Oh Dear, It’s a Deer Recipe!

Nothing is better on a Friday night to me than a good Red Box Movie, homemade burgers and fries, and chocolate chips cookies! This is one relaxing night for me! We call it “picnicin’ in the living room,” because I let the kids eat in the living room instead of at the table. We are a very traditional family, and we try to have dinner every night at our table and talk about how our day went. However, the kids think that it’s a treat if they get to eat in the living room. When they were really small, we would lay a picnic table cloth on the living room floor for them to sit on and watch the movie. The clean up was so easy and less stress as well!

Once we started filling our freezer with deer meat, I went on a hunt for a good burger recipe since we love burgers at our house. If you have cooked much with deer meat, you know that it isn’t like beef. It does not stick well together. So, making a patty with it and no other ingredients would never work. You could try but most likely the patties would fall apart in your skillet while frying. This recipe was shared with me from one of our local Mansfield teachers, Mrs. Howell. Her husband is an avid hunter. It’s absolutely delicious! I have added a few other spices that I tend to add to all of my recipes as well as adding a tad bit of bread crumbs to the patties. I had a little trouble the first go around with the patties falling apart while trying to flip and fry when I had no bread crumbs. So, I decided some bread crumbs might help, but you do not want to add too many to your patty because if you do then you will have more of a fried meatloaf patty with BBQ sauce instead of ketchup! This burger is juicy and will be full of flavor! You won’t want another beef burger after having one of these delicious deer burgers!

Ingredients:

2lbs of ground deer (or beef)
½ cup of Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
¼ cup of BBQ Sauce
3 tablespoons of bread crumbs (This is optional if you think you can keep them from falling apart while flipping and frying then you do not have to add these, but if you are needing help keeping the meat together you could add this. Another option is using half deer meat and half beef meat to have a stronger built patty.)
Season Salt, Cracked Black Pepper, Garlic Salt, and Cavender’s Greek Seasoning, and Flaked Onion- these seasonings are all contingent upon your like and taste
Don’t forget the Hamburger Buns!

*Any other burger toppings you desire

Directions:

Combine ground deer, shredded cheese, BBQ sauce, and seasonings.

Shape meat into patties about 1 inch thick. Then, make sure you push a 1/2inch indent into the center of the patty to help the burger to not form into a dome. Burgers will stay super moist due to the BBQ sauce and the cheese.

Don’t forget to make your dome on the top of your patty!

Do not place in a skillet and cook on high. Warm your skillet to medium heat and slightly coat with butter. Place the burgers with flat side down and indention side up. When cooking a burger, you want to start on medium and allow each side of the patty to cook for approximately 4 to 6 minutes before trying to flip it. You be the judge, but you do not want to overcook, and the burger be dry. You also don’t want to cook too fast, and the burger be raw. I always do a little knife test and cut a little slit in the top of the patty to make sure blood doesn’t run out that way my burgers are well done before removing them from my skillet.

Tips-Before removing from the skillet, throw a slice of cheese on the patty to melt as well as adding your top bun to add some warmth to your bread.

Extra Info-Do not try cooking this burger on a grill, because with all of it’s yummy ingredients, the burger will fall apart most likely. Also, remember, do not flip the burger too soon. Let one side completely cook before flipping.

If you are looking for a yummy secret side sauce to go on your burger and fries try this:

Ingredients: