Burgercentric

I was on a burger kick for awhile and now every where I turn I seem to see articles about burgers. It's  grilling season and Memorial Day weekend is upon us. I don't usually eat a lot of beef burgers but was inspired to try Kathie Lee Joel's patty melts from the New York Times. Only because she was being interviewed by the recently retired NY Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni, whose book 'Born Round' I was reading at the time. I did like how thin they were, but I refused to use  the "american cheese" for them.  I drew the line there. Cheddar or swiss was wonderful on them.
I've also made salmon and tuna burgers recently. A great, fast weeknight meal if you buy them frozen. For tuna burgers try a little wasabi mixed with mayo and for the salmon just a nice dijon/mayo mix or curry is nice.
Then I  decided to try lamb burgers.

There are so many great recipes out there but I made these with lots of feta, onion, garlic and parsley. I thought they were terrific.
This week in the NY Times Mark Bittman covered pork and fennel burgers.
I  made buffalo burgers years ago and recently venison burgers which I  blogged about. (April blog)
A stand by dinner for us for a long time has been turkey burgers. My daughter Madison made them years ago from her Williams Sonoma Kid's Cookbook and we've been making them ever since. Keep a pound of ground turkey in your freezer with a bag of sweet potato fries and you always have a back up dinner ready. These are so simple but really make for a super moist burger. I usually do them on the stove top.

Deluxe Turkey Burgers

In a bowl mix 1/2 cup bread crumbs ( I use italian seasoned) with 1/3 cup milk. Stir with a fork and then add 3 T. ketchup, 1 egg, 1/2 t. salt, 1/4 t. pepper. Add 1 lb. ground turkey, mix ingredients just until blended. Divide into 4 burgers.
Add 2 T. vegetable oil to a frying pan over med/low heat. Add burgers and cook about 5 min. per side.
So good with your standard cheese, ketchup, mustard, lettuce, tomato, pickle, and onion!

And for locals, I hope at least once in your life you've been to The White Spot for the Gusburger. It's infamous in Charlottesville! It's a cheeseburger with a fried egg on it!