All-American Double-Bacon Venison Cheeseburger Recipe

Although many patriots choose to celebrate the 4th of July holiday weekend with good ol' American hamburgers, the burger most likely gets its roots from Hamburg, Germany, where ground meat was mixed with onion and other ingredients before being cooked and served much like steak. It wasn't until German immigrants in New York and Chicago started selling the meat from food carts during the Industrial Revolution that some forward-thinking individual sandwiched the patty between bread slices to make it easier to eat, creating the hamburger Americans embrace today.

Burgers can now be found in almost every American restaurant, from fast food to fine dining. This nation eats approximately 50 billion hamburgers a year. Around here, we like to do our part to keep those numbers up, mostly with burgers made from venison.

We call this version the All-American Double Bacon, because the only thing more American than a good burger is bacon. The double-bacon part comes from not only a bacon topping, but bacon ground with the venison to form a patty with enough fat to hold together on the grill and still be nice and juicy when served.

We go with about a 75% venison to 25% bacon mixture for our grind, but you can adjust it up or down to your liking. For the best burger texture, I like to double grind, both times through the large plate on our Magic Chef grinder. The bacon in our grind comes from the ends and pieces left after slicing the EQ Cured Bacon we make ourselves. You can also find ends and pieces at some groceries and most butcher shops, or you can just add regular sliced bacon to the venison as you grind.

"When making the patty, the less handling the better. Just form it enough that it holds its shape on the grill. Too much pressing and squeezing makes for a dense and chewy burger that just isn't that appealing."

When it comes to burger size, I prefer a patty in the 1/2-pound range, but you can size them to your liking. When making the patty, the less handling the better. Just form it enough that it holds its shape on the grill. Too much pressing and squeezing makes for a dense and chewy burger that just isn't that appealing.

For seasoning, I go with the guys from Letterkenny, S&P is the choice for me. Salt and pepper are the only seasonings you'll need for this burger. Don't apply them until you are ready to put the burgers on the grill.