No luck buying fat ...how much pork butt to mix in the venison for an all-round meat mix?

[rexlan]

I have tried everyplace possible to buy pork or beef fat. All say no or they want $2.50/lb for it. Yes crazy. No local butcher shops or processors so I am stuck.

Just got 100# of venison .... so what are my options? I want to make the salami, breakfast sausage, summer sausage, brats and sticks.

All I can get reasonably is pork butts for $1.59/lb. What is a recommended ratio of that to add to the venison?

Would I be better off with a different cut to mix with?

Thanks

[reinhard1]

for the salami, summer, and sticks i would go with 25% butt and the rest venison. for the brats i would go 50/50 and the same for breakfast. breakfast and brats need more fat. everything i smoke gets 1 cup of dried powderd milk per 5 pounds of meat mix. the ratio's of venison/butts i mention above is because you do not have additional fat. so many places at this time cut everything pre trimmed or is pre packaged-counter ready. try going into a store and ask the meat manager if they can get you a case [usualy 60 lbs] of boneless picnic trim. i can get that here for around 1.60 per pound. that is about 50% pork fat and 50% picnic meat. that is much fatter pork and the ratio's would be different. good luck.

[rexlan]

Thanks for the info. I don't know why but around here they guard the fat. The meat manager at Food City today said they can sell it for $3.00/lb by just mixing it in their burger and I'm lucky to even have it offered for any price!

I will definitely check on the boneless picnic trim. I agree ... most of the stuff is already trimmed and all they do is slice it up anymore.

[hockeybc69]

I use the cheapest/fattiest ground beef I can find.

The 73/27 tubes of ground beef at Wally World have worked good for me.

I dont have my notes handy, but for summer sausage I believe I used about 66% ground venison to 33% ground beef.

[reinhard1]

if they do have fat on hand in Florida [especialy pork fat] i'm thinking its because of ethnic demand. for example if you have a large Mexican or Spanish community, pork fat is used for frying certain foods. one store i worked for had a lot of Mexican folks in the area. we could not keep pork fat in the counter. didn't charge much [a buck a pound]but normaly would throw it [except for me ]. so it may be that it's demand vs supply down there. selling picnic trim may be a something they never thought about that could be very profitable for the stores. good luck.

[BobT]

I use 0% added meat or fat. Pure venison for mine and they are not dry.

[Walleyehooker]

I would grind up pork butts. A lot of places that make sausage during deer season use a 50/50 mix but if I were doing my own I would use less pork like 75/25.

[reinhard1]

the places that process venison into sausage work on volume to make money. thus more fat or meats other than venison is used. when you do your own it's all about personal preference. we all have our mixes the way we like them and try to work on them to make them better at times. breakfast sausage and brat type sausage require more percentage of pork butt or fat or they will be to dry in my opinion. beef sticks and summer,thuringer, and salami type smoked meats need less faty pork percentage. in the end you will find the right mix. i have made sausage now for over 40 years and i'm still playing around with percentages and spices ect.

i've got some down and make no changes but there are new ones i'm trying out in smaller batches to make specialty sausage. so the learning process is always there. good luck.

[TruthWalleyes]

I'll be processing my venison either this week or next. Will be using 30-40% BACON!!

Did this last year with about 20 lbs and it was amazing.

LIttle pricy though.

[reinhard1]

i'm assuming your mixing bacon with venison for burgers or meatloaf. i think that's a great idea and have seen others do that as well. some stores sell "bacon ends and pieces". always cheaper. good luck.

[hockeybc69]

Quote:

Will be using 30-40% BACON!!

Are you making sausages with that ratio???

[reinhard1]

i'm assuming he's making venison ground with bacon for burger. i agree with you that that would not work with sausage. good luck.

[rexlan]

I think I will give it a try with 40% butts and 60% venison as a starting point. I contacted another butcher (old school German place) and they said I could get small amounts of fat from them but they don't have much. Seems the pork come in pretty lean these days.

[reinhard1]

most whole bone pork loins and boneless loins come well trimmed for the most part and a lot of places wont trim any off before cutting. butts also come trimmed with some layer of fat but not much. makes it pretty tough to get much excess fat. good luck.

[TruthWalleyes]

i'm assuming your mixing bacon with venison for burgers or meatloaf. i think that's a great idea and have seen others do that as well. some stores sell "bacon ends and pieces". always cheaper. good luck.

Burgers for the grill.

I'm undecided on using bacon ends yet, WAY cheaper - yes, had some last week from HyVee that was under $2 LB. I will tone down the percentage of bacon if i use ends though, as they tend to be pretty fatty.

[reinhard1]

that's true they tend to be more on the fatty side, but your using the bacon for the taste and the fat content for your burger. ya, just cut down on the amount and you will still have that taste you are looking for. just put some bacon slices on your burger with the toppings . good luck.

[LABS4ME]

We make bacon-venison-cheeseburger-burger all the time.

4 lbs. lean venison (trimmed very well)

1 lbs. bacon (try pepper bacon!)

1 pacakage of lipton onion soup mix

1/2 pound of high temp cheddar cheese

1/2 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce

Run the venison and bacon through the coarse plate twice, mix in the onion soup mix, bbq sauce and cheese. Use a patty press to make perfectly formed - uniform burgers and freeze 4 to a package with a piece of patty paper in between. Awesome to grab a few packages for hunting camp or ice fishing.

Good Luck!

Ken

[reinhard1]

that gets the Yummy award. thanks. good luck.

[fishfinder72]

i'm assuming your mixing bacon with venison for burgers or meatloaf. i think that's a great idea and have seen others do that as well. some stores sell "bacon ends and pieces". always cheaper. good luck.

I have been doing bacon venison burger for quite a while now and have quit buying ground beef all together. I use a pack of bacon ends and pieces that is sold in 3lb packages and grind with 7 pounds venison. Package it by the pound. Great for grillin burgers and ground meat for hot dishes, tacos, etc.

Summer sausage I go 17lbs venison, 3lbs bacon ends, 5lbs fatty ground beef. Have tried a variety of seasoning packs. Favorite so far has been a "buffalo hot wing" seasoning from PS Seasonings. The key instead of adding the called for amount of water (say 20oz) ad 20oz of standard hot wing sauce instead. Awesome flavor. Have also done a Bloody Mary and a BBQ with the corresponding liquid instead of water with great results.

[BobT]

I'll be processing my venison either this week or next. Will be using 30-40% BACON!!

Did this last year with about 20 lbs and it was amazing.

LIttle pricy though.

I've actually been thinking about doing this for my breakfast sausage. I usually don't mix my venison but thought the added smoke flavor from the bacon would be a nice touch.

[reinhard1]

i have used bacon that i had fried first until brown and let cool and drain on paper towels. i then put the cooked bacon in the food processor for a few spins and then added it to the breakfast sausage. just have to remember that the bacon will also give you some extra salt, so you may have to cut down on the salt as far as the ingrediants. cooking the bacon gets rid of some of the salt. good luck.

[TruthWalleyes]

Mmmmm BACON!!

[BobT]

i have used bacon that i had fried first until brown and let cool and drain on paper towels. i then put the cooked bacon in the food processor for a few spins and then added it to the breakfast sausage. just have to remember that the bacon will also give you some extra salt, so you may have to cut down on the salt as far as the ingrediants. cooking the bacon gets rid of some of the salt. good luck.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll keep it in mind.

[Ballyhoo]

our local grocery store has 10# tubes of ground pork/fat in the coolers for a few months after deer season when everyone is making sausage. I don't know the mix but it has a lot of fat in it, it is not for eating alone, it is strictly for mixing with venison. I have used it and it works well.

My brother does the venison burger all the time, I have not tried it but am going to.

[reinhard1]

they sell 10 pound tubes course ground down here also at my local cub, but only in the fall. they were 80/20. the county market had course ground picnic which was 50/50 once in awhile. they are handy to have unless there was a sale on butts. good luck.