Summer BBQ – Venison Burgers

August 26th, 2011

Summer is the perfect season to get together with friends and fire up the grill. I love entertaining, but I never take photos when I have people over – so I usually end up without much documentation of what I’ve done. I’ve wanted to do a summer BBQ theme for a while, and this is the first of two posts to that end.

Although we live in the big city, far away from wildlife, our parents have friends who hunt, and we’re lucky to receive a much-coveted gift of venison every year or so. I’d been saving the last of it for burgers, and I finally pulled out the grill again today.

There’s no real recipe for this as I always go by feel and change up the spices, but this time around I combined:
-ground venison
-chopped bacon
-diced onion
-minced garlic
-breadcrumbs
-egg
-juniper berry
-fennel seed
-celery seed
-salt
-black pepper

Venison is lean and flavourful, so it’s best paired with other bold flavours. I topped mine with brie, sour berry and red chili compote and crispy fried onion strings (here’s a recipe) and the results were marvelous. The brie lended an earthy richness, the compote added tartness, and the onion strings (which you should pile high, by the way!) provided a delicious crunch to every bite.

I’m off to enjoy my burger before it gets cold. Have a fantastic Friday and a great weekend!

Tags: BBQ, burgers, mains, venison

1. Tina says:

   August 26, 2011 at 11:18 pm

   Yes hunting season will be here in a few months and I will be looking for ways to prepare venison. The ingredient list for these burgers sounds like it would be good-bookmarked. Have a great weekend.

   Reply