Dehydrating ground venison

[Game Warden]

I have a LM dehydrator and more 80/20 ground venison than I know what to do with. Does anyone have any tips on dehydrating this? BTW, the butcher added 20% pork fat to every 80% venison. It's still leaner than 90/10 ground beef.

[Foresight]

Summer sausage would be my recommendation.

[Hill Ape]

no experience with drying ground venison, but deer jerky is pretty straight forward to dry out

[Foresight]

A "jerky shooter" will have an attachment that gives you the flat strips that will work nicely in a dehydrator. I've done it and it's not bad at all, but I prefer to make summer sausage and snack sticks and you butcher has already hooked you up with the ideal venison-pork fat ratio for a world of goodness to be made.

[fiddlehead]

I'd try it just like ground hamburger:
Brown it in a skillet and pour off ALL The grease.
Then pad it dry with paper towels (3 times)
The more grease you get out of it, the longer it will last after dehydration.

Then spread it on a cookie sheet or pizza pan and put your oven on it's lowest setting (150-175?)
Keep the oven door slightly open and dry it for about 4 hours this way.

The longer you dry it, the longer it will last (but the harder it will be to rehydrate)
Don't wait until it gets a real dark brown, just slightly flexible is best IMO>

I've already done this and mistakenly left some in my pack for 6 months.
Was still good.

Try it and let us know.

[moldy]

I'd try it just like ground hamburger:
Brown it in a skillet and pour off ALL The grease.
Then pad it dry with paper towels (3 times)
The more grease you get out of it, the longer it will last after dehydration.

Then spread it on a cookie sheet or pizza pan and put your oven on it's lowest setting (150-175?)
Keep the oven door slightly open and dry it for about 4 hours this way.

The longer you dry it, the longer it will last (but the harder it will be to rehydrate)
Don't wait until it gets a real dark brown, just slightly flexible is best IMO>

I've already done this and mistakenly left some in my pack for 6 months.
Was still good.

Try it and let us know.

This is what I do. Also after6 or 8 hours in the oven at the lowest setting give the larger hunks a good squeeze with your fingers, if no liquid comes out....it's done

[Hrdlee]

A "jerky shooter" will have an attachment that gives you the flat strips that will work nicely in a dehydrator. I've done it and it's not bad at all, but I prefer to make summer sausage and snack sticks and you butcher has already hooked you up with the ideal venison-pork fat ratio for a world of goodness to be made.

This is the way to go. We buy the multi packages of seasoning so we can have different flavors. We leave meat in freezer for 6 months. And then keep jerky in refrigerator until we hit the trail. It's so good usually doesn't make it to trail. I'm always worried about shelf life. Ugh

[Nyte]

Dehydrate it (I agree with the above, just use your dehydrator though), and then get the beef fat from your butcher to render and make pemmican.

[Game Warden]

Thanks for the advice. I see many gastronomic experiments in my future. I think I will try Fiddlehead's suggestion, which entails cooking it first, ditto Moldy & Nyte. I made ground beef jerky with a shooter and a LEM dehydrator before, but it was mediocre and got moldy fast, even in the fridge.

[Rocket Jones]

One suggestion I saw on The Backpacking Chef (.com) was to mix in some breadcrumbs with the meat before cooking. This helps with the rehydration process.

[Wise Old Owl]

Game Warden this depends on how long you want this to last... I have done this many times, with Hamburger! and far more fat. Its really easy... Hey if a Barbarian like Genghis Khan can do it - so can we! His dehydrator was between the saddle and the horse.

OK - first you need a sugar cure... Morton Sugar cure bought on line is the savior. Its Saltpeter & a touch of sugar to hide the flavor. A tiny amount kills all bacteria in the refrigerator overnight. Freeze the meat while you wait for the order to arrive - it won't change the flavor...Flavor really comes from fat. Fat doesn't cause fatness- it brings on the energy.. The below video will mention a sugar cure.. that's Morton salts, not sodium. This is a breeze as I use the same recipe with a 1/4 teaspoon of sugar cure - 2/3 meat 1/3 Stubbs mix and hold in the refrigerator overnight pour off the liquid and jerky squeeze onto trays at 160 for 3-4 hours. Soft cure.

[gwb]

I have dehydrated hamburger, ground turkey and ground chicken. Cook it. Put it in a colander and rinse with water. Press down on the meat while in the colander, using an appropriate sized bowl. Pop it back in the pan to completely get rid of moisture and then put it into the dehydrator on trays or parchment paper. Tedious, yes but it works. Dry it until it is as hard as gravel. Takes a little extra time to rehydrate. I store it in the freezer. Never had it turn bad when carrying it or in my drop boxes.

[Game Warden]

Good video, Owl. Looks like that is twice-ground meat, altho the cook didn't mention that. I will try that when I have a day off, as well as the pre-cooked approach.

[FarmerChef]

Have to chime in here that I dehydrate venison for hiking way more than beef. Just follow the same rules as beef and it will come out fine. One hint is to preseason it with whatever flavor you want (taco seasoning or chili seasoning for instance). Do this after you drain the fat (if necessary). Just add some water back to the pan with the seasoning and let the water evaporate off. Then place it in the dehydrator and voila! Yum!

[garbanz]

I did the same as gwb when I did the AT. Spice it up!

[beachbunny]

when I dehydrate my deer, there is no fat in it but I like the pemmican idea.