The daily grind...or...I has had cheezburger.

So I pulled out the first package of odd bits for ground meat, or "minced" as they say in the Old Country. This was a slight leap of faith as I would be grinding with an untested, semi-antique hand cranked grinder I found at the flea market for $5. Turns out the faith was justified.  The grind was a little finer than I expected but perfectly workable. Half the pile went for burgers tonight,the other half for fresh venison sausage in the morning.

This was the "good" package that had some shoulder bits as well as flank. Not that much had to be rejected, and what was is going to make excellent dog treats.  Three of our four dogs are of the hound persuasion, BTW. None have ever hunted that I know of but they were very curious about smelling the cooler when we got back from Cali.

I cooked the burgers on my trusty Weber grill over a bed of hardwood charcoal. I started out with a flash of direct searing then finished with indirect heat. I just treated them simply with some olive oil and a dusting of black pepper .  I would have loved them more rare, but this was, admittedly, the fifth deer butchered on the tables that day, and I think discretion is called for here. Unlike the half back strap thawing in the fridge, it's gonna be pink in its pristine interior.

Cheeseburger with pink sauce for the fries.

I can't lie, the burgers were a bit dry.  But, very flavorful.  I did purposefully leave them plain just to have the pure deer taste, but next time I will follow advice and find some pork fat to grind in.