How much pork butt do I use to mix with ground venison? Not for sausage but for general usage. I would like the end product to hold together when its cooked. Ive tried bacon pieces ground into it but I don't like the fony smoke flavor. Last night I mixed ground beef suet about 10 to 15% with the venison and it worked OK. Tonight I am gona grind some pork butt and was just wondering what ratio others have used.
Venison/pork butt ratio
- Thread starter e-bear
- Start date
Lucas McCain
New member
I use 3 parts venison and 1 part pork butt when making hamburger. If your doing patties for a hamburger sand wich, mix in one egg for each pound of burger.
Unlicensed Dremel
Moderator
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NoSecondBest
New member
Here's how to make really great burger out of venison. Trim all the fat off the venison and add between 10% and 15% strip steak trim fat and grind. I've tried all the pork recipes over the last 50 years and nothing even comes close to the strip steak trim for flavor. That fat stays with the meat until cooked where other fats like prime rib fat run off too soon. I eat around 3-5 deer a year and most of it is in the form of burger. It tastes like ground up filet.....excellent!
Are you wanting venison sausage or venison burgers - different purposes need different fats. For sausage, you need fat with a low melting point to melt off quickly. That means pork fat. For burgers, you need the fat to stay in the burger to make it juicy. That requires a fat with a higher melting point - i.e. beef fat.
Sure Shot Mc Gee
New member
3 to 1 worked in the past for me when I ground pork trim & venison together. These days I mix the same way but prefer ground chuck or 80/20 hamburger for the purpose instead.
Barnacle Brad
New member
It's all a matter of taste. Dad never liked to mix any fat with venison to put in the freezer. Any fat would be added in the form of ground beef at the time of consumption. BOO! I was so dumb when I first made sausage I followed the same philosophy. I learned that in order to make sausage that was edible and not resembling sawdust, fat was required. I realize the OP is asking about burger and I will address that, but first sausage should be a ratio of at least 2:1 venison to pork butt which is 12% fat.
Now if you prefer your sausage to be a little more juicy the ratio can be adjusted to your taste.
As indicated earlier, in my family no fat was added to burger. The thought being that venison is the healthiest with no additives. And while true, I have no issues adding some fat, because overall, I am not consuming more fat in my diet to be concerned about whether or not it is high in cholesterol - the bad kind. If you are susceptible to or have high cholesterol, tailor your fat ratio to what is good for you. That said, let's talk about what is tasty!
I have found that 20% fat has more flavor and is more juicy. I think we tend to associate high fat content with cheaper less healthy BEEF HAMBURGER. I would like to make the case that if you add pork and beef fat from a known source (i.e good quality), that the end product will be better and possibly not as bad for you. I don't have any source to validate that, but if I use fat that I know where it came from, I feel better about it already. Fat is fat, yet "where did that fat come from" is always a question that bugs me if I buy a bag of beef tallow at the market or butcher.
So when I grind my burger, I use 2:1 venison to pork butt and then I add beef fat to make 15% or 20% fat content. It is a very small amount of beef fat, but it makes a world of difference! I save the trimmings from beef brisket for use in my burger. It is the best burger I have personally ground. We will have "burger steaks" frequently for dinner and believe you me, it is good eats!!
If anyone is interested, I have a burger "calculator" that will give you the proper weights of pork butt and beef fat based on the ratio of fat you want and the amount of venison you have (in pounds). IM me with your email address if anyone would like to have it.
Now if you prefer your sausage to be a little more juicy the ratio can be adjusted to your taste.
As indicated earlier, in my family no fat was added to burger. The thought being that venison is the healthiest with no additives. And while true, I have no issues adding some fat, because overall, I am not consuming more fat in my diet to be concerned about whether or not it is high in cholesterol - the bad kind. If you are susceptible to or have high cholesterol, tailor your fat ratio to what is good for you. That said, let's talk about what is tasty!
I have found that 20% fat has more flavor and is more juicy. I think we tend to associate high fat content with cheaper less healthy BEEF HAMBURGER. I would like to make the case that if you add pork and beef fat from a known source (i.e good quality), that the end product will be better and possibly not as bad for you. I don't have any source to validate that, but if I use fat that I know where it came from, I feel better about it already. Fat is fat, yet "where did that fat come from" is always a question that bugs me if I buy a bag of beef tallow at the market or butcher.
So when I grind my burger, I use 2:1 venison to pork butt and then I add beef fat to make 15% or 20% fat content. It is a very small amount of beef fat, but it makes a world of difference! I save the trimmings from beef brisket for use in my burger. It is the best burger I have personally ground. We will have "burger steaks" frequently for dinner and believe you me, it is good eats!!
If anyone is interested, I have a burger "calculator" that will give you the proper weights of pork butt and beef fat based on the ratio of fat you want and the amount of venison you have (in pounds). IM me with your email address if anyone would like to have it.
Last edited:
NoSecondBest
New member
Most butcher shops will save strip steak trim and give it to you or sell it for around fifty cents a pound. It doesn't take a lot of fat to do one deer. To get 15% fat in venison (after removing all venison fat) all you have to do is simply weigh the venison and add the amount of fat necessary to equate to 15% of the total weight. It's not even that exact, you can be "close" and you won't know the difference. If I get ten or twelve pounds of fat I can do about three average size deer (if I grind the whole deer). I've never been a fan of adding pork to make burger. That's basically a meat loaf mix. Edible but not as good as just burger.
Unlicensed Dremel
Moderator
Why on earth would y'all destroy perfectly good lean delicious natural venison burger with hormone-filled, antibiotic-infused, feedlot-fed, low-nutrition FAT? I just don't get it. If you're burger won't stay together, add an egg.
Unlicensed Dremel
Moderator
Alright.... sounds really good actually.
NoSecondBest
New member
Chickens are probably worse in this respect than the beef is. Again, it's about taste. If I were simply trying to stay healthy I'd cut out the red meat.....ain't gonna happen.
There are such things as ESSENTIAL FATS ! They've even now found another fat [ a good one ] in people !! They also are very important for flavor. The flavor of coffee is from fats ! [ fatty acids ] .
In any case my typical sausage is 70 venison , 30 pork .make sure the pork has a good bit of fat .Add a bit of salt, pepper, nutmeg and you'll have good stuff.
In any case my typical sausage is 70 venison , 30 pork .make sure the pork has a good bit of fat .Add a bit of salt, pepper, nutmeg and you'll have good stuff.
Unlicensed Dremel
Moderator
Yes, there are good fats, but beef sure as heck is NOT one of them. Natural oils from olives, avocados, etc. - these are examples of your good fats. Salmon, cod, herring and similar fish oils, too.
buck460XVR
New member
I'm with Barnacle Brad's dad. I don't add any fat until the meat is ready to hit the pan. The enzymes in pork fat react with the enzymes in venison and will turn the pork fat rancid in time, even when frozen. This is why venison sausage/wieners/brats taste so good when you first bring them home from the sausage maker, but get stronger in taste the longer they sit in the freezer. A good friend of mine that does butchering saves me the fat from around the kidneys in beef and this is what I add, if and when I add any fat. If I have none of that, fresh side pork will also work. Doesn't take much.
Barnacle Brad
New member
What he said...^^^^^^
Oh yeah...my dad concedes that he was wrong about adding fat to burger and happily notes "the student is now the master".