Even the most ardent burger purists, in my experience, will acquiesce once in a while to a lamb burger. Though beef accented with nothing but a little salt and pepper will always be king, there is something about the gamy richness of a lamb burger that is impossible to dislike. While turkey burgers and other healthy alternatives tend to pale in comparison, lamb actually holds its own.
I found this recipe in the one-time MasterChef "bookazine," which keeps things simple by avoiding too much flavoring of the patty (just a tiny bit of minced garlic, plus salt and pepper). The majority of the punch comes from a caramelized red onion relish, where classic lamb accompaniments like fresh rosemary and whole-grain mustard make for a sweet-and-tangy condiment. My only addition to the recipe was mixing up a yogurt-lemon-mustard dressing for the leafy greens, which brings that crucial creaminess that lamb, for me, requires. It was a fantastic and quick dinner—perfect for the grill.
Note: For best result, use freshly ground beef with at least 20 percent fat. Try this recipe for our Blue Label Burger Blend. Sliders can be cooked in a 12-inch cast iron or stainless steel skillet in batches of six if you don't have an electric griddle.
Okay, so these Japanese Burgers from The Japanese Grill by Harris Salat and Tadashi Ono aren't your typical backyard cookout fare, but man, are they good. They're little patties of soy-spiked beef and pork, topped with spicy-sweet wasabi ketchup, served on a grilled rice "bun."
Of course, you could serve these Japanese Burgers on regular buns, but the yaki onigiri are way more exciting. Split and stuffed with the juicy patties, the nutty, soy-brushed rice balls are the perfect stand in for a bun with their crisp exterior and squishy innards. Stirring wasabi and soy into sweet ketchup makes for a much more complex condiment, and one that matches these Japanese-inspired burgers beautifully.
Note: Store-bought ground beef can be substituted for the short rib. Mac Sauce can be used as soon as its made, but it gets mellower if you let it sit in the fridge at least overnight in a covered container.
The Burger Bash at the South Beach Food & Wine Festival is one of the biggest events of the weekend with big name chefs vying for burger superiority. In previous years the winners have been Bobby Flay, Shake Shack, and Spike Mendelsohn, but in 2009 there was a bit of an upset when the title went to these Logan County Hamburgers from food personality Katie Lee.
These seasoned patties sandwiched between slices of white bread and American cheese come from a recipe that Lee's West Virginian grandmother created. The thinness of the patties comes from Lee's grandmother's Depression-era mentality but the eggs, garlic powder, and onions give them both bulk and flavor. To see how to make these patty melts the Katie Lee way, check out this video she shot with The New York Times' Frank Bruni. (A burger-patty-melt hybrid? Yes, please!)
The Ultimate Sriracha Burger from The Sriracha Cookbook is a mouthful. It begins with a grilled patty infused with Sriracha and soy, and is topped with a towering pile of bacon caramelized onions, Swiss cheese, tomato, arugula, bacon, and an improbably delicious blue cheese-Sriracha dressing.
On paper this burger might seem like it has all of the makings for a too much going on overload but once it comes together, it totally works. Somehow the patty stays beefy even after a good-sized dose of Sriracha and soy, and if you choose to grill it the flavors become even more pronounced in the charred exterior. The blue cheese-Sriracha acts as an amped up secret sauce, tart and creamy with a little bit of spice. And the onions caramelized in bacon fat? Well, that's just brilliant no matter how you slice it. The rest of the burger toppings play harmoniously—peppery arugula, juicy tomato, and mild, nutty melted Swiss.
If you plan on serving these Ultimate Sriracha Burgers for your Super Bowl party, I have a feeling that they would translate beautifully into sliders, perhaps making them a little more manageable by getting rid of the tomato and arugula but hanging on to the onions, bacon, Swiss, and special sauce.
Note: if you don't have a gas burner, you can roast the chilis under the broiler element. Just place them as close as possible and cook on high heat, turning them occasionally until completely charred and blistered.
Posted by Blake Royer, January 25, 2011 at 5:00 PM
I am suspicious of any burger that's not made out of 100% beef and seasoned with only salt and pepper, like many people tend to be. When you leave The Formula behind in favor of "updating a classic," I start to think about the fact that what you're making is more like a giant, flat meatball than a true American hamburger, and you should leave well enough alone.
That said, I give some leeway to Graham Elliot, if only because he can't resist a portmanteau (like his recently-opened sandwich shop Grahamwich). This burger, a mix of ground sirloin and pork, is topped with tangy brie, some quick-pickled red onion, and peppery watercress. It actually works. The pork gives it a roundness that burgers don't usually have, and the toppings work together in a way that they should when a four-star chef chooses them.
While the original recipe has instructions for simmering garlic cloves to make a quasi-homemade aioli, to speed things along you can simply press a garlic clove into mayonnaise. It works just about as well, and makes this much quicker to come together.
Note: This cheese sauce is gooey and tangy. For a spicier version, substitute half the cheddar cheese with Pepper Jack and add 2-3 minced pickled jalapeños, or to taste.
To reheat the sauce, microwave it on high heat, stopping and stirring every 30 seconds until it's fully melted.
This chili ends up with a homogeneous, saucy texture perfect for topping burgers, hot dogs, or fries. Leftover chili can be stored in the fridge for up to 1 week.
The chili is best with the whole dried chiles indicated in the recipe, but you can substitute 3 tablespoons of your favorite chili powder if desired. Add it to the pot along with the other ground spices in step 2.
Mexican chorizo, as opposed to Spanish, is raw, and can be bought in sausage links, or just in a package (pictured in the procedure) as ready-ground sausage meat. I tend to do unorthodox things with my secret ingredients, and I thought a chorizo burger might be the perfect American makeover for chorizo. Of course, as chorizo is pork, that means you have to cook it all the way through. I combine it with ground beef, and melt Cordobes or Manchego over the top, and crown with a cool slaw stained with the smoked paprika in the chorizo. The bun soaks up all that delicious chorizo oil. A summer grilling holiday.
About the author: Kerry Saretsky is the creator of French Revolution Food, where she reinvents her family's classic French recipes in a fresh, chic, modern way. She also writes the French in a Flash series for Serious Eats.
About the author: After graduating from MIT, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt spent many years as a chef, recipe developer, writer, and editor in Boston. He now lives in New York with his wife, where he runs a private chef business, KA Cuisine, and co-writes the blog GoodEater.org about sustainable food enjoyment.
The year that Spike Mendelsohn opened Good Stuff Eatery in D.C. just happened to coincide with a pretty exciting presidential election. Spike decided to hold his own race to the White House pitting the Obama burger against the McCain burger. The Obama burger ended up beating out the McCain burger four to one. Politics aside, I'm pretty sure the toppings were the ultimate deciding factors in this burger race.
McCain's burger was topped with Southwestern chipotle mayo, corn and roasted red pepper salsa, jack cheese, lettuce, and tomato—maybe delicious but a bit all over the place for my tastes, at least. The Prez Obama Burger was equally dressed up but with toppings that seemed a little more burger-friendly and down to earth—basically a bacon blue cheese burger with horseradish mayo and a sweet and sour red onion marmalade.
Obama's victory lead his namesake burger to a permanent spot on the Good Stuff menu, and with good reason. This burger is a keeper. The strong flavors of the blue cheese, horseradish, and onions work harmoniously. And the red onion marmalade and horseradish mayo are worth making on their own. Even if you find them a little much for a burger, they seem like they were made for a roast beef or toasted ham and cheese sandwich.
Win The Good Stuff Cookbook
As always with our Cook the Book feature, we have five (5) copies of The Good Stuff Cookbook to give away this week.
I've made plenty of tasty lamb and pork burgers, and even passable pub-style burgers but I've never achieved a perfect fast-food-style thin patty.
Spike Mendelsohn's Farmhouse Bacon Cheeseburgers from The Good Stuff Cookbook possess all of the elements of my holy grail burger— thin patty, squishy potato bun, American cheese, iceberg lettuce, tomato, pickle, red onion, and a secret sauce. Oh, and bacon. Spike's concept throughout the book is to keep it simple. And I went into the kitchen with fingers crossed, hoping that not over-thinking it would lead better burgers.
Spike adds a few extra steps to his burger-making process that seem superfluous but really do make a difference. All of the burgers at Good Stuff Eatery are served on buttered toasted buns, and once they are assembled they are wrapped in a piece of wax paper and left to rest for a few minutes. This way the patties have a chance to rest and the flavors of all of the other burger components really come together in a way that they would if they were served in a burger joint, where they have a chance to sit in their wrapping for a few minutes.
So, the question remains, how were the burgers? Pretty fantastic, and by far the best that have come out of my kitchen. The patties were just the super juicy, and just the right size and and the fact that they are cooked in a little bacon grease didn't hurt at all.
The Good Stuff Sauce reminded my burger-eating companion of the secret sauce at In-N-Out—it was the only condiment these burgers needed. But best of all these burgers proved that with the right technique and ingredients I could indeed make a pretty good approximation of my dream burger at home.
Win The Good Stuff Cookbook
As always with our Cook the Book feature, we have five (5) copies of The Good Stuff Cookbook to give away this week.
Please forgive me for making broad assumptions, but the Mexican torta might just be the most welcoming sandwich ever. I could eat pretty much anything if it were stuffed into a toasted telera bun and layered with refried beans, sliced avocado, pickled jalapeños, a slice or two of cheese, and a generous slathering of mayonnaise. I've had variations that include anything from hot dogs to grilled pineapple, reconstituted ham, and even a deep fried fillet of fish. But for all of the jamon, bistec, and milanesa de pollo tortas I've enjoyed, it's never once crossed my mind to throw a burger into the mix.
These Tortaburgers topped with cheese, avocado, jalapeño, and a spread of refried beans from The Tex-Mex Grill and Backyard Barbacoa Cookbook by Robb Walsh seem like something I should have ordered at my local panderia a long time ago. Walsh goes the extra Tex-Mex mile by dressing up the burger with chopped chiles and garlic, a bit of Worcestershire, and a spicy grill blend. The combination of all of these toppings might seem excessive, but once they're on top of the patty the combination is pretty magical.
Win The Tex-Mex Grill and Backyard Barbacoa Cookbook
As always with our Cook the Book feature, we have five (5) copies of The Tex-Mex Grill and Backyard Barbacoa Cookbook to give away this week.
About the author: After graduating from MIT, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt spent many years as a chef, recipe developer, writer, and editor in Boston. He now lives in New York with his wife, where he runs a private chef business, KA Cuisine, and co-writes the blog GoodEater.org about sustainable food enjoyment.
When I was growing up, there were a couple local places that served burgers on rye buns. Not dark and hearty rye, like you'd use for a patty melt, but a light and fluffy burger bun with a subtle rye flavor. And when I say subtle, let's just say that it took me quite a while to figure out the the buns had rye in them.
OK, I was just a kid, but I knew rye bread—the serious seedy rye—and these buns weren't that serious and the rye wasn't that obvious. It was just an extra nuance that made those burgers different from all the other places.
Rye buns must not be popular, given that I've never seen them sold anywhere. But why not? Besides using them for burgers, buns are great for sandwiches of all types. And a little bit of rye makes them a lot more interesting.
This recipe uses a medium rye flour, but you can certainly use any type of rye you have available. And since I wanted these buns to be light and fluffy, I used one of my favorite secret ingredients - mashed potato flakes. If you don't have the flakes, skip them and increase the bread flour a bit to make up the difference. An extra 1/4 cup of flour should be fine, and add more if you need it during kneading.
Light Rye Buns
About the author: Donna Currie has been cooking for fun and writing for pay since the days when typewritten articles traveled by snail mail. When she combined those talents in a food column for a newspaper in her area, she realized that writing about food is almost as much fun as eating. She most recently launched the blog Cookistry and has now joined the Serious Eats team with a weekly column about baking.
About the author: After graduating from MIT, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt spent many years as a chef, recipe developer, writer, and editor in Boston. He now lives in New York with his wife, where he runs a private chef business, KA Cuisine, and co-writes the blog GoodEater.org about sustainable food enjoyment.
Although these Tarpon Springs Greek Burgers from Pig: King of the Southern Table by James Villas have their roots in Greek flavors and culinary traditions, the evolution of the recipe is truly American in nature. Originally served in diners in Tarpon Springs, a town on the west coast of Florida, the Greek proprietors surely would have preferred to make these patties with lamb. But in the South, pork was plentiful and inexpensive and so the Greek pork burgers were born.
Villas had a grandfather who ran a diner and served burgers very similar to these, and according to the recipe they were never served on buns, just with a side of fried potatoes and a salad of cucumbers and Greek olives. I decided to go the atypical route and serve them on buns since I imagined that the dressing from the cucumber-olive salad would soak into the buns and make the burger eating experience all the more delicious.
Just looking at the list of ingredients, you can imagine how good these burgers are going to taste—with lemon, yogurt, mint, and oregano there's really no way you can go wrong. Mixing the yogurt with the pork helps keep the burgers from drying out under the heat of the broiler and adds a great tanginess. The olive-cumber salad is a great topper for the burgers. Next time I might consider adding a crumble of feta or even a smokey red pepper spread.
Win Pig: King of the Southern Table
As always with our Cook the Book feature, we have five (5) copies of Pig: King of the Southern Table to give away this week.
