Kobe Burgers with Carrot Fennel Slaw and Chile Aioli

This pairing uses the acidic fresh crunch of the slaw and the slight heat of the aioli to brighten up your burger, perfect for BBQs and picnics! 

Elements:
Spread: Homemade Chile Aioli
Topping: Fennel Carrot Slaw (recipe below).

Fennel Carrot Slaw
(Makes enough to generously top four ½lb burgers and have plenty as a side dish)

Ingredients:
5 large carrots
10 ribs of celery
2 ½ fennel bulbs
50/50 cider vinegar and rice vinegar to taste
50/50 peanut oil and olive oil to taste
salt & pepper to taste.

Wash the vegetables and peel the carrots.  Slice fine with a knife, mandoline, or the slicing side of a box grater.  Toss with the oils, vinegars, and salt & pepper.

Kobe Beef Burgers with Sautéed Porcinis and Onions

This choice focuses on rich, earthy flavors that will no doubt evoke moans of gastronomic pleasure.  Though we think porcini mushooms are a fabulous choice for this application, you could use any fresh wild mushrooms or fresh organic mushrooms.

Elements:
Spread: Coarse Ground Dijon Mustard
Topping: Fresh Porcini Mushrooms sautéed in butter, onions sautéed in olive oil

Why the different cooking fats? 
While you can certainly use butter for both or oil for both, butter really brings out some of the more subtle flavors in fresh porcinis, so we recommend it.  Sautéing both the mushrooms and the onions in butter may result in a burger topping that is too heavy, hence the switch to the lighter olive oil for the onions.

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While grilling burgers may seem like outdoor cooking’s greatest no-brainer, there are actually nuances to the grilling technique that will give you a better burger every time.  Though we’re demonstrating it here with Kobe beef burgers, this same technique can be used with all of our  specialty burgers.

The Best Way to Grill Burgers

Season both sides of the burgers liberally with salt (keep in mind that a fair amount will fall off on the grill).  While you can finish the cooked burgers with pepper (we recommend freshly ground Tellicherry Peppercorns), pepper put on prior to grilling can burn and become excessively bitter.

Place them on a well oiled, hot grill, and don’t touch them for a few minutes.  When you estimate that side of the burger is half done, give it a quarter turn to achieve those diamond-shaped grill marks that everyone loves.  When the side is finished, flip the burger and repeat the same process on the other side.

Once you’ve flipped the burgers, place the tops and bottoms of your hamburger buns (we prefer brioche) on the grill to toast.  Toasting the buns not only adds a crisp texture and toasted flavor to your burgers, but also helps keep them from becoming soggy.  After flipping is also the appropriate time to add cheese if you’re cooking cheeseburgers, so that the heat of the grill can start the cheese melting before the burger hits the bun.

Keep an eye on your burgers!  Overcooking Kobe beef or any of our other exotic burgers will destroy the flavor and tenderness that makes them special. 

Until you develop an eye for exactly what your favorite level of doneness looks like from the outside, consider using a probe thermometer to check your burgers.  The USDA recommends cooking ground meat to an internal temperature of 160 degrees, which is usually considered Well Done.  This gives you a good base temperature to adjust as you will.

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Kangaroo Burgers with Camembert & Grilled Onions

These burgers are incredibly savory with multiple levels of flavor.  The grilled onion gives bite that cuts through the beefy-smoky kangaroo and the musty-richness of the camembert cheese.  Outrageous!

Drink Pairings: Argentinean Malbec or California Cabernet

Ingredients:          (Makes 3 Large Burgers)
1lb Ground Kangaroo Meat
¼ cup Onion, diced
1 tbsp Fresh Parsley, finely chopped
1 tbsp Fresh Oregano, finely chopped
¼ cup Bread Crumbs    (store bought or homemade breadcrumbs)
1 Egg
Yellow Onion, cut into 1/4″ thick slices
Camembert-style Cheese, cut into thick wedges

Parsley Garlic Aioli
4 tbsp Mayonnaise (we recommend homemade mayonnaise, but you could use store-bought)
2 tbsp Fresh Parsley leaves, minced
1 clove Garlic, minced

Directions:

1.  In a large bowl mix together the ground kangaroo, egg, bread crumbs, onion and herbs.  Form into patties.

2.  Mix together the mayo, parsley leaves and garlic clove.

3.  Season the kangaroo patties.

4.  Oil & preheat your grill.

5.  Grill the patties.  Grill one side of the onion slices until grill marks appear, then flip and top each with a wedge of the camembert. Toast your buns.

6.  Spread the aioli on each bun, add a kangaroo patty & top with a camembert onion slice.  Serve.

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We thought the porcini and caramelized onion kobe burger recipe was as decadent as burgers got. 

We were wrong. 

Really, the ingredients list below speaks for itself, but if you’re having difficult imagining the final flavor, imagine this: rich, buttery mangalitsa bacon, balanced with crisp lettuce and tangy pickled onions, overrun with a smooth, creamy egg yolk which blends the flavor of the toppings into the intense beefiness of the Kobe. 

Take your first bite sitting down, lest you be overcome and fall into a swoon.

Bacon Burgers with Sunny Side Up Duck Eggs and Pickled Onions

Drink Pairings: Beaujolais wine or Lambrusco

Ingredients:
Burger Patties (we used Kobe beef burgers)
2 slices per burger, Bacon (we highly recommend buttery unsmoked Mangalitsa Bacon, but you use any variety)
1 Duck Egg per burger (could substitute chicken eggs)
1 leaf per burger, Butter Lettuce
Mayonnaise
Brioche Buns

Plus: Quick Pickled Onions to taste (how to pickle onions)

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2.  Cover a baking pan with a layer of foil or parchment paper and lay out the bacon slices.

3.  Place the bacon in the oven and roast until cooked and just slightly pliable.

4.  Carefully remove the pan from the oven and set it aside.  Turn off the oven.

5. Grill the burgers (the best way to grill burgers)

6. While the burgers are grilling, fry the eggs sunny side up in an oiled skillet and toast the brioche buns.  Place the cooked bacon on the grill briefly to reheat it.

7.  Once the burgers have finished grilling, put them on the toasted buns, and top each with a fried egg, two slices of bacon, and drained pickled onions. 

8.  Spread a thin layer of mayonnaise on the top of each bun.  Add a single leaf of butter lettuce and serve.

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Lamb Merguez Sliders with Za’atar Spiced Yogurt and Cucumber Relish

Merguez is a spicy sausage originally from North Africa. It is made with lamb and is typically prepared with chili peppers or harissa, garlic, and various other aromatic spices. It is excellent grilled and served in burger sliders. In these sliders, the nutty za’atar spiced yogurt sauce and a cooling cucumber salsa are a great compliment to the spicy flavors of the sausage.

Ingredients:

1 cup Cucumber, small dice
1/4 cup Red Onion, minced
1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
2 tablespoons White Balsamic Vinegar
1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
1 tablespoon Za’atar
Pinch of Salt, to taste

4 Lamb Merguez Sausages
8 Slider Buns or Rolls

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine cucumber, red onion, lemon juice, white balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

2. In another small bowl, mix Greek yogurt, za’atar, and salt together. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

3. Remove the casings from lamb merguez sausages. Slice each sausage in half, then form each half into a mini rounded patty. Grill until browned, for about 2-3 minutes per side.

4. Place a spoonful of za’atar yogurt sauce on each slider bun half, top with a sausage patty, and a spoonful of cucumber salsa. Place the second half of the slider bun over the salsa.

Recipe Development & Photography by Natasha Price, 5 Star Foodie

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This burger recipe balances the richness of the burger meat (particularly Kobe beef) with smokey/sour grilled nopalitos (sliced nopales, aka cactus pads). Roasted peppers increase the smokey flavor still further while bringing a slight savory heat, and all the flavors are smoothed together with creamy guacamole and tangy sheep’s cheese.

Drink Pairings: Chapulin cocktail (Reposado Tequila, Mezcal Del Maguey, fresh grapefruit & lime juice with muddled cilantro) or a Rose Wine from Provence (Loire Valley)

Ingredients:
Burger Patties (we used Kobe Beef Burgers)
1 Cactus Pad per three servings
1 large piece of Roasted Red Pepper per serving (either jarred or homemade)
Lime Juice, freshly squeezed
Aged Sheep’s Cheese (we used Garrotxa)
Burger Buns (we recommend Brioche Buns)
Your favorite Guacamole (or try our guacamole recipe)

Directions:

1. Grill and thinly slice the cactus pads. (how to grill cactus pads)

2. Thinly slice the sheep’s cheese.

3. Start grilling the burgers (best way to grill burgers).

4. Once the bottom of the burgers has grilled, flip them and top each with a few slices of goat cheese and a piece of roasted pepper.

5. Once the burgers have finished grilling, put them on the brioche buns and top them with the guacamole and sliced cactus pads. Serve.

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Very few things do not require any additional improvement, take the burger for example, a perfect burger is only a hot grill away but to truly enhance this already spectacular experience what do you do?

Kobe beef is what you do! This beef had such a pleasantly seductive aroma in its raw state that I had to exercise all kinds of restraint in not making this my little tartare sweetie. I quickly chopped up some onions and chives and added a generous amount of white pepper and a little salt and some demerara sugar and ignored the urge.

Mixed enough to pull it all together the beef now smelled even better, I was so wanting to eat it raw.

Row after row of bite size Kobe patties lined up like little burger soldiers.

Snuggled into a hot pan with a little extra virgin olive oil the sugar did its trick, I wanted a crispy outside with a tender inside and thats exactly what I had.

Assembling these was the hardest part. Why? You might ask? Because it was way too tempting to pop them in your mouth, thats why.

The “bun” is a little puff pastry round I cut out with a ring mold and pre-baked and the relish is roasted orange peppers and roasted garlic with a little salt and pepper. Kobe beef sliders on puff pastry are probably the only way to go at this point – my burger days have been jaded!

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Makes 80 Sliders

Ingredients
Kobe Beef Sliders
10 medium onions
6 egg yolks
1.5 cups fresh tarragon, minced
5 cups oil (use canola for mild flavor, olive oil for a stronger flavor and a 50/50 blend for a balanced flavor)
2/3 cups champagne vinegar (or Ritrovo Fig Vinegar)
3-5 cloves garlic
6 teaspoons salt
Olive Oil
Small Slider Buns

Carmelized Onions
1. Slice onions into ¼ inch slices.

2. Heat a wide pan or wide dutch oven to medium-high with olive oil to coat the bottom. Add the onions.

3. Turn the pan down to medium. Cook for 20-30 minutes before stirring. Essentially, you want to brown an entire layer of onions before stirring.

4. Next, ideally, you want to try to flip the onions. The objective is to keep even browning and even heat on the onions.

5. You’ll need to flip/stir a few times more. You may need to add a couple tablespoons of water to release the fond and avoid burning.

6. Within an hour, your onions should be perfectly browned.

Tarragon Aioli

1. Add egg yolks, garlic, vinegar & salt to food processor. Pulse until everything is chopped and the egg is frothy.

2. With food processor running, slowly add oil, until the mixture is thick.

3. Add minced tarragon, and salt & pepper to taste.

Burgers
The easiest way is to simply remove the burgers from the box and grill. If you are pan frying them, use a high-heat oil like grapeseed or peanut oil. Cook on high for a couple minutes on each side to get a nice sear.

Presentation
Cut buns and brush them with clarified butter or olive oil and grill or toast to golden. Spread one side of each bun generously with aioli. Then, add the grilled burger and some carmelized onions.

Wine Pairing: Red Priorat or Rioja from the Old World, such as Alvaro Palacios Les Terasses, or R. Lopez Heredia Vina Tondonia New world: California Syrah such as Big Basin or Radio Coteau.

Beer Pairing: Hair of the Dog Adam

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