Rinse meat before grinding
 

You can but you will want it dry when you grind it.

Agree with rockport. I rinse then put in a colander to drain. And I pat dry with paper towel.

I also trim the heck out of my meat. All gristle, tallow, and any sinew or membrane I remove.

JW

I rinse it if it needs it . I don't know the real answer. But I would rather rinse the junk off than leave it on.

The best solution is to keep it clean in the first place .But that doesn't always work out.

-Jake

Rinse it off to remove dirt and then throw in the freezer for a short while to firm it up. I always grind semi frozen meat.

The meat feeds MUCH easier through the grinder that way .

-Jake

I lay mine out on cookie sheets and put in freezer . Until they firm up a little. Then pull them out and grind them while the next trays freeze.

-Jake

I only rinse if it is excessively dirty and that doesn't happen often. I never drag a deer and usually bone them where they hit the ground and the meat goes straight into clean bags and then the cooler. I pick the hair off as I get it pieced down for the grinder and have at it. never had a complaint so I'll keep going as is.

throwing a couple strips of bacon in (about 5-7% percent by mass,) and a sprinkle of onion and garlic powder, with the small trimmed off venison scraps,
before you grind them up makes a decent basic for venison burgers if your going to use the ground venison that day or freeze it in patty form for later use.
Ive generally frozen a few for days when you really just want a burger and don,t really feel like cooking, they tend to go well with B&M baked beans and toasted ONION rolls.

There's really no right answer to that question. Just depends what you want. I like a coarser grind for some things, like making jerky from it. And a smaller grind for other things.

Just have to try different ways and decide what works for you in my opinion.

I've also mostly quit adding fat. It can easily be added while cooking. But you can't seperate it out later. I prefer the lean grind. Although occasionally chop up bacon to mix in with burgers when I cook them

-Jake

This is a regional thing. Having done it both ways, I'm not sure that one is better EVERY TIME than another. For long distances packing them out is certainly better. But for 10', dragging and hanging is cleaner and easier for me. I don't even gut on short drags. I bring them home hang them and gut them directly into a large garbage can then wheel that to the woods with all the scraps and dump it.

Just depends on the situation I suppose. A 10' drag isn't hard though.

-Jake

I wouldn't skin, bone, or do anything to a whitetail other than field dress it in the field. Dirt, hair, and leaves have to be in play while quartering, boning, and skinning in the field. I suspect there are ways to alleviate cross contamination. I just can't picture them other than being very meticulous which takes more time than I want to spend in the field with a downed deer.

I prefer hanging my deer to remove the skin, bones, and meat. Dragging on flat ground is no big deal. Uphill can be work.

To the OP, rinse it. Hair/dirt/sand will affect the taste more than a water rinse. If bloody water is dripping out of your grinder, strain or blot the meat prior to grinding.

I always rinse the meat off. Especially the back legs where the meat is exposed after field dressing. There is always some hair and blood on it. Doesn't affect it in the least. Like others said just pat off the excess water with a paper towel.

I make up a solution of vinegar and water and wipe down the freshly skinned carcass. This takes care of most, if not all, of the cross contaminants from transporting and skinning. Just keep the towel wet with the solution while wiping. I always hang my venison for 3-5 days and sometimes up to 7 if it was a particularly old animal.

Didn't the deer have the hide on it while you were dragging it?

Next time rinse it before you skin it and you only have to rinse the exposed meat. Or you can just trim a thin layer off where the meat has been exposed. Be careful when field dressing to leave as little meat as possible exposed.

Lots of people do it. It also makes it easier to remove silver skin. I personally do not do it.

Sometimes I just freeze a few chunks and run them through occasionally while grinding regular meat . The Frozen chunk seems to push through and "clean out" the grinder.


​​​​​​I have a pretty good grinder and can pretty much feed it whatever. But the slightly frozen still seems to feed better.

-Jake

A lot of people cut their meat into square chunks. I cut mine into long strips which works a lot better IMO.

I have always rinsed my meat before grinding if I see hair on it. Usually only a few pieces will have some hair on it. It has never affected my grind, though I do have a heavy duty LEM so that may help. I do like to place the auger and plates in the freezer to cool them down before I start grinding and only pull out the meat from the fridge as I need it rather than letting a tub of meat sit while I am grinding and letting it get to room temp.

A propane torch takes care of hair sticking on the carcass in short order.

Before putting in freezer soak it in milk for an hour to overnight.
Just enaugh milk to cover the meat.
It puts oil in the meat and keeps it from being so dry after cooking.
It also draws out blood for a better flaver.

Before putting in freezer soak it in milk for an hour to overnight.
Just enaugh milk to cover the meat.
It puts oil in the meat and keeps it from being so dry after cooking.
It also draws out blood for a better flaver.

Never heard of that before grinding . I'll try it with a small (milk is expensive!!) batch this year.

-Jake

I can't believe anyone still buys into that soaking your meat in milk crap! Just exactly what is that supposed to do except provide a better platform for bacteria to multiply. It is sad that this kind of stuff is still being spread around to and inexperienced hunters will try it because they know no better. There is no good reason for anybody to soak their venison in anything before they freeze it, none. That nonsense all stemmed from people not taking care of their deer after it was killed to the time it was butchered to disguise the taste of poorly handled meat. There is no such thing as a wild taste, there is no such thing as a "gamey" taste, just the taste of half spoiled meat from mishandling or the taste of the animal you have killed the way it is supposed to taste. Sorry jrbsr I do not buy it, I have been killing deer and eating them for far too long for that and I know what well taken care of meat tastes like and I have heard these tips since I started hunting in the late 50s. These kinds of things are passed on in families and all they know is that they were told this is the way you are supposed to do it. , so they buy in and do it. I would love to make you a steak or any cut from one of my deer that the only extra ordinary thing that has been done is the deer was hung in a cooler for 6 to 7 days before being cut up. I would bet you would never soak your venison in milk again or anything else again. I am not ragging on you, please believe that, just these old wives tales that stemmed from poor handling of game after the harvest just set me off. I love cooking the game, and I am good at it, and these so called fixes for wild game meat just drive me over the edge.

I agree with OT. Properly cared for meat all the way from kill site to a reasonable 3 to 5 day hang time and then butchering always gives a great product. I usually cut my back straps into 3/4" thick steaks. I often grill them but when cooked on the stove I use a cast iron skillet heated up and throw in a pat of butter and then the meat. When the blood starts to come out of the top I flip the meat then throw in a cup of wine, cover and turn off the heat. In a couple minutes it is ready to eat and always nice and pink in the middle, very juicy and tender.

What milk basically does in simple terms is absorb funk. What most people that do it don't know is you have to rinse the milk off for it to work.

I never use it on meat but it works great on fish.

I'm quickly approaching my 40th deer harvest. Not a new hunter by any means.

Always interested in trying something new and will try the milk later on this year .

-Jake

If I soak venison, it is in salt water. I change the bath water several times over the course of several days. Removes blood which is the gamey taste. I tried buttermilk once and saw no difference. I do not soak ground meat.

I would pass on the burning the hair off with a propane torch unless you like the smell and taste of burnt hair.

There is no taste of burning hair, don't comment about something unless you know what you are talking about.

Ditto !

How do you know what I know about burning hair off meat with a propane torch ?

I could have said the same thing about your comment on soaking meat in milk but I didn't even though for some people it does work but I didn't know personally however I do know personally what burning hair off meat can do to the taste. I would rather have a few hairs on the meat than have them burnt off with a propane torch !!!!

I know you don't know much but it didn't stop you from making the comment. I don't know what you know, however, I do know what you don't know.

At work we called guys like you answer grapes or FKIA's
If I read something and have had experience with it I make a comment like I did get it .
Oh never mind you already know.