Jessica brought home a healthy size package of ground bison meat and a huge package of mini-hamburger buns. I immediately thought “those look like White Castle buns” — sliders had to be made! I’ve never tried to recreate those little, yummy burgers, but here’s the set of criteria I had in mind (from watching the White Castle cooks make them).

  1. The patties had to be small and have holes in them;
  2. There had to be chopped onions and the patties would cook on top, all on a griddle;
  3. The buns needed to cook on top of the patties, being steamed; and,
  4. Relish is the finishing touch.

The recipe is pretty easy…

Bison Sliders
~ makes 12 sliders

Ingredients (approximate)

  • 1lb Ground Bison Meat
  • Kosher salt, Black pepper, and Granulated Garlic to season
  • 12 Mini-Hamburger Buns
  • Salt Pork (or substitute Fat Back or Vegetable Oil)
  • 1 Large Yellow Onion, minced
  • Relish (or pickle slices)

Instructions

  1. Combine meat and seasonings. Spread thin on a cutting board, until about 1/4″ in thickness. Try to get the layer rectangular. Use a sharp knife to cut the layer into 12 patties of about two inch squares.
  2. Here’s the fun part: use the tip of a chopstick (or something similar) and poke a hole in the meat, swirl the tip around to expand the hole to about 1/2 inch. Make four holes per patty.
    poke holes.jpg
  3. Heat a griddle over medium-high heat (I used cast iron) with a few chunks of salt pork. Render the fat until there is an even layer across the griddle.
    salt pork.jpg
    Layer half the onions on the griddle and toss with a bit of kosher salt.
    4. onions.jpg
  4. When the onions are well carmelized, place six patties on top of the onions.
    cooking patties.jpg
  5. Cook about 90 seconds until the burgers begin to look cooked around the holes. Then flip the patties, trying to get the onions on top. On top of each flipped burger, place the bun bottom face down, then the bun top on top of that (see picture below).
    6. patties and buns.jpg
  6. Cook another 60-90 seconds. Then remove to plate, adding some relish (or pickles) on top of the burgers. Enjoy!
    Bison Sliders.jpg

If you don’t have salt pork, substitute with fat back or use vegetable oil. Just use enough to coat the cast iron. We made half with salt pork and half with vegetable oil (as an experiment). Jessica and I both agree the salt pork burgers were noticeably better.

You could also substitute beef for the bison.

These were absolutely delicious!! We had fun and really enjoyed these little guys along with a salad of cucumber and yellow tomatoes.

posted by Lon at 08:50 AM Filed under American, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.