Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Venison Burgers

Do you flip the burgers one time or not at all?

Added 20% beef fat to it for years until I learned the magic of bacon. A buddy in AK cooks good bear burgers we always look forward to. It’s about the only bear I’ve had that I liked. Found out a local processor in SC made it with bacon. Tried it. Hooked. The processor I use adds 15% bacon to all our deer burger now and it is the best I’ve ever had.

If the venison is any good .. not tainted through mishandling of some sort .. the only ingredient need is the venison itself. "Grill" it on a well pre-heated fry pan with just enough butter or bacon grease to keep it from sticking before it begins to render its own fat. (Lean venison is tricky that way, no argument from me about that, but it WILL if you get the hang of it.) All it needs is a smidge of sea salt after cooking to bring the flavor out even more.

"Gamey" .. and the need to cover it .. generally come from either a worked up critter that was jacked on adrenaline (running?) when it was killed, which leaves a taste, or guts spilled .. which can be from the shot or from poor knife work .. spilling piss, or the like, or either inadequate or excessive aging. Those are finesse things, not from a book. They require practiced judgement.

To my taste, venison burger is so damned good it should be eaten like a steak, just a touch o' salt, from the plate, not on a bun.

A mix of seasonings. Don't remember what all is in it but it's good. You mix it in with the burger like sausage seasoning. Makes very tasty burgers. I just went out and looked at the package and it's actually called "old time venison burger seasoning". You can find it at ironskilletseasonings.com.

Reading the instructions on the seasoning packet it says to,

Mix 3 lbs ground game meat with 1 lbs ground pork ( bullshyt) , hmmmm.

https://ironskilletseasonings.com/store/all-products/029-old-time-burger-seasoning-info

I straight grind all my venison, when we decide to do burgers I mix in about a half a package of the small cheap tubes of breakfast sausage to 1-1.5 lbs of venison burger. Add hamburger seasoning and mix by hand until well blended. Make patties and grill em. Simple and delicious. Adding fat to meat prior to freezing shortens it's shelf life in the freezer.
Also we use a lot of burger for other stuff that you might want to keep lean like chili, spaghetti sauce etc.

Meh I don’t want my deer burger tasting like Jimmy Dean sausage.

Oh and deer can taste like total piss/ass on their own accord not from mishandling. I can blow their heart out and have them in MY walkin cooler at 35 inside of 1 hour.

Rutting buck soaked in his own piss. Wreak as you walk up to em to dress em. Those particular smelly bastards go to the food bank. Let the winos have them for Salvation Army spaghetti extravaganza!!

Barf

For hamburger grind I follow the suggestions above for pork. Bacon ends & pieces at 20 to 30% works great for “bacon burger”. And I found a grocery near our home that sells 10# boxes for $24. Pork butts are cheaper by a half usually and can be had for as little as 99 cents a pound if you watch for sale specials. Usually do about 30% pork with that. We do 100% venison for half or so of what we grind for pasta sauce, chili, tacos and such. Personal experience is that 100% venison does not hold together on the grill as well as a fatty mixture but I’m willing to try the crispy approach before the first turn. Doing some grinding today on bucks our son n law and wife shot. Supervisor reminded me of the mixture instructions before she left a while ago and daughter wants all theirs straight 100%

For those who mentioned seasonings check out this place

https://www.rebelbutchersupply.com/

Breakfast sausage seasoning is Mississippi good. Eyetalian is good and better with a little extra fennel. We usually stock up on sale priced pork and go 100% pig but 50/50 will work just st cook low and slow.

I have been processing my own deer for 40 something years. I used to mix fatty pork with my grind and or beef fat. Now I used steak fat trimmings mixed with clean deer with all the white stuff removed. I eyeball it but mix 10 to 15 % fat in.
Always run it through the grinder Twice, Pack it in quart ziplock freezer bags to freeze.
For burgers we add a few dashes of worchestershire sauce, some minced garlic, Tony Chacheres seasoning, Cavendars greek seasoning and mix well. Form into pattys and cook till not pink inside on gas or charcoal grill. Flip once while cooking. I kill enough deer so that we always have ground deer to eat during the year. I can't remember the last time we bought ground beef. We use ground deer exclusively and prefer it.
If I kill a deer that smells gamey and hormoned up I soak it longer in Ice that is salted. And mark the ground packs as Buck.
We use it for chili or spagetti type dishes.

I leave the pork/fat out of my venison burger. It's not needed for anything. Used to do it, tried it all, not anymore.