All you hunters out there—or those lucky enough to enjoy the perks of being friends with one—this post is for you. I’m guessing you’re sick of dry, boring venison burgers, and I’m here to tell you it’s possible to have a tender, juicy venison burger—really, it is!
My parents are funeral directors, and several of their employees are hunters. (I’m not quite sure of the connection between working at a funeral home and hunting, but there must be one. Dead stuff? … I digress.) One year my mom asked one of the guys if she could have all of the processed meat from one of his kills, and we’ve been receiving one very large shipment of venison meat each Christmas ever since, complete with venison steaks, roasts, backstraps, cased sausages, summer sausages, breakfast links, and ground venison. Basically my mom has more meat than she knows what to do with, and half of it sits in the freezer at the funeral home because we have no room for it in our home freezer. Each spring I step in and ask for my share of the treasure trove, and my mom gladly hands over packages after packages of the frozen goodies, which I promptly store in a cooler and drive back to Chicago to share with my friends.
For those who have never had it, venison is a very lean, somewhat gamey meat reminiscent of beef. I’ve discovered the secret to keeping ground venison moist and delicious, without being too gamey. Are you ready for this top-secret ingredient?
