Duck or Goose Sliders
Photo by Holly A. Heyser
Sliders, little hamburgers, are all the rage these days, and for a recent dinner party I decided to make a batch for an appetizer using ground up wild duck meat. Since duck fat is largely unsaturated (it’s almost liquid at room temperature) I needed to add fat. Hmmm… I know, homemade bacon! The combination of the ground duck and bacon was divine.
You will need a grinder for this recipe, although if you had pre-ground duck you could get away with buzzing the chopped bacon in a food processor; just pulse it a few times, don’t turn it into a puree.
And no burger is complete without a little cheese, and something sharp, so I added some pickled sweet onions and a slice of Monterey Jack cheese, plus a little homemade mustard.
Make more than you think you need, because they will fly off the plate. I could have eaten six of these little buggers. So good.
Could you make these as full-sized burgers? I don’t see why not.
Makes 10 sliders, and the recipe can be doubled
- 1 pound, chopped skinless duck breasts
- 1/4 to 1/2 pound chopped bacon
- 1 teaspoon chipotle chile powder (optional)
- Slider buns (little potato dinner rolls work great)
- Cheese slices (I used Monterey Jack, but you could use any cheese)
- Pickled onions
- Dijon mustard or ketchup
- Get the duck and bacon cold by putting it in the freezer for 30 minutes or so, then grind through the fine die of a grinder.
- Sprinkle the chipotle chile powder over the meat mixture and mix well with your clean hands. Shape into small burgers — look at the size of the buns and match the size.
- Grill the burgers, or fry them in a little duck or bacon fat.
- Toast the buns if you want, then add your fixins’ and eat up!
