Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Building a better burger

Have you ever impressed yourself? I mean, the kind of feeling you get where you're just a little ashamed just how much you want to toot your own horn? Your mind buzzes with sinful pride and you look around for people to tell?

Okay, so one of the best parts of having a blog is this is, in fact, that very forum.

Tonight we're perfecting burgers for Sutter Home's Build a Better Burger competition; the deadline is next week. Ordinarily, my meal planning wouldn't have popped up burgers just now, but hey, a deadline is a deadline. I'll take one for the team.

I made an amazing jerk sauce, if I do say it myself, and came to the realization that allspice is the smell I traditionally associate with jerk seasoning. I have no idea how authentic my sauce is, but I sure do like it. Fortunately, I have left overs for later...

The part I'm really proud of, though, is my jicama and carrot slaw. I made a dressing out of a little lime, a little apple cider vinegar, a bit of olive oil and some golden raisins. I pureed it all together with a tiny pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper and voila, a "creamy," emulsified, sweet, tangy dressing for my slaw. I'm pretty sure it's pretty darn healthy, too. After all, raisins are high in fiber and antioxidants, and have been suggested to slow macular degeneration. That last one might just be a myth, but who knows? No harm done.

I don't have a name for my jerk burger. I had originally had a different ingredient that made the title "Schoolyard Jerk Burger" appropriate, but I edited it out for simplicity and ease of eating. Maybe I'll stick to a descriptive name instead.

How did the burger taste? Sweet, spicy, meaty... but it was missing something. It's a work in progress.

12 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Missing something? Probably cheese and hot sauce. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well, I might generally agree, but the two habaneros I put in the jerk were plenty hot and I did, actually, have cheddar cheese on it. Unfortunately, much of it melted and slid off the burger. Just a minor execution problem. I'm thinking of remedying the dish with some baby arugula (for freshness, color and peppery detail) and thinly sliced mango (to tie in my tropical and highlight the sweet in the jerk).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi there! I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed hearing your story about the process of getting your recipe ready to submitt to the BBB Contest! I actually am a writer for the Official Sutter Home Blog (http://sutterhome.com/blog) and was wondering if I could link this story on our blog post? We're asking everyone to share their stories of recipe successes/disasters, etc and we'd love to include yours!

    Thanks and good luck in the contest!

    -CL for Sutter Home

    ReplyDelete
  5. Of course! I think that would be lovely. Thank you for the3 offer, the comment and also the well wishes. :o)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great! Thanks so much! Here's a link to the post.
    http://sutterhome.com/blog/?p=374

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi My name is Violeta from New York and I build a B.B. burger.
    It was a Puerto Rican meal in one.I used pigeon peas or "gandules" in my burger,shredded fried plantain and avocado and a special sauceand cilantro.Most of the products I used were Goya products. Which is all you can find in my pantry.
    The hardest part was keeping those pigeon peas in the burger they kept falling out of my burger when I was forming the patties. So I stated in my recipe "some" pigeon peas will fall out, but that's ok...I did not want to stuff the burger with the pigeon peas, because I liked the way the burger looked with little green dots all over it. It was an amazing burger my family loved it. Well wish me luck and like the N.Y. Lotto slogan says "Hey you never know"

    ReplyDelete
  8. Good luck! Your burger sounds lovely! I adore plantain and wish I could taste your recipe myself. I'm happy that even if I don't get picked (and I'm not delusional but I, too, am optomistic) I at least created a yummy new recipe for me and my family. Sounds like you did, too. Thanks for commenting!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I was going to do a jerk burger for bbb but it fell short. I submitted it to mixingbowl.com compitition and called it "Big Jerk" Burger. Didnt win, but thought the name was cute enough to share.

    ReplyDelete
  10. submitted several recipes, each one was a specialized process in itself. Cooking has always been a hobby leading towards several career options. So taking the opportunity now to create a cookbook for burger recipes. Several of my submissions have been included and have been working on several new recipes. Hopefully, should have it ready within 2 months. Even have an interested publisher.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I made 8-10 different recipes but only submitted 6 when all was said and done. I think what I enjoy the most about recipe contesting is not making the same thing every day, and the thing I love about this contest is drinking the wine while cooking :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. The suspense is killing me. This is my first BBB. I sent 2 burgers with hopes of being something a little different. I have my fingers crossed. And it's a little hard to type. ;)

    ReplyDelete