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

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.

Depends what your making with your ground elk, you want chili beans don't add fat but you need oil. I use 20% beef fat jut enough to keep it together for hamburger patties and Shepards pie.