Lettuce Wrapped Elk Burgers

So here's how it all went down tonight.  I have more Elk than my tiny freezer, in more forms than one animal should be able to go into - ground, steak, sausage, sticks.  Why Elk?  Well, like many folks in this neck of the woods I have some family members that like to hunt.  A bunch of them piled in a truck and took a trip to New Mexico to hunt some Elk. The end result?  I have shit ton of Elk to eat.  So when I decided I wanted to make lettuce-wrapped (should that be hyphenated?) burgers I figured I may as well start to use up some of my stock.  Hence, elk burgers.  Now keep in  mind you can obviously use hamburger or turkey for this recipe.


So here goes.  And OH - I attempted to take pictures throughout the process! Yay me!

Ingredients.  I pulled my seasonings for the burger from what I had in my cupboard (something I do often, so prepare yourselves for many "umm, why in the hell did she do that" moments as this blog goes on).  These included a half a bag of ranch, minced garlic, chives (I would have used fresh had I had any) and salt and pepper.  Side note - I use fresh ground black pepper and ground sea salt ALL the time.  Anyway, you obviously need lettuce and I choose red onion and tomato for my veggies.  

Now after I lined, everything up, took the picture, started mixing the seasonings in the meat, I realized two things.  One - I wanted to put ketchup in the mix.  Not for the sake of taste, and not a lot, but because a little bit of ketchup keeps a burger moist and juicy (again, insert dirty joke here).  And two - HOW COULD I FORGET BACON?!?  Honestly.  Here I am naming this damn blog after bacon and buying 4 packs of bacon at the grocery store (seriously, I bought 4 packs of bacon at the store yesterday), and I don't even put it in the picture.  Shame on me.  

So mix it all together and form some patties.  This is where I'm going to get serious on you.  I know some of you like your burgers really thin.  Hell, sometimes I love them.  But PLEASE do yourselves a favor and make this burger a good 1/2 - 3/4" thick.  And, more importantly cook it for 3-5 minutes on each side.  DRY BURGERS ARE BAD!

Fry up the bacon.  Yeah, that's all I got.  And I could have put that in the paragraph above, but then you wouldn't get to see a bacon picture - duh!

So cook up your burgers and your bacon and pile all your toppings on.  Now you can really use anything you want for a sauce, I used salsa ranch.  A chipolte mayo would no doubt be delicious as well.  Whatever does it for you.  

Here's the money shot.  I wrapped the whole thing in aluminum foil for handling and eating purposes and HIGHLY recommend you use this little trick if you make these.  

INGREDIENTS:

• Hamburger, Turkey, Elk or Deer
• Chopped chives
• Minced garlic
• 1/2 pack of dry ranch dressing
• Lettuce (Iceberg or Leafy Greens - a stronger, bigger lettuce)
• Red Onion (Optional)
• Tomato (Optional)
• Dressing (Salsa ranch, chipolte mayo, etc.)

DIRECTIONS:

1) Mix seasonings and ketchup with meat in a bowl

2) Roll the meat in the palm of your hand, forming 1/2 - 3/4" patties.  Place in grilling pan or on grill

3) Cook burgers for 3-5 minutes on each side

4) Cook bacon at the same time

5) Place bottom layer of lettuce in aluminum foil and build burger to your liking 

6) Top with lettuce and secure with the foil

7) Dip in your sauce or dressing of preference

Enjoy!