# How many grinds?



## hog warden (Jan 25, 2010)

For you Bambi killers, when processing the ground up parts before freezing, how many grinds and what plate sizes to do it? 

Do you add pork fat to the ground venison? If so, what percent?


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## rbranstner (Jan 25, 2010)

We grind our twice but I am not sure what size plate. We add lean pork and beef to our venison. I believe we use 2/3 cubed venison,  1/6 lean pork, 1/6 lean beef. When we make our sausage we use a 50/50 mix of pork/venison.


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## canadianwild (Jan 25, 2010)

Grind once with a large disk and once with a medium disk. I would have to check out in the shop for the exact sizes. Grinding it too fine can make it seem even dryer.

I add 1/3 ground pork trim to my deer for any sausage.
Tip - Grind the deer after the pork, it helps get some of the pork fat out of the grinder and makes it easier to clean.


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## plj (Jan 25, 2010)

For "ground meat", I grind once, large plate. No additives (ie no fat, no pork, nothing at all.)  I use this for meat loaf, chili, inside-out hamburgers - anything you'd use ground beef for. 

For sausage, kielbasa, etc, I grind once, medium plate. I add either 33% or 50% pork depending on what I'm making.  For the pork I use butts & grind them, including the fat. I do not add back fat in addition to this. 

For hot dogs, my mixture is 3:2:1, venison:pork:backfat. 
Grind twice, once through the medium, once through the fine plate.


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## pineywoods (Jan 25, 2010)

Personally I grind twice a course grind with I believe a 3/8" plate then a second grind with a fine plate again I think its 3/16" I add 10-15% Beef Fat to mine. I course grind the fat separate and add between the grindings and mix well then do the final grind


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## fourthwind (Jan 25, 2010)

I am in the 50% venison, Pronghorn, or Elk to 50% pork shoulder mix group.  gives you about 15% overall fat.  I grind it all together once through a 3/8 plate.  I dont like it too fine.  you lose texture in my opinion.


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## hog warden (Jan 25, 2010)

So if I was going to grind XX pounds of dead critter for the freezer......

cube/trim it off the carcass, then coarse grind (I have 1/2" plates) critter and some proportion of fat (say 10% beef fat or leave it 100% critter.....adding fat as needed for terminal use at some point in the future), then grind again through 3/16" plate, then stuff into 1# or 2# plastic ground meat bags, seal the bags and flash freeze? 

My terminal uses are likely going to be to mix with pork for summer sausages, but some may get put straight into meat sauces and chili. I can see the latter would benefit from some fat in the mix, prior to freezing.

In any event, If I was going to do that much grinding, I can see the benefit of converting one of my #22 hand crank grinders to a motorized unit. Will be easier on me and get the job done a whole lot faster.


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## jerseyhunter (Jan 25, 2010)

I add 15-20% beef fat for burger or 10%beef fat and 10% pork fat for meatloaf or meatballs.  Burgers I usually grind once with a small plate about 3/16ts. Loaf and ball twice, once with a large 3/8 once with a smaller one .
just saw your latest post, You got the plan all right.


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## meat hunter (Jan 25, 2010)

I bought my grinder specifically for home processing of deer which usually gives us between 4-8 deer a year. That is before I found this site. I only grind once, thru 1/4" plate. I will take all venison that I am using for burger and cut it into manageable strips, say 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" by how ever long they end up, sometimes a few inches long, sometimes much more. 
For chile meat, I use a 1/2" plate.
Being that it is venison, I never add anything to it. My wife treats if just like ground beef. 
Venison should taste like venison, that's why I hunt. 
As far as sausage making goes, usually a 60/40 split. 60 venison, 40 pork butts.


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## pineywoods (Jan 25, 2010)

Actually for my burger meat I do all the grinding then freeze for sausage I usually just freeze the venison chunked up till I'm ready to do the sausage then I take it out to that a bit and then grind with whatever else I want to use. I like 70% venison and 20% 80/20 ground beef and 10% pork butt for a summer sausage ratio and it seems to come out pretty good


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## pineywoods (Jan 25, 2010)

I kinda agree I want my venison to taste like venison but I find 10-15% beef fat allows it to bind for burgers and such. 100% venison just seems too dry for me


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## buzzy (Jan 26, 2010)

I grind mine twice using 1/8" plate. To make burger for all kinds of uses I mix 4# venison to 1# 75/25 store bought burger. To make other stuff I just keep chunked up venison in freezer until needed. I don't use pork because it will start to get strong in 5-6 months. We usually have venison burger for 10-12 months.


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## erain (Jan 26, 2010)

this is pretty much how i do mine as well, grind once 3/16 plate, no additions except i like to take a few pounds and add about 15% bacon to it. makes some great tasting burgers. generally i use all the deer meat for sausages, but will save the elk for our burger use.

ditto on the chili meat 1/2 plate

i have a few (make that a ton) different recipies for sausage and use some different ratios and combinations.


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## iamaxxer (Jan 28, 2010)

All of my venison for burger and Chile,are 100% vension no added fat.. and size of plate depends on what it's used for...Chile= larger grind 1/2 inch plate,burger smaller grind= 3/8.
For my sausage twice grind 1/2" and I add 80% ground beef...NO pork... I like my sausage alittle less fat in it... the 80% beef works great for us..


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## fourthwind (Jan 31, 2010)

make sure and do taste tests between pork fat and beef fat.  Everyone's tastes are different.  Beef fat makes the venison too rich for me.  Prefer the pork myself.


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