Ground Ratio's

[Breiber]

Alright let's hear from the veterans. Nog especially, please offer your advice.

So I'm a little late to the game, learning how to hunt in my late 40's has been fun but challenging. I'm still not a fan of the killing part but once it's on the ground I'm as excited as a kid on the weekend. I just can't wait to start processing.

Last season was my first season and I got a deer followed by a bear this spring. I've also been fortunate to be a part of my son's harvesting 2 bear and 2 deer. In addition to that many grouse, ducks, and geese have come through our door.

In addition to steaks and roasts I am set up to grind and stuff and have made pepperoni, summer sausage, salami, breakfast and dinner sausages, as well as smokies. Some were recipes I found online, some were my own concoction, and a lot are from Stuffer's. Currently I'm doing all my ground products including our ground for spaghetti, burgers etc as a ratio of 50% game, 25% pork, and 25% fatty beef (usually brisket. I have done this by design as I need my wife to be on board with eating game. With the kids out of the house my hunting days will be over very fast if my wife won't eat it. So far we have all been very happy with the results and I'd like to up the ratios this year. What are other's doing? Is 75% game reasonable or should I work up to that over a couple of season's.

Thanks for any advice offered.
Brian

[Model 70]

I, and the wife, really prefer 100% game. Butchers I know, recommend pork fat, or pork meat, if you must add anything.

[Breiber]

I, and the wife, really prefer 100% game. Butchers I know, recommend pork fat, or pork meat, if you must add anything.

Thanks for that. Hopefully I'll get close to that. Maybe not 100% as I like a little fat in my ground. I have heard of butchers adding pork or pork fat for years but more recently I heard a butcher talking about switching to beef. I've tried it both ways and am currently doing 50/50 but I'm leaning more towards beef as my additional meat. We don't eat a lot of pork so beef is simply more familiar to us.

[high horse Hal]

I have done this by design as I need my wife to be on board with eating game.depending on what the barrier is

theres no right or wrong, adjust as you feel necessary and find what works best
burger can be pure lean or fatty-dripping-off-the-elbows, sausage too

[Breiber]

depending on what the barrier is

theres no right or wrong, adjust as you feel necessary and find what works best
burger can be pure lean or fatty-dripping-off-the-elbows, sausage too

The barrier is purely psychological. Over the years we've tried sausage, snack sticks etc that hunter friends have had made and it was always good. However, every time we have been given some VI deer steaks they have been pretty bad. Really gamey, smelled bad straight out of the freezer. I'm not a fussy eater and can usually get used to most things but those steaks were pretty off putting.

When my boys decided to make a hunter out of me I was determined to approach this in a slow and steady matter. So far so good. I don't place any blame on the hunters that were so kind to give us some meat, I'm sure it was my preparation that ruined it. Now that we he have gotten on board with sous vide we find steaks and roasts to be delicious.

Perhaps I'll give some straight game with a little added fat a go this year in a few lbs of ground. I probably won't feed it to my wife until I know we will like it.

[HarryToolips]

I, and the wife, really prefer 100% game. Butchers I know, recommend pork fat, or pork meat, if you must add anything.

Same here, game meat is lean but my wife and I have been cooking with 100% game in our ground for years, love the taste and its very healthy..

But, when making sausage with game the odd time, I usually make it with 20% pork..

[smeegle]

I go for between 20-30 percent when making sausage but 100 % game when grinding for burger or spag unless its a rutty buck and needs to be cut down. Matt (iron noggin) is a wealth of knowledge but I would also recommend checking out hank shaw online. https://honest-food.net/cured-meat/fresh-sausages/. He has a blog around wild game and several wild game cook books that offer up plenty of ideas you can play with, I have his buck buck moose one and it serves me well. The best part about hunting is playing with recipes in the kitchen and finding things that work for you. My greatest joy as a hunter is serving up a great wild game dinner with a nice bottle of red wine to family or friends who are hesitant about wild game and change their minds. The trophy is just as much about the horns on the wall as it is the product on the plate in the kitchen and enjoying it with loved ones.

[VLD43]

I remember a butcher years ago suggesting to me that pork fat will not last as long as beef fat in the freezer. He said if you are going to consume all your burger within 6 months of processing then either fat type is good. But if you think that the meat will be frozen longer than that beef fat is a better option. He suggested pork fat will degrade more quickly than beef fat when frozen.

[upperleftcoaster]

For straight burger grind I go 100% pure game meat. For sausage it’s somewhere between 20-30% fat added (pork or beef) depending on the recipe.

With the ground meat it then depends how you are cooking it. You can always add fat back in. Making hamburgers? Mix in 10% fat to make them juicy (or do this at the grind and earmark for burger patties).

if you’re making a spaghetti meat sauce, lasagna, or taco mix you can add back in some fat with extra butter/bacon/lard, but generally you don’t need to. In heavy tomato sauces I challenge you to taste the difference between bear, venison, or beef. It’s also nice you are not “draining” off all the liquid when you cook with extra lean meat. That’s just all the fat and water rendering out of the ground beef anyway.

once you get used to the pure lean meat it’s hard to go back to ground beef. I literally cannot stand the smell of it cooking compared to game meat. (Still like my beef steaks though).

[Breiber]

Thanks for the suggestions. I guess I'll have to give straight game a go.

[IronNoggin]

I run with 25 - 30% somewhat fatty pork in both sausages and burger.
Works for me & the Missuz.

Cheers,
Nog

[MichelD]

I've never been tempted to make any kind of sausages. I don't even like pepperoni and I find that all the prepared spice mixes for sausage that I have tasted in other folks game sausages just make the wild meat taste like somehting from Safeway. That's not for me. I really like my game meat as is.

When Mrs. and me butcher, we add nothing to the ground meat.

[Breiber]

I run with 25 - 30% somewhat fatty pork in both sausages and burger.
Works for me & the Missuz.

Cheers,
Nog

Thanks, Have you ever tried beef instead of pork? I've been bouncing back and forth from Game/Pork/Beef to Game/Beef. When those briskets go on sale I end up with a lot of trim and I think I like the beef flavor with my game better than pork.

[Breiber]

I've never been tempted to make any kind of sausages. I don't even like pepperoni and I find that all the prepared spice mixes for sausage that I have tasted in other folks game sausages just make the wild meat taste like somehting from Safeway. That's not for me. I really like my game meat as is.

When Mrs. and me butcher, we add nothing to the ground meat.

That's too bad, your missing out. So you can honestly say that you don't ever have breakfast sausages, smokies, salami, summer sausage etc? The possibilities with ground meat, seasonings, and a sausage stuffer are endless. It isn't about hiding the wild meat's taste, if done right it should accentuate it.

[MichelD]

That's too bad, your missing out. So you can honestly say that you don't ever have breakfast sausages, smokies, salami, summer sausage etc? The possibilities with ground meat, seasonings, and a sausage stuffer are endless. It isn't about hiding the wild meat's taste, if done right it should accentuate it.

I haven't had breakfast sausages since I retired and quit cooking on fishboats, and even then I only made 'em for the other crew members and I don't eat smokies, salami or summer sausage and certainly not pepperoni.

I shot my first deer 52 years ago next month and like I said; I like 'em the way they come.

[Breiber]

I haven't had breakfast sausages since I retired and quit cooking on fishboats, and even then I only made 'em for the other crew members and I don't eat smokies, salami or summer sausage and certainly not pepperoni.

I shot my first deer 52 years ago next month and like I said; I like 'em the way they come.

Wow, you have a lot of experience at this craft. I'm envious. Don't get me wrong, we like the taste of game muscle meat as well now that we have learned a few different cooking styles. We have just had bad experiences in the past with game that tasted down right awful and I'm determined not to turn my wife away from this. If she won't eat it then there is zero point in me learning to hunt. I just assumed that everyone was blending their ground but I'll have to give it a go straight up.

As for the smoked meats, no plans to change there. I know they aren't the healthiest but damn they are good. We use it in day packs for snacks, take it to work for snacks, use it on pizzas, in omelettes, charcuterie boards, etc. Sausages and smokies don't seem to get eaten as fast as I thought they would but they never go to waste. When we run out of ground if we have a surplus of dinner sausage I just split the casings open and steal the guts for ground.

[MichelD]

Wow, you have a lot of experience at this craft. I'm envious. Don't get me wrong, we like the taste of game muscle meat as well now that we have learned a few different cooking styles. We have just had bad experiences in the past with game that tasted down right awful and I'm determined not to turn my wife away from this. If she won't eat it then there is zero point in me learning to hunt. I just assumed that everyone was blending their ground but I'll have to give it a go straight up.

As for the smoked meats, no plans to change there. I know they aren't the healthiest but damn they are good. We use it in day packs for snacks, take it to work for snacks, use it on pizzas, in omelettes, charcuterie boards, etc. Sausages and smokies don't seem to get eaten as fast as I thought they would but they never go to waste. When we run out of ground if we have a surplus of dinner sausage I just split the casings open and steal the guts for ground.

Well, I may be cutting down on my hunting too. My wife, who has been my enthusiastic butcher, cook and consumer of game meat since we were married in 1974 has developed a sensitivity to all red meat and waterfowl too so she only eats a tiny amout when we use a piece of venison. One thawed out package, be it roast, stir fry, ground or steak lasts at least two meals and sometimes three. I still have two liquor store wine boxes of cuts and half a box of ground venison from a deer I got October 1.

I am a fanatic about game meat care so we have rarely experienced bad tasting game meat. One time around 1982 I made the mistake of hanging a bear for a day instead of butchering it as soon as possible and that tasted a little off. It doesn't age nicely, it just goes bad. Another time a friend of a friend from Ontario shot a big old spring bear that was so ancient he hadn't slept all winter and ate rotten chum out of a river. His teeth were worn down to nubs and the ball joints in his limbs were rattly and loose. He was inedible through no fault of my own. We tried every darn thing in the book to make it edible and finally brought the meat to the OWL raptor rescue centre.

I'm not opposed to eating sausages. When I've travelled to Europe I've enjoyed saucisson sec in France. They are small dried sausages made with a variety of meats, including boar and deer. I like the odd dried Serbian sausage from a local butcher and when I go hunting I usually bring a couple Polish BBQ sausages to grill. At least I did, but the Polish butcher shop near me moved away. Maybe the Serbs on commercial Drive have something similar.
But having said that, I don't like sausage enough to try making it.

I'm fine with roasts, stew, stir-fry, goulash, steaks, chops, and the many things you can use ground in. My wife also occasionally makes rouladen (a German meat dish, usually consisting of bacon, onions, mustard and pickles wrapped in thinly sliced meat which is then cooked.) from thinly sliced large steaks and Königsberger Klopse, German meatballs stewed in a special broth.