Garlic burger
This is something that portlandpiper and I came up with one year at a campground on Lake Mead while we were attending COMDEX in Las Vegas. It has now made it onto the list of foods that I tend to make when I'm in bachelor mode, so no one can complain about how much I stink.
The early version was simply garlic and spices mixed into some ground beef and formed into patties. This tended to have a problem with falling apart on the grill, so I took a little lesson from meatloaf and added some egg as a binder, and bread crumbs to soak up some of the juices.
I've made these burgers with up to 15 cloves in a single half pound patty, but rarely feel like going to that extreme. As always, you can feel free to adjust to your tolerance level. You should also start with room temperature beef and cook it through over low heat even if you normally like your burgers rare. The idea is to make sure the garlic is cooked so that it releases all those tasty oils through the meat.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 tablespoons bread crumbs
- 1 egg
- 5-20 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- pinch of salt
- fresh ground pepper
- chipotle powder
- burger buns
- Your favorite burger fixins
But them on a bun with your favorite fixins and enjoy. The one I made tonight I topped with a slice of provolone cheese, some pepper bacon and a green chile, all on a whole wheat burger bun.
No garlic roll this time, I didn't even have any onion rolls. I'm makeing up the second half pound burger today, and this time it's going to be smothered in garlic sautéed mushrooms and onions. I recently found out that there is a farmer that makes a dry-cured smoked bacon that he stuffs with garlic cloves that would be an appropriate topping.
I'm guessing that you don't get to make garlic burgers that often anymore, unless you want to sleep on the couch.
Actually, I do not get to make burgers, dogs, or sausages all that often any more - getting too old. When I do talk ME into a burger/dog/sausage meal, I pull out all the stops - make my own rolls, buy the freshest meat that I can get, and even go to the trouble to get out the meat grinder to try something really different.
As for the couch - I can usually get ME to eat decent quantities of garlic with me so the couch is not always required. Though the last time I talked a cook at Hot Lips Pizza to put on enough garlic so that I could not see the cheese I did have to sleep on the couch for a couple of days. It sure tasted good and I do have a comfortable couch.
You've increased ME's tolerance then. I remember that she liked garlic, but not at the real fun levels.
I've reduce the quantities and increased the quality of the meats in my burger/dog/sausage meals. Instead of having 3 sausages on a plate, I'm likely to have something of a sausage and veggie stir fry. Addell's habanero sausage is really good for that, as well as the sausage from Stewart's Meats. The only dogs that I tend to eat anymore are good chicken dogs from the co-op or casper's dogs for comfort food, but I keep them in the freezer so they aren't too easy to access.
I was in the mood for a garlic burger last night but I went for a 50/50 beef/lamb mix with 3 cloves of garlic a teaspoon of minced fresh mint and 1/2 teaspoon of aleppo chile flakes mixed into the meat. This spice combination along with some thinly sliced sweet pickles on the finished burger makes for a nice change of pace.
I used very lean (5% fat) ground sirloin with the lamb. I formed the patty gently and set it back in the refrigerator for 20 minutes before frying it covered over a medium-low flame. The slower cooking kept the meat together and gave me a moist and tender burger.
And be sure to use a garlic roll, garlic BBQ sauce, and Sonoma Jack garlic cheese to get the full (and delicious) garlic experience.