Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Mix fat into elk burger?

I once again agree with saddle sore.

I add pork butts. $1.20 a pound or so... about 12%

I add 20% to our deer. Beef or pork is fine with us. That's the way we like burger. I add a little more pork sausage for our breakfast sausage. Last year about the time we were grinding Kroger had Boston butts for .99 a pound. We did 50/50 deer and butt for breakfast sausage. We really liked that too.

Don't laugh please. I use a handful of oatmeal in my burgers be it elk or deer to let the meat stay together and keep them juicy on the grill.

I do 50/50 for all our wild game.

We just grind up the elk and cook it in coconut oil. Don't knock it. We do it with black bear, too. People that firmly disliked bear previously said it was the best wild game they ever tasted. Give it a try before you bbq me. :-)

Have this before, but elk burgers (and deer and antelope) without fat will hold together nicely if you just let them cook a little before flipping them. The protein in lean meat binds well IF you let it, but most people who cook burgers flip them too often, apparently because that makes them believe their actively "cooking."

I use 50/50 pork trim. Do 2/3 elk 1/3 pork trim. 50/50 trim is really cheap.

I think to just buy fat to add.....

You are most likely getting older fat to begin with

And more cost per pound.


Versus fresh pork butt.

Isn't the whole point of eating elk is that it is lean? If i wanted a greasy burger I would buy Costco beef burger.

1/3 pork trim is artery clogging.

Yeah, if you not flipping'em a dozen times, you not "cooking"...

DF

It is not greasy. We eat mostly wild game. Deer, Elk, Antelope, and Feral Pigs. When my Daughter went to College and had to eat Beef Hamburger it made her sick. Every time she came home she took back all the Deer and Elk Hamb she could. If we go somewhere for a Potluck I cant eat the Meatballs, Spagetti Etc. Cause it's to Greasy. Been doing it This way for 48 yrs. And my Dad before that.

Pork Butt Nutrition
BY ERICA KANNALL • OCT. 03, 2017
Pork butt, also known as Boston butt, actually comes from the shoulder of a pig, not its rear end. You can roast, barbecue, or shred this cut of meat to make pulled pork. Although it contains beneficial vitamins, minerals and protein, pork butt is also high in calories and fat. You'll want to eat this marbled meat in moderation to avoid health complications.

I'm picking up some great pointers here and flowing the thread closely, as I have never lived anywhere before where I had occasion to grind meat.

Any tips on methods to grind, an addition to the nature of the fat content? My brother is big on hand grinders, but I think that would pall pretty quickly. There are some nice powered ones at the outdoor shops like Cabela's or Midway, or at the source recommended by High Noon.

I''m thinking of just getting an meat grinder attachment for our heavy duty KitchenAid stand mixer . The KitchenAid brand accessories look like plastic and aren't apt to last, but the are a couple of aluminum or stainless attachments from other suppliers that should handle heavy work. Thoughts?

And regarding elk meat burgers falling apart, I now have one of those heavy cast iron Blackstone camping griddles, so there's no need for the typical grills where the burger can fall.

Another member [Owll?] brought a huge griddle to Armijo Springs this year to cook just bought everything, and it worked like a charm. It turned out that I never got to put mine to use.

Norm

I'm not implying anything good or bad but I swear I've heard nearly that identical description to describe SPAM.
(I'm a fan of SPAM but it does not fit my dietary restrictions.)

My rule for grinding game meat is 10% beef fat for burgers and 30% pork fat for sausage.

Makes no sense to me to put pork, pork fat, or bacon in hamburger meat.

I guess I like my elk to taste, well, like elk.

Anjin,

We went to heavy-duty grinder about a dozen years ago. We used a hand-grinder for a long time, but we basically live on game meat and grinding 100-150 pounds of burger a year got time-consuming. Tried smaller electric grinders, and burned them out within a year or two.

We cook fatless elk (and deer, antelope, etc.) burgers on "open" griddles all the time, and have no problem with parts of them falling through. Just let the downside really brown, instead of simply turning tan.

I add in 5-10 % pork shoulder to my elk hamburger...pefect

No, deer or buffalo either, Wifey adds olive oil with her spices, seasonings and such when she's slapping out a pile of patties for the grill, they're always plenty juicy and never dry.

BTW, for all you that cook, I was informed the only REAL garlic salt was Lawrys with the green cap.

Anjin, I have been using our Kitchen Aid grinder with the adaptive parts as you described. I have had the fortune of bringing home 19 elk over elk years and still use the same setup to grind up scraps into burger. I wouldn't consider adding pork fat to burger - I want to taste elk meat. Now when making brats, breakfast sausage and smoked salami, that is a different story.