Last week we got to experience the famous
Hash House A Go Go here in Las Vegas. One of our favorite menu items was the Mushroom & Swiss Double Burger. Now here it is- what you've all been waiting for!
We make ours with fresh home ground meat and fresh ingredients. Yes! We will take you through the steps to grinding your own burger. And you don't even need a meat grinder! Learning to grind your own meat presents a lot of advantages. It allows you to control the quality of meat and also the quantity of fat you would like in your ground meat. It also allows you to control the texture of the meat. A good burger is composed of a meat with a courser grind. The result is a juicier, healthier burger! Enjoy!
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| What you'll need: beef chuck, hamburger rolls, iceberg lettuce, tomatoes (not pictured) dill pickles, button mushrooms, Swiss cheese, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, pickle juice, tarragon, salt and pepper. Oh, and a good red wine, of course! |
You want to start with a sharp knife and a clean cutting board. My favorite knife is the
global. I've had this chef's knife for over 10 years and it's still going strong. Just remember to sharpen it often and dry it immediately after using.
You want to cut the 2 pounds of beef chuck steak into one inch planks.
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| Then into one inch cubes. |
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| Yuck. Believe it or not, you have to trim off the gristle and the silver skin. It doesn't break down when you grind it at home and no one wants to be chewing on a gristly piece of burger. Bleh. You can leave the softer pieces of fat though. |
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| Spread evenly over the baking dish trying to avoid any overlap. Now its ready for the freezer! Be sure to freeze for at least 20 minutes, until it is semi-hard to the touch. Otherwise, the Ninja will just push the meat around and you'll end up with hacked up big pieces of meat, which doesn't make for a good burger. |
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| Get all your condiments cut up and arranged pretty like. Slice up your tomatoes, onions and pickles. |
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| While we wait for the meat to harden up, we will prepare the sautéed mushrooms. Slice those 12 ounces of mushrooms! Remember to curl your fingers under! |
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| Turn the burner on to medium low to medium, then add a little bit of olive oil... |
and . . .
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| get them cooking |
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| Add a little bit of salt . . . |
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Not too though! (Says Krystal! Lisa's more of a salt fiend. The more, the better!)
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| Shake the pan! |
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| Pepper for some kick!! |
Stir until soft and almost translucent.
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| Looking pretty good . . . |
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| Chopping up one tablespoon of tarragon . . . |
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| add it to the mushrooms. Stir until fragrant. |
Now, for the decadent part. Add one to two tablespoons of heavy cream or half and half. We're using half and half. But hey, who are we kidding? We're eating burgers after all!
Stir until the cream or half and half has reduced a bit and the whole mixture becomes nice and thick.
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| Now it's time to grind up the meat! The meat should be nice and hard by now. You want to add them to the Ninja in batches. |
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| Be careful not to overcrowd the Ninja. Three batches for this recipe should be good. |
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| Pulse about 25-28 times to get the right consistency. You want it to be thoroughly ground but, the meat should still be nice and coarse. This will give you a burger with a nice chew. |
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| Now is the fun part. Haha! You have to pick through the ground meat and remove any gristle or silver skin that you may have missed! (Little white fatty chunks!) |
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| And now, add some pickle juice. That's right! Two tablespoons of pickle juice to be exact. Trust me, it sounds weird, but it's oh, so good! |
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| And for a depth of flavor, add two tablespoons of soy sauce. Regular or low sodium will both work. Use what you like. The saltier the better! (That's Lisa talking of course!) |
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| Now add 1/4 cup (or 4 tablespoons) of Worcestershire sauce . . . |
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| Now work that meat! Get in there and get dirty! |
But take care not to overwork the meat too much.
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| We divided the meat into 6 patties. |
Then we decided they were too small.
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| So, we decided to go with four. So four big patties it is! Decide what size patties you like. Typical patties are anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 pound. But we'll let you decide! |
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| While the burgers are chilling in the fridge to firm up, it's time for some wine! Red wine, especially this Blackstone, goes well with red meat! |
Turn the burner to medium high . . ..
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| and let that baby heat up! Bella, Krystal's cat, has been going crazy all night. She loves burgers! |
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| A tablespoon of canola oil so nothing sticks. Olive oil isn't good for high heat cooking. |
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| Swirl to coat. Notice it's smoking hot! Now salt and pepper both sides of the burgers GENEROUSLY! A lot of the seasoning will come off during the cooking process. |
Try and space them out as evenly as possible. Preferably not touching; we've barely got enough room! You want the burgers to sear and not steam! |
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| Cover them up! We didn't have a cover so we used another pan. This will help them to cook faster and keep them moist! |
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| Turn the heat down to medium and after five minutes . . . lookin' good! |
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| Don't forget to flip them! Let them cook another three minutes. |
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| All the condiments are ready to go. I put mine on the bottom bun to keep the bun from getting soggy. You might want to toast your buns too but we were too hungry and couldn't wait! |
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| See that nice golden sear? Don't forget to top with lots of cheese! |
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| Cover again for one more minute so cheese can melt . . . |
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| Gooey deliciousness! |
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| Pile high with two patties and those delicious mushrooms! |
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| The masterpiece! |
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| Thankfully we had some wine left! |
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| And the knife! Lol! |
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| This isn't going to work! |
Krystal needs to take photography lessons. Hehe. I swear I don't have giant hands!
Recipe: Yields 4-6 burgers
Burger
2 pounds chuck
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp pickle juice
1 tbsp vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste
Fixings
4-6 burger buns
1 head iceberg lettuce sliced or cut into chunks
8-12 slices Swiss cheese
2 tomatoes thinly sliced
12-18 slices dill pickles
1/2 red onion thinly sliced
Mushrooms
1-12 oz package button mushrooms sliced
1 tbsp tarragon minced
2 tbsp heavy cream or half and half
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Grinding burger
1. Trim chuck of silver skin and of hard fat.
2. Cut chuck into 1 inch cubes.
3. Layer cubed meat in tray into one layer and place into freezer for 20 minutes (until slightly frozen to touch)
4. Working in batches, spread cubed meat into food processor or Ninja. Do not overcrowd. Pulse meat a total of 25-28 times until desired consistency.
5. Check ground meat for and remove any excess gristle.
Shaping burger
1. Add worcestershire, soy sauce and pickle juice into ground meat.
2. Mix thoroughly but be careful not to overmix.
3. Shape meat into 4-6 patties (depending on desired size).
4. Cover and place into refrigerator for a minimum of 20 minutes to firm up the meat before grilling.
Mushrooms
1. Heat pan to medium low or medium with olive oil.
2. Add mushrooms, tarragon, salt and pepper and saute until soft, about 10-15 minutes.
3. Add cream or half and half. Sautee another 3-5 minutes until thick and creamy. Set aside.
Cooking Burger
1. Season aggressively both sides of burger with salt and pepper.
2. Heat griddle or cast iron pan to medium high heat. Test the pan with a drop of water. If the drop of water dances immediately after hitting the pan, then it is hot enough.
3. Add a tablespoon of oil and turn the pan to coat.
4. Add the burgers and cover, turning the heat down a touch, between medium and medium high.
5. Cover and wait 3-5 minutes (depending on how well you like your burger cooked.)
6. Remove cover and flip burgers. Cover and cook an additional 2-3 minutes.
7. Remove cover and place 2 slices of cheese over each burger. Add a tablespoon of water to the griddle and cover one more minute to melt the cheese.
8. Toast the hamburger rolls on griddle or in toaster.
Assembly
1. Place a couple of slices of lettuce, 2 slices of tomatoes, red onion and pickles on the bottom bun.
2. Place 2 patties on top of the bottom bun.
3. Top with sauteed onions.
4. Top with top bun and secure into place with a toothpick or knife.
Enjoy with a nice glass of wine!
