i'm planning to make a venison meatloaf tomorrow and cook it up on our pellet grill here at work. I'm pretty well versed in the whole meatloafing and using the grill, but I've not done it with venison before. I'm a bit concerned that the lean-ness of the meat will have some impact on the whole "loafing" process. I planned on adding an extra egg (above and beyond my beef meatloaf recipe, which is not too shabby btw, makes my wife bitter that my meatloaf is superior to her meatloaf). Anyone have a trick for this quandry, or am I just overthinking this? thank you much...deer eating people.
venison meatloaf anyone?
- Thread starter Delta-T
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Never made a venison meatloaf before, but we do eat a lot of venison. For things that need some fat to work (like burgers) I'll add 1 part ground pork to 2 parts ground venison. Them's some good burgers. Egg is more of a binder and doesn't add a ton of extra fat to keep things moist.
DevilsBrew
Minister of Fire
- Apr 21, 2013
- 687
Lukem is right. You need to add fat. Maybe even some bacon. Not sure if you will need an extra egg.
USMC80
Minister of Fire
i shall add bacon! anything + bacon= better in my book....my other idea was peanut butter...is fatty, and might add a bit of....je' n'cest qua (sp? my french is no so good).....or it might add a bit of "this taste like feet"....bacon prolly safer, more predictable...thank yous for suggestion.
There's not much you can @#$% by adding bacon. I'd do a trial run on the peanut butter before serving to other people. It will either be really good or really suck.
Yeah...but you have to see them every day...and if someone served me foot-tasting meatloaf I'd remind them of it every day.
Now you have the right idea. Just about everyone I know who uses venison like that adds some pork. Most also add pork when making burgers from venison.
Bacon addition sounds great to me.
If you want some moisture without more fat my wife makes some awesome meatloaf and burgers by adding shredded zucchini. She says about 1 zucchini per pound of meat but you could do less. Good way to stretch meat and get rid of zucchini as well.
If you want some moisture without more fat my wife makes some awesome meatloaf and burgers by adding shredded zucchini. She says about 1 zucchini per pound of meat but you could do less. Good way to stretch meat and get rid of zucchini as well.
Bacon/pork good idea. In place of bread crumbs or crackers, soak day old bread in milk. Squeeze out milk right before incorporating it into the mixture. Brings a nice level of moisture to the party and keeps a more "loaf" consistency.
scary, but when I looked, I discovered I HAD NO BACON (insert dark/suspensfull music snippet). I decided to presoak all dry ingredients (breadcrumb,onion flake,quinoi....yeah,quinoi) in water/peanut oil mix. 2.5 lbs of deer+ now wet-dry ingredientw = ~3.5 lbs of meatloaf. about an hour of smoke ~185 deg + 1.5 hours @300 deg and viola...completed venison meatloaf...all said it was good, and apparently did not taste like feet (feet taste like chicken...but old, and somewhat "swampy" btw). I took some pics. Will try to remmeber to upload. I did bring gravy in case it came out poorly, but no one partook of the gravy, which I took as a good sign. Also served was white rice prepared in the tatung rice cooker (highly recommend...we eat rice 3-4 days a week..it makes perfect rice) with 6 pepper spice for BANG! Venison supplied by one of my coworkers who own a dairy farm, and had a few deers get hung up in their fences and mangle themselves....is like hunting I guess, but without the effort, or the dressing up, or coating yourself in deer urine.
the shop smoker is a Country Smoker LIl Louie...not as burly as mine at home, but effective none the less. Go team!
the shop smoker is a Country Smoker LIl Louie...not as burly as mine at home, but effective none the less. Go team!
Whut? No bacon? Should have called, dude. I would have drone dropped a pound into your hands. < Queue Drag Net theme song.>
Nice. I didn't know anyone smoked meatloaf, but I kinda get the impression you smoke just about anything Delta 
Anyway I like the quinoa in the loaf. Millet works too for some texture, especially in things with lighter flavor than smoked venisonloaf.
Anyway I like the quinoa in the loaf. Millet works too for some texture, especially in things with lighter flavor than smoked venisonloaf.
truth be told..there was "bacon" in the freezer, but it was turkey bacon...which, from the profile view, give the impression that it is pork flavored, until you pull it out and discover it is not...no time to head to store this AM, so I had to MCGuyver it.
Nice. I didn't know anyone smoked meatloaf, but I kinda get the impression you smoke just about anything Delta
....relating to food: When you own a mega awesome pellet smoker grill you almost can't help but to try smoking everything. I have yet to find a food that doesn't take to at least wee bit of the smoke. sunday I'm doin some giant slab of pig ribs my wife bought. Pellet grill just too easy to make good food on. Some people are good at BBQ, the whole labor of love thing...balancing the heat, and the woods, and the moisture....I just turn the mother on, put food on it, come back hours later and eat...makes me look talented, but its just a good tool.
Turkey bacon provides the illusion of bacon. It's all smoke an mirrors.
Nothing wrong with easy. Some people say a gas grill isn't grilling too. Whatever.
DevilsBrew
Minister of Fire
- Apr 21, 2013
- 687
Smoked meatloaf? What type of wood are you burning? Haven't heard of that before but my guess is there would be an outside crispy crust that would be delish.
(I love turkey bacon)
(I love turkey bacon)
just so we are on the same page...it is a "pellet smoker"...runs on wood pellets. The grill happened to have hickory flavored pellets in it, so that's what I used. I do not use a loaf pan for meatloaf...all hand shaped, so it did have the nice smokey crust on it. though not all that crispy cuz I didn't get the grill too hot. I too like turkey bacon (not as much as bacon,bacon), but I didn't think it would serve the purpose of adding fatty moistness to the loaf....didn't think adding lean meat to lean meat was really the answer. WE use the grill for everything...from burgers to pizza to apple pie...no joke, apple pie. I'm gonna try boiling water on it this year, just so I can say I made pasta on it...bragging rights.
I love my pellet grill too, pizza and meatloaf are pretty dang good on it. I did a turkey pot pie on it last night.
I use about 50% vegetable in mine, cabbage and carrots and onions run through the food processor ,its tasty and moist. Substituting venison for beef would only make it that much healthier meal. i sometime use hot sausage in place of beef,same for burgers,hot saugage and onion burgers Mmmmmmmm
we butcher our own deer.....usually between me, my brother and several friends, we end up with 5-10 deer per season. As we butcher them in my shop, we make burger and right on the spot, we add egg, pork and Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning to the ground venision. From there, we press burgers as it's coming out of the mixing bowl, and put wax paper between them, and they go right into the freezer bags. We also bag a ton of loose mix, for making meatloaf, chopped steak, and the like......
I like the egg/pork/ranch mix....tastes fantastic in any recipe. Those burgers on the fire pit are bar-none the best burgers you can make.
Ratio is like this.....9lbs ground venison, 1lbs ground pork butt, 1-2 eggs (preference), 1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch. Mix 'em all together and VOILLA.....perfect meat for any recipe.
I like the egg/pork/ranch mix....tastes fantastic in any recipe. Those burgers on the fire pit are bar-none the best burgers you can make.
Ratio is like this.....9lbs ground venison, 1lbs ground pork butt, 1-2 eggs (preference), 1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch. Mix 'em all together and VOILLA.....perfect meat for any recipe.
FanMan
Feeling the Heat
When grinding venison for burgers or other things, I use beef suet to add the necessary fat. Should work great for a meatloaf as well.
Do you have to take precautions against ticks when skinning a deer? THese days lyme disease from tick bites is a big concern.
Yes, we skin them outside, hang them from the tree, over a tarp or plastic....take the plastic and hyde, put it in a trash bag, and into the dumpster. When we are out hunting, it's nothing to see 20 to 50 sometimes on your clothes. I use Sawyer brand bug spray on my outer garments (has Permethrin in it), kills those ticks basically on contact. Good stuff.
Speaking of Lyme disease, my daughter got a Lyme tick and a bullseye rash two weeks ago. We caught it early, she's on 21 days of antibiotics as we speak. Just the other night, I pulled a deer tick out of my wife, right on her collarbone. And this past weekend, my youngest son had one trying to latch onto his ankle. The ticks around here are absolutely horrible......I can't figure why they don't start spraying for them......its only gonna get worse.
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