Anybody have any good deer burger recipes you would like to share. Have trouble keeping the patties stuck together. Seems I read somewhere that people use tapioca for this. Any ideas ?

3 parts very well trimmed ground venison. One part well fatted pork shoulder. One green chorizo per pound of the venison pork mixture.

Makes killer burgers and chile.

If you can't handle the heat cut it to 1/2 chorizo. If you can't handle 1/2 chorizo there's always McDonalds.

Just "knead" the ground venison patties for longer. The physical mixing and exposure to oxygen will start the proteins in the raw meat to binding to each other to form a cohesive pattie. If you have added so much fat to the meat that it actually is hamburger(30% fat) you will knead to mix it a lot and maybe even add an egg as a binder. I use straight, well trimmed venison for my grind, knead in some dry spice mix that works, like Mrs. Dash, Tony Cahcere or Montreal steak into 1/4 # patties and they will stay together. Cook it quickly on a hot grill that was cleaned and sprayed with a non-stick spray for grills before lighting. I grind my own, self processed meat so I am not afraid to have it be a little "pink" in the middle and my venison burgers are not tough or "dry" despite the fact they don't drip grease.

Take a little bit of it and grind it to mush in a food processor, or between a wide knife and the cutting board then mix it back in.

I use breakfast sausage. 1 part sausage to 2-3 parts venison. season with hamburger seasoning or similar and make thick patties.
cover with pepperjack cheese. have gotten LOTS of compliments on my burgers.

MILES58 nailed it. Pork adds flavor and moisture.

Starting last year, I quit adding fat to my deer hamburger. Just ran it through the grinder and called it good. Sure makes grinding a lot easier. I have not had any problems getting it to hold together cooking it in a pan. Have not tried it on a grill and could see problems arising there. If you need extra moisture, you could add olive oil, butter, some people put egg white in it. Any number of things. When I cook it, I put salt, pepper, and garlic powder in the meat to taste for a hamburger sandwich. Otherwise for spaghetti I just brown it and season the sauce to taste....same with chili. It is lean, but that is supposed to be a good thing, although some folks probably would not like it.

Fat makes for good taste but the problem I was having was the fat in the deer burger going rancid before we could eat it all. There was some guy on here that was being a real ass about this issue last year or thereabouts...saying he would not contaminate his organic venison with fat and anyone who did was an idiot. I guess he as well as some family members got into my head. I'd reluctantly give the ass his due if I could remember which of our asses it was.

Throw in a little beef suet.

Throw 1 egg and a little olive oil for a pound package.

This is the stuff.

I never grind my venison ahead of time, but rather trim and chunk the cuts to be ground and then vacuum pack and freeze them in meal-sized packages. The packages are placed in the fridge a day or two before cooking to thaw a bit, then ground while half frozen. Burgers are cooked in equal parts butter and canola or olive oil until just pink in the middle. Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Venison is the only burger I eat that's not well done.

Some folks and most commercial packers grind everything but the eyeballs and azzhole, but I trim mine very close and add nothing unless I'm making meatballs or sausage.

For the past few years I've been using a tip from one of Eileen Clarke's cookbooks; for each pound of venison burger knead in 1 slice of bread soaked in milk. Holds together even on a grill and really doesn't add any flavor to the burger. Season as you prefer and enjoy.

No issues at all with ground venison on the grill. After a bad run from a processor we quit adding fat, and grind our own as lean as we can keep it.

Many fat soluble enzymes are active to 40 below, so long term storage can generate off flavors. Some buddies in science fields store biological samples at 80 below to avoid degradation.

Fat has no binding characteristics what so ever. It's denatured proteins that hold things together with cooking.

Pappy348's suggestion is a good one to perpetuate flavor and reduce freezer burn. A bit of a pain in the ass though to grind small single batches. Along those same lines though, we do not slice our steaks until just prior to grilling.

Me too, as far as keeping it lean. One of the reasons I like game meat is that it's healthier, so I don't like to add fat back in. Makes for a dry burger, no doubt, but steelhead's recipe for an egg and olive oil is something I'll be trying.

Personally, I like to use ground venison in chili and spaghetti sauce, it's tailor-made for that.

mix � & � with extra lean ground beef, grill over mesquite. A little easier and more juicy, but leaner than beef and nice flavor

That sounds good. No mesquite here, but mulberry is in good supply, and works well. I get enough from trimming the trees in my yard to keep me supplied.

Sometimes, I grind the venison and an equal weight of boneless pork chops, then grind the two together with a little salt, pepper, and sage to make a lean sausage. Pretty tasty.

Venison doesn't dry out if you leave it pink in the middle. I do often add olive oil myself as it makes things more mistake proof.

I add 10% beef fat when grinding and have had no problems keeping venison burger for a year. Pork fat is what makes it go bad.

I haven't had any problems grilling my stuff but you do have to handle it care. The slice of bread/milk idea sounds like something to try.

Dale

also pure pork fat can be had for free if your nice to the butcher. Make sure all/all/all/all deer fat is removed from the muscle before grinding and mixing with pork. This will greatly improve flavour.

I used to give away lots for this purpose when I did that work.

If I plan on making patties, I'll split the venison 50:50 with plain beef hamburger. Ground venison used for chile or similar food doesn't get anything added. By not adding any other meats, it's much easier if I decide that I want to make some sausage.

I ground and freeze 100% elk trimmings with no obvious fat. This makes for a burger that is hard to grill the conventional way. So, make your patties, season with your choice and wrap each one in tinfoil. After a few minutes on the grill, open one up to see how they are cooking. When they are nearly done, take them out of the foil and lay on the grill to finish and brown up. By then you can flip them once to brown. The burgers will be moist and a big hit!

I also brown about a pound of burger in a skillet, drain off the water and add my spaghetti sauce and bring things together that way. If the sauce is a little "sharp", add a tablespoon of raw sugar and blend it in. Sweetens it up and gets rave reviews.

Good luck.

Two ways I have done it worked well. Sometimes we buy bacon trimmings from the butcher shop and add about 10% to the ground venison. This add flavor and since the bacon is cured it keeps better. Same thing using beef sirloin trimmings, better flavor than the tallowy brisket fat. Only the beef doesn't keep as long.

But mostly I grind as needed and just use olive oil and Worcester sauce after working the patties. Great if you sear them fast usually add Montreal,garlic or other spices too.

A ground patty wrapped in bacon as a faux fillet is good too.

I like 10% beef fat as it holds the patties together much better. My favorite recipe for burgers: 1 package Lipton Onion Soup mix(dry), 2 tbsp A-1, 1 tbsp Worcestershire, 1 tbsp Pickapeppa, 1 tbsp Tony's cajun seasoning. I get quite a few comments on burgers with that recipe.

If you are still having trouble with the patties coming apart, you can add either an egg or bread/cracker crumbs.

yes ,fat does make any meat stay together better. we add 20% beef fat. pork will work but it doesn't freeze as long . i take 10lbs of chunked deer and the fat and spread it out in a big flat pan. then dump a whole can of weber blazin burger seasoning over it and mix. then grind it. i make mine into patties and vacuum seal 2 in a pack. cook them pink in the center. i like to serve with one strip of bacon on the bottom and a hand full of crumbled blue cheese on top.sweetness of the bacon and the bite of the blue cheese are the perfect combo.

1 LB ground venison
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 tbsp Kikkoman soya sauce
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 egg

That is the basic recipe. Liquid smoke and other herbs and spices can be use to alter the taste according to the evenings menu. Enjoy!

I add about 20% ground beef and salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and mustard powder. I eat them about once a week and they are delicious!

Tag

Fat-free venison burgers stay together fine if you put them on a HOT pan or grill, then don't try to flip them every 30 seconds, like most people do. Let them brown for a while on the first side, and they'll bind pretty well.

Yep!

We've not bought ground beef in several years. The wife and kids love it and the younger kids probably don't know what ground beef is. We use ground venison in everything.

The only thing I ever do to burgers is sprinkle a little Weber Gourmet Burger seasoning on each side.

I have done them both with and without adding fat. I prefer to add about 10% fat; sometimes it's pork, sometimes it's beef. I have never tried the bread crumb addition but danm I love meatloaf so might try a batch this year. I make a lot of sausage patty and it freezes just fine. I used 25% pork fat with it. I season and immediately grill one to check for flavor. I then add more until just right then package and freeze.

You guys that have nice farm flavored whitetails get away with more because the meat itself is so good. AZ deer meat is not nearly as good as what I have tasted from the midwest. That's why I doll it up a little first!

I ground last years deer, 1/3 bacon and 2/3 lean venison. Tastes great.
Just go to the local meat market and get unsliced bacon. I learned this from Rock Chuck.
I also learned, he doesn't grind it all at once but freezes his venison until needed. This keeps better than making it all into burger from the start.
I'll do that this year, though I just made some burritos with mine and it was still excellent. It was heavily seasoned though.

I also got a burger press and wax paper squares and pressed out some burger patties and froze. Just take them out of the freezer bag and throw them on the grill. They hold together very well.

Grind 12-15 pounds of venison (whatever kind you want) with three pounds of bacon ends and five pounds of greasy beef. You can also add some pickled jalapenos and even cheese. The beef is only to help keep the burgers together.

Best burger I ever tasted.

I mix venison with beef brisket 50/50. I cut both into about 1" cubes and run it through the grinder twice. It makes great hamburgers, spaghetti sauce, meatloaf or anything else you would use ground beef for. Great flavor.

It is standard to have 10% beef fat added to venison in our area.

In two lbs of deer meat

table spoon of Worcester sauce

talble spoon of Liquid Smoke

dice up an onion, add as much as you can stand

1 egg

sprinkle with Olive oil

salt and pepper

I like to cook these on my outdoor grill. I will cook the burgers for 5 minutes with the lid down, flip once after cooking 5 minutes per side, no flipping back and forth.

The combo of Worcester sauce and Liquid Smoke seals the deal on being the best burgers you have ever had.

If you let the mixture sit overnight prior to cooking so the meat can absorb all the flavors, you are way ahead of the game.

Sounds good except for the onions. I like my cooked until caramelized!

+1

Ain't gonna lie, I did not like the taste of my first venison burger. A buddy had cooked a few up and he thought they were great and I...well. It was tough, dry and it just didn't taste good.

I see a lot of ideas in this thread worth trying. Thanks guys!

I LOVE venison burger, not all venison burger, but mine for sure.
Often I grind the whole buck with the exception of the backstraps.
Many people have bad experiences with ground venison due to poor handling by the processer, often venison fat, sinew, glands and hair are ground together to produce a completely inedible product, often a badly rutted out buck can yield poor results as well.
If you delete those items completely, and grind only clean red meat, your end result will be truly remarkable.
I add about 30% fatty beef burger or pork shoulder to mine during the first grind, mix it together completely then grind it again, to create a truly delicious, versatile product that my family simply relishes all year long.

Straight venison, cook with a little olive oil, pink in the middle, bucktail has it right! Burger hot, beer cold. Home made bread. Watch the great dane constantly, as he sees the platter at eye level as an invitation. Plan nap afterword.

60/30/10 Venison, beef, bacon. Grind all separate, grind together again or mix together with a butchers mixer.

Lots of ways to do it. Just leave it a little pink, its already dead.

Good posts! Another one is black bear meat. Makes stuff sticky. I like 50/50 venison/bear. Great on the grill.

Don't use tapioca, or corn starch, or any of that stuff. Its baloney.

This ^^^^

Also from the get go use( 10% to 11%)bacon ends and pieces for your original grind. Ditch the beef or pork suet and pork shoulder.

Thank me later!!!

Made some tonigh:

4strips of bacon
1.5lbs of venison mostly roast
Catalina dressing on top and bottom that cooks off mostly
Grilled onions topping

----------
Oh my it was taste -----

Mix in with 1 pound of ground venison:

1 package of onion soup mix
Fresh Chopped jalape�os to taste.
Crumbled Blu Cheese to taste.

Grill over hot mesquite or sear on cast iron.

Serve with cold beer.

Doesn't get much better than that�


John