DEER MEAT

[Biggy1]

I got a half of a deer from a friend and I want to know if I can use the half for deer sausage?

 

[mike243]

Absolutely, add fat though as it's very lean, I plan on making some next week as season starts for muzzle loader

 

[Timber II]

Oh Ya….and lots of other things too!!
Timber

 

[smokerjim]

Absolutely, I usually go 2lb straight fat to every 8lb deer. Or you could go 50/50 with pork butt.

 

[Biggy1]

Absolutely, I usually go 2lb straight fat to every 8lb deer. Or you could go 50/50 with pork butt.

Do you think 70/30 will be alright?

 

[Biggy1]

Absolutely, add fat though as it's very lean, I plan on making some next week as season starts for muzzle loader

Appreciate it sir!

 

[smokerjim]

Do you think 70/30 will be alright?

Dont see why not, try it and see how you like it, you could adjust more or less next time you make, its basically just my personal preference.

 

[pineywoods]

70/30 will work. Are you going to use pork fat or beef fat? Personally I like to use beef fat as I think it tastes closer to venison than pork. Others like pork fat so it's up to the persons taste and what they can find for fat. Some people will go 50/50 but to me then the question becomes are you eating pork sausage or venison sausage if I want pork sausage I won't waste the venison. You might even want to grind some at 80/20 or 85/15 for using for burger and whatever else you would us ground beef for.

 

[indaswamp]

70/30 deer to fat would work, but 70/30 deer to pork butt would be too lean. You need a minimum of about 20% fat or your sausage will be dry. Also, be sure to clean the deer meat very well and remove all connective tissue, tendons, silver skin, and most importantly-the deer fat. Otherwise, your meat will have bits that stick between your teeth and have off flavors from the fat.

 

[Biggy1]

Dont see why not, try it and see how you like it, you could adjust more or less next time you make, its basically just my personal preference.

Thank you sir!

 

[tallbm]

I got a half of a deer from a friend and I want to know if I can use the half for deer sausage?

Oh yeah I think the guys are getting you well covered with their answers.

I just got back from my yearly hunting trip. 4 deer, 1 feral hog. I do and will be making sausage myself in the near future :D

I 70/30 venison to fat will work. I do 80/20 and I use trimmed pork back fat I buy from the butcher or restaurant supply store. 80/20 always comes out perfect for me and my types of sausage AND the math is simple. 5 pounds sausage = 1 pound fat, 4 pounds meat. 10 pounds of sausage = 2 pounds fat, 8 pounds sausage. Do 5 and 10 pound batches and math keeps simple :D

NOW, you will hear a lot of people who mix pork butt with venison to make sausage which is not bad but know that a pork butt is about 80/20 meat to fat so if you add more meat you will skew the ratio to more meat, less fat AND you added a ton more weight while diluting your deer meat out of the mix (as indaswamp is educating you on).
Also indaswamp is 100% correct about cleaning your deer meat super well. You want ZERO deer fat. It doesn't taste well and is basically like eating candle wax hahahaha!
Clean ALL, yes ALL of the silver skin, sinew (clear slimey skin), and fat from your meat.
This means a lot of cleaning AND you will lose more meat than you think due to not being able to seperate the meat from this unwanted tissue.

IMPORANT: Rule of thumb is that if there is tissue you would NOT throw it in a skillet and eat it, then it should NOT be part of your grind/sausage, or steaks.

Here are some pro tips no how to clean your deer to save you time, sanity, and get you the best meat.

Unless you have giant deer here is the Bad and the Ugly:

• Deer Neck - Not worth the time to try and pull grind meat out of the neck.
  Too much silver skin and other stuff that will have you carving for hours for little meat. You CAN roast/braise this as a whole if the deer/neck is big enough. I meat hunt and the bigger 90-105 pound does don't have necks worth messing with. So it can become dog food carvings or left on for the coyotes, buzzards, and feral hogs to live off of. Nature has to eat as well :D
• Deer Ribs - unless you somehow have a massive massive deer, not worth any effort in my book. This is even worse than the neck if you try to remove silver skin and sinew and get any usable meat. Also the amount of waxy tallow that comes out of ribs makes them pretty much inedible to most people with the exception of my father, who is rare maniac lol.
  These are also great for dogs if you can get a clean cut on the bone (no jagged sharp bits) for each rib, leaving the meat on the bone. Dogs will love it!
• Deer Belly/Flaps/Flanks - this will fool you very well. It seems meaty but when you try to pull the silver skin and sinew off both sides you wind up with very little usable meat lol. It's not even good for braising in my experience. HOWEVER, this is like the holy grail of dog food. It's flat, pretty meaty, and can be easily cut into chunks. Your dogs will love you for it.
• Deer Shank (best kept secret) - you will hear people say to grind these or to make jerky out of them. I firmly disagree with how full of heavy silver skin they are, even amongst all that good meat in there. Again "the rule" if you wouldn't throw it in a skillet and eat, don't grind it.
  These however make the most AMAZING braised dishes you may ever eat!!!! It brings a tear to my eye when people throw out the shanks, it might be my favorite part of the deer.
  
  I cut the meat off the front and back shanks, leaving the heavy tendon pieces out. For back legs I ALSO include the big baseball size muscle called the Heel that is connected to that big tendon (cut away the big tendon).
  Braise this meat with wine, tomatoes, onions, garlic, etc. and all that internal tendon and tissue will melt into amazing flavorful goodness!!!

The Good:

• Front Shoulders - you can good grind out of this. Front shoulders are PURELY grind in my book.
  
  
• Back Legs - this is where you will get the majority of your grind meat. There is a top round, bottom round, and a "sirloin" football hunk, and if lucky you can get a tri-tip and it's good meat near the top of the back leg where it would have connected to the pelvis. All great grind and the top round and bottom round are great for steaking. I just grind em all up and might save a big top and bottom round for steaking (I like bottom round for venison fajitas, top round is good too but thicker).
  
  
• Tenderloin - this is from the inside body cavity of the pelvis and spine area of your deer. Clean it, cook em however you like or grind it. It won't be munch meat so do what you will with it, I grind mine all the time.
  
  
• Back Strap (loin) - this is the primo cut of the deer. Clean it and know it will shrink DRASTICALLY in size by the time you clear all the silver skin off it. Steak it (cook rare/med rare) or grind it. I grind mine and people think I'm nuts for doing so, BUT I often keep my backstraps and tenderloins separate to grind and bag them separate from all the other grind meat. Make a venison burger patty or some dish from that meat and it's sooooo good.

You will come to find out that the time you spend trying to get good meat out of on the bad/ugly cuts is futile but hey, it's a learning experience we all go through. Don't feel bad to abandon the effort and deftault to some of the things I mention.

The good cuts... they are self explanatory.


Finally, venison tastes like a lean beef. So if you want to make something that is more traditionally beefy, then use beef fat in your sausage (ground pastrami, beef franks/hotdogs, beef breakfast sausage).
If you want something more traditionally pork then use the pork fat and the flavor will easily adapt (pork breakfast sausage, brats, franks/hot dogs, polish sausage, etc.).

In TX, sausage is always a BBQ smokehouse option. So plenty of beef/pork combo sausage we grew up loving. I put together a TX style Hot Link sausage that is full of flavor and a healthy bit of spicy kick. So if interested let me know.

Ask any questions you got, and enjoy your deer!

 

[uncle eddie]

I trim all deer fat, within reason, as this is where most of the "gamey" flavor comes from.
For summer sausage I mix 50% venison with 50% pork butt.
This gets the fat content about right and can mellow the gaminess (if it exists).

 

[Biggy1]

70/30 will work. Are you going to use pork fat or beef fat? Personally I like to use beef fat as I think it tastes closer to venison than pork. Others like pork fat so it's up to the persons taste and what they can find for fat. Some people will go 50/50 but to me then the question becomes are you eating pork sausage or venison sausage if I want pork sausage I won't waste the venison. You might even want to grind some at 80/20 or 85/15 for using for burger and whatever else you would us ground beef for.

70/30 will work. Are you going to use pork fat or beef fat? Personally I like to use beef fat as I think it tastes closer to venison than pork. Others like pork fat so it's up to the persons taste and what they can find for fat. Some people will go 50/50 but to me then the question becomes are you eating pork sausage or venison sausage if I want pork sausage I won't waste the venison. You might even want to grind some at 80/20 or 85/15 for using for burger and whatever else you would us ground beef

 

[BigW.]

my thoughts borrowed from the above wisdom:

• Tenderloin - My favorite part of the deer. Enjoy the tasty goodness. Usually I toss in a bit of flour, salt and pepper and pan fry cook the day of the kill.
  
  
• Back Strap (loin) - Steak it (cook rare/med rare) I leave in roast size chunks instead of thinner steaks. Grill it with some Montreal steak seasoning and enjoy.

 

[mike243]

Most of the gamey taste comes from what they been eating, also how the deer was handled , quickly cooling them off is really important as the body heat speeds up decompose , silver skin will almost disappear when cooked but I try to remove as much as I can but it's not nothing to worry about, necks can be smoked with rub and bacon wrap really great taco's, I debone the hams take out the sirloin roast and cut steaks without separating the different groups, if it falls apart it gets turned into stew meat, a lot of my steaks end up there but I like the option. I will keep large sections whole for ground, whole meat lasts longer than ground when frozen imo. it all has to be defrosted and the KitchenAid makes quick work out of 2-3lbs.

 

[mike243]

Here is 1 feom last season

 

[mike243]

This was where I piled it as I broke the deer down, trimming and slicing takes a little longer than yanking the meat off the bones, cold weather makes life easier

 

[pineywoods]

my thoughts borrowed from the above wisdom:

• Tenderloin - My favorite part of the deer. Enjoy the tasty goodness. Usually I toss in a bit of flour, salt and pepper and pan fry cook the day of the kill.
  
  
• Back Strap (loin) - Steak it (cook rare/med rare) I leave in roast size chunks instead of thinner steaks. Grill it with some Montreal steak seasoning and enjoy.

If your leaving the backstrap in like big bite size chunks try getting out some bacon cut them in half then about half cook it in the microwave then take the pieces and wrap them around the venison chunks use toothpicks to hold it in place. If you try to use raw bacon then you have to over cook the venison to get the bacon done if you half cook it they will finish about the same time.

 

[Biggy1]

70/30 deer to fat would work, but 70/30 deer to pork butt would be too lean. You need a minimum of about 20% fat or your sausage will be dry. Also, be sure to clean the deer meat very well and remove all connective tissue, tendons, silver skin, and most importantly-the deer fat. Otherwise, your meat will have bits that stick between your teeth and have off flavors from the fat.

Will do, appreciate it sir!