Bison Burgers - Well Not Exactly

When Chef Lea Ann posted the recipe for Juicy Perfect Buffalo Burgers (Bison Burgers) on her “Cooking On The Ranch” blog, I was intrigued by her flavor additions and decided to give them a try for our Friday card group. As you might imagine, I can’t run by the local Vonore Food City and pick up a package of ground bison meat so I opted for the closest I could get with 93% lean ground beef.  For the six of us I doubled the burger ingredients (except sugar) and made a single sauce recipe to get the recipe below.  The Chef’s good pics and original recipe can be found by clicking on the above link.

Perfect Bison Burgers – Adapted from Cooking On The Ranch

Ingredients:

For the burgers:

2 tablespoon olive oil

2 cup diced onion

2 eggs, beaten

2 teaspoon dried rosemary

2 teaspoon dried thyme

4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

2 pound 93% ground beef

Sliced sharp cheddar (added by Larry)

For the Sauce:

1/4 Cup BBQ (Sweet Baby Ray’s)

1/4 Cup ketchup

1/4 Cup mayonnaise

We used diced onions (easier to get just a little), tomatoes, lettuce, and pickles for toppings.

Instructions:

For The Burgers:

Heat oil in skillet over medium heat.

Add the chopped onions and sauté, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or until almost soft. Set aside to cool.

In the meantime, in a small bowl, combine egg, rosemary, thyme, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, salt and pepper.

Add the meat to a large bowl and top with the cooled onions and egg mixture, mix well - I like to start with the meat on the bottom. 

Shape mixture into six oz. patties. While they make an impressive pic, I don’t like burgers that look like a slightly flattened meatball plus I like my burgers to be as big around (or bigger as sandwich pics show) as the buns so I make them like this.

The burger patties will be loose, much like a meatloaf, so chill up to 6 hours or place in freezer for 20 minutes (this really helped handling them).

When about ready to cook, in a small bowl, combine bbq sauce, ketchup and mayo. Set aside.

To toast the inside of the buns, you can stack them in a toaster oven with the outside surfaces together and use the toast cycle until they are the desired color.

Cook patties for about 3 minutes per side in a little olive oil in a cast iron skillet (I used our cooktop griddle).

For those who want it, add cheese after flipping and cover with a sheet pan.  Cindy rarely eats beef so she had a couple of chicken dogs.

I got too busy serving and forgot the finished pic.

I let everyone build their own burgers but I made mine per the recipe except for caramelized onions.  So, I had the bun (sauce on both halves), onion (so it would stick to the sauce), burger, tomato, lettuce.

We sided the burgers with baked Tater Tots which weren't ready until we had started eating - I really like Tater Tots.

The Verdict:

We all thought the burgers were very good although I was the only one who had a burger by the recipe - Kathy almost did as she just had meat with sauce.  Some used the sauce, some used mayo, some had cheese, some added dill pickle – which I’m sure hide the flavors in the meat – so a real hodgepodge.  The sauce was also a big hit with the tater tots.

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

02/06/24 meal date