Anybody ever experiment with using different types/cuts of beef fat when making ground venison? Every year in the past that I’ve ground venison the fat I’ve mixed in with it has always been just regular generic beef fat (IE a random mixture of fat from all over the cow or from whatever cuts of beef the butcher happened to be working on at the time.), but back in 2021 I got 3 pregnant wagyu heifers. One of their calves happened to be male and I made him a steer because it didn’t make sense to keep him for breeding when the only cows he could breed with were the 2 original cows that weren’t his mom (the other 2 calves from that first calving cycle were female but all 3 calves were from the same bull and incest is bad for livestock genetics.) He is now 19 months old and it won’t be long until he reaches slaughter weight (wagyu take a little longer to grow than typical breeds of beef cattle). When I slaughter and butcher him im going to have a lot more fat trimmings than what I will need for making ground venison so rather than just using a random mixture of fat trimmings, I’m thinking that I should separate out some specific “cuts” of fat to use for making ground venison. I am fairly certain that the consistency/make-up of the fat varies depending on where it comes from on the cow (ie saturated vs unsaturated, melting point, water content, etc…). Think about the difference between the juicy/tasty fat that you get on a ribeye vs the chewy/waxy fat that’s on a New York strip. (Not sure if that’s the best terminology to use for that description) I know the fat/trimmings from the ribeye area is a safe bet but not sure what other areas of fat I should save. Maybe the “Beef Naval” (the beef equivalent of pork belly/bacon) area as well? On this first cow I know I could just separate out and label all the fat based on where it came from then fire up the flat top and cook up and try a small sample of each, but that’s gonna be a lot of extra work so I’m hoping that somebody on here might be able to help. Has anybody else experimented with actually using specific “cuts” of fat when making ground venison? Any advice/suggestions on what areas/cuts of fat work best for making ground venison and/or what to avoid?
You will be fine with any beef fat except the inner suet which is very pasty and didn’t cook down well. Save it for the birds Chuck, hinds or loin all has fantastic fat.
