Buffalo Wild Turkey Burgers
The combination of seasonings in this burger accompanied with the blue cheese and celery slaw will remind you of a popular bar snack. The meat mixture is soft even after chilling so these need to be cooked in a skillet or on a flat top griddle. For serving, I prefer a thin bun – just enough to hold everything together so I can pick it up - but these are equally as good if you skip the bun altogether.
Yield: Six 6-oz. burgers
Time: 1 hour (including 30 minutes chilling time)
1½ lb. ground wild turkey thighs or breasts
6-8 oz. ground pork fat
4 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 large egg
3 Tbsp. grated yellow onion
¼ c. Frank’s Red Hot Wing Sauce (or your favorite brand)
1 Tbsp. chili powder
¼ tsp. ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
Sandwich thins rolls or other burger buns
Romaine lettuce
Celery-Blue Cheese Slaw (recipe below)
Line a 9” x 12” sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside. Put ground turkey, pork fat, and cheddar cheese in a large bowl. In a small bowl whisk together the egg, grated onion, wing sauce, chili powder, and black pepper. Pour the egg mixture over the meat and use clean hands or a wooden spoon to combine the ingredients gently but thoroughly. Divide the mixture into six 6-oz. portions and transfer to the prepared sheet pan; cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to several hours.
Preheat a large non-stick skillet (or a flat top griddle) over medium-high heat and add butter, turning pan to melt and coat evenly. Add burgers and cook 5-6 minutes until bottoms are deep golden brown, gently flip the burgers and cook another 5-6 minutes, basting occasionally with any juices in the pan, until burgers reach 160° internal temperature. Serve on thin burger buns with celery slaw and romaine lettuce.
Celery-Blue Cheese Slaw
This is best made right before serving so the celery stays crisp.
Yield: Enough to top 6 burgers
3 oz. shaved carrot
5 oz. shaved celery
2 scallions, white part only, thinly sliced
1½ Tbsp. mayonnaise
1½ Tbsp. sour cream
¼ tsp. garlic powder
¼ tsp. lemon juice
1 oz. blue cheese, very finely crumbled
A few grinds of black pepper
Use a vegetable peeler to shave very thin ribbons of carrot and celery. Cut the ribbons into pieces about 4” long and 1/16” wide, spread onto a paper towel and roll up to remove excess moisture while the dressing is prepared. In a medium bowl, combine the mayonnaise, sour cream, garlic powder, lemon juice, blue cheese, and scallions, mashing to break up cheese into tiny pieces. Add the chopped carrot and celery to the sauce and stir to thoroughly combine. Serve immediately.
Recipes for wild turkey breasts are plentiful. Lean, white breast portions are relatively easy to remove from a bird and yield a lot of meat. Recipes for thighs and drumsticks are less common. It takes some effort to remove these tougher, working muscles, but I believe not using these parts disrespects the resource and wastes some seriously good eating. An average-sized 17-pound bird yields at least one pound of thigh meat, which is enough for one meal for a family of four. Drumsticks can yield another one or two pounds. Both cuts become fall-apart tender when braised, and smoked drumsticks make a great replacement for ham hocks in greens, beans, and soups.
Grinding thigh or breast meat with pork fat makes a moist, tender mixture. Pork fat can be found at a butcher shop or trimmed off an extra fatty pork shoulder. For convenience, grind it and freeze it in four- to eight ounce portions to add to turkey, venison, and other lean ground game meats.