Bison Cheeseburgers with Horseradish Mustard

David Joachim's Bison Cheeseburger from "Fire It Up: 400 Recipes for Grilling Everything." CREDIT: photo courtesy David Joachim View full size image

Food writer and author David Joachim has grilled up just about everything, and we mean everything, including watermelon, doughnuts and bison. Here's his recipe for all-American juicy bison burgers, adapted with permission from "Fire it Up: 400 Recipes for Grilling Everything" by Andrew Schloss and David Joachim:

Bison Cheeseburgers with Horseradish Mustard

If you didn’t know they were bison, you’d swear these were all-American cheeseburgers. To ramp up the flavor of the mild meat, we mix a little steak sauce into the meat and spoon some mayonnaise flavored with horseradish and mustard over the burgers. The addition of toppings like ripe slices of beefsteak tomatoes and torn pieces of crisp lettuce are entirely up to you, but resist the urge to cook these past medium doneness. Grilled bison burgers go from juicy to leathery in minutes.

Makes 6 servings

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 cup whole-grain Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons prepared mayonnaise

1 tablespoon prepared horseradish

2 pounds ground bison chuck

1/4 cup bottled steak sauce, such as A1

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 scallions (green and white parts), sliced

3/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

6 slices sharp cheddar cheese

6 hamburger buns, split

DIRECTIONS:

Mix the mustard, mayonnaise, and horseradish in a small bowl.

Heat a grill for direct medium heat, about 375ºF. Using your hands, mix together the bison, steak sauce, oil, scallions, salt, and pepper in a bowl until well blended; avoid overmixing. Using a light touch, form into 6 patties no more than 1 in thick.

Brush the grill grate and coat with oil. Grill the burgers directly over the heat for 6 to 7 minutes for medium-done (about 150ºF on an instant-read thermometer, and slightly pink in the center), flipping once. Put the cheese on the burgers 1 minute before they will be done. To toast the buns, grill them, cut-side down, directly over the heat for 1 to 2 minutes. If serving the burgers directly from the grill, serve on the buns. If the burgers will sit, even for a few minutes, keep the burgers and buns separate until just before serving.