It is common place for many hunters to be successful on a deer or other wild game hunt and ground just about everything other than maybe the backstraps and tenderloins. This is sometimes looked down upon by some people, and I of course encourage anyone to try to learn how to process their game in a way where they end up with several roast and/or steaks along with their grind pile. None the less you should process your animal in a way that is best for you. For a lot of people this means having a lot of grind on hand, and who can blame them, its easy to cook with and delicious! The good news is with a simple meat grinder and some added fat its easy to make and freeze!
Fat To Game Ratio: The amount of fat you add into your wild game grind can cause some controversy among hunters. Some people like to add just a little to keep it pure, and some like to add a lot. Of course some preparations of meals may call for more fat than others, however it can be a lot more work to make different piles of grind with different fat ratios. Instead I like to keep it simple with 25% fat to 75% meat for all my grind.
I like to use straight pork back-fat in my grind. It is cheap and readily available. I get mine at a local butcher for $1.25 a pound. Since I do 25% for everything, if I have twenty pounds of venison then I need to only get five pounds of pork fat. However I typically like to get some extra while I’m there to render it down and make lard.
Grinding: When grinding the meat I like to first place the meat and fat in the freezer for an hour or so. Or if I’m defrosting, I like to only defrost it 75% of the way. This will help to keep everything cold and it gives you a much nicer consistency when running everything through the grinder. Also, do yourself a favor and stick all the metal pieces of the grinder in the freezer the night before, it will make a huge difference.
Once you are ready take , your meat, fat, and metal grinder pieces out of the freezer. You will want to cut up the meat and fat into one inch pieces or so depending on how strong your grinder is. I try to evenly mix all the fat pieces with the meat in a bowl and then I am ready for the grinder. I like to run everything through the grinder twice usually using an 8 mm plate. You can use whatever size you prefer. Once I have ran everything through the grinder twice I am ready for freezing. I like to do a handful of 1 pound bags and then do everything else in 2 pound bags. This works best for how I am usually cooking. You of course can freeze in what ever quantity you like. For freezing, I like to just use the Ziplock brand FREEZER bags. Before you seal the bags try to flatten all the meat in the bag so it just a quarter inch to half inch thick and you have a nice flat block of meat. I find it is easiest to stack up in the freezer this way. Then you are done! This will last easily nine months in the freezer, but I usually use mine up by then anyways!