Gents, I shot a cow elk in Utah on friday and some of the meat I want to make Elk Burger out of it. My question is this, if you add fat, do you use beef fat or pork fat? Which is best. I assume the ratio would be about 4 or 5 parts elk meat to 1 part fat. Anyone out there make Elk burgers and able to help me?

When we add anything to the elk we usually use lean pork or beef and stay away from the trimmings. 5 parts elk to 1 part pork is usually what we do if we do anything at all.

Pork seems to give the best flavor IMO.

My own preference is for beef fat. 5 to 1 will give you a 20% fat content 5 1/2 to one will give you an 18% fat content, the 18% mixture seems about right for most of my uses.
If I make sausage I'll use pork fat and run about 25% fat content depending on what I'm making.
Hope this is of help to you. Beats the hell out of tag soup.
Z

We eat lots and lots of elk burger. I haven't developed a beef/pork preference. Make sure that it is good/recently cut fat. Sometimes butchers have some skanky fat around, and you don't want that. I call a grocery store that does their own butchering about 8:00 in the morning, and tell them I will pick it up at noon--I get that day's fat.

Tend to run 10% by weight--a leaner mix than you mentioned. If we are doing something that could use more fat, then tend to add a little oil, or maybe an egg depending on use.

I quit adding fat a long time ao,but when I did I used steak trimmings.

Straight lean elk burger makes better spaghetti,tacos, chili,etc.

If you only turn hamburgers once while grilling, they will stay together.

It gets expensive, but I add 1 part pork butt to 3-4 parts elk. I don't buy just plain fat. I think it's delicious and the meat holds together very well. But I also like pork in general. However, I can't serve it to a lot of my friends and neighbors because the the whole biblical "unclean" thing. They all do their elk as straight ground, no suet. And it seems fine. I of course like mine better.

I quit adding any fat to burger about 10 years ago, and haven't missed it a bit. I trim all the deer/elk/antelope/caribou whatever fat off first, then grind the meat as lean as possible. Vacuum-seal and freeze, then when I get ready to cook it I add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil per burger, more or less, and mix it up, along with whatever seasonings I find appealing at the moment. They cook up nicely on my grills, inside or outside, and have no "domestic" flavors.

Dennis

Depends on what I intend to use it for. If you ever want to use it for jerky (sitka deer spare me the sermon) you don't want any fat in it. I agree with making sure you get fresh fat though. Some of my friends add pork as exbiologist does.

Have a butcher save some beef suet and add 10% suet to the elk and you will be golden.

I add no fat to my deer and elk burger. The whole point of venison, for me, is meat that is lean and clean. Toxins concentrate in fat. About the last thing I want is to add that to my wonderful, organic, completely free-range meat!

To each their own, but elk burger is wonderful stuff with no fat added, IMHO.

Beef suet will leave a pasty film on the roof of your mouth if used. Steak trimmings won't ,but adding any type of fat will reduce how long you want to leave it in the freezer.

Adding fat to good elk burger is like adding ketchup to a T-bone steak

We don't add fat. If one had it done at a shop, insist on good clean trimmings. Long ago we had about 70 lbs of meat ruined with the addition of poor quality beef fat.

About two or three strips of good bacon on a pure elk pattie sure makes it hard to beat.

I used to use beef fat until I had it with pork. Now, I just get a pork shoulder and mix that in with it.

beef fat

I used to get a whole pork shoulder or a boston butt to grind with my venison, but 2 of the many reasons I hunt are A) "free" meat and B) good meat. SO I'm not adding any crappy factory farmed mess to that. I add a little olive oil and egg now to burgers and meatloaf, and nothing to chili, tacos, spaghetti sauce etc.

And that's the right time to add it, too. We ground some fat bacon in with some elk burger one year, and I didn't like the fact that all my wonderful elk burger tasted like bacon. YMMV, but I'll not do that again.
Now we use some fat pork meat and everyone's happy...even though we don't use enough to make much difference in the taste of the finished product.

Nothing...Elk is best pure...

I do beef, but some guys swear by pork--pick your poison--either will taste great!



Casey

Guys, I really appreciate all the info and input. My wife and I used Pork butt, and added it at 20 percent. It happened to be on sale, so it wasnt too expensive to add to it. My first elk, for an old fart, I am pooped, I'll tell you guys about it later, but it ended up being a real hunt which made me feel better about it all. And I thought hunting mule deer was exciting.............

i don't add any fat either. ground elk makes some delicious tacos, burritos, spagetti, etc.

Not exactly what you asked for but try this with some of your elk burger.


Summer Sausage

Ingredients:
2 lbs. cheap hamburger
1 cup water
2 tsp. liquid smoke
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp garlic pepper
� tsp. onion powder
1tsp mustard powder
1 tsp mustard seed
3 tbs Morton�s Tender Quick

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together well.
Roll into 2 or 3 rolls as firmly as possible.
Roll in aluminum foil with the shiny side to the meat.
Let stand in the refrigerator for 24 hours. This is critical.
Punch holes in foil bottom & sides when ready to bake.
Bake @ 325 degrees for 1-1/4 hours.
Cool & re-wrap in aluminum foil (leave in sausage casing if that is what you use).
Store in freezer if it lasts any length of time.



Note:
When preparing summer sausage I like to make it with wild game and in big batches. This recipe multiplies out real well. For instance if you want to make 10 lbs of the sausage just multiply everything by 5 etc. When I make it with wild game I use 2 parts of game meat (minus ALL fat) and 1 part of the cheapest, fattest hamburger that I can find. This combination works real well and gives it a good fat content. Also I go to the butcher shop and get 3 lb sausage casings. This seems to work better than the aluminum foil. Just remember to poke holes in it. If you don�t it can get a little exciting when it builds up steam from cooking.

My wife made four rolls of summer sausage last night with a similar recipe we use. I'll get her to try this one also. Thanks.

We ate Elk burgers last night after we vacuum sealed all of it, and I can see why people like Elk burger. It was very good, and count me in on those that love elk now.

Today, we are doing the other hind quarter, backstraps for steaks, etc, and the shoulders are for jerky. I am really glad I went on this hunt, at 57 years of age, it was a thrilling, and tough hunt. I am glad I had to earn it, makes you feel all the better when it is over. I know this, I've been pretty worn out in the past getting a big mule deer out of tough country, but stocking this elk and getting her out used up all nine lives of mine, if I were a cat....LOL.

Couldn't agree more saddlesore! No reason to ruin excellent ground meat with inferior additives. Adding fat is only necessary if you want to duplicate the methods and recipes for cooking beef. Elk meat needs better treatment. Learn to cook elk meat as it requires, and it will reward you with fine eating and superior nutrition.

I can't remember where I read it, but I recall reading that pork fat can spoil even while frozen. Just something to think about...

That said, I don't add anything to my elk burger. Heck, I'm too cheap and don't want the extra work.

Count me in on one who grinds elk without any additional fat.
Fat can become rancid over time and who wants that to contaminate your delicious wild game meat?
I make hamburger patties using tin foil so I turn flip the foil to grill them. I believe there are round metal forms you can buy to hold the burger intact while grilling.

I'm another no-fat guy.
I try to remove it from my diet whenever possible.
If you are planning on grilling a lot of burgers however a very small % is helpful to keep them from falling apart on the grill.

If you onlt flip the burgers once,they won't fall apart

I tried the following this year and it made the best burgers I've ever eaten. My wife (who hates wild game) and several friends also agree- best burgers they've ever had.

I pick up choice ribeye steaks on sale for $5/ lb. Slice the ribeye steaks up into cubes with fat and all- then mix 1 part ribeye to 3 parts elk while grinding.

Just the right amount of fat to make for a really juicy burger, yet still fairly lean. Incredibly rich flavor. Ends up around $1.67/ lb- a lot cheaper than the junk ground 'beef' you buy in the stores around here.

B A C O N !!! About 5 to 10% by weight, depending on your taste. No other lean meat is needed. You can often buy bacon odds and ends at stores that cut their own meat.

+2 (or is that 3 or 4?)

I grind my own. No fat added or wanted. If I want it to "hang together" a little better, a bit of raw egg mixed in works well. Can add some hard bread crumbs as well.

I'm another guy that adds no fat to my wild game meat. Elk meat has more protien, less fat and less cholesterol than just about any other meat. It contains no steroids, no additives, nothing but pure lean meat. Most of my ground meat gets used in casseroles, chilis, tacos, etc. Ocasionally I do make pattys and then, as has already been mentioned, I turn them just once and they hang together.

KC

I've been grinding my own for 20 plus years and started with pork fat, went to beef, and now add nothing.

I found pork fat didn't survive as long in the freezer as beef fat.

I look back now wonder now why I ever felt the need to add any fat to elk HB.

All I'll say is that it's heartening to hear about so many people who don't add fat to their game-burger anymore. As somebody already noted, it isn't necessary to get hamburger patties to hold together while cooking.

I suspect that myth started because so many guys just like to dink around with the meat their grilling. Maybe such activiy makes them feel like to they're doing more than they are, but if you just leave a fat-free elk burger on the grill for a few minutes before turning the dang thing, it will hold together nicely. They only fall apart when somebody feels the burgers have to be turned every few seconds.

I have seen this compulsive dinking-and-turning behavior in a lot of men. I once spent 10 days in an Alaskan moose camp with a cook who, whenever he prepared the fresh salmon we caught from the river, turned the darn fillets every 30 seconds and then SALTED them every time as well. By the time they got to the table they were like salty hocky pucks, but by God he looked busy!

For me, adding fat thing was because "That's the way Dad did it." Without questioning why, I took up the practice, but have since learned better.

Kinda like when I was learning to hunt, many preached cutting the throat of just shot big game animals as mandatory. I don't know anyone who routinely does this anymore.

Agree on the no turning theory on elk burgers. Sear long enough on one side to denature the proteins, and they will flip just fine.

Next time I will do it without. But, I don't think what I have will last long enough to go bad. I'm liking it too much!

I'm in the why add ketchup to steak camp, no fat added and gentle on the flipping of smallish patties works great for me. Cook thoroughly on one side, flip only once. No squeezing, all that does is squeeze tasty juices out.

Add my name to this list as well. No fat added... Grind our own.

5% beef at most for any wild game. I use olive oil if I need more 'fat'.

FAT!!! You can eat elk and deer all year without having fat, hormones, and other nasty man made crap added to your tasty pure wholesome meat. Skip it.
If you must have it for your burgers add olive oil or some Italian dressing.

I used to add 10% beef fat, now I add 15%.

We went to pork meat with fat on it because it gives a little pork flavor to the meat, and we like that. In a few years we may not, and will do it another way...such is the way of the home butcher...whatever suits his/her fancy.
I've been told by butchers that pork fat/meat turns rancid faster in the freezer than beef, but I've never noticed any change in ours after more than a year.