Sweet Guinness Sliders

A pint of frothy Guinness, a plateful of corned beef and cabbage, and people wearing goofy green t-shirts and Leprechaun hats ... you can't ask a day for more! But here's another item to add to your list of St. Patty's Day must-haves -- our Sweet Guinness Sliders!! These juicy, flavorful burgers are made with a blend of ground venison, ground pork, brown sugar, rosemary, garlic and GUINNESS! Yep. Alcohol makes everything taste better.

Happy St. Patty's Day! Well, almost. Because we're soooo smart, we decided to make this dish ahead of time so you all can get a chance to make it on that special day. But seriously. Eat well. Drink responsibly. Spend quality time with family and friends. Erin Go Bragh! (Ok, fine. Neither of us is Irish. So what?)

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 4 (about 8-9 sliders)

Ingredients:

- 1/2 lbs. ground venison

- 1/2 lbs. ground pork

- 1/4 cup + 1/2 cup of Guinness Stout

- 4 cloves of garlic, minced

- 1/2 tsp. rosemary powder (dried rosemary ground in a mortar and pestle)

- 1 tsp. onion powder

- 3 tbs. brown sugar

- freshly ground black pepper, to taste

- kosher salt, to taste

- Monterey Jack cheese, or your choice 

- slider buns/rolls

- arugula

- tomatoes, sliced

- freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine ground venison and pork. Adding pork to venison is a trick to making juicy venison burgers. The fat in the pork also helps to keep the patties stay intact. We used extra lean pork, but for juicier burgers, choose ground pork with a higher fat content.

2. Add minced garlic, rosemary, onion powder, 1/4 cup of Guinness, brown sugar, salt and pepper to taste.

We suggest going light on the salt, just to make sure you don't over salt the mixture. Salt can be sprinkled on top of patties before going into the oven. 

Combine all ingredients with your hands. Make sure to fully incorporate the venison and the pork. 

3. Spray a big baking dish with non-stick spray. Shape meat into slider sized patties. You should get about 8-9 patties.

Lay patties in the baking dish, in one layer only. Sprinkle kosher salt over patties, if desired.

4. Bake in a 400 degree F oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, baste patties with 1/2 cup of Guinness Stout. You don't have to be exact. ;-)

Continue to bake for 10-15 minutes, or until patties are cooked through.  

5. Take baking dish out of the oven, top patties with cheese and cover with aluminum foil. After about 5 minutes, the cheese would be melted. Or, you can just top the patties with cheese just before you take them out of the oven. 

Assemble on slider buns with arugula, sliced tomatoes and all your favorite burger fixings. We hope you enjoy this recipe!