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Stop Adding Fat to Your Game Meat
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October 11, 2010
Stop Adding Fat to Your Game Meat
By David Draper
While my Wyoming elk tag has so far gone unfilled, my friend Tess was luckier, tagging her first elk in a Nebraska cornfield not long ago. A heat wave prompted us to spend all day Sunday butchering and last night we put about 20 lbs. of trimmings through the grinder.
I’ve been processing my own (and others) deer and elk for about a dozen years and view adding some type of fat to ground venison as a necessary evil. I prefer ground pork, adding anywhere from 10 to 20 percent. Due to a calculating error on my part (I was told there would be no math!), Tess’ grind ended up at about 25 percent pork, a bit more than she preferred.
This math problem set me to wondering why hunters take a healthy source of protein and fatten it up? That’s like someone on a diet taking a carrot stick and dipping it in ranch dressing. Quick research shows no clear consensus on what or how much fat to add. Some hunters swear by 50/50, others just 10 percent. Some like pork, others beef tallow. Some add bacon ends and pieces.
Certainly, there’s a rationale to adding fat, including enhancing flavor because, hey, we all know fat tastes good. Fat also keeps meat from drying out when you fry it and helps patties from falling apart. But is there a better, healthier alternative? Yes, depending on how you’re planning to cook it.
Burgers on the grill are probably how much of the ground venison in America makes it to the table. I’ll be the first to admit, making a good burger without fat sounds impossible. The fat not only makes a burger juicy, it also helps it stay in patty form. Next time you have some 100 percent ground venison you want to throw on the grill, trying adding an egg and some breadcrumbs to serve as a binder. I’ve also heard of using steel-cut oats, diced onion, shredded potato and even powdered milk.
When frying ground venison for tacos, chili or spaghetti, cook it without fat. The spices should cover any gamy flavor you or your family might object to. (If not, find a new butcher to process your deer or learn to do it yourself. Since I started DIY processing 12 years ago, I’ve never had gamy game meat.) If the dry texture turns you off, try frying it in a little bit of olive oil, or add moisture as the venison browns in the form of stock, tomato juice or other flavored liquid.
As you can see, there are lots of alternatives to adding fat to your ground venison. What about you? How do you keep your low-fat game meat low fat? - David Draper, Wild Chef Blogger
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Comments (5)
David, your thoughts on venison preparation for good eating sounds pretty right on.
Myself, I add either beef or pork to my ground deer, moose or elk in about a ratio of 75 to 25 percent rate mixture. Then for great burgers I put into a large mixing bowl about 2-1/2 pounds of the ad-mixed venison, 3 eggs, chopped raw onions, 1 large cup of milk, whole wheat flour to thicken the mixture, a teaspoon of sea salt, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, a few dashes of soya, all the while mixing the ingredients well to a desired thickness.
Then I use medium heat on a non-stick frying pan, add olive oil and about a small quarter inch of water. Once the olive oil and water are starting to slow boil/simmer add the 1" X 4 inch round meat patties. Cover with a lid so the heat fully encompasses the food, checking every couple minutes or so and turning the burgers over till they are golden to dark brown. Check with a sharp knife cutting into one of these to see that the insides are cooking to your preference of medium to being fairly well done.
Serve with burger buns, or onto a normal dinner plate with potatoes, celery sticks, dark brown gravy, and your favorite vegetables. Toast with your family and/or comrades with a fine glass of chilled red wine.
Say 'Grace', and dig in! Uhuumm, DELICIOUS...!!!
So far I have shot and butchered 3 deer, and we have never added fat, and I don't plan to start.
As one of your fellow Nebraskans we tend to compare everything to our great corn fed beef. I process all of my own deer. (Usually 4 a year) Most of my ground stuff ends up in salami and polish and things like that. I usually mix those with a 80\20 mix of deer and pork roast. I started canning more of my deer meat. Put a clove of garlic and a few pepper corns in each jar and pressure can according to instructions. Makes a great meal with very little prep. Just add some brown gravy mix and put over noodles or rice or toast. My wife and kids love it!
www.lilydating.com/home.php?h=1167
Sorry to disagree here but in my opinion this is all subjective. The last time I mixed Elk or Deer even close to 50%, it was WAY WAY too fatty. For me, I enjoy the taste of the animal I killed. If I want my burger to taste like a pig, I will go grind up a bunch of raw pork roast. I am just about to grind an entire small Elk Cow. I am shooting for 10% fat this time around. For those of you who don't think having a 100% Elk burger isn't good, well, I guess you just don't like Elk that much. :-) Sheep and Goat, that is gamey. Just for fun we ground a couple bags worth with NO, as in ZERO added fat, just what was on the Elk naturally. We then grilled burgers. The meat is definitely harder to form patties, and I recommend you put it in a pyrex dish to firm up the patties a bit, then plop them on the grill. Best burgers I have had. 100% Pure Elk Burgers.
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David, your thoughts on venison preparation for good eating sounds pretty right on.
Myself, I add either beef or pork to my ground deer, moose or elk in about a ratio of 75 to 25 percent rate mixture. Then for great burgers I put into a large mixing bowl about 2-1/2 pounds of the ad-mixed venison, 3 eggs, chopped raw onions, 1 large cup of milk, whole wheat flour to thicken the mixture, a teaspoon of sea salt, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, a few dashes of soya, all the while mixing the ingredients well to a desired thickness.
Then I use medium heat on a non-stick frying pan, add olive oil and about a small quarter inch of water. Once the olive oil and water are starting to slow boil/simmer add the 1" X 4 inch round meat patties. Cover with a lid so the heat fully encompasses the food, checking every couple minutes or so and turning the burgers over till they are golden to dark brown. Check with a sharp knife cutting into one of these to see that the insides are cooking to your preference of medium to being fairly well done.
Serve with burger buns, or onto a normal dinner plate with potatoes, celery sticks, dark brown gravy, and your favorite vegetables. Toast with your family and/or comrades with a fine glass of chilled red wine.
Say 'Grace', and dig in! Uhuumm, DELICIOUS...!!!
So far I have shot and butchered 3 deer, and we have never added fat, and I don't plan to start.
As one of your fellow Nebraskans we tend to compare everything to our great corn fed beef. I process all of my own deer. (Usually 4 a year) Most of my ground stuff ends up in salami and polish and things like that. I usually mix those with a 80\20 mix of deer and pork roast. I started canning more of my deer meat. Put a clove of garlic and a few pepper corns in each jar and pressure can according to instructions. Makes a great meal with very little prep. Just add some brown gravy mix and put over noodles or rice or toast. My wife and kids love it!
www.lilydating.com/home.php?h=1167
Sorry to disagree here but in my opinion this is all subjective. The last time I mixed Elk or Deer even close to 50%, it was WAY WAY too fatty. For me, I enjoy the taste of the animal I killed. If I want my burger to taste like a pig, I will go grind up a bunch of raw pork roast. I am just about to grind an entire small Elk Cow. I am shooting for 10% fat this time around. For those of you who don't think having a 100% Elk burger isn't good, well, I guess you just don't like Elk that much. :-) Sheep and Goat, that is gamey. Just for fun we ground a couple bags worth with NO, as in ZERO added fat, just what was on the Elk naturally. We then grilled burgers. The meat is definitely harder to form patties, and I recommend you put it in a pyrex dish to firm up the patties a bit, then plop them on the grill. Best burgers I have had. 100% Pure Elk Burgers.
Post a Comment