Scottish Game Fair Burger Challenge

BASC Scotland & Taste of Game recently called for any budding chefs to step up to the grill for their latest cookery challenge. Sponsored by BushWear, it was held at the recent Scottish Game Fair at Scone Palace on 5th of July.

The task? Participants had to create their own set of game burgers or sausages which was judged on taste, ambition and creativity.

The lucky winner was Mike Holiday who created the delicious Wader Burger, and we were lucky enough to catch up with him and ask a few meaty questions… excuse the pun.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I have always been a great believer in catch it, cook it, eat it. This started when I was a teenager, keen to hunt anything. Although this then developed into a necessity when I was a student. I remember getting in trouble with the police for stopping on a almost deserted motorway to recover a pheasant that had been hit by a car just ahead of me. Now I am a full time stalker / keeper the frequent game is wonderful. And one thing I always enjoy is eating tasty food.

When did your love of burgers first start?

It has always been a good way of salvaging parts of game that was a little more damaged than you would have wished, and come the summer barbecue season it is a great way to introduce friends to all different types of game without hiding their unique flavours.

What made you want to enter the competition?

I think the idea of getting people to eat more game is essential for our sport as the more people enjoy eating it, the more we can justify hunting for food. So to be able to support something like this, I felt I just had to have a go, and I do enjoy cooking with game. I like to think it does not need to be complicated.

How did you come up with the idea?

Most of my ideas for burgers come from searching through the freezer to see what I have stashed there during the season. Once I have found the main part of the burger then I try to think what herbs, spice for example you would have with it if you were cooking the whole item.

What meat was in the the winning burger?

The burger I named the Wader Burger, was mainly woodcock breasts and some snipe. There is always plenty of pork in my freezer and I always keep some belly pork to use with any game burgers to stop them being too dry. The ratio is about 75% game / 25% belly pork all minced up and mixed together.

Did you shoot it yourself?

Some I will have done and some I had given to me, which meant I had more than normal to process and not a lot of time. So in situations like that or with old birds, I tend to skin them and put all the meat in a vacuum bag and freeze ready for use at a later date.

Can you share with us the recipe?

All my recipes are a little flexible to say the least as we always fry off a little sample burger to see if any tweaking is needed. This one as usual started off with the ratio of game to fatty pork. I probably had about 1.5kg and to this was added a large teaspoon of burger seasoning, about 10 juniper berries were put through the mincer with the meat and a little dried thyme and sage were added. Then a couple of teaspoons of muscovado sugar with salt and pepper to suit. Then you give it a good mixing by hand and then cover the mix and leave to rest in the fridge, this gives the seasoning chance and then fry off a little burger to taste.  

Any must have tools to use for the perfect burger?

The most essential tool I think is mincer followed by a burger press to give them that nice uniform size which helps when you are cooking them.

What’s your tips and techniques for novices on creating the best burger?

Always add a little pork fat to keep them moist, and make what you think you would enjoy eating.

What is the best burger you have ever tasted

There are no best, but I have tasted some that are not good. The one that sticks in my mind as being very enjoyable was a grouse burger made from old grouse.

What is the most adventurous burger you have ever made?

The MacNab burger! it is made of three separate burger mixes, salmon, grouse and venison and all were made to form one burger but all had to be separate sections so the flavours remained separate.

Any burger catastrophes?

Aye, a burger made from cured and smoked ingredients and then some more salt!

What’s your next burger challenger / aspiration?

To improve on a goose burger recipe so as to be able to use some of these tough old Canada geese.

If you fancy having a go at making your own burger creations, then why not check out our Larder and BushTukka section on our website or our very own recipes. Of course let us know how they turn out, all foodie photos welcome!