Capocollo Chévre Burger

Ingredients: -  3/4 chuck & 1/4 brisket -  Chévre cheese -  Chives -  Capocollo or Prosciutto -  Pure maple syrup -  Kaiser buns -  Salt & pepper

I prepared the burger meat just as I did for the last burger by using the food processor. Instead of sirloin, I went with brisket.

Cut the chives finely, mix them into the goat cheese, and then set aside. Fry your prosciutto or capocollo until it starts to caramelize on both sides. Once removed from the heat, the meat will start to harden. After cooling, lightly drizzle or brush the maple syrup on top so that it evenly coats the meat.

Next, butter and toast the buns. Slather on the chévre, place the rested burger patty, top with the maple-coated prosciutto/capocolla, and enjoy.

Sriracha Glazed Burgers

This burger has to be my favorite to make. The sweet and spicy glaze, saltiness of the meat, and creaminess of the aioli makes great attributes for an even better burger. I started with three quarters chuck and one quarter sirloin, chopped it into half-inch cubes, chilled it, and then pulsed it in the food processor (about 10 to 12 pulses).  You may have to go through the meat to check for and remove any larger chunks. I then proceeded to create the patties, making sure I didn’t over mix the meat. You can either roll that up and fridge it, or you can go right to cooking. For this batch of burgers, I used an iron skillet. I got it considerably hot, salt and peppered both sides of the meat very generously, and placed them in the pan. This is where your cooking experience will come in handy: the first flip of the burger (for if you do it more than once, the burger gods will smite you). After the flip, apply the cheese. I went with havarti but would recommend pepper jack. Cook until you have a good medium and then let rest for a few minutes.  For the bun, melt some butter, brush it on both sides of the bun, and toast them to perfection.

My Sriracha glaze uses the following ingredients, and I just mix to taste (just start in small measurements):

-       Apricot Jam (you could also use peach jam) -       Rice Vinegar -       Sriracha -       Fresh Chives

I started with a quarter cup of jam, followed by a tablespoon of Sriracha , a couple tablespoons of chives, and about a teaspoon of rice vinegar. You may want to add more Sriracha for a bigger kick.

Now for the aioli.  The best thing I can tell you if you’ve never made an aioli is: Google it, and follow the directions closely or just use Mayo. I used egg yolks, a splash of lemon juice, good olive oil, a couple of garlic cloves, and salt and pepper to taste. I’m giving these directions loosely because I feel that certain recipes are meant to be bent and broken.

Apply the sirarcha glaze to one side of the bun and the garlic aioli to the other. Place the rested meat on the bun and top with sweet pickles. Then, enjoy.

Juicy Lucy

After having our first Juicy Lucy, we were inspired to make our own.  The ingredients I used are as follows: -   1 lb. of 85:15 ground chuck -  1 egg yolk -  1 jalapeno -  Gouda (Can be smoked Gouda) -  Bacon -  Ciabatta

I was a little worried that the ingredients would break through the meat while they were on the grill, so I used an egg yolk to help hold the meat together. I cooked the bacon, let it cool, then thinly sliced it. I cut the Gouda into very small pieces and minced the jalapeno. For two burgers, I divided the meat into quarters. I took two of the quarters and made small patties, and then placed the Gouda, bacon, and jalapeno on top of the patties (I put a generous amount as you can see below). I then placed the other two patties on top and sealed them around the edges. I placed them back in the refrigerator until we were about ready to begin the cooking process. I took the meat out of the refrigerator and let sit for awhile, and then salt and peppered both sides. I cooked the burgers on the grill which was about 450 degrees (I like to use high temperatures when cooking red meat). I used Ciabatta since it was available and fresh at the store, but you can use any good hamburger bun. We didn't have any particular condiments set aside for this burger as any thing could really work.

The Blue Door Pub

We tried our first official Juicy Lucy at a place calledThe Blue Door Pub. If you’re not familiar with a Juicy Lucy, the concept is pretty simple: ingredients are stuffed inside of the meat patty (rather than placed on top), and then cooked. The pub was a small place located in a St. Paul neighborhood. For a Sunday afternoon at 3pm, it was very busy and the wait for a table was moderate. If you’re a fan of Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-ins’, and Dives, you might have seen this place on the show, showcasing their juicy, one-of-kind burgers.

For an appetizer, we started off with some Latin Kisses (Jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon).  If you would like to enjoy a cold beer, these little things would complement it nicely. For our burgers, my wife got The Merriam Park. The inside of the burger consisted of bacon, garlic, and bleu cheese. On the outside, it was topped off with red currant jelly and pickles. I ordered the Bacon Blucy, which had bacon and cheddar cheese on the inside, and pickles and jalapenos (which I added) on top. As side items, I got the hand-cut fries and my wife went with the tater tots.

The great thing about the Juicy Lucy is that it is really hard to have a dry burger. When liquid cheese is pouring out from the center and the fat from the bacon renders into the ground chuck, it really doesn’t have a chance of being dry or without flavor. The toasted buns were nothing special, nothing you can’t find at your local grocery store, and I’m honestly okay with that sometimes. For this environment, it was completely appropriate. I would say that we overall enjoyed our Juicy Lucy burgers; my wife’s burger had a nice sweet and savory balance of flavor to it, where mine was all savory.

Nothing against dive bars, but Vincent’s Juicy Lucy stuffed with Gouda and short rib, despite the higher price, did do it for me more than this one. I have a few other must hit spots on my Juicy Lucy burger list, and then I’ll have something to compare it too.

Burger Jones

I took a little break from burgers since being in New York a couple weeks ago. Since being back, I found a list of the most notable burgers in the Minneapolis area.  Maybe not all the burgers are amazing, but the list was a good place to start. The list had several categories, including: thin burgers, tavern burgers, luxury burgers, specialty burgers, and the Minneapolis-known Juicy Lucy.

Burger Jones was under the “thin category,” but you could get specialty toppings on your burger. For instance, I ordered the Hangover which came with bacon, a fried egg, hot sauce, and cheddar cheese. I had to hold off on the hot sauce (my stomach wasn’t in the mood for all that at once). At Burger Jones, you order your burger with “pink” or “no pink.” I found that surprising since most thin burgers are cooked in their own grease and are not cooked to temperature.

My first problem with the menu was that if you go to a sit-down burger joint where a waitress comes to you and takes your order, I think that your order should come with fries. I know this seems petty, but if you order from a window or a counter, I’m okay with ordering the fries separately. Burgers are an American classic; they always come with fries, and if you’re serving an American classic like burgers, why handicap yourself when it is the cheapest thing you serve and makes all the difference? I paid $9.99 for my burger and a $1.99 for hand-cut thin fries. If they charged me $10.99 for the burger and fries together, I wouldn’t be complaining.

Now, to the burger. The presentation was appealing; the burger came served on miniature commercial baking sheets which, I thought, was a good idea. It allowed you to have plenty of room to cut your burger, make a mess, and to spread out overall. The burger came on a toasted buttered sesame bun with shredded lettuce, tomato, and raw onion. The meat, they claim, is fresh never frozen. I tasted the meat alone, and my wife and I both agreed it could use a little help. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t seasoned (salt and pepper), and when looking up good burger recipes, almost every line-up includes salt and pepper. It is hard to write a really good review about this place when the meat lacked flavor. It was cooked to the temperature I requested, but because the meat was ground in-house, I expected a bigger punch of flavor. The runny egg on the burger certainly helped along with the fat from the bacon. The fries were good. How could they not be: hand-cut, crispy, and seasoned. Overall, the burger was fine, but not great.

DBGB Kitchen and Bar {NYC}

Our last dinner spot in NYC was Daniel Boulud’s DBGB Kitchen and Bar. I’ve had the burger at Daniel’s DB Bistro Moderne which is just one of his many restaurants. DBGB is his answer for the meeting of French brasserie and American tavern. There were tons of house-made sausages, twenty-two tap craft beers, burgers, and several other dishes to please your palate.

We started with ordering the hand-cut steak tartare. It came served with grilled ciabatta, quail egg, cornichons, and pickled ramp. There was nothing wrong with this dish, and as Anthony Bourdain will tell you, putting a runny egg on anything will make it taste good. I could have used a little more ciabatta, but the pickled ramp added a good amount of acid to cut through the raw meat.

My brother and his girlfriend joined us for dinner, so it was nice to see the other plates and hear what they thought. My wife ordered the pork loin schnitzel; it came served over a spinach and bacon salad with fingerling potatoes. I had a few bites of hers and would order it in a heartbeat if we make it to DBGB again. Not that mine was mediocre by any means, hers just had tons of great flavors. The warm spinach salad was full of flavor and a nice contrast to the schnitzel. The potatoes had some flavors I couldn’t even put my finger on. Hey, look at that pun, fingerling potatoes.

Anyway, I ordered a burger called the Piggie. This burger was a six-ounce beef patty topped with bbq pulled pork, jalapeno mayo, mustard vinegar slaw, and Boston lettuce on a cheddar bun. The burger definitely had a smoky flavor coming from the bbq. The jalapeno mayo added a little kick but certainly didn’t overpower. I could have used a little more flavor coming from the mustard vinegar slaw to contrast with bbq. My brother also ordered a burger; he had the Frenchie which came with a tomato-onion compote, confit pork belly, and morbier cheese. He thought his had a little too much of a smoky flavor, but he has spent too much time in front of a smoker (having worked as a chef in a BBQ joint).

Out of the two upscale burgers I had in New York (ABC Kitchen and DBGB Kitchen and Bar), I would have to say ABC Kitchen was a little more daring with their burger.

ABC Kitchen {NYC}

On Wednesday night, we went to one of the most anticipated restaurants on our list. ABC Kitchen was recommended to us months before we headed to New York. Along with the recommendation, I read about it in both Esquire and Saveur magazines. Esquire magazine gave it restaurant of the year in 2010 and Saveur magazine named it in one of the top restaurants & chef in the nation. When I decided to write this blog, it was mainly going to be about burgers, so after researching the menu, I wanted to give their burger a try.

The restaurant had an amazing atmosphere. You could see the slogan of local, organic, and home all throughout the space: whitewashed hardwood floors, white brick walls, driftwood sculptures, and a series of eclectic lights hanging from the ceiling. We sat down at a table for two, and we couldn’t keep our heads from turning to side to side.  Different chandeliers hung in different parts of the restaurant which only added to the home-like feel. The bread plates on each table were each a different design of china that looked like something you might find in your grandmothers cabinet. The waitresses were dressed in jeans, button-up vintage shirts, and simple tennis shoe (Converse, for example). Fresh bread was brought to our table with good olive oil, and for an appetizer we ordered the crab toast with lemon aioli. This restaurant isn’t into impressing you with overly complicated ingredients. For example, our crab toast consisted of crabmeat atop homemade toasted bread with a light lemon aioli. A few lemon wedges came on the side for the extra squeeze if you wanted. Put all these ingredients together, and that’s what it tasted like: simple, yet incredibly fresh and delicious.

As an entrée, my wife ordered the fried organic chicken, which was served with creamy mashed potatoes and the best brown gravy I’ve ever had. After talking to our waitress, I found out that white wine and smoked chilies were the distinct flavors coming through on the gravy. The fried chicken was in a brine for twenty-four hours, lightly deep-fried, and then topped with lemon zest. The lemon zest and gravy coming together was a beautiful thing. The chicken was served on top of a ginger bok choy, which was their answer for collard greens.

My burger was made with akaushi meat. Akaushi is a Japanese Wagyu breed of cattle. It is richly marbled with fat, and even though the meat-to-fat ratio is the same as most burgers (80:20), the high percentage of monounsaturated fat intensifies the flavor. Even by looking at the meat itself, you can see the difference just by the texture.  The burger was served with an herbed mayo which consisted of arugula, basil, and chives. Pickled jalapenos, which actually had a very subtle taste, were laid on top of the homemade mayo. The cheese was a Bloomsday; it had a nutty, medium sharp flavor and was micro-planed on top of the burger. To end all of the flavors, there was a little arugula beneath the meat. When you think you taste jalapenos, you taste the sharp yet delicate cheese, and when you think you taste cheese, the fresh herbed mayo surprises you at the end making this burger full of surprises. To end it all, a side of hand-cut fries that were fried with parsley, garlic, and rosemary came in a small dish.

All right, I’m done. I can’t say enough good things. If you know you’re going to New York, find a way to go here. Be sure to make reservations though.