RECIPES

The Venison Bacon Burger

So about two weekends ago I got some white-tail deer rump roast out of the freezer that I had butchered myself from a nice 2 year old deer last November. The meat was nicely vacuum sealed and was in great condition. I let the meat thaw out about two-thirds of the way, then sliced it into about 1" chunks. Then, I ran it through my grinder! I used the medium grind plate on the venison and it had just the right coarseness. Now I had a choice. What fat to use to mix in my ground deer meat. I have used a few different things in the past; being beef tallow, 75/25 grd. beef, & breakfast sausage. This time, though, I wanted to use either fresh pork fat or bacon.

This time, the bacon won! Now I didn't just use any ol' bacon. I used my favorite bacon. Butcher Bacon. Bacon that is freshly sliced off the hickory smoked pork belly, thats not packaged in some nitrate solution. Real. Thick. Smoky. Bacon. And...when you find it on sale for $2.51 a pound, why the heck not!

Ok back to the recipe....So I also thawed out the bacon maybe 30-40% of the way and sliced it in half and put it through the grinder with the same medium die. I had 3# of venison and just under 2# of bacon. I made four patties out of half the 5# mixture. I seasoned each patty different. Two got Head County BBQ seasoning, Ms. Dash, Salt/Pepper/Garlic Powder.

The end result: The Burgers turned out really good! In fact, my wife even enjoyed them, and she is a wild game skeptic still(not due to my cooking, but a pre-disposition). My favorite seasoning was Ms.Dash, it has a composition of spices that, I believe, compliment the meat. However, there are a few things I will change going forward....1) The grind on the bacon was a little too big, next time I will go for the smaller die. 2) I will use a meat to fat mixture of 75/25. My wife thought it was the right about of bacon, but for me it almost hid all of the wild venison flavor. 

Other than that it was the best venison burger I have had! It maintained juiciness and moisture on a 400 degree grill just like a beef regular burger. Try some variance of this recipe, and you can't go wrong!

Please comment if you will try something different or have a suggestion from past experience!

wild game burger, venison burger, bacon burger, deer burger, deer meat, white-tail deer