# Grinding meat?



## Swamp_walker (Sep 30, 2010)

What kinds of meat have folks used to grind up for burgers or sausage? I do alot of trapping in the winter, and beaver, muskrat, and **** meat i either eat myself (whole), use to make predator bait, or sell. I was thinking of trying to grind some for burger or sausage? Anyone ever try it? What about coyote, fox, or bobcat? Just curious.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

I've never heard of anyone eating any type of feline? So I don't know about bobcat.
All the rest could be used for sausage if you want to grind and season it.


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## Swamp_walker (Sep 30, 2010)

Oh i have...ive eaten mt. lion plenty of times out west and it was delicious. Ive heard bobcat is just as good but i dont target bobcats as they are scarce in these parts. Ive caught a few on accident but i release them. K-9 though, ive never heard of folks eating except some asian cultures...and i dont think that was coyotes. I can tell you this though, Coyote meat will be left to rot around here...possum and vultures wont even eat it. Im gonna expiriment this winter with different meats...i'll be sure to let you guys know how it works out.


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## backwoodsman (Jan 21, 2010)

We target beaver mainly for the meat and have ground alot of it over the years. A little beef suet or pork fat helps to bind it together for hamburger type dishs as it is very lean. We have ground a few fresh muskrats but muskrats are too good fried to grind up, lol, so we mainly keep them for frying. **** is good too eat but very rich and greasy so we;ve never groudn any and dont know anyone who does. Gramps hunted and trapped out west in the early 1900's and related bobcat and mt.lion were both excellent eating. We do all of our own butchering, if your planning on doing alot of it a quality electric grinder is hard to beat ie: LEM etc. Our old LEM is going on close to 8 years and it's ground over 300 deer as a conservative estimate, tons of smaller critters and tons of store bought bologna, ham etc for meat salads and cheap pork and beef scraps for sausage and homemade beef burger. All we've ever done is clean it after use. Most meats we use the corse plate then run it thru a second time with the fine one but our deer we just use the fine one as we trim our deer meat very good. I knwo a few that claim to have eaten yote and fox but I have my doubts. Groundhog is good too whether used as whole meat or ground up.


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

SwampWalker, I'm glad you asked this question cause I've been pondering on what it would be like to make squirrel or cottontail rabbit sausage. I love to eat either one fried but I hate to have a meal of it if I'm the only one at the dinner table that will eat it. Wife and kids (all girls) turn their nose up at it. But if I could make them into sausage patties and fry them up for my breakfast, I might enjoy eating them once again. Most mornings I cook and eat breakfast by myself. So I shouldn't feel guilty if I'm the only one enjoying the meal.


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## backwoodsman (Jan 21, 2010)

We use to make "cutting board sausage" Old country boy. If your interested I'll look up the basic recipe. Ancient but sweet little older lady from Missouri gave us our favorite one. She was on an episode of Missouri Outdoors after that too. Coarse chopped meat ie:rabbit, squirrel etc, beef fat or suet, seasoning and coarse chopped onion are the ones I remember. She always wanted some bear meat to put in it but we never had access to many of them. I did get her some elk and several other exotics and western type big game.


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

backwoodsman said:


> We use to make "cutting board sausage" Old country boy. If your interested I'll look up the basic.


Sure, I'm always game for new recipes. About once a year or so I post my favorite venison sausage recipe on here for any new comers to copy and try. Have had some very thankful people in the past. Women and children really love this one. I'll try to post it again when a few people have stuck a few deer in thier freezer. So keep an eye out for it.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Other than the usual venison, the most meat that went through my grinders have been turtle or ****. Turtle was just for leftover cooked meat and generally into a sandwich spread. Grinding **** was usually reserved for anything over 30# where the meat is purple rather than red. That was chili meat. (If you never tried it, don't knock it!) Never for patties or any other frying methods. Those old Universal hand grinders made a lot of good food out of what might have instead been left for the dogs. At the moment, 3 wild rabbits in the freezer and need one more to have enough to grind for a patÃ© spread recipe that I want to try. 

Martin


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## Pops2 (Jan 27, 2003)

all cats are delicious, tender, "white" meat. it's most similar to store bought pork in color & texture.
canines & canids are tough & cling to the bone unless cooked twice. best to boil then barbecue or brown & stew. also important to soak in salt water to clean out the blood & strong tastes.


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## Swamp_walker (Sep 30, 2010)

I was gonna try "beaver burgers" today...i was grinding bait from some i caught this morning so i used the fine (1/8"?) plate and ground up the "butt meat" from a couple. The butt meat is the the meat right above the tail before it narrows down into the back strap. Its a good piece to fry so ill give it a try. We already had supper plans so it'll have to wait till tomorrow but it looks good. I'll have to add some fat to it so it'll stick better for patties. Im gonna mix some sausage seasonings in some and try as well. Ill report back how it all turns out. I trap beaver year round but as soon as fur season comes in, im gonna try it with alot of different meats.


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## backwoodsman (Jan 21, 2010)

Seasoning salt zips it up too. Shake of garlic salt maybe? We have a localy made spice/seasoning called Zillions that we really like.


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## Swamp_walker (Sep 30, 2010)

Well the burgers turned out great...i had a problem keeping them from falling apart but they tasted great. It will surely be added to our menu. The sausage didnt fair so well...but it was my fault. It was the seasoning that didnt taste quite right. Im still not sure where i messed up though. I will try again and use different seasonings and actually keep up with whats what until i get a great recipe narrowed down. Come november, it'll be **** and fox burgers...lol. (My wife just rolled her eyes and walked out mumbling )


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## backwoodsman (Jan 21, 2010)

I'd have to be hungry for **** or gulp fox burgers but hey good luck to each his own. Most wild game benefits from beef suet etc for burgers. It binds the meat. Not good for venison etc jerky or sticks though. We're in the process of packing and moving but I will post the cutting board sausage recipes.


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## redroving (Sep 28, 2005)

My brother ground up duck and goose mixed with some pork sausage and it tasted great.


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## Swamp_walker (Sep 30, 2010)

Anyone have any sausage recipes, please post up? I love sausage but i just screwed up the beaver sausage. Alot of my seasonings got rained on while camping and i couldnt read what was what so i think i added too much or not enough of something by mistake. A friend/neighbor killed another wild pig the other day and i helped him clean it....i froze about 6lbs of pork fat so im ready to grind up some meats no matter how lean!


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## longrider (Jun 16, 2005)

I was in The Bass Pro shop last week and got to thinking about grinding meat up. Does grinder size matter when grinding up all these different Meat? I dont have one yet and am looking to get started on some this year. I have only killed deer, beef and squirrel so far. 

I use recipes from the LL Bean Game and Fish Cookbook and the Smokehouse Ham, Spoon bread & Scuppernong Wine Cookbook. They both carry recipes from all kinds of exotic meats.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Some grinders come with a set of plates with different size holes. 1/8" or 3/16" is standard hamburger size while 1/4" or 3/8" is sausage size.

Actual grinder size depends upon how long you want to spend grinding the meat. Electric #8 will easily take care of a deer but you have to slice the meat into small enough strips to feed it. One can do a couple hundred pounds in an hour. Big #32 can do 700 pounds in same time. In between are #12 and #22.

Martin


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