Idea for Grilling a Better Cheeseburger

Memorial Day is fast approaching and grills will be dusted off, fired up, and loaded with brats, dogs, and burgers.  Here's a way to amp up the flavor of your cheeseburgers.

This isn't a recipe post so much as just a general idea that I like to use when grilling cheeseburgers.  I'll post it as a recipe just to give some basic proportions but the gist is this - instead of grilling a burger and then just slapping a piece of cheese on it, upgrade your cheese with a party of flavor.  Mix up some shredded cheese with herbs, spices, and whatever add-ins you like.

Hot Mess Cheeseburger

Serves:  4 burgers

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 lb ground chuck
• 1 tsp Kosher salt
• 3/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp granulated garlic

For the cheese mix

• 1/2 cup shredded colby-jack cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
• 2 Tbsp red onion, finely diced
• 1 Tbsp garlic, finely minced
• 2 Tbsp green onion, chopped
• 2 Tbsp roasted red pepper
• 1 Tbsp coarse ground mustard
• 1/2 tsp creole seasoning* 

Instructions

1. Preheat a charcoal grill to 450f (medium-high).
2. Season the beef with the salt, pepper, and garlic.  Divide into 4 equal portions and form into 1/2 inch thick patties.  [Tip - keep the beef very cold and rinse your hands in cold water before forming the patties.  This will help keep the natural fats from rendering and keep the meat from getting dense.]
3. Toss the cheese mix ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly.
4. Grill the burgers for 4 minutes with the grill lid closed.  
5. Flip and top the burgers with equal portions of the cheese mix.  Grill another 4 minutes with the grill lid closed or until the cheese is melted and the burger is an internal temp of 165f.  
6. Remove and let rest for 5 minutes.  Serve with toasted buns and your favorite burger toppings.  I used lettuce, tomato and bacon.

Notes

• I used Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning because it's what I had on hand.  

Again, just an idea.  Throw whatever flavors you want into your cheese mix.  No rules.

This would also be a great stuffing for "Jucy Lucy" style stuffed cheeseburgers.

Put the cheese on as soon as you flip so it has time to melt evenly.  It's also important to keep the grill lid closed for  reflective heat.

Not your ordinary cheeseburger and it's totally adaptable to your preferences.

Creole Roast Beef Wraps

Whether you are at the pool, on the run, or just trying to hide from the heat at home, wraps are a quintessential summer lunch. You can almost feel yourself cooling off as you bite into the chilled crisp veggies and meat. Wraps are convenient for a busy summer lifestyle because they are portable, can be made ahead of time, and can pack a variety of summer time flavors.

Alexis bought a 6 lb beef eye of round roast on sale this week and I slow roasted it on her Big Green Egg. Eye of round can be a little less flavorful than other cuts of beef so I added flavor. I injected it with Cajun Injector'sCreole Butter and gave it a heavy coat of Tony Chachere's CreoleSeasoning.  (For tips on injecting see the previous post.)

The cooking set up was indirect on a roast rack over a dripping pan filled with 2 cups of beef broth. The drippings of rendered fat and seasonings are captured in the broth making an excellent au jus.

There are two things to think about when using a set up like this.

1. The roasting rack will raise the roast several inches off of the grate. But you always want a roast to cook in the center of your oven or grill for even cooking. So I skipped the grate altogether and had the rack sitting directly on the “plate setter” of the Big Green Egg. For a standard grill if you can't adjust the height of the grates, you will need to flip the roast half way through the cooking time.
2. For Big Green Egg Users: If the dripping pan sits directly on the hot plate setter, it can get too hot from conductive heat and evaporate a lot of your broth. That will make it too concentrated and salty. I raise the drip pan off the plate setter with some spacers.

I cooked it indirect at 250f until it hit an internal temperature of 135f (about 2 ½ hours) and then pulled it to rest lightly covered for 15 minutes. We could have eaten it then but we wrapped it in foil and put it in the fridge for a few hours before slicing thin. Here's how the time/temps worked out.  I would have liked the roast a bit more on the rare side of medium rare so next time I will pull it earlier, maybe around 130f.  This was twice the size of the normal eye roasts I do so maybe it carried temp longer after it came off the grill.  I normally allow 10 degrees for carry over cooking. 

Time	Grill Temperature (f)	Internal Temperature (f)
	250	40
30 min	275	56
1 hour	250	91
1 hour 30 minutes	250	115
2 hours	250	127
2 hours 20ish minutes	260	135

This creole roast beef and a spicy creole sauce add pizazz to these wraps and the spicy au jus finishes it off like a summer dip in the pool. 

Creole Roast Beef Wraps

4 servings or 8 snack portions

4 ten inch wraps (We used MissionSundried Tomato Basil wraps)

½ cup creole sauce (see recipe)

4 leaves green leaf lettuce

1 lb creole roast beef, thin sliced

½ cup roasted red pepper

8 slices French Emmental cheese (or whatever floats your boat)

1 cup au jus

Creole Sauce

2 Tbsp sour cream

3 Tbsp coarse ground creole mustard

2 Tbsp mayonnaise

½ tsp prepared horseradish

¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp sugar

¼ tsp white pepper

¼ tsp kosher salt

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp black pepper

Whisk together ingredients for Creole sauce and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to let the flavors combine.

Spread 2 Tbsp of Creole sauce on ½ side of a wrap. Top with lettuce leaf, ¼ lb of roast beef, 2 slices cheese, and 2 Tbsp of roasted red pepper.

Fold in top and bottom of the wrap and roll up burrito style. Slice in half with a bias cut (at an angle) and serve with ¼ cup of hot au jus.

This has been our lunch for the past two days and I am already looking forward to having them for lunch at work tomorrow too! 

[Standard Disclaimer]  I have no affiliation with the mentioned companies or products and paid full retail costs.

Creole Pork Tenderloin and Grits

I was probably in my late teens before I realized that Creole was more than a lyric in the Dire Straits song Sultans of Swing.

They don't give a damn,
'bout any trumpet playing band
It ain't what they call rock and roll
And the Sultans played Creole
(remember how deep Knopfler's voice was when he repeated Creole?)

Then when I did learn about Creole food, for years I thought it was synonymous with Cajun. If you just heard a "thud" that was Katherine fainting over at Smoky Mountain Cafe.

I did finally learn the error of my ways and repented years ago. But those memories drifted across my mind tonight when I grilled a Creole pork tenderloin with grits.



Creole Pork Tenderloin and Grits
source: This one is kind of tricky. I used a very slight variation of John Besh's Basic Creole Spices. I loosely adapted the Creole sauce from a shrimp recipe in Joy Of Cooking (97 version). Then Nibble Me This has to get some credit for coming up with the dish and executing it :)

Creole Sauce
1/2 ea onion, peeled and diced
1/2 ea green pepper, seeded and diced
1 stalk celery, diced
2 tsp thyme, dried
1/2 tsp kosher salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 ea roasted red pepper diced
3 Tbsp tomato paste
1 cup canned diced tomato, crushed while cooking
1 cup beef stock
1/2 cup red wine

Basic Creole Spices
(will make 1/2 cup but you will only use 2-3 Tbsp, store rest for later use)
1 3/4 Tbsp celery salt
1/2 tsp celery seed
1 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp coarse sea salt
1 Tbsp black pepper, finely ground
3/4 Tbsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp minced garlic (the dehydrated flakes)
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp allspice, ground

1 ea pork tenderloin

1 cup stone ground grits, slow cooked to directions

Green onion and cheese to garnish

Make the sauce first, you can even make it ahead of time and reheat. This is a mouth pleasing Creole base that could be used for shrimp, rice & okra, or anything.

In a hot cast iron pan, heat about 2 tablespoons of "menage-a-fat" (equal parts butter, oil, and bacon fat....sorry, I love that term and it's all mine!). Saute the onion, green pepper, celery, thyme and salt over medium heat for about 8-10 minutes until softened.

Add in the garlic and roasted red pepper and cook for another 2 minutes.

Add in the tomato paste and tomatoes, stirring to mix in well, cooking for another 5 minutes. Make sure to crush the tomatoes up as you stir.

Add the wine and beef broth. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 25 minutes. If they get done before the grits and pork are done, just drop the temp as low as you can and keep covered. That probably even makes it better.

While that is cooking, cook your slow cooking grits according to directions. Seriously, you HAVE TO USE COARSE GROUND GRITS or don't bother. These are not your wimpy, blandy, soupy grits that most people associate with the idea of grits. These will have a nice thick texture and will serve as the base to this kick ass dish.

At the same time, you want to get your grill cooking at 350-375f. Rub your pork tenderloin with the creole seasoning to give it a good coating. I guess I used about 2-3 tablespoons. Grill it over direct heat turning every 5-6 minutes, until the internal temp hits 140f. That takes about 21 to 24 minutes for me but rely on your instant read thermometer.


Your grits and pork should both take about 30 minutes to cook, start to finish and then they can both rest for about 10 minutes. This will let the pork finish cooking and thicken up the grits.

Plate a large spoonful of the grits to the side of a deep plate. Ladle some of the Creole sauce on the rest of the plate. Top with thin slices of the pork and garnish with cheese and green onion.

The sliced pork by itself was so good that it could have disappeared at the cutting board. Thick stone ground grits always make me happy. I was worried the sauce might not be a suitable match since it was adapted from a shrimp recipe but holy crapoly, I couldn't have put together a better combination.


The best part? We have creole sauce leftover and I'm grilling shrimp tomorrow night!