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

Do you mix beef or pig fat into your elk burger?

We just got the last one back with 10% beef fat.

I just made the family elk burger gravey and rice for dinner.
I am very happy with the way it turned out.

I generally use beef fat. I have some 10% fat burger thawing right now. I think I'll go a little less fat on the next batch.

We generally use about 20% in ours. memtb

I use pork butt, as Emeril says......pork fat rules!

I like to use bacon ends about 15-20%.

I don't use any.Fat is the first thing that t urns rancid in the freezer. Use a little olive oil when cooking

We have added 10% beef fat in our elk burger for years and have never had a problem. It often takes us a couple of years to use up all of the meat from a large bull. Having switched to a ketogenic diet, we will go to 20% next time. I didn't get an elk this year, but the grandkids have two cow permits for a late hunt. I suspect that I will still get a chance to see how 20% works.

10% pork fat.

I mix about half of my burger with 12-15% bacon. The rest we grind and leave plain elk. The bacon mix works great for some dishes, others don't need the fat. Next time you are grinding try leaving some straight if you are curious. It is a bit drier so you have to accommodate for that when preparing your dish.

1/2 of burger get 10% beef fat.
other 1/2 gets nothing.

The straight elk goes into taco meat, chili, lasagna, etc.

The part with fat we use for anything needing structure (burgers, etc.)

5% beef fat for burger.
We always grind breakfast or Italian sausage and use 10% pork fat for that.

I mix 6-8% beef fat usually. Have done fattier. Have done leaner. Have used pork. Has mostly all been good.

Beef fat at 15%. I've used both pork and beef in different ratios and have settled on beef at 15% to be the best mix.

I grind my Elk burgers with 10% beef fat, mixed with 10% bacon ends & pieces. It makes for a jucy, and very tasty burger!

Regards,
Richard

I always go 20% beef fat, but I like the idea of mixing in a good portion of bacon ends and pieces. May have to try that this year. Have a bull and cow permit so should be looking at several hundred pounds of burger.

I guess I'm the odd man out here, I don't put fat in mine. I don't grind a lot of burger and what I do grind gets used in stuff like chili and spaghetti sauce where you don't really need fat. If you do you can always do like SS said and saute it in olive oil, which is pretty good with spaghetti anyway.

15% beef fat. Have done pork fat as well, but prefer beef fat. Beef fat also stores longer.

I'm another one for bacon. Prefer it to be about 15%

I'll grind up a pork butt with elk when making sausage and use 10-15% beef fat for everything else.


That sounds good, I'll have to try that.

Same here, the only need for fat is to make a burger hold together and we use 1 egg mixed in OR mix a bit of beef burger in with the elk. Most of our ground is used for other stuff and don't want/need the fat.

I use about 15% pork trim, which is not 100% fat.
At $5.99 per pound, I can't fathom using bacon in the mix.

Absolutely not. The whole point of elk meat is it is lean. If I wanted fatty burger I'd just buy beef and save the elk meat for some other user .. steaks, jerky, etc. Seems a horrible, egregious waste of an animal I have great respect for.

Tom

LOL, so anyone who mixes fat into THEIR elk is wasting it? Guess I should empty out my freezer.

If you are grilling your elk burgers,only flip them once and they will stay together without added fat.

I am fighting high cholesterol and can't take statins. That is the big reason I don't add fat. Plus, I like the taste of elk. I figure adding fat to good elk meat is like adding ice or water to good bourbon

Adding beef or pork trimmings does not give you that waxy feeling in your moth when eating the burger, like adding straight beef or pork suet does

Yep! Beef fat! memtb

I use buffalo tallow. yum yum

nope I mix 1 lb of 80 % beef burger to 1 1/2 lbs. of elk burger ,I mix it as I use it other wise I just freeze elk burger in a 1 1/2 lb. burger packages.the only fat I would consider to mix with my elk is the prime rib fat of beef and never a bull ! and cow elk meat is much better than bull elk meat too !

I grind elk 100% unaltered and have no trouble with it for grilling and other recipes.

I don't add anything, just pure meat...

That's what she said.....

Can't think of any reason to add fat unless ones goal is to alter flavor.


Fats have little if any binding qualities. Fats are, however, the source of flavor. Chemically remove fat from meat and no one can identify its source.

Proteins bind things together. Do some surgery sometime on a fat critter and see how much success one has when attempting to suture layers of fat.

Have never had issues with burger (venison, elk, caribou, moose, pronghorn, or bear) falling apart. We grill everything turning only once.

I add to some burger primarily for burgers. I've never done surgery on a burger but I've cooked many that are straight elk as well as mixed. The straight elk is crumbly and can be a bit dry. With some fat it holds together better and is juicier. Much of the fat cooks out. Without any fat you will have better luck if you add some binding material like an egg and/or bread crumbs. I've taken to adding bacon ends or just bacon in a pinch as it does give a great flavor. This is only my family's opinion and I only make about 100-120 lbs of elk burger per year--the rest we use for roasts and a few steaks.

LOL, me either, but I've taken some apart with surgical precision.

We have always added 10% beef fat to venison. It make it stay together better for hamburgers and it is not so dry then.

You can do that but I put my 100% elk patties in tin foil and lay them on the grill. I turn them once and after about 3 minutes a side, I open the foil and slide out the burger. It will stay together now while you put the final "browning" on it.

We go 1lb of beef fat to 5lbs of elk.... it makes great burgers.

Adding fat to grind for binding purposes is a well established practice, and not only works for elk.
I believe that beef fat will change the flavor less than pork but many people feel pork fat improves the flavor.
I have inquired about grinding the elks own fat back into it and was advised against it. I was not really given a clear reason why not.
Personally I've eaten so much elk for so long that it has begun to taste ordinary. Beef or other game species taste exotic to me now and I've become more interested in various grind changes.

No way!!!!!

+1 Dogshooter

this man knows what is RIGHT!!!!

5% is ok also.

We dice up onion, then add 1 table spoon of Liquid Smoke to 3 lbs of hamburger, salt and pepper, Hamburgers are to die for!!!

That works very well with venison.

DF

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.

No added fat here. I think it ruins the taste of wild meat. I guess I know how to make burgers on the grill, never had one fall apart.

Bought a Cabela's 1 hp grinder about 10 years ago. Expensive at the time, but it grinds 50 lbs of elk in about 15 minutes. It weighs 68 lbs. (A long time ago a machinist told me the best machines were the heaviest. He was right.) I make two passes, one in 10 mm and the next in either 7 mm for chili or 4 mm for burgers. Two grinds helps to spread the suet evenly also. I use between a 5 and 10% mixture, just buy a few pounds of frozen beef suet and mix it in while grinding. Also, a butcher told me not to trim off all the connective tissue, that it helps to bind the ground meat together. Seems to work well that way. I do trim all the elk fat off though. Hand grinders are worthless, especially with cartilage and silver skin. Good luck.

I usually have two deer and one elk to eat a year.

The meat is usually cut and wrapped by me or canned.

The shoulder blades and leg bones are boiled to with vegetables and spices to make broth 4 canning and cooking later. I can the broth alone also. I use no salt.......try buying that at the store!

The scraps and some other muscle groups are put in gallon freezer bags and I do not take this frozen meat to the butcher until February, that way I know it is only my meat getting processed. I buy pork butt at about 15% of the weight. I figure about 9 pounds per gallon freezer bag.

I buy pork butts at under 1.75 a pound.

It costs about 70 cents a pound for the butcher to grind, package and flash freeze the burger.

I most likely do about 75 to 100 pounds a year at most.

So at let's say $70 a year I cannot justify investing or monkeying around with grinding my own.

The trick is the butchers grinder can handle sinew etc and partially frozen product so it never gets truly thawed or warmed up when processed. It is absolutely delicious.

As Emeril Lagasse says " Pork Fat Rules!"

This thread reminds me of when Lewis and Clark were on the west coast and literally dying to have some fat in their diet. Eating elk all the time was killing them, so when they would catch salmon, the fat was the first thing consumed. They would have ground it into their elk if possible, I am sure...

That is perhaps the most perceptive post on the internet I have read.

Thanks NEMO

AWESOMENESS!

Different folks, different strokes.
Do pure elk burger.
You can always add some beef or pork or what ever combo you want.
Experiment, keep track/ratio and see what you like for next years harvest.
If you make a whole batch and you don’t like it.... you’re SOL

I am in the leave it in larger cuts for freezing and grind as you need to camp. Partially thawed meat grinds better. Fat doesn't store well. Try to use Elk/Deer only whenever it will work for the recipe. If I add fat I like to add sirloin fat trimmings if the butcher will save some and for grilling some bacon ends but mostly just olive oil works for most cooking methods. Unlike Lewis and Cark there is plenty of fat in my diet already. I prefer grass fed beef to the really marbled cuts.

This with my wild game- musk ox excluded when I can get it gifted to me. That has enough natural fat in it. And it doesn't make the freezer anyway in the amounts I've gotten.

I have always found it ironic that the butchers charge for a waste product added to perfectly good game meat.

I finished grinding my elk yesterday, 50 pounds,no fat. Grilled up some burger last evening and it stayed together nicely. As Mule Deer states, let it cook a little before you flip i.
It's been a long long time since I have eaten any beef.I eat mostly deer ,antelope, elk and maybe a little pork. To me, manyhow adding beef or pork fat to good venison is like adding water or coke cola to a good bourbon

Most people likely have too much fat (good or bad) in their diet. And calories. There are exceptions.

Many moons ago I discovered eating freeze dried crud on a backpack hunt turned my legs to water after a couple days. I took to carrying a couple cubes of butter and adding a couple tablespoons to each sawdust meal. Flavor and fat content. Win -win.

On another occasion, I was working USFS trail crew, 10 on - 4 off.- Hard manual labor. We were eating OK, but come the 4 day weekend, Jim and I went moose hunting (we had been clearing trail after hours, for a week in addition to our 8 hour trail work day) 5 miles up this side valley.

Jim shot a moose first day, and on our second day, headed 10 miles out on foot to get horses (part of the deal for clearing the guide's trail) while I continued hunting. By noon I had rubber legs. which I then directed to the gut pile where I cut out a fist sized chunk of stomach fat, took it back to camp, broiled and ate it.

End of rubber legs.

The three major rules of extended heavy-duty backpacking are :

1. Take care of your feet

2. Sleep warm, (preferably dry also, but at least warm!)

3. Get enough calories. Usually not a problem for couch potatoe-ing..... noun into verb!

Assuming no injury, everything else on a 10 day to 2 week backpack trip is manageable, no matter how miserable it gets. Or get smart and buy, borrow, or steal horses....

I have to admit tho, I tend to use butter more than olive oil when cooking, except when frying burrger from game animals. In that case, I mix olive oil into the meat, then fry it in butter..... . Grilling I use olive oil only, if anything.

AMEN to never adding fat. if I'm gonna do burgers on the grill I'll add a little cheap breakfast sausage to make them stick together. they turn out amazing and my meat lasts a lot longer in the freezer.

Reminds me of the profound words of Bear Claw Chris Lapp, in Jeremiah Johnson:

“Can’t figure people down there, eating hog when they could feed on elk!”

I could never understand why anyone would contiminate good fresh wild meat with meat that was raised in cattle pens and fed chemicals.. the chemicals end up in the fat and ruins pure meat..


I also don't hang my meat up and let it rot for a week before I process it,, the fresher the better it tastes......Flame on..

We don't add fat to any of our burger meat - antelope, deer or elk. Would kind of defeat the purpose IMHO.

I'm not at all sure there is a right or wrong way to do this.....simply a matter of what fits your likes.

I recently made 28 pounds of breakfast sausage by adding 15 % beef tallow. I then used a commercially available spice mix but at 1.5 times the recommended usage.....the stuff is great. It's going to make a lot of "burger" dishes. I especially like elk chili.

Works in meatloaf, too. So does grated carrot.

Oatmeal is a good binder for lean beef burger on the grill as well. Nothing wrong with that.

I make burgers with wild game same as I do with beef. Egg bread crumbs and garlic and onion salt and pepper

So is beef fat;)

Oh yes there is an absolute right way and wrong way to eat elk. The taste YOU prefer does not matter. Several of us have made that clear. If you don't eat it the way they like the taste then you are doing it wrong and committing sacrilege against a noble beast.

BTW, if you add sugar to ground cocoa, you are ruining the natural taste of chocolate and are a defective human being. Ditto if you ever put ANYTHING in coffee...

FWIW re elk, the best I've ever tasted was a Roosevelt from Oregon that had 15% beef fat added. I think it just happened to be an exceptionally tasty elk. I've done 10% beef and about that much pork and up to 20% pork one time. It was all good. Like many, we prefer nothing added for ground elk or deer that goes into pastas, tacos, chili, etc. We usually estimate a scant 10% pork fat on the rest. Totally lean elk or deer makes the absolute BEST chili and I like to grind it a bit coarse for chili.

LOL. Too true!

But if you're stuck with lean beef for grilling and need a binder...

Never nothing...

I'll mix an egg in if I want burgers to stick together on a grill but I like my elk to taste like elk.

A pound of elk and a pound of sausage does make nice meatloaf but otherwise, no fat mixed in my ground elk.

Never mix any fat into elk burger. If we want a burger she fries in olive oil .
Never understood tainting great meat with pig and cow fat. Might as well go to mickey D's .

This thread has been very interesting, because when essentially the same question has been posted before, fewer people said they didn't add fat to game burger. Now it seems a LOT more aren't adding anything.

Am wondering if this is due to more of us wanting to eat less saturated fat in our diet, or more knowledge about game-burger cooking, where more of us are aware that adding fat isn't necessary for burgers to hold together.

Would appreciate hearing any comments on this.

Well, it turns out that saturated fat isn’t bad for us....as opposed to what doctors like me have been telling people for the last 20 or 30 years. Lots of literature on this. My personal experience is that you and Eileen are correct, no need to add fat to have good ground game meat. Nowadays we counsel our patients to worry much more about simple carbohydrate Thant saturated fat isn’t he diet. And, if I could consistently get high quality good tasting fat I would make a lot more sausage.

Yep, we've been following the sat-fat research as well--along with the simple carbs. In fact have both lost weight in recent years while eating more fat and fewer carbs.

Eileen has been contacted by many readers who followed the recipes in her sausage cookbook, but reduced the fat content considerably because they thought it would be better for them. Then they complained the sausage didn't taste good. Well, duh!

We get our sausage fat primarily from local sources, along with some from the feral Texas pigs we take most years. Though Texas hogs usually have a diet high in corn (another possible factor in diet effect) despite supposedly being "wild."

Not here.I just don't like ruining good elk meat with beef or pig fat.It's like adding tap water or Coke a Cola to a good bourbon. If I want fat,I go get a Sonic burger or maybe a steak house prime rib.Truthfully though, I have eaten so much less fat in may years because most of my meat is elk,deer or pronghorn, that my stomach rebels when it try to push fat into it.

I do make about 30 pounds of smoked summer sausage each year with 30% pork in it.Pork,not all pork fat though. Like pork butt or shoulder roasts

I do not add any fat to a "hamburger" as I have learned how to grill it and have it hold together. On the stove, ground burger for spaghetti yields no drippings - which is just fine. Just add sauce and noodles. But for summer sausage and brats, I do have some pork shoulder added to give it some moisture. While adding saturated fat is of some concern, tasting the unadulterated wild meat is most important.

I was at a butcher that I work for......

The fat that place sold for adding to wild game was in a waxed cardboard box uncovered, directly under the fan blowing off the cold compressor. Un marked , un covered, lord knows for how long.

Same kind of scenario as my regular butcher.....but my regular butcher realizes it and recommends fresh pork butt instead.
He doesn't even care if he sells it to you. The local grocer generally has it from Smithfield bulk packed under $2.00 a pound.

I totally agree U don't need it to eat it......but if you want finicky pallets to enjoy it........it is the devil I know that works the best 4 me.

Add a little pork belly for taste.

Jbuck: Indeed I do add 10% Beef Kidney Fat to my Elk and Deer burger.
The Beef kidney Fat is (according to my long time wild game butcher friend!) the sweetest of the beef fats.
Anyway myself and the rest of the VarmintFamily really enjoy this 10% mix.
I have tried Elk burger many times with no added fat and much prefer the added variety.
Be sure and hand trim all the sinew and white tissue from your trimmings before you take the meat to the butcher for adding the 10% Beef Kidney Fat - don't trust the butcher shop personnel to take the time to do this - this method ensures great burger!
Try it - you'll like it.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I mix pork into elk sausage, but the burger I don’t mix.

Pork loin bone in $0.99 a pound is what is going into mine this year. At about 15%. Then I can have pork short ribs after I filet the pork off. The loins.

3:1 ratio. Pork butt.

10% pork fat mixed in, mmmmmmm burgers

I can't believe how easy pork loin roast filets off the bone!

IMO, adding beef or pork fat to elk is a bloody sacrilege. Quite literally...

Agreed 100% with this.