There’s a whole exciting world of burgers out there for you to explore, so consider expanding your palate next time you fire up the grill. We’re not knocking the classic slider, but bison, elk, and others offer new taste experiences, ones we encourage you to try. Ready for something new? Here are 7 game burgers to elevate your grilling this barbecue season.
Bison
Bison is probably the one you’ve seen around, so this shouldn’t be much of a surprise. It’s been a little while since the population’s recovered enough to put bison back on the menu and you’ve almost certainly had the option of buying. You may have even bought. Now it’s time for you to bring it home and cook it yourself. Bison’s a leaner meat than most people are used to and some people will mix it with a bit of ground beef to get the fat content back up. We don’t really recommend doing that, as at that point you might as well just eat a beef burger. Keep it as is and enjoy the healthier aspects of the burger, without compromising its taste. Buy
Venison
Venison is another meat you’ve likely had. Some specialty restaurants provide venison burgers and different regions have more ready access to it over beef. Plus, families or friends that hunt a lot are well accustomed to venison and are more than willing to share, at least in our experience. It’s hard to pin down exactly what makes venison different, though two words that jump to mind are “juicier” and “cleaner.” A big venison burger doesn’t necessarily come with the guilt that can accompany a big beef burger, and you feel a bit lighter after eating one, though no less satisfied. Buy
Elk
Elk is even leaner than bison and comparable to venison, so if health is a factor in your meat buying, we’re getting more viable as the list goes on. Elk is pretty close to deer in terms of taste too, seeing as how the two are fairly closely related animals. It’s definitely a harder meat to find in a restaurant, and the only place we can think of that offered it as an option was Norway. Even then we couldn’t get a burger and had to satisfy ourselves with sausage. Not that we were disappointed. We took some of the preserved variety home with us. Buy
Kangaroo
We know. This one might make you feel guilty. Kangaroos are cultural icons for the folks down under and, looking at them, they don’t exactly scream edible. But stay with us. We can’t afford to make kangaroo burgers a habit, so we’ll drop a few bucks on a unique culinary experience—and maybe you should too. It’s another step up the lean meat ladder, with most burgers containing less than 5% fat. All we need now is an Australian to fill us in on the kangaroo eating etiquette. Is this a common thing down there or are we getting really weird about the burgers? Buy
Wild Boar
Activists like to hold pigs up as one of the most intelligent animal species mankind consumes, but wild boar consistently use their intelligence to attack every living thing in sight. They’ll charge hikers, dogs, trees, cars, basically anything that looks at them wrong. Germany’s having a huge problem with them recently, so we like to think of boar burgers as one small way to take the power back. Or at least help the Germans out with their wildlife management. Buy
Ostrich
To us, the ostrich is absolutely the most outlandish option on this list. But that only strengthens the mystique. The same way people make an event out of cooking an ostrich egg omelette, we’re planning a barbecue for a dozen of our friends. We don’t want to be the only ones eating ostrich, so we might as well drag a bunch of people down with us. Or up with us. The only way to know is to eat the burger. Buy
Nigali Antelope
Nigali antelope are another animal you can eat with a vengeance. In fact, for animal rights, it’s more problematic to not eat them. They were originally imported as fancy hunting quarry for Texan hunters, but like a lot of these invasive species stories, the antelope’s population has exploded, causing a whole bunch of unforeseen consequences. Today, the antelope carries ticks that pose a huge threat to the American cattle industry and the longer the population goes unchecked, the worse the problem will become. So do your part for our brethren in Texas and eat a couple pounds of antelope burgers. Your future beef burgers will be very grateful. Buy
