A BBQ Pit thread is currently running a hijack about bison meat. I thought I’d start a thread for burgers that are made with meat (i.e., no ‘vegie burgers’ as tasty as they are, bean burgers, Impossible burgers, etc), but are not made with beef.
So bison, the subject of the hijack. I’ve had bison burgers at restaurants, from frozen patties, and from 1-pound parcels of ground bison meat. They’re tasty, but I won’t go out of my way for one. If there’s an option on the menu for a bison burger or a beef burger, I’ll go for the bison. I’ve noticed that many ‘bison burgers’ are a mixture of bison meat and beef, because bison is so lean.
Lamb burgers. Unless there’s something irresistable on the menu, I’ll always go for a lamb burger.
Turkey burgers. Meh. They’re just OK.
Fish burgers. I’m including burgers made with breaded fish filets, such as McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwich. Trader Joe’s has burger patties made from Mahi-Mahi, shrimp, or salmon. I’ve seen salmon burgers on menus occasionally. I love the Filet-O-Fish, but haven’t had one in years. Trader Joe’s Mahi-Mahi Burgers and Shrimp Burgers are good, but you mostly taste the seasoning. I buy the Mahi-Mahi burgers because I like them the most out of the three. They’re also bigger.
Pork. I’ve never seen a ground pork burger. I’m not counting sausage patties, which are on ‘breakfast sandwiches’ and not burger buns. The closest thing I can think of are the ‘pork tenderloin’ sandwiches that were prevalent at drive-ins in the '70s. Haven’t seen one on a menu in decades, but I gather big-ass breaded pork filets onna bun are popular in the Midwest.
So, I didn’t know this. My husband occasionally eats bison burgers at restaurants because he’s allergic to beef, but if there is beef in bison burgers, that is a good (if disappointing) thing to know.
His allergies are along the lines of “eat too much of it and get flu-like symptoms for a couple of days” rather than “needs an epi-pen,” so it’s possible he ate them without reacting to them.
There may or may not be. Read the menu, and ask if in doubt.
Hm… I’m going to Trader Joe’s today. They have goat cheese. I know I have some dried rosemary in the cupboard (and the plant might still be alive in The Wife’s greenhouse), and I think I have some curry powder. I know there’s a jar of garam masala. As I said, I’ll always go for a lamb burger.
I’ve enjoyed ostrich and emu burgers in the past. They’re red meats, but low fat so benefit from the addition of fat in their preparation. They were pretty good, as were other variations like ostrich meatloaf, ostrich in bolognese style pasta sauce, emu steak, etc. Beefy, sort of, but less beefy than beef.
(By etc, I mean there are probably more examples but I can’t think of others I’ve had.)
A local Mom’n’Pop burger joint has lamb burgers. As the OP says, they’re great and my favorite. They also have pork burgers, made mostly from hot Italian salciccia, but which include ground pork loin. Other than the meat choice and the marinara, they’re otherwise a typical burger on a typical burger bun. Definitely not a breakfast sandwich reimagined.
A quick question. By “burger” does the OP mean any hot sandwich served on a thick bun, or do they mean any sandwich made from ground critters, or what?
A very common (and very good) sandwich around here is a slab of grilled solid white fish, mahi-mahi and grouper being most common, but also salmon, tuna, or swordfish, served on a hamburger bun or similar with a leaf or two of lettuce, maybe some shredded onions, and maybe some tartar or cajun sauce. And optional cheese. Usually with a side of French fries.
The default burger around Casa Silenus is a 75/25% mix of ground chuck and hot Italian sausage. I have also made them with bison and sausage. I in the past had the opportunity to make moose burgers. They too need considerable additional fat to be decent.
I’ve had quite a few burgers made with upscale ground pork - Berkshire or Duroc mostly. They work well as medium-well burgers, and at an 80/20 mix, taste to me a lot like a beef burger that was cooked in bacon grease. There is a distinctly ‘piggy’ flavor, so it’s a noticeable substitution.
My local Kroger also sells a ground pork beef blend, in the above fat range. I suspect it’s also close to that in meat critter percentages, considering the current price points for beef and pork. Still, at $6.99 for a 2lb package compared to $4.99-5.99 for ground beef, it’s a great value. So I use it for making variants on ant-climbs-a-tree, burgers, ground meat kebabs, or dishes using crumbled cooked ground beef.
My Jewish ancestors are turning over in their graves I’m sure.
A guy comes across a food truck selling rabbit burgers, at $8.00 a pop. He asks the owner “How can you sell rabbit burgers so cheaply? It’s expensive meat.”
The owner responds “Actually, if you read the small print it’s actually a mix or rabbit and beef. 50/50.”
“Oh, 50% rabbit meat and 50% beef?”
“Yeah, basically. I put in one rabbit for every cow.”
The deer and elk hunters in my area often add a significant amount of beef fat when they are making hamburger because the meat by itself is very lean.
If you try to use deer or elk as ground meat without adding beef fat back in, you end up with dry, crumbly, mealy, fall apart burger. You do not use the natural fat, if any, from the deer or elk because that is where the wild, gamey taste comes from. So you trim off and discard any fat when butchering, and add beef fat back into the mix, about 20%, when grinding it for hamburger.
A place near here sells a wild boar burger that is always delicious. Moist and flavorful. Most “exotic” burgers I’ve had (bison, elk, etc) tasted pretty disappointingly similar to just a regular burger but that boar burger never lets me down.
Are you cooking these at home, or getting them out?
I ask because one of my pet peeves is that in most restaurant kitchens, the vast majority of food that goes on an open-grid grill or the sorta misnamed large flat-plate grill is made from beef. With the result that the cooked-on residues are beef-flavored. And is some cases they use a bieef-flavored grill lubricant / oil.
The end result result is your fish- or lamb-burger or your crab cake, or your grilled pork chop ends up with strong beef overtones because it was marinating in beef residue and smoking in beef tallow while it was cooking.
Be nice if kitchens could keep all the beef cooking in one section and the other things in their own sections to avoid cross-contamination. But impractical.
Anyone tried crocodile? I dont know if the USA eats alligator but we very occasionally get crocodile.I bought some about a week ago, mostly so my kids could get bragging rights at school.
It was smoked and tasted kind of like ham, nothing like the fresh crocodile I have tried. Very fishy, fairly tough. Worth it once, though.
Oh, and ostrich is a great meat. Super lean though. The last time I made an ostrich thigh roast I took a tip from a recipe for warthog (also very lean) and embedded pre-frozen daggers of streaky bacon into it. Definitely a job worth doing.
Kangaroo is another very low-fat meat which only works in a burger with additional fat and fillers. I want to enjoy eating our national animal but have been disappointed by it’s lack of flavour each time.
