Venison Burger...what do you do with it?

[Luked]

Other than doing stuff like Snack Sticks or Summer sausage I don't care much for the Burger..and I am meaning white tail deer.
I have never really cared for it and it always seems to leave a gamey after taste to me.
Love it in Snack sticks.
But I have probably 40 lbs of burger and I would like to get some other ideas from you all and what you do with it?
I have tried it in Chilli and spaghetti but don't care for it there either.
What do you all do with it? Recipes etc

 

[Blurry1]

Tacos always do me right. I’ve had some pretty sagey mule deer that still make great tacos. Then again I’ve never met a taco I didn’t like.

 

[Mike Islander]

I saute it with garlic, Lowrys, and pepper then enjoy it on a flour tortilla with melted cheddar. I can eat 2 pounds a week at work as lunch burritos and never get bored with it.

 

[mthayr]

Do you have a dog?

 

[Q_Sertorius]

If it tastes gamey, then you are doing something wrong processing it.

I use it in burgers - it’s very good with salt, pepper, and Greek seasoning mixed in with it.

I also use it in spaghetti, lasagna, shepherd’s pie, stews, soups, etc. I tend to use the Italian seasoning mix or rosemary for flavor with these dishes.

I actually have a huge pot of venison bolognese on the stove right now. I’ve been working on it all day and had it for lunch and dinner. It will be even better tomorrow.

 

[taskswap]

Want my address?

My wife loves when I make meatballs from ground. I do about 1.5" balls, freeze to firm them up a bit, then vacuum-seal and deep freeze. I'll do 12 meatballs per bag and she can work it based on how many people will be at dinner. Some people only eat 2-3, some eat 4-6. She'll put them in Italian soup, marinara sauce with pasta, on grinders, even sliced on pizza. She even does this crazy crock pot recipe with grape jelly and they come out amazing (1" balls work best for that). They also are very easy to give away that way or bring to parties. I bet we could clear 40lbs in a couple of months, tops.

 

[North of 60]

Ground deer makes excellent chili, spaghetti, burgers, tacos, etc...most anything one would cook with ground meat.

The key to most game critters (especially WT deer) tasting delicious is how well it is taken care of...

 

[hiker270]

Chili, Spaghetti and Venison BBQ are some of my favorites. Regular burgers on the grill are also good with a few of your favorite spices. As noted before the best wild game is taken care of properly from the time it is killed to when it is cut up and wrapped.

 

[Erict]

This venison meatloaf recipe from Montana FWP is a favorite. I use plain ground - no fat added - as the oil and cheese probably takes care of that.

 

[chizelhead]

As already stated, chili, spaghetti, etc. I think tomato sauces can mitigate the gaminess due to the acidity. Barbacoa for tacos. I haven't tried it, but chorizo may work as well.

 

[EdP]

Meatloaf, chilli, tacos, lasanga, meatballs, burgers. I have no idea what "gamey" means other than it tastes different than beef.

 

[JPeters218]

Give this recipe a try. My wife likes this more than Elk or Antelope burgers. We’ve never added the bacon tho.

 

[noisy]

The first thing you do with it is process it yourself. Be very judicious about cutting out ANYTHING that is not red meat. It takes patience. Then grind the pure meat with 15-20 percent beef fat from a trusted local butcher. You'll be surprised how much of a difference this will make. You can try pork fat too.

Steaks etc. are best cut into thin strips for jerky, marinated, then put in the smoker for 3 hours, then the dehydrator for 3 more hours. Deer jerky is the best. Better than elk jerky IMO. If you need recipes for marinade let me know.

If you still don't like the meat, donate it to a food pantry or just quit hunting. Don't kill for the sake of killing. Tasty, healthy food is the ultimate goal here.

 

[CypressCreek]

We have been doing a lot of sloppy joes, venison stroganoff, spaghetti, and bolognese.

 

[Chris in TN]

The first thing you do with it is process it yourself. Be very judicious about cutting out ANYTHING that is not red meat. It takes patience. Then grind the pure meat with 15-20 percent beef fat from a trusted local butcher. You'll be surprised how much of a difference this will make. You can try pork fat too.

Same. Some of the best burgers I ever had were elk with 20% beef fat. My usualy method is to form a large round-ish patty, begin searing on a hot griddle or skillet, then I use a cast iron burger-smasher thing to smash the top, but first I heat it on a separate eye so it helps cook the top. Smash hard - I will use both hands and employ a wooden spoon to distribute force - then flip the burger *THEN salt the top. When the other side is done, flip again, put salt, pepper, garlic powder (sparingly) then place cheese on top of that. Don't salt the meat before cooking - it tends to make tougher burgers.

We also do tacos, chili, spaghetti, jerky-ish meat sticks,

 

[ColPenguin]

Grind the venison 70% with pork belly 30% and add breakfast sausage seasoning.

Why does your meat taste gamey? Did you wait too long to gut it, and maybe it got bone soured? Perhaps touched one of the tarsal glands with your hand or knife and contaminated the meat?

 

[johnw3474]

Do you like whole cuts of venison, or do you not like the flavor of venison at all? I'd be curious to know what your process looks like in between when the animal hits the ground and meat ends up in the freezer.

Maybe try mixing in some ground pork at 1:1 and adding seasoning for sausage or chorizo.

 

[gbflyer]

What does gamey mean? Wild? I hear people all the time say it’s gamey because you don’t take care of it right. I don’t care how well it’s taken care of, deer tastes like deer, not beef. Some more than others. I’ve had mule deer that smelled like a skunk, taken care of perfectly. Dog wouldn’t even eat it until he buried it and it rotted for awhile, we sure as Hell couldn’t. Our Sitka blacktail are as mild a deer as there is, but they still taste like deer, rutting bucks more so.

As far as cutting the deer flavor, we find acidic recipes are the best.

 

[Luked]

The grind meat is the only thing that I don't care for.
I have had it proccesed by a butcher in the past and its not any different. I have been cutting my own up for years. Not like I don't know how to break one down.
The grind meat is the only thing I never cared for. It just always seems to have an aftertaste I didn't care for.
I have mixed it with Beef fat, Pork fat and always just tried it as a normal Burger and just didn't care for it as much as the rest of the deer. And we eat a pile of deer. That's why I have so much burger in the freezer. It just never gets used.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

The grind meat is the only thing that I don't care for.
I have had it proccesed by a butcher in the past and its not any different. I have been cutting my own up for years. Not like I don't know how to break one down.
The grind meat is the only thing I never cared for. It just always seems to have an aftertaste I didn't care for.
I have mixed it with Beef fat, Pork fat and always just tried it as a normal Burger and just didn't care for it as much as the rest of the deer. And we eat a pile of deer. That's why I have so much burger in the freezer. It just never gets used.

I think that not including any extra venison fat with the ground meat improves the flavor. A good fat deer has fat that reminds me of mutton. I don’t like the taste or the way it cakes to my palate.

The only “bad deer” I ever had was one where the guide waited over 12 hours to gut it. He wouldn’t let me gut it in the field because he said it would “ruin the spot.”

I wish I had 40 pounds of extra venison burger in my freezer. My younger brother and I split all the deer we get 50-50 (he does most of the processing, I do most of the hunting).