Grinding Tips

[Stan R]

I just used 4 lbs of venison, 3 lbs of bacon and 2 lbs of pork, 1/2 lb or high temp cheese.

Step-son says it was the best he ever had!

[Texas89]

Cold makes like easy.

[Cazador]

I like my ground venison to be ground venison. I've done it a variety of ways, but never more than a 10% mix. When I grind Axis I don't add anything. I've added 10% bacon for "bacon burger" and I've added about 10% brisket when grinding whitetail. The only time I add pork (other than the bacon) is when I make sausage.

[Flint knapper]

Half and half deer and beef

[SwampRabbit]

Do a search for Smart and Bacon Burger. If you like Bacon Burger, I bet his mix will hit the spot. He might chime in or PM him.

For plain burger, I do the following:

1) I use the rear hams primarily because it has less sinew (shoulders for sausage...)
2) I weigh the amount of meat and then using basic math determine how much beef fat I need to get to the ratio for burgers that I like 85/15; 80/20 ; 90/10, etc. This is a personal prefernce for folks. I usually go somewhere around 87/13
3) I call up HEB and ask them to hold back the fat trimmings from their beef for the day. usually, with a doe and the ratios we are talking about 3 lbs +/-. I then go pick it up. I pay somewhere around $0.25-$1 a pound depending on who is wrapping it up that day
4). I cube up the meat and the fat and just mix it a bit so I am not just grinding up fat or meat.
5) The fat is practically close to frozen when I grind it. Grinding room temp fat isn't proper...
6) I grind it course on the first pass
7) I mix it by hand
8) I then send it back through for the final grind that I grind straight into those meat chub bags. I bought the 2" stuffing tube that you can fit those bags over. Since the meat/fat are already mixed before grinding, I don't have to mix and then shove into bags.

Before I used chub bags. I would actually grind once into a bowl at the final coarsness and hand mix and then shove into vacuum bags. This was faster, but I like how I can stack the chubs in the freezer better and they are cheaper than vacuum bags.

[Smart]

Always mix the big chunks before grinding .....the grinding helps mix as well. Once it is ground, even course, it is hard to mix.

I like 75/25 - 70/30 on my bacon burgers. We eat a bunch of "burger steaks" and the added bacon flavor is just enough to make it greatness.

For dishes where bacon burger is not usable like spaghetti, chili, tacos etc, I either use straight venison or add brisket at 75-25 and grind.....or buy hamburger if needed

85% of my burger grind though is bacon burger. The wife and I and guests love it.

http://discussions.texasbowhunter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=461160&highlight=Bacon+burger

her are some pics of the process lol...

[Smart]

One more thing......you might try it at different percentages because everybody's taste buds are different. I tried everything from 85-15 to 60-40 and settled on 75-25 as my favorite. Luckily the wife agreed..

[HoustonHunter]

Thanks for the tips guys. Getting started soon! HEB sold me beef fat for $0.97/pound and bought some pork belly as well.

[Bonesplitter]

I get beef tallow from my butcher and grind it in at 20%

[Lungbustr]

I get beef tallow from my butcher and grind it in at 20%

Saw grinding and bonesplitter, thought I was opening a fishing thread!!

[Bonesplitter]

Lol! I ground it out for 3 hours this morning. 2 fish! It was crazy calm and bait everywhere. The evening may be epic

[Cropduster]

I really don't like to mix a "rumen" and "non-rumen" meat if I am going to keep it for a good amount of time. I would think about deer and bovine in a 80% and 20% mix if I was gong to keep it for at least a year.

[peterp63]

One more thing......you might try it at different percentages because everybody's taste buds are different. I tried everything from 85-15 to 60-40 and settled on 75-25 as my favorite. Luckily the wife agreed..

Thanks for the step by step! Love the Wendy's square patties lol!

[Smart]

Grinding Tips

Thanks for the step by step! Love the Wendy's square patties lol!

Hahaha I get that all the time. I vacuum seal 1.5 lbs flat in 8" bags so they stack well in my freezer. 40lbs takes up a lot of space. After thawing and removing the plastic, if I take a spatula and make a center vertical cut and horizontal cut I have 4 perfect size patties already compressed. No balling up or pressing required..

[CrookedArrow]

Hey man this is a family site.