100 % Venison Burger is Blaw

[uncle buck]

Lets face it pure 100 deer burger just does not have that hamburger or sirloin ground taste.

This past year when I butchered a deer I made some deer sausage by adding fresh pork to all the deer burger. I could not get enough natural casing so I packaged the remaining sausage mixture as loose deer burger. Of course I added garlic, sage, and fennel.


Next deer I am going to do this again. I have really enjoyed the mixture of venison, fresh pork, and seasonings mentioned above. I just told the wife today that the venison tasted better on the grill then the sirloin burgers you biuy in the store.

How else can you make venison burger taste better?

 

[Oak]

I add about 8% beef suet to my game burger. After that, it's just various seasonings when I cook it.

Oak

 

[pawclaws]

You guys got the right approach. Lean meat doesn't have a lot of flavor. You got to add some fat and some other stuff that tastes good. Getting it juicy is a real pain too. I like to add either fresh ground pork or plain hamburger, about 20 percent fat, then use the Lipton dry onion soup mix at about one envelope per two pounds of combined meat. Hit it with a couple shots of Lee and Perrin's and pat it out into burgers and let it chill before frying in a medium hot skillet. I might even add some beef broth before making the patties to plump it up and add moisture. That seems to work pretty well. What cuts do you guys grind?

 

[ELKCHSR]

I like to put a seasoning called "Cavenders" it seems to have all the right mix of stuff in it. You can put it on every thing excepting maybe cereal...

 

[pawclaws]

Cavender's? What's it got in it?

This it?

 

[ELKCHSR]

Yep that is the one...
I have another hint for those that end up with a gamey piece of meat.
Soak it in milk for about half hour, hour.
It seems to take that nasty after taste out and makes the meat fry up very fine. Maybe it is the added animal fats or some thing I don't know. I shot a nice Muly buck a couple years ago that was in full rut, he had that gamey taste, so when I pull any of it out of the freeze, I give it a good soaking now, works like a charm...

Back to the cavenders, I will have to give it a taste test to see if I can figure all of what they have in it... good stuff though...

 

[pawclaws]

My best guess would be mint, garlic, onion, fennel, oregano, salt, pepper, possibly lemon zest, and msg. Based on being a Greek mixture.

 

[ELKCHSR]

That would taste about right...

 

[smalls]

Soaking fish in milk works well too, takes any fishy taste out of those mid-summer snot-rockets (northern pike).

 

[rulookingup]

Before you write off 100% pure venison try seasoning each side of the patty with garlic powder, season salt and montreal steak seasoning. Cook til medium rare only flipping once if you can. The more "done " it is the dryer and less flavorful it is.

 

[JohnCushman]

I usually add about 20% fatty pork to my deer and elk and antelope grind. I use more in sausage meat

 

[shoots-straight]

Maybe it's the deer in Pennsylvania, my deer and elk taste great. I use 5% suet. Never have a problem with it being dry, the roasts can be if over cooked. Never over cook venison, and cook it a tad slower that beef.

 

[schmalts]

beef or Pork fat makes it better. Just keep in mind Pork fat goes rancid a bit faster than beef fat, but if your going to have it all gone in a year who cares

 

[bdidaho]

On venison and elk, I always brine mine in a salt solution, sometimes with some sugar. Several chefs do this with pork and chicken as well. It not only takes some of the gamey flavor out but adds moisture as well. I'll have to try the milk soak on venison and elk .It does work on fish and shrimp. I usually make bulk sausage wih my ground meat. I usually buy a pork but and mix that in with the venison( about 60% venison).It makes a lean sausage but still has enough fat to stick together. I make Italian sausage which I use for all my Italian meals and chili, burgers etc. and I make breakfast sausage as well. It is very easy to make with a descent grinder. When the kids were small, I would have sausage making nights and have them help. Kids love to get their hands messy so I would have them mix the spices in after the first grind. Afterwards, we would have to fry up some patties for QA purposes and they would eat as much as I would cook. They still talk about those times 15 years later and ask when I will be making more so they can bring their kids down to help!! I can give the recipes to any one interested.
I have never shot an antelope but hope to this fall. I have heard several people say they are very gamey. What do you guys do with antelope?
..

 

[schmalts]

I have neve shot an antelope but hope to this fall. I have heard several people say they are very gamey. What do you guys do with antelope?
Also, on venison and elk, I always brine mine in a salt solution, sometimes with some sugar. Several chefs do this with pork and chicken as well. It not only takes some of the gamey flavor out but adds moisture as well. I ha

Many discussions on this, they are not gamey and most think bad taste is due to poor meat practices on warm days and bad shots that get adrenalin going in the animals. Like all animals, there will be some that are bad during the rut but for the most part the few I killed were all A+. I am sure more guys will chime in on Lope meat quality.

 

[1_pointer]

the few I killed were all A+.

Ditto here.

 

[mtmiller]

In the last 10 years, since I have processed my own, I have never had any deer, elk or lope that didn't taste spectacular. Goat, another subject, but ground it was great as well. Guess I have just been lucky.

In order of taste.....elk,lope, deer....

 

[----]

I personally like deer the best, but haven't killed a muley in a while now.
Antelope meat is also fantastic. I hadn't had it for years, but got some steaks off two different bucks this year, and absolutely love it.
Elk for me is kind of hit or miss. The good cuts on elk are REALLY good, but elk round and sirloin really don't do much for me.
I personally don't do anything for soaking meat, and add 10% suet to my burger. Thinking I'm gonna try something next year with no suet though and see how I like it.

Miller, is goat comparable to anything else? Not too tender huh?

 

[mtmiller]

Miller, is goat comparable to anything else? Not too tender huh?

I am not good at comparing tastes, but I would say goat has a more sweet flavor than other venison. Tough??? Very much so, even the straps, but ground I was very impressed.

As for lack of fat in my burger I have tried a couple things. I used to mix in hard beef fat with lean venison and the only downside was the occassional plug up on my grinder. I would guess I only mixed about 2 or 3% when going this route. The last couple years I have just purchased cheap, fatty ground beef and mixed it in. Much easier in the grinding process and still a dirt cheap mix based on ratio.

 

[Meatatarian]

As for lack of fat in my burger I have tried a couple things. I used to mix in hard beef fat with lean venison and the only downside was the occassional plug up on my grinder. I would guess I only mixed about 2 or 3% when going this route. The last couple years I have just purchased cheap, fatty ground beef and mixed it in. Much easier in the grinding process and still a dirt cheap mix based on ratio.

That's the same path I've taken. When the grocery stores started charging for suet, I figured I might as well buy the fattiest burger I could as it wasn't much more than just the fat. Some quick ciphering with my slide rule tells me how much venison I need to add to get a 10-ish% fat burger. I tried the no-fat method too, adding olive oil at the time of cooking but I didn't think it had as much flavor as adding beef fat. There's a reason a well-marbled beef ribeye tastes so good...