Burger Fourteen - Super Thick and Cheezy Burger

Burger Number Fourteen - Super Thick and Cheezy Burger

Page: 82

It's hot hot HOT outside so what better time to experiment with yet another of Ted's magnificent meaty creations: The Super Thick and Cheezy Burger!

These burgers looked invincible on paper - Ted advised us to 'leave them shaped lie baseballs' to maintain maximum meat:bun ratio. I was excited, Vince was coming to town and we were all hungry for a tea time burger snack. I first combined the following and once I had gently mixed them together, I left the bowl in the fridge for a while to cool off and rest:

• Ground Beef
• Bone Dust ♥
• Crispy Fried Onions ( You can find them in Bulk Barn for all our Canadian Readers - not sure what the alternative would be across the pond.. )

I had also picked up some fresh corn from the nearby Fernwood Farms (http://fernwoodfarms.farmvisit.com) which would provide a perfect and healthy accompaniment to our meat feast. 

I had previously cut up small pieces of cheddar and Mozzorella and left them in the freezer for around 2 hours - just before we were ready to green light the BBQ, I mixed the cheese pieces into the burger meat, shaped the meat into [large] patties and placed them delicately on the two cedar planks I had had soaking for a couple if hours *** soaking of the planks is very important, especially if you want to avoid any forest fires next to your house. 

Here is Darren proudly preparing the BBQ and the burgers in action on the stove. After a little while, we popped the corn on the grill and left them cooking away above the bubbling burgers. 

I have gotta say, these burgers were a triumph! In a flash of genius afterthought, D also coated the patties with our chipotle BBQ sauce and here are the finished burgers! They were delicious - moist and flavorsome with the cedar planks allowing the burgers to retain all their flavor and richness. The burger fell apart in the mouth, it was sensational. 

Despite being pretty full, I managed to squeeze in a cob of corn which was [of course] divine. I have now mastered the Canadian method of corn eating: Roll cob on butter brick, sprinkle with salt and pepper and dive in! YUM. 

Conrats Ted, it's another keeper - 10/10!

Burger Thirteen: Banquet Burger A La Fran's

Burger Number Thirteen - The Banquet Burger a la Fran's

Page: 51

Summer is finely here!

And what better way to celebrate with a beer and a burger! Today, Vince was swinging down for the evening so we thought we would celebrate with the famous 'Banquet Burger A La Fran's'. Beware all vegetarians out there, you may find the following material upsetting. 

I picked up 2 lbs of beef and a 1 of bacon ( yep.. just a little snack for 3.. ). I cooked up [all] the bacon in Darren's favorite kitchen item, the cast iron pan. 

Once cooked, I chopped up the 1/2 the bacon and added it to the beef as well as a shovel of bone dust, a spoon or two of Worchester Sauce, diced white onion, garlic and Bacon fat ( look out slimmers world, this is a 2000 calorie burger alert!). 

I shaped the bacon, beefy meat into burgers and left to cool off in the fridge. 

After a couple of hours, Darren and Vince took the *huge* burgers down to the grill with a beer or two and watched over them while putting the word to rights ( and discussing our recent 'racoon' problem *grrrrr*)

In the meantime, I chopped up a tomato, onion, lettuce and aged cheddar and bought them, as well as some baps (rolls/ buns for our international audience) down to the grilling zone. 

Darren and Vince took the baton from there and watched over the burgers as they cooked away with Darren sporadically basting the burgers with Bacon Fat. 

Darren added the cheese and bacon to the burgers and let the cheese melt down whilst he gave the buns a quick toast with a splash of butter.

And here is the finished burger! Delicious and debauched ( not necessarily something one should eat every day, but a fabulous bacon induced treat). We were all fueled up ready for an evening of Kinect Sports and Dance Central! Love it!

** I found this fabulous snack in another of Ted's books, Everyday Gourmet Plank Grilling, http://www.amazon.ca/Napoleons-Everyday-Gourmet-Plank-Grilling/dp/1554701503

I used a soaked cedar plank and Darren got the grill ready for our cheesy treat. It was SO easy, just plank up a full brie, top with honey, fresh peach slices, blueberries and fresh thyme. Heat on the grill until the cheese melts and starts to puff up around the fruit. Delicious! 

Burger Twelve - Cedar Planked Tilapia Sliders

Burger Number Twelve - Cedar Planked Tilapia Sliders

Page: 251

Today's Cedar Planked Tilapia Sliders were a rather unforeseen choice but I felt instinctively that I should get some fish on the BBQ after a very meaty few weeks. I had to hunt down a few of the ingredients ( Ted wouldn't have it any other way...) but after a brief scoot around the various Collingwood Stores, I was ready for action!

Tilapia is the name given to nearly 100 different species of Freshwater, Chichlid Fish rated the fifth most important fish in fish farming. They are fast growing, herbivorous and very short lived and therefore absorb very low levels of mercury. 

They are low in saturated fat, low calorie, low carb, low sodium and high in protein and are rich in Phosphorous, Niacin, Selenium, B12 and Potassium; a veritable melange of goodies! 

I was very inspired by what Tilapia had to offer so [as instructed by Ted] ordered 1 1/2 pounds of the stuff. I didn't realise this was in fact 9 steaks ( it appears that we shall be eating Tilapia for a while..)

Ted first asked that I finely cut and then ground the Tilapia. I didn't have time to get the grounder out, so went for the chop and ended up with a bowl of fish-mash. 

I then called upon my magical list of ingredients for the burger mix:

• Japanese Panko Crumbs ( just your regular grocery items then)
• Red Onion
• Green Onion
• Dill
• Orgasmic Onion Seasoning
• Lemon Juice
• Egg White

     

 Once mixed together, I refrigerated the mix and made sure my Cedar Plank was getting a good soak in water to avoid spontaneous combustion.

I then whipped together Ted's Slaw; I mixed together Red onion, Pears and Radishes ( all thinly sliced), added oil and lime juice and chopped Cilantro and left to cool in the fridge.

After an hour or so, I scooped up the fish mix into patties and Darren got the Weber engaged downstairs. Teg called for a hot grill and suggested that we cooked the burgers for 15-18 minutes. 

Things are starting to hot up in CWood ( Hurray!) and there is talk of 32 degrees and upwards this week!  It's very exciting.

Once the burgers had cooked, we slapped on some Emmenthal cheese and after that had melted over the burgers, they were ready to eat. 

I used a warm baguette as our base and we added a spot of mayonnaise and the slaw to juice up the burgers. They were very nice ( Darren gave them 8/10!), a very different BBQ snack and felt very healthy and fresh. Bravo Ted!

Burger Eleven - Planked Mashed Potato Burger

Burger Number Eleven - Planked Mashed Potato Burger

Page: 273

These burgers are for all the vegetarians out there and definitely worth a look as there is lot of room for improvisation. First up, I put some potatoes to to boil ( I slightly misjudged the quantities.. ) and once they were fully cooked and I added a ton of butter, garlic, splash of milk and then mashed them up. 

Once cooled, I added some green onion and parsley ( and more butter) and then formed the mash into burger-sized patties using an ice cream scoop. Darren then sprinkled some Parmesan on top of the potato burgers and we placed them on a [soaked] cedar plank ready for cooking.


And here are the finished burgers; light, golden and smoky from the cedar plank.

They were good, but next time Darren  suggested that we should add more butter during the 'mash' and possibly even get something mechanical involved in the mashing process to ensure the potatoes are totally smooth. We would also add more cheese to juice them up a little. 

All that said, they are an interesting change from regular potatoes and definitely worth experimenting with. 

Burger Ten: Hot Diggity Dog Burger

Burger Number Ten Hot Diggity Dog Burger

Page: 89

This burger is a party piece: 'The hot diggity dog burger' **make sure you are hungry folks!

Vince and Kerry took charge of the burger making and we were all excited to see what fabulous meaty treat was awaiting us on the BBQ. Vince had made up the burger mix using a classic list of ingredients:

• Pork
• Beef
• Sweet Onion
• Bone Dust (see how often this awesome rub comes out the pantry)
• English Style Mustard
• Seasoning

Once the burger meat had chilled out in the fridge for a little while, Vince laid down a piece of plastic wrap ( cling film/ saran wrap etc etc) and spread a layer of the meat onto the plastic. He then placed a cheese string and a hot dog on top of the meaty disc. 

 The plastic wrap was then used to roll the meat over the cheese and hot dog to form a super-duper burger dog. Vince sealed the ends of the hot dog and rolled them together in his hands to get the final polished look.

Et Voila! A mountain of burger-doggy goodness. They went straight on a grill and once cooked, Vince places each burger dog on a bun and they were ready to eat!

They were delicious; the cheese melted around hot dog and into the burger to form a mass of meaty goodness. Beware**These burgers are not for the faint hearted. Hilariously, Don, Kerry's Dad had two and then asked for a third ( he is extremely active and on the go constantly). 

A great summer time treat and perfect for weekend parties and hot tubs! 

Burger Nine: Fajita Burger

Burger Number Nine - Fajita Burger

Page: 208

Burger number nine was Darren's choice; we have had a wave of fajita love recently so were keen to try out Ted's version on the classic dish. There were a number of phases to this fajita burger preparation so I took myself off to the store, amassed all the relevant ingredients ( or best endeavors; Ted has a habit of asking for quite abstract ingredients, for example, where on earth does one find 'smoked chipotle chillies in adobo sauce. Not in Collingwood, I tell you). 

I started off with the burgers to give them time to rest while I prepped everything else. I combined the following in a bowl and was (I am sure you will agree) very intrigued by the recipe:

• Ground Chicken
• Bone Dust *grin*
• Cumin
• Chili powder
• Oil
• Corn Tortilla Chips ( crushed)
• Onion
• Garlic
• Jalapenos

I mixed them all together and popped the bowl in the fridge. In the meantime, I had several other treats to prepare. I had bought some Old El Paso 'Mexican' rice and well as some tortillas ( I love the mexican section in Metro, so handy for such an occasion). http://www.oldelpaso.co.uk/

 I had also purchased some refried beans from the Old El Paso Range which ( despite looking and smelling exactly like tinned cat food), I scooped out and ave a quick blast in the microwave.

Then to the salsa, I deviated quite heavily away from Ted's technique here and fried my peppers up in a pan rather than grilling them. I cooked up a red, yellow and green pepper and then added oil, chipotle peppers, garlic, fresh coriander, lime juice and seasoned to taste. WOW, this salsa had punch, holy moly! 

As I was unable to find Tomatillos and poblano peppers (????) in every store Collingwood has to offer... I had to drop the salsa verde. I did however make up his guacamole which was delicious and very simple and fresh ( avocado, lime juice, olicve oil, coriander and green onion).  

Then onto the burgers. We shaped the burger mix into rectangular patties and Darren scooped them up ready to engage the Weber. They didn't take long to cook, just enough time for me to grate some Monteray Jack cheese, warm the tortillas and record an episode of the Big Bang Theory. 

As you can see, we are not having much luck with the weather, it seems like the UK is getting what we should have and the rain has come over here *gaaaa*. 

It took a while to prepare but oh my, they were worth it. 

The combination of flavors was staggering; these burgers are good! Luckily we made enough to last us for the next couple of days... ( still having problems with portion control). Bravo Ted, another classic from your burger book!