My Favorite Burger

When I first started experimenting with burgers, I began by using the spices that I always cook with, like ginger, coriander, and cumin. I discovered that burgers really stand up well to a vast variety of ingredients. In fact, I even threw red wine vinegar in my burgers a few times and it still turned out great!

My favorite burger doesn't involve eggs or breadcrumbs - that's just filler. If you are careful to cut the onions finely, you really don't need any extra ingredients to hold the burger together. I like to compliment the meat with some spices, garlic, and onion, but otherwise let the meat speak for itself. One of my favorite flavor combinations is cumin and paprika for a smoky flavor and chili pepper for heat.

Recently, I picked up a book called Build a Better Burger. This book covers everything from your standard beef burger to ahi tuni burgers and lamb burgers. There are a ton of great new ideas for toppings and ingredients. I can't wait to try some of the more eccentric recipes, but this time around I decided to stick to my favorite burger, with a new topping from this book.

The topping that I chose to try is caramelized chipotle onions. The recipe for these onions includes chipotle tabasco sauce for some kick and brown sugar for sweetness. I also added a dash of cumin to compliment the spice in the burger.

One new ingredient for me in this recipe was the chipotle tabasco sauce. I discovered that it is slightly less spicy than the normal tabasco hot sauce, and I thought it added great flavor to the onions.

I am a sucker for spicy/sweet flavor combinations and this was no exception. I thought the onions turned out great and would definitely make them again in the future.

Here is what it looks like:


And here is the recipe:

My Favorite Burger
(makes 4 burgers)

Burger:

1 1/4 lbs ground beef (I like my burgers to be just over a quarter pound, but feel free to adjust as you like)
1/4 cup onion, chopped finely
couple of garlic cloves, chopped finely, about 1 Tbsp.
2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. cumin (sometimes for a mellower flavor I use coriander instead)
1/4 tsp. chile pepper, or more if you like heat
1/2 tsp. salt
several generous pepper grinds
splash of red wine, about 2 Tbsp.

Caramelized Chipotle Onions (adapted from Build a Better Burger):
1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp TABASCO Chipotle Pepper Sauce
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp olive oil
couple of garlic cloves, chopped finely, about 1 Tbsp.
1 Tbsp brown sugar
couple dashes of cumin (or coriander, if that's what you put in the burger)

whole wheat buns
toppings (I like avocado, tomato, and bleu cheese with this burger)

For the burger, mix all ingredients together until well blended. Split the mixture into four equal parts and make thin patties. Make them thinner than you actually want the final burger to turn out, as they will fatten during cooking.

For the onions, combine all ingredients and cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until onions are caramelized and golden brown.

Cook the burgers on the grill until cooked to desired doneness (I like about 5 minutes on each side, about medium rare). Grill the buns for a few seconds and then stack with the burger, the onions, and your favorite toppings.