Best Burger Mix

[meathunter]

Might try out a new mix for burger this year. For the past few years, I've used about a 3 to 1 mix of either 3 parts deer, elk, or moose to 1 part 80/20 (fatty regular hamburger) to the new burger.

I first medium grind the lean, tougher trimmed cuts of the animal, then mix the regular burger and grind that again. Vacuum freezer wrap and it keeps well.

Heard of others using a pork roast or just using cow fat from a butcher to add.

Any ideas? comments?

 

[Umpqua Hunter]

I actually have never had fat added to my venison burger. We love it that way.

 

[BKC]

I use the least expensive beef to mix into my elk/venison and go 1 to 1 ratio. On some of your burger try a little bacon with it ( makes great bacon burgers).

 

[meathunter]

I like the bacon idea, going to try that one. thx and have tried the grind without adding any other fat, it just seemed dry and didn't hold together well for burgers on the grill for a low fat, healthier burger I would like to add the least amount, I've heard of someone using olive oil

 

[birdhunter]

My wife and I mix our elk and deer meat with beef trimmings (beef fat). We mix it as a 5 to 1 ratio. We love it. Our antelope we mix with bacon ends and pieces and turn it all into sausage. We keep the steaks and the rest goes to sausage. We have tried many mixing ratios and found that the 5:1 ratio is about the best regarding how lean the burgers are and being able to stick together when being cooked.

 

[Umpqua Hunter]

We have found that most recipes that we use burger for don't need the fat. You are right that the fat is good for burgers on the grill. One thing we have done with super lean venison that is super tasty is to make a thick patty, kind of the shape of a small potato, and wrap it in bacon when we grill it...delish!!

Without fat, we use lean venison burger in tacos, spaghetti, meatloaf etc....

 

[buckbull]

If you don't want to add fat to your ground venison, you can mix in an egg or two and that will hold the burgers together for the grill and keep them moist. I like to grind my burger without adding any fat and then vacuum pack. The fat is what will make the meat go rancid. I have fat free meat that will last 2 to 3 years and it tastes as good as the day I put it in the freezer. I do normally mix in cheap hamburger or pork sausage most of the time but eggs make a pretty decent substitution and we normally have eggs on hand.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

For many years I have been adding pork to my wild game (elk, deer, antelope) burger. I do not leave any fat on the game meat, it is all trimmed off. I believe that this is what gives game meat strong flavor. I buy the cheapest (on sale) pork shoulder roast and trim it off any bone, then mix it with a 10 to 1 ratio...eg 90% game meat - 10% pork. The only fat in the burger is whatever was on the pork, usually ends up less than 1%. It is really good!

 

[Wild Country]

I actually have never had fat added to my venison burger. We love it that way.

What Umpqua, said Best burger is with no suet added IMO. I have never shot a mule deer but blacktail deer tastes much better to me than whitetail but I still don't add anything to my whitetail either.

 

[Old Hunter]

The reason elk/deer meat is so healthy for us is the low fat content. One of the absolute worse things we can eat is beef fat.

I never understood adding something bad for us to something that's so good for us.

 

[CrimsonArrow]

I don't add anything to my ground venison for burgers, just make sure the grill is really hot and don't flip them too soon. Sear each side good, and keep the inside pink. When I make italian sausage, I add 1 part pork butt to 2 parts veni. I have added chopped raw bacon to burgers before cooking and they turn out pretty good, we just prefer pure venison, though.

 

[meathunter]

I agree with Old Hunter in why add anything to make it less healthy and I rationalize that by saying on a 3 to 1 mix, the fat content might go down to about 93% to 7%. We just have friends & family dislike the taste of game (more like just too accustom to beef) and they seem enjoy more when they relate to the taste of beef.

Umpqua Hunter had some good ideas with the bacon wrapped vension burger and keeping other recipes lean. thx

This year, I'm going to experiment with the bacon for burger meat, pork roast mix and 2 kinds of beef hamburger mix - lean & more fatty. And if I'm lucky enough to harvest a whitetail this year, I'll try not adding anything, just haven't harvested a deer for a few years. This year we've been dining on 2 moose and found the flavor is very mild, but mostly we relied on the elk we've taken.

Best part is usually having a freezer full of options at any one time.

 

[BobT]

What Umpqua, said Best burger is with no suet added IMO. I have never shot a mule deer but blacktail deer tastes much better to me than whitetail but I still don't add anything to my whitetail either.

Me too, I seldom add anything. If I'm making breakfast sausage I'll sometimes add a little fat just before cooking, usually just butter though.

Bob

 

[ChadH]

I actually have never had fat added to my venison burger. We love it that way.

Yep, me either. I don't add a thing, just ground deer, elk antelope whatever. Tastes fine to my family.

 

[Joe Hulburt]

I used to always add a little beef fat but a few years back switched to nothing added and grind twice with the course plate. Leaving the grind course allows for easy burger forming and BBQing.

They taste great no matter the critter!

 

[hardstalk]

Used to add fat. Depends on what recipe we planned on using most burger for. Now we grind it straight and if neccessary ill add raw egg and mush it all together for the grill. Helps it stay solid.

 

[dihardhunter]

Bacon burger is delicious. I used to add beef fat to ground venison, but found that straight venison is better tasting (I've found beef fat to have a slightly off flavor that gets worse with time in the freezer) but straight venison also has trouble sticking together for grilling burger patties.