I finally broke out some of the ground my buddy and I mixed ourselves Tuesday night and I have to say, it was damned good...

So it got me to thinking, was it the preparation (75/25 mix with pork shoulder) , or the young age of the spike I shot...?

Opinions?

TxP

75/25 would be my guess. The grind takes care of the age.

What i can say is the ground venison we made was by far better than what the processor ever made for me... Now I know it's worth it to DIY...

TxP

What was the mix of venison/fat that you used when processing your own deer?

We mixed a 75/25 mix of pork shoulder and the ground venison and it came out so much better than what I got at the processor the previous 2 years.

I know that I do a better job at trimming out the meat and removing the fat. Deer fat is not good to eat and does not have a low melting temp like beef and pork fat. I have seen the local processor at work and they don't take as much care in trimming as I do. The only thing I let the processor do for me is my grind meat at a 80/20 mix. So I would think that doing the processing yourself is the reason it taste better

I processed my own this year, but came out with less meat than expected. I was very careful in trimming the fat, so that is probably where some got lost.

However, I do like it better than the meat from the processer, so I'll take it.

It may have been less than you expected, but possibly more than you would have got back from the processor.

I think everyone should process at least one deer themselves.

That way when they go to the processor and pick up that one little box, they will understand a little better about just how much actual edible meat there is on a deer carcass.

Remember this; fat of any kind goes rancid/bad before protein does. When Randall and I grind the meat we process, we put it in 1 lb packages without adding any fat first.

Then when it is time to cook it, if we want burgers on the grill, we can add both pork AND beef fat (get beef kidney fat and heavy pork fat (like fatback or fatty shoulder or bacon), grind, and mix 15% pork fat to 10% beef fat to 75% game meat. This is because pork fat melts at a lower temp than beef suet does; You get a better 'mouth feel' as well as a jucier burger.

Or, if you are making a skillet supper, you can go healthier by putting a bit of olive oil in the skillet, and skip the step of draining it...

I use the same % of fats to meat when I make sausage, tho I go a bit heavier on the fat if I am making a smoked sausage rather than a bulk breakfast-type sausage.