I went up to Rainy River in October for deer. I split on 5 deer with a buddy of mine. We cut the animals ourself, with no problems. Prime cuts of roast and steaks, and off cuts for burger. Now a few weeks ago I had tried some steaks and they were great, at the same time I tried some hamburgers and they kinda sucked at best. Tasted like crap. Now we dont mix with pork which is fine for us. Last week I tried a roast in the slow cooker and it was great. Now tonight I tried mixing about 2 pounds deer with a pound of bacon finely cut up (have tried this with goose burger and turns out great). The 2 burgers I had, I had to control myself from actually throwing up, because they tasted like eating a frickin cedar tree. Disgusting!!!! So needless to say I have about 20 pounds of burger that are destined for the sausage machine. At least I got some other burger from down south here to fall back on. Sorry for the rant. But I have no idea how people can eat deer from way up there and actually like it, the burger at least.
My burger is absolutley disgusting!
- Thread starter Cletus
- Start date
- Location
- St. Joe's Island, Ont
My wife has actually used deer burger in her lasagna and it tastes awesome.
Sometimes you just get a bad batch, I've had deer jerky that my dad made and it was great but the stuff the butcher made really did make me chuck.
Sometimes you just get a bad batch, I've had deer jerky that my dad made and it was great but the stuff the butcher made really did make me chuck.
COLTFAN - Our unit was 7B, but 10 was right across the road and not open yet at the time. Although Im sure that would not have made a differance. LOL!
SALTY - Our deer were all neck shots. What I am wondering is if our trimming off the fat etc wasnt just quite close enough and it is tainting the meat. Hence the roast and steaks taste fine, with no fat on them.
SALTY - Our deer were all neck shots. What I am wondering is if our trimming off the fat etc wasnt just quite close enough and it is tainting the meat. Hence the roast and steaks taste fine, with no fat on them.
- Location
- Near Coldwater, Ont
Jason, my dad is giving me half a pig for christmas and he has fat from a few other pigs he sold as well. If you just need fat let me know. I'll be getting a bunch of butt chops and shoulder roasts suitable for mixing with venison/goose also.
the deer that i shot in ceader swamps back east had
that wax taste in the fat. another thing that will
make the meat taste bad is handleing the back legs
and u get the scent gland stink on your hands and the
u gut the animal. the meat that u touch while guting
winds up in the hamberg pot
- Location
- Saskatchewan
If the steaks and roasts are good, it is impossible that the hamburger is "bad meat", you must have contaminated it without knowing you did. While butchering, we are scrupulous about trimming all fat, all outside dried "rind", all connective tissue, and for sure not touching the hide and then the bare meat. If you do that, and keep your fingers clean, your hamburger will always taste as good as the steaks. Looks to me like you have some dog food there, don't waste your time making sausage out of bad meat.
Ok, could it have gone like this? You view your steaks and roasts as your best meat and hamburger as ..... well whatever. Meaning that you're not so careful as leaving tendons, fat and whatever other junk in your burger meat. Hey, if the burgers tastes like crap, throwing it into sausage will just leave you with crappy sausage also. I hate to say it, but I think that you need to distinguish between garbage and hamburger. Hamburger and sausage meat is not what you wouldn't otherwise eat...
I do a lot of hunting in the pre cambrian shield country near the Ont/Man border. Never noticed any difference in taste between deer taken on the pine ridges and the "grain" fed deer from farm country. Bad flavored meat usually comes from some sort of contamination (burst gut sack, bladder etc.) or blood/gland fluids. Anyway as others have mentioned if the burger tastes bad, so will the sausage. If you want good product you have to start with good meat.
I cut and trimmed a deer and a half (the half that hadn't been hit by my truck) yesterday. Ended up with a 5 gallon bucket of unusable trim. Even my burger/sausage meat is trimmed down to the muscle. I might leave a bit of silver skin but never more than a match head's worth of fat. I cut the venison with pork fat, bacon or frozen butter when I grind it (never in advance but as I need it). Perfect burger every time.
Feed the burger to the mutt.
Feed the burger to the mutt.
- Location
- The Conservative part of Ontario
You don't want a lot of venison fat in the burger, or on your meat in general. It contains venison tallow. The stuff that sticks to the roof of your mouth, and tastes like crap.
I generally barbecue all my steaks, that looks after most of the un-trimmed fat.
Try to keep the fat out of the burger as well.
Like a computer, garbage in, garbage out.
I generally barbecue all my steaks, that looks after most of the un-trimmed fat.
Try to keep the fat out of the burger as well.
Like a computer, garbage in, garbage out.
