Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Making my first batch of burger

My plan is to mix venison with about 20-25% pork butt. Pork butt will add flavor and fat.
Suggestions are appreciated as this is my first attempt.

If I ask in advance, my local butcher will save me the fat trimmings from beef. I really prefer that to pork fat when making venison burger. 10% beef fat seems to work well for me. What I am trying to do, is keep the Venison flavor, but also keep the patty from falling apart on the grill
I have had success also with just adding in a couple of eggs, some fine diced onion, and bread crumbs. Just like when you make meat loaf.

My best advice is to try your idea and Sam's. Then you will know what you like. I like to mix a pound of bacon with Sam's and if you want to get an idea what it would be like, just fry a few strips of bacon and then fry a patty in the grease. Your mix just needs a 50/50 ratio, a cup and 1/2 buttermilk, to 10lbs mix, and the proper spices to make breakfast sausage to die for.

I grind pork butt with my venison, 3 parts venison to 1 part pork butt. I also add meatloaf ingredients (egg, buttermilk, onion and breadcrumbs) to my burger before forming into patties for the grill. After grilling to taste as far a doneness I like to add one slice of american cheese and one slice of pepper jack, sea salt and coarse ground pepper and serve on a lightly toasted kaiser roll.

what temps do you guys cook these pork/venison burgers too?

I would think with pork being involved you'd pretty much be limited to nothing rare or even medium rare. No?

OK, I'll throw another wrench in the mix. Read a blurb the other day about grinding your own burger from flap and running chunks of butter through the grinder with the meat. Freeze both first was the suggestion before sending it through the grinder.

Just thought I'd add my ounce of total confusion.

David, I cook them on the grill usually. Hardwood coals, pecan, oak and hickory. Cook them until they are done. lol Usually Medium, with a little pink in the center.
If I cook them in a skillet inside, I butter the cast iron, and cook to medium. I don't like any burgers at rare or medium rare.
Venison burgers are always a trade off. You get usable meat, but you compromise in flavor and consistency. Hard to make a burger with no fat, and there is little fat in the cuts of venison I use for burger.

I have been using beef suet. If yer not familiar with beef suet, its the hard fat around the liver and kidneys. I get it from the local small shop butcher.

I like it because its very dry and pure. Its almost like crisco. I have used pork fat trimming from the butcher as well and found that it usually has a lot of sinewy crap with it. Pork butt is great too, but can make your project quite a bit more expensive. Depending on the batch, I feel suet adds a bit of beef flavor, which can be a good thing depending on the animal.

Like Local Dirt mentions, the trick to is to keep everything real cold.

I can buy pork butts locally for $.99 a pound. Already have 5 in the freezer so think we may try this for the first batch.

About an hour ago I dropped off 60 lbs. of boneless deer meat at the butcher's. I do this every year.

Burger - I'm not a big fan of deer burgers, but I use this in chili, tacos, and spaghetti sauce.
30 lbs. boneless deer meat
Add 6 lbs. beef fat (20%)
Pack in 1 lbs. plastic tubes.

Hot Italian Sausage - this is great on the grill. I also use it in chili.
30 lbs. boneless deer meat
Add 6 lbs. pork fat (20%)
Packed in casings (1 lbs. coils) and freezer wrapped.

It usually costs me about $1.00 per pound.

Hot Italian Sausage

I grind approx. equal amounts of beef brisket and venison together for my burger. Seems to work out well.

Brisket makes an excellent burger!! My fav!!

But please allow me to ask again.

If you add any pork products to the blend aren't you reluctant to serve the end grilled product at medium rare or even medium temps? Say 130-140? Or are the pig additives so small that they cook to safe consumption at 140?

Mike I already know your answer. Pork sushi!!

I like to grind just straight venison. Mix in some cheese to make burgers later. Deer is good!

Ella

I mix 30% bacon ends from the local butcher with my deer meat.

I also make deer sausage with 30% Boston butts bought on sale during the year for 99 cents per pound.

USDA revised their guidelines to say pork roasts/steaks are done at 145 degrees. You know there is a factor of safety in that number.......

(they do say 160 degrees on ground products, but that is more to do with the sanitation practices in somebody's packing house incorporating 'bad stuff' into the meat, burger is always more risky because of more surface area to pick stuff up)

I like to grind pork roast and venison together for breakfast sausage, I don't know the fat percentage but it seems to work well.

For venison burger I buy beef trimmings locally and since it's mostly fast, I make it 80/20 preferring the taste of beef fat over pork fat.

Guess I should update this thread. Shot a smallish buck about 9 days ago. Boned it out and ended up with 40 pounds of meat. Ground it up and tried it two ways:
1. About 88% deer with 12% beef fat
2. About 80% deer with 20% ground pork butt.

Fried up samples of each and everyone preferred #1, except for me, who considered it a wash.

How was is spiced?

It's very hard to order a grilled pork chop over a grilled Ribeye or T-bone so that influences my choice of fat to mix with my venison.

For burger I dont spice until the cooking starts.