Mr. Hawthorne's Busy Sunday. Buckburgers!

Oh happy day and fraptious joy!
 Our dear friends, the Bloomfields,
 called us the other day.
Ian, with a long I,
had been out hunting and had a deer hindquarter for us.

Check this baby out.

Mr. Hawthorne sliced off the silverskin
 and the brown bag it was wrapped in
 where it had soaked up the deer juices and dried out the surface.

He cut the meat into chunks.
This is 10 pounds of super-lean deer meat.

Mr. Hawthorne called Food Lion and had them prepare a bag of beef suet.

First, Mr. Hawthorne ran the deer meat through the grinder.

Two pounds of the suet go through the grinder.
 I like the alien hand action here.

Mr. Hawthorne mixed the deer meat and suet by hand.

Next, he started on his seasonings.
1 TB Kosher salt

1 TB freshly ground pepper

1 TB onion powder

1 TB granulated garlic

We found hamburger meat, 73%/27%, reduced, natch.
1.46 pounds here.

And 1.37 pounds for a total of 2.83 pounds.

He added the ground beef to the deer/suet mixture ...

... and mixed by hand.

Looking good.

This mixture went back through the grinder.

The deer meat is so lean, you need to add in the fat.

Assembly line going.

Mr. Hawthorne pattied up 1/2 the meat
. We have small patties for buckburgers
 and larger patties to use for spaghetti and chili.
The leftover 1/2 went back in the fridge to age a few days
. Stay tuned for venison chili coming soon.

We're saving the leg for our crab pots next summer.

We fried up one to check out the seasonings
 and they were spot on.
 Here's the recipe:
10 pounds deer meat, run through meat grinder
 2 pounds beef suet
 2-3 pounds hamburger meat (73%/27%)
 1 TB salt
 1 TB pepper
1 TB onion powder
 1 TB granulated garlic
 Mix well and run through meat grinder.

Bottom line: I loved the flavor.
Mr. Hawthorne likened it to bison.
 There's very little gaminess in this - just a slight hint of venison.
 For families with hunters,
and perhaps children who don't care for the taste of venison,
 this is an excellent preparation for deer meat.
 You can't really tell it's venison.
It's perfect for hamburgers, spaghetti, chili, or taco fillings.
 This brings your meat cost down to a fraction.