Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Sassy Blue Cheese Burgers

Hey all, caught up in a lot of book and wedding stuff right now, as well as recovering from a rather bad case of dehydration. I'm going to be a bit behind in posting this week and possibly next so I'm throwing up one of my first and still most favorite recipes. This was originally posted in 2006. ~Garrett

-Because blue cheese is the sassiest of all the cheeses.-

I'm not much of a griller to be honest with you. I have a tendency to burn thing rather easily, I often forget to grease the grill leaving me a clean up job I'd rather simply avoid, and more than once have I set myself on fire.

Leave me inside to prep the meat, brine the chicken breasts, or craft a sauce. I'm good with that. Let someone else stand over the flames in the withering heat. I'm all good with a pitcher of sangria and a knife in my hand, thank you.

Still, there are times when you're required to sit at the grill. Often this involves triple digit weather, beer, and a company of friends. During these times it's best to have a good game plan.

Mine involves blue cheese. Always, blue cheese.

These blue cheese burgers always get a warm reception for their creamy and spicy profile. Use a fine, piquant blue cheese that'll stand out; something creamy, but with an almost nefarious amount of veining such as Stilton, Valdeon, or Cabrales. A milder blue such as Dolcelatte or Point Reyes Original Blue won't steer you wrong either. The biggest clove of garlic you can find in a must, as is a smashing Dijon or homemade mustard.

Now, some people like to stuff blue cheese in the middle of their burgers. That's adorable. More so when you bit into the middle and molten cheese sends your tongue to the doctor for skin grafts. If you allow the burger to cool - something that seems like a rather obvious problem in an of itself - then then outer edges of the burger have no cheese and the middle is just only cheese.

Burger fail.

No, rather mix the crumbled cheese in with the meat. The cheese is distributed into every bite. The ones in the middle get warm and melty while the cheese on the outside that makes contact with the grill gets melted into cheesey, crispy bits making for a sassy salty bite.

These burgers are delightful smeared with a bit of buffalo sauce or perhaps some just-whisked-together aioli.

Sassy Blue Cheese Burgers
makes 6 burgers

1 pound ground hamburger (16%-20%)
1 tablespoon of Dijon, spicy, or homemade mustard (not yellow, for god's sake)
1 clove garlic, minced very finely
2 green onions, diced finely
2 ounces crumbled blue cheese (about 1/2 cup)
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon water
pinch freshly cracked pepper
pinch kosher salt

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Get your hands in there and feel the squish until it's all well mixed. Form balls of the meat into patties about 1/2 to 1-inch thick and allow to rest in the fridge for about 15 minutes. While the meat rests grease and heat the grill and allow it to come to a nice medium-high heat.

2. Give the burgers about 5 minutes on each side, or to taste. Be sure not to press on the burgers as this will forces the juices out (why do people insist on pressing them?). After the burgers are done allow them to rest for about 1-2 minutes so the meat reabsorbs those hauntingly good juices. Serve on buns and garnish as desired.

19 comments:

  1. Whoa the recipes sounds absolutely delicious. With BBQ season just starting, I must try this out. Thanks for visiting CASEats! Be sure to drop by again.

    -Greg

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  2. I tried these the other night, and they were fantastic! I threw in an egg - it really helped keep the burgers together.

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  3. VERY nice recipe -- easy and guuuud.

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  4. Oh gosh... I don't do the grill either. I used to know how to use it, but now I leave that to my husband. Love this burger though. How can you go wrong?

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  5. I never thought of sassy and burger in the same sentence, but it seems to work here.

    I myself am with you on the not grilling. I tell my man, "You are the outside cook, and I whip up delightful things in the confines of this lovely kitchen." It works for us.

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    1. Indeed. I'm a domestic god, not a lord of the grill where my power cannot thrive.

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  6. I am thinking horseradish and big slices of grilled Walla Walla Sweet Onion with these

    Maybe bacon. (I am really getting bacon fatigue, but I think it would work well here.)

    And mushrooms grilled on skewers as a side.

    Yum!

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    1. Yes to the bacon and skewers. Hell to the yes.

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  7. This cheeseburger recipes looks very delicious. I'll make sure to note the burger fail.

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  8. Put some good chunky blue cheese dressing on the bun, add some just-cooked bacon slices and call it dinner for me at least once every 2-3 weeks at home! I do need to try the buffalo sauce/dressing though, that would be interesting on one side of the bun, with the blue cheese on the other...hmmm.

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    1. Homemade blue cheese dressing. Let me tell you what, you'll never go back. XD

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  9. Garrett? All four of us just ate every bite of these burgers, even my picky eater, and I'm working on an excuse to make them again asap. I'd grill burgers every night in the summer if I could get away with it, and I've tried different ways of hiding a pocket of blue cheese in the burger with nothing but disasters, but THIS IS THE PERFECT RECIPE. Oh, and to say that I like your blog would be so 'vanilla' - I so totally love your writing that I sit down and read several weeks' worth at a time, like a vacation!

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    1. Yay for tricking picky eaters! So glad you liked it and the blog. If you do read them all start from, like, 2010, the earlier years are... not my favorite. ;)

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  10. Wait, it's not like I'm trying to hide zucchini in the burger, it's just blue-cheese-deliciousness hidden through so you don't have a molten-lava mouthful... I hate this new trend toward tricking your picky eaters! (Mac and cheese should not involve pureed cauliflower!)
    Challenge accepted. Now I'll just have to track down every pre-2010 bit of your eloquent writing I can find.

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  11. Made these burgers and love, love, love them!

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  12. God love you for sharing this recipe. All time favourite burgers. Go Garrett!!!!! And mucho thanks.

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  13. The patty is laid with shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes, Food Truck Catering

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Hey, you're leaving a comment! That's pretty darn cool, so thanks. If you have any questions or have found an error on the site or with a recipe, please e-mail me and I will reply as soon as possible.
~Garrett