Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Adding mustard to ground wild game???

Had a buddy cook venison burger, “hamburger steaks w grilled peppers mushrooms and onions. He mixed in the burger, worstecheir (sp?) sauce, Montreal steak seasoning, fresh garlic and spicy mustard. It was the best venison burger I had ever had. Usually, venison burger seems a little gamey, but this was awesome. Another cheff that I know recommends adding mustard to anything “gamey”. Anyone out there do something similar?

Nope, I haven’t but that sounds darned tasty.

We don’t find ours gamey at all and it’s all we’ve used for burger at home in going on 10 years. That said I trim ours up pretty tight and probably feed a little more to the dogs then some? I also add beef or pork fat back to it too. That does sound good though. We do peppers mushrooms onions etc often but can’t say we’ve tried the spicy mustard. Will though.

We don’t think any of the deer we put up taste gamey so either it’s because I’m particular about working it up or we just don’t taste some of the things we should? Either way for us trimming everything up pretty tight and not over cooking works for us. We tend to use the same seasoning we would on beef. That can vary from time to time. We don’t always use the exact same seasoning every single time.

Same here Kaleb but in the same vein as you I like the taste of venison. Some folks don’t.

So we may not taste what others see as gamey.

I’m pretty happy with that too. I can’t count on one hand how manny people bring me deer because they like to hunt but the family doesn’t eat it. I can’t make fun because I’m so appreciative but it amazes me. I try to return the favor by sighting in rifles for them adjusting triggers and little things like that.

Yeah, that’s too bad. Cause man, all of it is damned good. I just seared and cooked an elk roast on the Traeger and I can’t imagine better meat. Guess you take what you can.

I totally agree.

I seared it for 2 minutes per side in a cast iron pan with some avocado oil. Then I stick it on the Traeger set at 250 till it hits 130 internal. Pull it, let it set a few minutes. Carve it up and enjoy. Favorite way to cook it.

Just remember to lay the seasoning to it. Most will stick to the pan when searing.

Thank you will try that.

Most like it that way. Gets a decent crust on the outside. Inside will be a rare/medium rare.

Thank you. I edited my original post because I didn’t think I said it right but I understand what you’re saying. It sounds great. Most of our roast is shoulder and we do them with carrots mushrooms peppers onions potatoes etc kinda like a traditional roast. We eat it like that then my wife turns it into a stew.

I hadn't heard of that with mustard powder, but I can see where it might do exactly as you say.

Another trick with ground meat for burgers is to mix 1/2 cup of Panko or crushed cracker crumbs an egg and 2 tablespoons of milk to 2 lbs of ground meat. The crumbs help to soak up the grease/fats, retaining them in the burger and making them more moist.

Same here Kaleb. I leave the big pieces as large as possible so they can be cut into steaks or used as you mentioned in a more traditional roast. Plus they seem to last forever in the freezer.

I’ve butchered my own deer for years. I’ve always added beef fat to my ground meat.
When making patties, I always add minced onion and Worcestershire sauce.
I will have to try the mustard. That could work.
The beef fat seems to be the real game-changer for me though.

A bit OT, but an omelet trick I learned from my chef BIL, is a squirt of yellow mustard in the scrambled eggs. It brings out the flavor of the cheese, especially cheddar.

I’d feel pretty certain saying it’s the vinegar in the mustard that tames the game taste. Along w the mustard spices for additional unctuous flavor. I’ve used vinegars for various curing and cooking. Always makes a difference.

Truth 👆

Know a lot of guys that soak venison steaks in vinegar over night. We’ve used milk, don’t think it made any real improvement though.

Rub pork shoulder with mustard before applying the rub to smoke it.

If whitetail venison is gamey, IME, the fault lies in the handling and processing. It’s venison, and has its own flavor, but shouldn’t be stinky-tasting. It’s best to use another fat in burger since deer fat is a waxy tallow. I mix it with ground up pork loin or chicken thighs with the skin.

Mustard is a classic addition for red meat, but seems to be mainly used on ham and cured meats anymore. Have to try that, but I’m pretty much a salt and pepper guy.

I make my venison burgers with:

1 lb of burger
1/2 tsp Garlic powder
1/2 tsp Onion powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
dash of pepper
1 or 2 Tablespoon of spicy mustard

I like venison, this was just a burger recipe I found a while ago and tried and liked it. My venison burger is mixed with pork or beef fat usually. It also had worcestershire sauce and maybe bread crumbs in the original recipe. My wife and daughter have celiac so the bread crumbs were out and I didn't have worcestershire one time and went without it and didn't miss it so I just leave it out now. Always fun to try different things.