Processing your own meat

[ajtowe]

Who out there processes their own deer meat? We are wanting to start doing it ourselves and are looking for any tips and help.
1. What meat grinder are y’all using? Anything I should look at before buying?
2. Any tips for making good sausage/ground? Mixing pork fat?
Any info helps. Thanks

 

[Nicodemus]

My grinder is a 1/2 horsepower LEM and it`s strong and quick. Have your meat chilled to half frozen for best results.

For burger I go 3 or 4 to 1- meat to beef fat.

For sausage, if I can`t find any pork fat, I`ll chop up a raw fatty pork shoulder, and mix 3 to 1 meat to pork. My seasonings are Legg`s #10 blend, and I`ll add a touch more ground cayenne and crushed red pepper.

Everything is sealed in a vacuum sealer.

 

[Semi-Pro]

I use my wife's kitchen aid mixer with the grinder attachment

 

[Semi-Pro]

All my ground is no fat.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

I have the grinder from harbor freight. Cheap yet adequate! I sharpened the little propeller blade thing and it performs better. I think I might start looking for a better one though. I get frozen bacon grease from the fancy butcher and/or put a fatty pork shoulder in my sausage. I really enjoy doing both butchering and sausage making. Makes it so much more fulfilling in my opinion. I use freezer paper to wrap it for the freezer.

 

[Barron79]

I started doing my own this year. I bought my grinder from bass pro and I’m just wrapping in freezer paper but I’m double wrapping. My grind meat I bought pork belly from local butcher shop and I go 15% for ground and 25% for sausage. I have done 2 deer now and considering what a processor charges I’m almost even on cost. Plus I feel like I’m getting a better job and the kids are pitching in and makes them proud too.

 

[Deerhunter12454]

Love these posts. We got an LEM a few years back from bass pro. Works like a charm. You can usually get pork fat trimmings from places like ingles, Publix, etc.
grinder, vacuum sealer, and a smoker are just about the only things you need to process your own meat. So much more control on how long you let it sit on ice, and to make sure none of the lymph nodes, fat, etc gets into your meat, something I highly doubt processors bother with.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Love these posts. We got an LEM a few years back from bass pro. Works like a charm. You can usually get pork fat trimmings from places like ingles, Publix, etc.
grinder, vacuum sealer, and a smoker are just about the only things you need to process your own meat. So much more control on how long you let it sit on ice, and to make sure none of the lymph nodes, fat, etc gets into your meat, something I highly doubt processors bother with.

Thanks for the pork fat tip!! The bacon fat is kinda a pain and a pork but generally is never fat enough.

 

[alwayslookin]

I process mine about like Nic does.

Was using the Kitchen Aid with grinder attachment for years and it just wasn't sturdy enough and fast enough for the meat I was putting through it...then the plastic chute cracked on it.

I researched a lot of em last year and ended up buying a Cabelas pro series DC grinder (1/2 hp). It seemed like a good middle of the road option. Done 4 deer so far with it and it's been great.

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/cabelas-pro-series-dc-meat-grinder?rrec=true

 

[C.Killmaster]

I've had an LEM #8, the all stainless model not plastic, for over 15 years now. Got a new plate and blade last year, but it's done nothing but work all those years. I also have the cuber attachment and love it too.

One thing I do different than most folks is to grind and store meat and fat separately. I only buy 3 or 4 pounds of beef fat at a time, it will go rancid in the freezer a lot faster than meat will go bad so the meat lasts longer. I grind the fat nearly frozen and carefully put it in a gallon ziploc and immediately freeze. After it's frozen good, a few whacks with a meat hammer leaves it in small fat pellets. When I'm ready to cook I just dose out how much frozen fat I need to mix with the thawed meat, 20% for burgers and 10% for most everything else. This gives maximum flexibility for whatever I want to cook.

 

[NCHillbilly]

I use a 1/4 hp grinder that I bought at Northern Tool about 15 years ago. I think I got it on sale for $79. Does everything I need it too, and fairly quickly. I grind mine once through the smallest plate, and it works perfectly for me.
I don't mix fat with most of my ground meat, with two exceptions. For actual deer burgers, I will mix 1 lb of brisket fat to 4 lbs of ground deer if I have any brisket fat. I trim it off the brisket when I cook one, and vacuum seal it until I need it.
For sausage, I get pork fat from the meat cutting dude at Ingles and mix it with the ground at about the same ratio or a little heavier on the fat. My grinder also has the sausage stuffing attachments. As others have said, when you're grinding fat, it needs to be almost frozen.

The one thing I wouldn't do without for any reason if I could help it is a vacuum sealer. It makes all the difference in the world. The $100 Food Saver from Walmart works fine, and will last you for many years.

That's about all you need except for a sharp fillet knife, a big cutting board, and maybe a hacksaw to cut shanks and ribs roasts and such if you want to. I don't have a cuber, it would be nice, but I just cut thin steaks for cubed and work them over with a big meat hammer before I cook them.

I get a lot of enjoyment out of processing my own, and it's not hard at all. You can get a lot of steaks and cuts that the processor won't do, and you know it's your meat and was handled right. Plus, it's just satisfying to do it yourself.

 

[livinoutdoors]

I do all my own. I can a good bit of it. Some i use just a cheap food processor from wallymart to grind. I add in fat or sausage later when i cook. The rest i cut into steaks and wrap in freezer paper.

 

[fireman32]

Pretty similar to Nic myself. All LEM, grinder, cuber and slicer. Food saver for vacuum packaging.
I do not add fat to the ground, but add pork belly to any sausage I make. I mix it from 2:1 to 1:1 and use Legg’s seasoning.

 

[gamegetter184]

I have been doing my own processing of deer for about the last 15 years. At the beginning of this journey I purchased a 1hp Cabelas grinder (#22 i think) with grinding head and cuber attachments.

About 5 years ago I started raising out 2 or 3 pigs each year and doing all of the butchering in the winter when the time is right.

I can't count how many deer, wild hogs, and domestic hogs that grinder has gone through over the years and it is still going strong .... about time for a new blade but that is all.

For deer, the parts that I grind are all done lean and clean with no extra fat added.

The wife has found some pre made 1 quart vacuum sealer bags that work wonderfully (ordered in packs of 200 from Amazon). I package my ground in 1 lb packages and then press them flat after sealing. They stack in the freezer very nicely.

To answer the sausage question .....
I don't turn my deer into sausage, that is what I have my pigs for. But my recipe for pigs is 21 lbs of meat to 4 lbs of fat and use 1 pack of ACLegg (#10 I believe) that does 25lbs. I prefer my coarse head on the grinder for breakfast sausage.

As to all grinding things as mentioned previously, cold almost frozen meat / fat will grind and handle better.


Moral of the story ......
Buy a few pieces of decent equipment that you don't have to fight with every time you want to use it, sharpen your knife, learn some things as you go along, and have fun with it. The reward is at the supper table knowing that you know exactly where that deer has been and how it was handled from the field to the table.

Enjoy and good luck.

 

[fireman32]

A big cutting board and a good boning knife is essential too.

 

[splatek]

Lots of great stuff on here. I process my own, use a bass pro grinder, can't remember the brand but it works. Best if done with partially frozen meat.
I really find a lot of enjoyment in knowing that my knife blade was the only thing that touched my deer. One of the reasons I got into hunting was to gain better understanding of where my food was coming and to help control that a little more.
It's time consuming, but also very rewarding.

 

[ThatredneckguyJamie]

I use my wife's kitchen aid mixer with the grinder attachment

I usually dont process my own anymore, but when I did this is what I used...they have a sausage stuffer attachment that works great too

 

[SGADawg]

I use an old Hobart grinder and a cuber that my neighbor bought when a local meat market closed years ago. We cube the backstraps and most of the hams. Everything else we grind mixing in 87% ground beef at 1 part beef to 2 parts deer. We don't make sausage.

 

[Rich M]

I got a .75 hp LEM a couple years ago - was on sale + $100 gift card to boot. Last year I got the cuber/jerky slicer gadget and love it. Store em in a covered tote during the off season - not a kitchen appliance...

This grinder doesn't need much meat prep - I cut it in strips about 3 inches wide x however long meat is and just get it caught, grinder pulls it in and spits out grind. Use it on beef and venison.

Better quality grinder will be quieter and have a better grind.

If yer young, there is no reason not to spend a little and buy quality. Get a stainless steel version - there are cheap ones that are made of aluminum - will get a black dust on it - oxidizing aluminum.

We don't mix the meat - straight grind. We use freezer ziplocks - 1 qt will hold a pound + a little perfect. Freezer paper for roasts and cuts. Have a vac machine and use it for fish only.

 

[Ray357]

Who out there processes their own deer meat? We are wanting to start doing it ourselves and are looking for any tips and help.
1. What meat grinder are y’all using? Anything I should look at before buying?
2. Any tips for making good sausage/ground? Mixing pork fat?
Any info helps. Thanks

I process my own, but I rarely grind. I just cut the small stuff up into stew beef.