STS Bar and Grill: Elk Burgers
Meat, as we’ve discussed, is a fundamental USOB asset. Keep bringing it home, and you’re more likely to score the hall pass for a trip to go get more. Take it up a notch though, by fixing a knock their socks off supper, and you’ll get unsolicited inquiries into when you’re going hunting again. In this, you can check this out, our first post in the STS Bar & Grill series of tips, tricks, reviews and recipes we’ll start off with a simple staple that’s a summer crowd pleaser: Elk Burgers.
What you’ll need…
3 lbs Ground Meat – In this instance I used 2 lbs elk burger and 1 lb pronghorn burger, but it’ll work with any kind of venison, or combination thereof. I grind 10% beef fat, by weight, into all of my elk, deer and pronghorn.
3 Fresh Eggs, lightly beaten – Supermarket eggs are for suckers. If you can’t find fresh eggs where you live, you’re not looking hard enough. Someone near you has chickens.
1 medium onion
Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce – I’m brand agnostic about nearly everything, but not worcestershire sauce.
Barbeque sauce – Pictured is what happened to be in the fridge. If you’re interested in a BBQ sauce recommendation I bet these guys could point you in the right direction.
Peanut Oil – Other varieties of vegatable oil will work in a pinch, but count on them to burn off faster, shirking their lubrication responsibilities.
Step 1: Light the charcoal. If you’re using a gas grill you can delay this step… and your hopefully forthcoming manhood.
Step 2: Make a slurpee of the onion in the food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, try a blender. If you don’t have either, and you’re not Chuck Norris, try a different recipe. Sorry, you’ll never get the desired consistency with a knife.
Step 3: Add meat, onion mush and eggs to a large mixing bowl. Season with 10-15 dashes of Lea & Perrins (put your wrist into it) and a healthy pour from the BBQ sauce bottle (1/3 cup?). Roll up your sleeves and, with both hands, squish, stir, fold and knead to combine.
Step 4: Scoop meat like you’re making a knock-out snowball with two cupped hands. That’s about a 1/3 pound burger. Spank the ball into a patty, first along one axis and then the next, until it holds together just right. Don’t rush it. Molding the meat into a disc won’t work. The spanking is important. I don’t know why. My sister-in-law Brandy does, but I’m afraid to ask.
Step 5: Soak a paper towel in peanut oil and, using long tongs, grease the grill.
Step 6: Grill to medium rare. Move burgers as little as possible while cooking, avoiding as long as possible any shifting after intial placement and flipping.
Step 7: Serve and get out the maps.
STS Elk Burgers
3 lbs Ground Meat
3 Fresh Eggs, lightly beaten
1 medium onion
Worcestershire Sauce 15 heavy dashes
Barbeque sauce ~ 1/3 cup
Peanut Oil
1. Puree onion
2. Knead meat, eggs, onion, Worcestershire, and BBQ sauce in a large bowl to combine.
3. Spank into patties.
4. Swab freshly scraped grate with peanut oil. Grill burgers over medium high heat, minimizing movement.
I think we made too much summer sausage out of our whitetails last year and not enough hamburger. The boyfriend loves sausage, but next season it will be deer burgers. Though- we grind pork (either loin or Boston butt depending on what the store has) into ours. Might have to add beef to see if I like it better. Awesome recipe.
I can relate. We just started going big on burger over sausage with our grinding meat a few years ago. Obviously tastes vary, but the versatility of a having a freezer full of burger works great for our family.
I know a lot of folks around here that grind in pork as well. I’ve not tried it myself but I hear good things. The local butcher here trims beef suet, grinds it up, and sets aside in the freezer for hunters each fall. We like it because it provides the necessary fat, without having to add a different kind of protein.
First recipe post, and a strong one at that! Who knew you were a food writer/photographer, Cope?!
Aww shucks. There’s an elk burger with your name on it awaiting your return from Alaska!
Perfect, let’s also have some cocktail recipes from STS Bar and Grill to go along with it!
Boys, in the words of Gov. Nels Smith, “You done good.” But thou shalt not defile thy burger with any cow or pig fat. We work way to hard to get this stuff to be cutting it with processed GMO corn or hormones or antibiotics. If you didn’t raise it or kill it, don’t put it in your burger.
Fair ’nuff.
Consider me properly chastened.