Moose Burgers Recipe & Video

‘Shot the moose on the back side of Mount Robson last month and been saving the burgers for a special occasion,’ said Scott, his head inside the filthy fridge that took up the majority of space in his small kitchen. Wrapped up in our warmest clothes, we sat on the tiny porch in front of his trailer. He grilled the burgers on a simple gas BBQ, while I sat spellbound by the tale of how he had stalked the beast before bringing it down with a quick kill to prevent the blood and adrenalin rushing into the animal’s muscles and spoiling the taste of the meat. The moose tasted great, cleaner than beef, lean with a soft gamey flavour. Interrupted only by the passing freight trains that clanked down the valley on their way to Vancouver, we ate more burgers than we should have, washed down with plenty of the aptly named Moose Head Beer and a superb home-made blackberry port. Scott was quite the Rocky mountain gastronome, and before I said good night and crawled into my tent, he treated me to some potted smoke-cured salmon.' 

Extract from The Hungry Cyclist Pedalling The Americas In Search of The Perfect Meal

Makes 6-8 burgers 

  • 1kg freshly minced moose meat* 
  • 1 onion, finely chopped 
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 egg 
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce 
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil (dried will not do!) 
  • 1 pinch fresh thyme 
  • 1 pinch fresh rosemary leaves, chopped 
  • 1 tsp finely chopped fresh chilli 
  • 1 teaspoon salt 
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
    to cook: 
  • a rasher of bacon for each burger
  • to serve: buns, Canadian cheddar, lettuce, tomato and sweet relish 

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl using your hands. Take a good handful of the mixture and shape into a thick patty, then flatten to about an inch thick and set aside while you make the rest of the burgers. 

2. Cook some rashers of bacon in a heavy frying pan until they have released their fat. Remove the bacon and set aside. 

3. Place the burgers in the same hot pan and cook on each side for 3–4 minutes. The bacon fat will add a wonderful flavour. 

4. Serve each burger in a bun with a chunky slab of Canadian Cheddar, some sweet relish, tomato and lettuce. 

*Fortunately for me, but perhaps a little less fortunate for the moose, my taste buds have been able to feast on such meat. However, it is impossible to find in butchers’ shops, so if you want indulge in a bit of moose you need to find a local who hunts or has access to a hunter. And to be in a country where moose live.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 14th, 2009 at 12:53 and is filed under Canadian Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed or trackback from your own site. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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