Skip to main content

A Really Good Burger

As someone who is dedicated to a mostly meatless lifestyle, it doesn't happen all that frequently, but there are the occasional moments when I crave a good old-fashioned hamburger. And this was one of those weekends. But it wasn't a craving for a fast food burger, but one of those thick and juicy gourmet ones that you can usually only find at a diner or bar. But since it's no fun to get a burger at a diner or bar on my own, I got myself down to the Fresh Market, picked up a nice package of extra lean ground beef, and went to town to create my own really good burger. Here's what I came up with:

First, I fried up some fresh onions, using a combo of red and yellow, and cooked them way down until they were completely caramelized. 

While the onions were cooking, I took 1/3 pound of the ground beef, and mixed in the rest of my jar of shallots (roughly a tablespoon or two). I also added some garlic powder, and some chili powder, and maybe a 1/2 teaspoon of Thai red curry paste. Then I mixed it all up by hand, and made a nice patty out of it.

After the onions were done, I moved them to the back of my grill pan, and cooked up the burger. It was pretty perfect - crusty brown on both sides, and medium in the middle. The burger now cooked to perfection, I piled on the onions, and some grated colby jack cheese.

For a burger of this level of magnificence, no ordinary bun will do. You need some bread that will stand up to it. So I also picked up a couple of fresh kaiser rolls from the bakery, and while the cheese was melting, I sliced one of the rolls in half, buttered it, and grilled it. Then for the piece de resistance, I took some mayo, ketchup, and a splash of sriracha sauce and stirred it all together to make a hearty dipping sauce.

Then I put it all together, served it up, and voila! My own creation of a really good burger!

I wish I had thought to take a picture of this pile of deliciousness, but by the time it occurred to me, my really good burger was about halfway gone. Needless to say though, it was fabulous, and is going to be my go-to homemade burger from now on whenever the craving strikes me.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

New 'Do

For probably the last 10 years or so, I've had pretty much the same hairstyle. For the most part, it's been long, all one length, and I would eventually put it up in a ponytail almost every day, because I couldn't stand having it in my face. It drove me crazy, but I didn't know what to do with it, and at the same time, I liked that I could basically get up and go every day without a lot of effort. For the past several months now, I've been threatening to do something different and drastic, and finally, yesterday, I did. At the recommendation of Angel, I made an appointment with her stylist. It took several weeks to get in, but finally, the day arrived. Angel went with me, for moral support, and to be the photographer. I went in with some basic ideas, but after some consultation and looking at photos with Francine, this is what I ended up with. First, the "before" shot: In process: And finally, the finished product: I can't remember the last time

Tidying Up

If you've been watching Netflix much lately, you've probably seen the new series "Tidying Up", with Marie Kondo. She's an expert in cleaning, tidying, and storing stuff, and her method is quite inspiring. I enjoyed the show so much that I ordered her book "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up", and spent several days trying to get my house more in order. Not that I'm a hoarder - I have a basically tidy home. But the Kon-mari method teaches you to look at your belongings and ask yourself if each particular belonging brings you joy. If it doesn't, it's time for it to move on. I went through all my clothes first, followed by my books and DVD's, followed by the office, followed by the kitchen and laundry room. Whatever didn't bring me joy or a happy memory went into the pile. And when all was said and done, I ended up taking an entire car full of stuff to the local Deseret Industries, to hopefully be re-purposed for someone else to find

Triple D Divas Do Northern Utah

Last Saturday, the Triple D Divas met for a day trip get-away to Northern Utah - specifically Logan and Brigham City (with a little touch of Idee-ho thrown in for good measure). We started our journey with lunch at the Bluebird Cafe. Everyone knows about the Bluebird - it's about the oldest place on main street, and is tradition for anyone whose ever done a Logan Temple Trip. We went in to see the Logan Tabernacle, and I snapped this cool picture of the oragn pipes. (Of course, now that we're all in our 40's and have shrinking bladders, the Tabernacle also made for a clean and convenient potty stop.) ...Also a view of the Logan Temple spires from outside the Tabernacle...    From there, it was off to Glossner's Cheese Factory for some squeaky cheese. After that, we went to the Pepperidge Farms Outlet, and the girls all found some cookies and stuff.  But nothing really excited me there.  However, the outlet is located in