Drunken Venison Squealers Sous Vide
| From what I have been able to surmise the “squealer” is a bacon laden beef burger patty that hails from Texas. There isn’t a whole bunch of background on this unique and tasty tidbit but ground zero for the squealer seems to be the Texas roadhouse Tookies that has been serving up these bacon embellished beauties since 1975. |
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As I’m a big fan of whitetail version here in my home state of Michigan more than a few years back I was working on a venison version of the Texas squealer for a client. Why a squealer you may ask? Well my reasoning was simple - I have never been a fan of lean burgers; even when I create a burger out of leaner meats like buffalo, poultry, fish and shellfish, I like adding some sort of fat back into the patty. Maybe something like lard, suet, olive oil, butter, or another rich protein like sausage or you guessed it bacon – and like that the venison squealer was born. Now I know quite a few burger eaters love them some lean burger and aren’t happy when I go adding all sorts of fats to naturally lean meats. I can and I do sympathize but then again, I make this for my belly and I do love me some salty swine! |
| Now the drunken part, well, why the hell not?! I mean beer and burgers are a time honored tradition here in this country and when you can put the beer actually in the burger? Well, I’m sorry, that’s just pure genius! That being said, for those of you that would rather keep their beer in the bottle you can easily omit the suds all together and if you like the idea of a version squealer but don’t like the added fat I can offer an option. Rather than grind the raw bacon and add every last bit of pure porky perfection to the lean venison you can cook the bacon ahead of time, cook off as much fat and you want and when it’s cooled crumble it up and fold it into the ground venison, It will have different porky profile but will still be seriously delish. |
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| I’ve offered two ways to assemble your drunken squealers, regular burger size and of course the uber popular slider size but I have a question, when you’re making drunken squealers would you call them a slider or a shot? |
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Ingredients: • 1 1/2 pounds venison, ground • 1/2 pound smoked bacon, high quality, ground • 6 ounces beer, favorite high quality brand • As needed to taste salt and freshly ground black pepper • As needed cooking oil • As needed Artisan Hamburger or Slider Buns As needed to taste your favorite toppings and condiments. |
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Directions: 1. Set the SV1 to 140°F/60°C temperature. 2. In a large mixing bowl gently and thoroughly blend the ground venison with the ground bacon, beer, salt and pepper. 3. Dampen your hands and form the mixture into patties about a 1/2 pound each trying to keep the patties as loose as possible yet nicely formed - don’t over mix. 4. You can also make them much smaller or slider size. Just form the patties to your desired size using your slider bun as a template. 5. Using a VacMaster chamber or suction machine seal appropriate sized resealable VacMaster pouches while "empty," when process is complete open the empty pouches and gently place patties inside. 6. Using your thumb and index fingers seal bags, leaving one-inch open at the top corner. Slowly lower bags one at a time into pot of water by holding onto the open corner. Press air out of bag as it is submerged. Seal bag just before last corner is submerged. |
| 7. Gently
place the squealers into the SV1 and cook for at least 1 hour, up to 4 hours. 8. If you make them more than 1 inch thick, make sure to leave them in the bath 1 hour per inch for a minimum. 9. Remove the bags from the SV1 open and gently pat the squealers dry with paper towels. 10. Season to taste with the salt and pepper being careful due to the quality and saltiness of your bacon 11. Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat, add oil (or use hot grill). When the oil is shimmering, sear the burgers 45 seconds on each side. 12. Garnish the burgers with your favorite toppings and enjoy! |
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