Question for you experienced deer processors. I have a nice electric meat grinder that I have never used. Are there any tips you can reccomend for grinding venison. How big should the chunks be? what about the silver skin on the muscles? how much fat and what kind?....etc.

Thanks ahead for the tips.

Get as much of the silver off as you can.The smaller the grinder is the smaller the pieces need to be cut so the grinder can pull it into the throat of the grinder.If you will put the meat(cubed) in your freezer and get it really firm but not frozen it will help .Sometimes I put back in freezer before running it through the grinder the second time.Make sure the grinder face plate is screwed on tight and you have a sharp grinder knife. AS far as fat ratio is concerned I would reccomend 80/20 (4 lbs. deer meat and 1 lb. beef fat) and use beef fat unless you are making sausage then I would use pork . The main thing is to keep meat as cold as possible before and while grinding for best results.

at least with my grinder, the chunks dont seem to matter so long as they fit down the chute.

the tendons and the silver sheath you reference tends to clog up the end of my grinder and i have to clean it every pound or two of meat or use a knife and scrape the outer plate as the ground meat comes out.

great suggestion on the cold part. i will try that next time to see if it helps. i notice it doesnt get bad until the meat is warmer.

Like tpac said, colder is better. If you let the meat get warm, it seems to get stuck and you don't get a good grind. All grinders are different. I have a commercial one and it has no problem with tendons. My previous grinder wouldn't grind them thru.

iI figure if I take a majority of it off I should be fine. do you just ask your butcher for beef fat scraps? I thought about even trying the Bacon ends and pieces...thought it might make a good Bacon Burger?

Yep I keep 1in x1in chunks in the freezer . The colder the better.

Yes the partial feezing idea works well. The A.D.D. part doesn't. I always forget it and it freezes solid.

If you will call your local supermarket early one morning and ask them to save you some beef fat they will probably be glad to do it.If you are polite they may let you have it for free.I ran a meat market for 20 years for winn dixie and brookshires and everyone wanted beef fat once deer season started.I let the polite people have it for free and everyone else paid up to 1.00 per pound.For best results call early(8-9:am).If you want pork fat, good luck,most pork comes pretrimmed with 1/8" or less or comes in precut completely. I have a friend that uses bacon ends and pieces and he seems to like it.

Bacon ends and pieces works great for sausage and I used it on a experimental batch last year for burgers (to your point of bacon burger). It tasted great and stayed together on the grill. I'll make a biger batch this year.

+1 on the bacon burgers. 75% venison 25% bacon works great. I like to use the smokiest bacon I can find for this.

I have heard of guys using brisket as their beef mix. Anyone have experience with that?

i used some brisket last year in my deer burger.
it turned out really nice.

i used 4 or 5 parts deer and 1 part brisket

i also tried 4 parts deer, 1 part brisket, 1 part pork butt roast. it too was really good.

but of course, i only eat indian deer. the kids like it better and stay at the table longer

I buy briskets when they go on sale and grind them for hamburger meat. They have to much fat on them so I cut off excess and save to put with deer meat.It works out great.If you can catch one of the supermarkets running ribeyes or t-bones on sale they will have a lot of fat from the steaks that has to be trimmed off. Give them a call and see if they will save you some of the fat they trimmed from the steaks.Brisket fat will work but but fat from the steaks will be better. Sometimes I buy a brisket and cut the whole thing into stew meat. Trim all the fat off the bottom and out of the center of the brisket and you should have 3-4 lbs. of fat right there.

LMAO, good one!!

As a BBQ man, that's sacrilegious!

I like to go to sams and buy the 10 pound logs of ground hamburger and mix it half and half. its the only way that I have found to get my wife to eat it. Plus the groung hamburger from sams cost half the price as other stores. If I make sausage I buy the 3 lb box of bacon ends and pieces and grind it up and mix it in with my deer meat. As far as how much you use is based on how lean you like your meat. I use 6 pounds of deer meat and 3 pounds of bacon but I like my meat lean. I actually put up 105 pounds of meat yestarday. Also to weigh out your meat yout can go to walmart and buy a digital scale for about $20.00. On your back strap clean off as much of the silver as you can. The best and easiest way that I have found is to use a pare of catfish skinners and just pul it off. If you are going to make cuttlets for stew meat use the roast of the hind quarters but be extra sure to remove the glands. I hope this helps.

I forgot to let you know how much the beef from sams actually cost. Right now it is $2.17 a pound for 90-10 and $1.87 for 80-20. alos for sausage seasoning I use lems regular sausage seasoning from Academy. Be sure that if you use the lems seasoning put twice the recomended amount of seasoning per pound that it calls for. example. the package reads that it will make 15 pounds per pack when in reallity to make it taste like sausage you need 2 packs to make 15 puonds. I made 35 puonds of sausage yestarday and used 4 and a half packs. I also like to add red pepper flakes for a little spice. I usually get my red pepper from the pizza places when I get a pizza. Its free and the packs keep it fresher longer.