Venison burger cooked on the Traeger Timberline 850 wood pellet grill

Low cholesterol, low fat, high protein; the tasty alternative to beef

If you have high cholesterol and love burgers then try venison; it has the lowest cholesterol of all the major meats. It also has less fat than skinless chicken and is high in protein. As it has become more widely available the price has come down to a more reasonable amount and it has moved away from the image of being a ‘posh’ foodstuff. It is always free range so there are no concerns regarding animal welfare.

 Ingredients:

• 1kg (2.2lb) venison; minced
• Traeger 'Que' BBQ sauce
• 8 slices smoked streaky bacon
• 200g (7oz) strong cheddar; sliced
• Romaine lettuce; shredded
• 3 medium tomatoes; sliced
• 2 dill pickles; sliced lengthways
• 4 ciabatta buns
• fresh ground black pepper
• sea salt

Pre-heat the grill to high 250C (482F).

Make the venison into 4 burgers, we formed them into half-pounders but they were enormous, so could easily be made into quarter-pounders. Cook over direct heat on the bottom grate for 6 – 7 minutes. There is no need to turn them over on the Traeger, but if you are cooking them on an ordinary BBQ then turn them half-way through. If you are cooking quarter-pounders you will only need to cook them for 4 – 5 minutes. Cook over a high direct heat if you are using an ordinary BBQ; if you are doing the half-pounders you may have to move them over to indirect to finish cooking.

Cook the bacon on the top shelf at the same time as the burgers; we placed the rashers over the burgers so that any fat would drip into the burgers and enhance the flavour. If you are watching your cholesterol then leave out the streaky bacon. Cook the bacon over the indirect heat if you are cooking on gas or charcoal.

Put cheese onto the burger to melt about 2 minutes before the end of the cook or when the first side is cooked and the burger turned over.

Toast the buns.

Assemble the burgers with sauce on the bottom of the bun, then shredded lettuce, tomato slices, dill pickle slices, the burger with the cheese, bacon, more sauce and finally the top of the bun.