America, meet Germany. Germany, this is America. Let’s marry our most iconic foods!

I haven’t done a plain burger recipe yet (although I did do a half-veggie burger once). That’s because plain burgers are, well, plain. And we don’t do plain here. I had been wanting to try stuffed burgers for quite some time, though. It’s like a burger with a surprise on the inside! Like a little meat-wrapped present that you have to eat through to get to the good part. I couldn’t just stop there, though; I wanted a really delicious and clever stuffed burger.

Enter the world’s best venison bratwurst. Okay, at least, Texas’ best venison brats. My husband found a great processing place in Uvalde on his way home from the hunting lease. (If you have never heard of Uvalde, find San Antonio on a map, and head west until you’re half-way between there and Mexico and BAM! Uvalde. It’s just this side of the checkpoint for drugs.) It’s kind of a random place to find awesome Bratwurst skills, but let’s not forget that the Germans go everywhere, even South Texas. But I digress.

venison burgers

I made 3 types – the other two involved cheese and I-forget-what-else.

 

At any rate, we had been on this bratwurst high for a few weeks when the light bulb hit me in the head so hard it practically shattered: Brat stuffed burgers! With sauerkraut in there too! And can we get a pretzel bun!?!??!?

Genius. If I do say so myself.

I actually made 3 different types of stuffed burgers just to see what fared best. I’ve already forgotten what I put in the other two, which makes the brat burger the clear winner here. I also tried this two ways: by cooking the brats and dicing the sausage, and by taking the sausage out of its casing and cooking it up like pan sausage. Both worked, but I liked the pan sausage version a little better. It was easier to form the two patties around, gave a better brat-kraut-venison ratio and I liked that it was a little unexpected, because you don’t usually get bratwurst ground up like that. The one thing I didn’t do that I wish I had was put the mustard in the center of the burger.

Brat and Kraut Stuffed Hamburgers

Ingredients

  • 2lb ground venison
  • 1lb bratwurst
  • 2 eggs (beaten)
  • 1/2 cup sauerkraut
  • spicy mustard (to taste)
  • 8 pretzel buns

Directions

Step 1
Heat a skillet on medium-high heat. Take the bratwurst out of the casing and fry, separating it as you fry it so it's crumbly. While that's finishing, put beaten eggs into the ground venison and mix well.
Step 2
Create twice as many thin patties as burgers you want (12, for 6 burgers).Put crumbled bratwurst and a spoonful of sauerkraut onto half of the patties. Cover each of those with the remaining patties, making sure to seal the sides well.
Step 3
Grill burgers until the desired doneness and the middle is warmed through, about 5-7 minutes per side for well done. Serve on a pretzel bun with mustard.

Non-game substitution: Use beef, silly! Or I guess you could do this with turkey burgers.

Posted in Venison
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