Starting last year, I quit adding fat to my deer hamburger. Just ran it through the grinder and called it good. Sure makes grinding a lot easier. I have not had any problems getting it to hold together cooking it in a pan. Have not tried it on a grill and could see problems arising there. If you need extra moisture, you could add olive oil, butter, some people put egg white in it. Any number of things. When I cook it, I put salt, pepper, and garlic powder in the meat to taste for a hamburger sandwich. Otherwise for spaghetti I just brown it and season the sauce to taste....same with chili. It is lean, but that is supposed to be a good thing, although some folks probably would not like it.
Fat makes for good taste but the problem I was having was the fat in the deer burger going rancid before we could eat it all. There was some guy on here that was being a real ass about this issue last year or thereabouts...saying he would not contaminate his organic venison with fat and anyone who did was an idiot. I guess he as well as some family members got into my head. I'd reluctantly give the ass his due if I could remember which of our asses it was.
This is the stuff.
I never grind my venison ahead of time, but rather trim and chunk the cuts to be ground and then vacuum pack and freeze them in meal-sized packages. The packages are placed in the fridge a day or two before cooking to thaw a bit, then ground while half frozen. Burgers are cooked in equal parts butter and canola or olive oil until just pink in the middle. Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Venison is the only burger I eat that's not well done.
Some folks and most commercial packers grind everything but the eyeballs and azzhole, but I trim mine very close and add nothing unless I'm making meatballs or sausage.
