Burger Fest At Almost Heaven South

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we picked up some bison burger at Black Hills Meat Company in Hot Springs, SD and we used it as an excuse for a get together with some folks we hadn’t seen in a while.  Bev also found some elk burger in the freezer, courtesy of my West Virginia family, and we had a little hamburger left from another meal so we decided to cook them all.

Each of us then had a choice of the three meats and three cheeses – of course I made a little spreadsheet to keep track of the orders.  The burgers were formed into six ounce patties, given a dusting on Montreal Steak Seasoning and a spray of Pam before tossing them on the grill.  Here are one of each kind with beef on top left, elk on top right, and bison on bottom.

Note the beef has plenty of fat in it and that the elk is a darker red than the others.

We began the evening with a Red Assarita aperitif - enjoyed by all.

2 parts Prairie Berry Red Ass Rhubarb wine

1 part Margarita Mix (without tequila)

Fresh lime, cut into small wedges

Margarita salt (optional)

Ice

Individual serving: Run lime wedge along the edge of the glass and dip in coarse salt.  Fill glass with ice, as desired.  Combine appropriate proportions Red Ass Rhubarb and Margarita mix in glass.  Squeeze remaining lime juice into glass and drop in the lime wedge. Stir and enjoy!

But before we ate our meal, I cooked a couple of sample burgers so everyone could have a taste of the elk and the bison – they just had salt on them.  It was a mix of which was preferred but my choice was elk as I thought it had a little more flavor. 

Everyone chose bison for their meal burger and after cooking the sample, I knew to cook them a little less and they turned out just right – a light red and juicy.  Sorry I didn’t get any finished inside pics but everyone else enjoyed theirs and Bev raved about hers which surprised me.  Burgers served along with Bev's delicious potato salad and Banana’s Foster for dessert, made for a big hit of a meal.

A take away from this meal is something I already knew – If you don’t like your burger cooked less than medium, you are better off sticking with hamburger rather than going with game meat - or could enjoy it dry.  Here is a shot from the web that I would guess was pretty dry.

Another take-away was that after I put all of the condiments on the sandwich, I'm not sure I could tell it form a beef burger so from now on, in a restaurant, I will only order a bison burger to get less fat and not for taste - maybe the same for elk.

We still have some bison rib-eyes and more burger in the freezer for a future experience.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

10/22/17 Meal Date