I was surprised to learn recently that Native Americans frequently used wild blueberries to flavor bison meat. I discovered this interesting snippet of information from my dear friend Stanley Fishman’s new cookbook Tender Grassfed Barbecue.
Since blueberries have just started to come into season here in Florida and a neighbor just down the road has blueberries ready for picking, it seems the perfect opportunity to try out this traditional mixing of flavors myself for the very first time!
Stanley’s new cookbook, which by the way would make a great Mother’s Day or Father’s Day gift (don’t tell!), offers 3 very unique recipes for using blueberries to flavor bison meat but the one for bison burgers really caught my eye.
What’s more fun than burgers on the barbie in the delightful cool of a springtime evening?
Blueberries will be coming into season for weeks to come all across North America, so be sure to try out this distinct flavor combination yourself while the blueberries are seasonal, fresh and at their peak of flavor.
Blueberry Bison Burgers
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 pound grassfed ground bison
1/4 cup organic or wild blueberries very finely chopped or pureed in a blender
1 organic green onion, very finely chopped
Instructions
Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Form four equally sized hamburger patties about 1 inch thick.
Build a charcoal fire on one side of the grill only. Bring the grill to medium high heat with all the vents open.
When the grill is ready, place the hamburger patties in front of but not directly over the heat source. Cover and cook the bison burgers for 4-5 minutes on each side.
Serve with lactofermented condiments of choice.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Source:
Tender Grassfed Barbecue, Traditional, Primal, and Paleo by Stanley A. Fishman
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
This reminds me that various berries such as cranberries, salmonberries, crowberries, cloudberries, and blueberries are also used to make akutaq, a.k.a., eskimo ice cream. The other ingredients, of course, are meats and animal fats such as reindeer tallow, moose tallow, walrus tallow, caribou tallow, or seal oil.
Interesting! I will give them a whirl!
Allison\’s last post: Happy Easter!
Blueberries Already!!!! Wow, how blessed you are. I had no idea they could be ready in April. They are not ready until September in Pacific Northwest. It sounds like a good recipe and cookbook.
Spring is early this year .. usually early May is blueberry time in my neck of the woods.
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist\’s last post: Blueberry Bison Burgers
Sounds very interesting. I wonder if you could use grass fed beef too (that’s what I have in my freezer).
I also wonder what other kind of berries might be good with different types of ground meat. We have currents that grow wild here. They are very tart, but I bet they would be good in something too.
The recipe was designed for grassfed beef.
Stanley Fishman\’s last post: The Most Paleo Food, Bone Marrow, Easy and Delicious
Just making sure here – but is the recipe good for grassfed BEEF as well Stanley? Thanks!
This sounds like Pemmican — the American Indian food for traveling. Have you ever made it?
LOVE both of his books. Not only do they supply great information, the recipes are simple yet delicious. We just made the Leg of Lamb with herbs, and it was outstanding! And to top it off, Mr. Fishman is incredibly responsive to questions and comments on his Facebook page – Tender Grassfed Meat.
Stanley is a class act indeed.
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist\’s last post: GM Bananas Currently Under Development
What a wonderful recipe! We have never thought to add blueberries actually in the ground bison meat – since blueberries are not too sweet the combination sounds delicious. We have done a blueberry sauce, which might be a nice alternative if you want to use the blueberries as more of a condiment than an ingredient.
Scandinavian and Northern European cooks do something similar by adding juniper berries to venison.
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