy. Pull it off from the thinner side toward the thicker side of the silver skin and it just peels off easy. If you try removing from the thicker side good meat comes off with it.



After processing many deer myself I save the grind meat frozen and do one grind at the end of the season. The muscles I remove each one off the rear leg, backstraps, tender loins, and a couple off the shoulder the rest goes in the bag for grind at the end of season, it is fine to thaw it out grind and freeze again. the muscles then are used for roasts or steaks depending on which one and how we want to cook it. Sliced up for steak, sear in skillet and finish oven, grill......

I use a sharp knife, and remove the silver skin as if I was removing skin from a fish filet. waste zero meat that way.

I do it both ways but find these easier. I also freeze it with the sliver skin on most of the time, and did all the time before vacuum sealing everything and the silver skin helps protect against freezer burn at least where it is covering the good stuff. pulls off easy when frozen.

good to know

For sausage I like to use 20% fat 80% venison and for burger I prefer 10/90. I generally use pork fat but beef fat will work also.

The way I look at it, deer is red meat, and needs red meat fat (beef). I like my burgers to be med/rare. I would not eat med rare pork, so I don't use pork fat in my burgers.

I get beef fat from my butcher for hamburger meat. I mix it 80/20. De bone and trim. Cut into pieces that will go through the grinder. Put in freezer till almost frozen. Goes through the grinder better when almost frozen and mixes with the fat better. The beef fat can gum up the grinder. When that starts to happen run 3-4 ice cubes through the grinder. I run the venison and fat separately through the coarse plate into a cooler. Mix it up and run back through the fine plate.

For sausage I mix 50/50 with either wild hog or a Boston butt. Run it all through the coarse plate into a cooler. Dissolve the seasoning in warm water. If I’m going to stuff and smoke it add cure at this time. Pour the seasoning water in and mix it up. Run back through the fine plate.

I may go a little overboard trimming silver skin and gristle but like the finished product better.

Never saw need to keep my meat colors segregated. Be honest we use pork because that’s how the family has done it for at least 4 generations. The other side of the family used a combo of pork and beef.

More than one way to skin a cat and make sausage. We mix venison and trimmings and prefer slightly icy. Mix seasoning with meat and grind 1 pass with fine plate and go to stuffing or packaging. Never saw a need to double grind, not saying it’s wrong, we just do it different.

I would be willing to bet it has been many years since anyone got trichinosis from commercial pork products. That is one reason testing showed reduced cooking temps were warranted, and recommendation was lowered to 145 degrees. I love to mix pork shoulder in my ground beef, and the sweeter taste is obvious to everyone.

That said, if you only use wild pigs for your butchering, I would continue to use 160 for my guidelinesboth whole cuts and processed.

During my career we had a patient who showed up to his work sick and proceeded to become out of his mind crazy trying to fight everybody. Like the start of a good zombie movie when the first person turns. I helped hold him down on the ride to the hospital. It was later found he had trichinosis that had made it to his brain. We did not get info on the origin of it or the outcome. I know it is rare, but after that call no undercooked or questionably cooked pork for me.

Pork shoulder 70/30% for ground meat
50/50% on the sausage has worked for us for years, but to each his own.
Find the pork shoulder on sale for $.99 per lb. and load up.