What’s the Best Fat for Venison Burger?

There will always be debate on how much fat you should add to your ground venison. In fact, some purists don’t believe you should add any at all. Danielle Prewett recommends adding between 10 and 20% for burger, but she often leaves some without added fat for recipes like Thai lettuce cups. For the sake of sanity and the brevity of this article, I decided to test different fat types with a 15% fat content.

When it comes to what kind of fat to add, it seems like every hunter has a go-to. I wanted to test five different, easy-to-source fats for this experiment: pork fat, beef fat, pork butt, bacon, and butter. I then compared these fat-infused grinds against a straight, no-fat venison grind.

While you don’t necessarily need to add fat to your grind, it can give your burger a boost to make it even more delicious. Venison is a naturally lean meat, but adding fat can work in a few ways to make it even tastier. First, fat itself is flavorful, but it can also enhance the mouthfeel of food and help boost browning during the Maillard reaction.

The Test

To test the different grinds, everything got the same treatment through a chilled grinder: three passes through a medium plate—the first meat only, the next two with fat. I like a larger, looser grind for burgers, but that's just a personal preference. Then, test portions were seasoned with only salt and pepper and cooked on a flat top. For the tasting bit, we tried just the plain burger patty—no cheese, sauce, bun, or any other distractions.

The Results

Anonymous tasters and I rated the burgers on flavor, mouthfeel, browning, and juiciness. That chart below represents the average scores.

No Fat

The biggest shock of this test was how much I actually enjoyed the no-fat burger. The flavor was great, the texture and mouthfeel were solid, and it managed to get fairly browned and juicy, considering no fat was added. It was a bit crumbly for a burger patty, but I think it would be perfect for loose grind applications that you plan on browning in a pan.

Bacon

The bacon burger cooked up beautifully. It made a juicy patty with nice browning. However, no surprise, the bacon flavor totally overpowered the venison's natural flavors. If I were to use bacon in grind again, I think it could make a very tasty maple breakfast sausage.

Butter

I love butter, so I was a bit disappointed with the results of the butter burger. It hands-down had the best browning of the bunch. But the burger itself was really dry. This leads me to believe that the butter just cooks out of the burger. I think this could be good if you’re cooking ground meat in a pan for something like a bolognese sauce or Shepherd’s pie filling where it could keep cooking in the rendered off fat.

Pork Fat

The pork fat was the undisputed winner of this bunch. This fat enhanced the flavor of the venison without overpowering it. The patty was well-browned and juicy and made one helluva burger.

Beef Fat

I was also surprised by the results of the beef fat burger. While it made a juicy, well-browned patty, the mouthfeel was horrible. It was rubbery in a way that none of the other fats were. It felt like biting into a fast-food burger that sat under the heat lamp for too long.

Pork Butt

Maybe I didn’t get a well-marbled enough pork butt, but this was my least favorite addition. It was drier than the no-fat elk meat with poor browning. The flavor was also a bit muted, and overall, it was just a bit meh. I would rather have straight venison than add this to the grind.

Final, Fatty Thoughts

In all honesty, once a patty was covered with a slice of melted cheese and placed on a toasted bun with proper burger fixings, it was more difficult to tell the difference between the various grinds. I mention this because not everyone has a local butcher who can provide pork back fat or wants to dilute healthy venison meat with fat.

And it's important to consider the quality of fat you're sourcing, because buying low-quality pork or beef fat will impact the taste and texture of the final grind. Make friends with your local butcher or if you know someone who raises livestock, they're often willing to part with some fat when butchering time comes around, especially if you give some grind or snack sticks back in return.

So, if anything, I hope this article encourages you to experiment and try more types of fat in your burger grind. Everyone has a different palette, and what pleases mine may not be your cup of tea. If you have a favorite fat or would like to see more fats compared, let me know in the comment section below!