Avocado, Chorizo, and Pepper Jack Cheeseburger

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A chorizo, avocado, and pepper jack cheeseburger is a delicious twist on the classic American cheeseburger. This burger features a juicy patty made from ground chuck and topped with gooey melted pepper jack cheese. We crown it with creamy avocado and flavorful chorizo. The combination of smoky, spicy, and creamy flavors creates a mouthwatering burger experience that's sure to satisfy any craving.

Alexis was craving a griddle-cooked burger while I wanted mine grilled. No problem. I used my modular cast-iron grate from Craycort, which let me swap a grate section out with a griddle plate as shown below.

I've been using cast iron grates from Craycort for about 14 years. In addition to being a fantastic cast-iron grate, the modular design lets you add other components like this griddle, a vegetable wok, or a chicken throne. 
Craycort

Not that you need a recipe for a burger, but here is what we did.

Mushroom Swiss Burgers on the Grill

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We've been chowing down on mushroom Swiss burgers in the past few weeks. Not that you need a recipe for mushroom Swiss burgers, but I have a basic recipe that I follow for the mushroom topping, and it's easy to prepare one of three ways; sauteed, saucy, or creamy.

I add chopped bacon to my mushroom topping to add a smoky, salty element.

Fun Fungi Facts

Here are some fun facts about mushrooms from Harold McGee's epic On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. [Affiliate Link]

• Mushrooms are natural flavor enhancers. They naturally contain monosodium glutamate, and many also contain guanosine monophosphate. 
• Mushrooms don't have cellulose like plants. Instead, their cell walls are made of chitin which is the same thing as the exoskeletons of crustaceans. 
• Mushrooms produce octenol (an 8-carbon alcohol) and there is more in the gills. Therefore, mature mushrooms that have opened have more gills and more flavor while unopened mushrooms like button mushrooms have less flavor.

 [FTC Standard Disclosure] We received no compensation for this post. Any links which may earn us compensation will be clearly marked [Affiliate Link]. 

I was just trying to make a blue cheeseburger the other night, but we ended up with what Alexis perfectly described when she declared, "It's a wedge salad burger!".  When she's right, she's right.

The burger is a 6-ounce ground chuck smash burger that we top with blue cheese, red onion, and steak rub while still on the griddle, so it melts together.  That deliciousness rests on top of the crispy center leaves of iceberg lettuce and is topped with seasoned diced tomatoes. All of that is on a toasted brioche bun slathered with red wine vinegar and black pepper mayo. All of that is just a long way of saying it is friggin' amazing. 

Alexis dubbed this the Wedge Salad Burger because she noticed that it had all the typical steakhouse wedge salad ingredients.

A couple of tips. Use the freshest ground beef that you can get. I get mine at Food City because they grind it fresh several times a day. Also, wedge salads are crunchy so use the center core of the iceberg lettuce for the crunchiest lettuce.

I doubt that you need a recipe to recreate this delicious burger, but just in case, here it is. 

Wedge Salad Burger

By www.nibblemethis.com

Buffalo Chicken Smash Burger

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I've been enjoying smash burgers lately, and something occurred to me. I don't recall seeing smash burgers made from ground chicken. It sounded good, so I decided to give the idea a whirl on Saturday while our favorite college teams played basketball. 

Buffalo chicken smash burgers are spicy and fun gameday food.

They were slightly crispy, spicy, and absolutely delicious; we both loved them. If tomatoes were in season, I would definitely add a slice but hothouse tomatoes in the Winter just make my taste buds sad. I almost added some bacon but thought it might overpower the flavor of the chicken. I'll make them this same way again, no doubt. 

Tips for Working with Ground Chicken

Raw ground chicken isn't as easy to work with as its beef counterpart. Here are a few tips to make the process go more smoothly.

• Ground chicken is extremely tender, almost mushy. Keep it quite cold until the last minute.
• Wash your hands with cold water before handling the chicken.
• Ground chicken tries to stick to anything that it touches, so I spray my burger press and deli sheets with spray oil (Pam, etc.). 
• Ground chicken is bland, so don't be shy with the seasonings.

Here's what we did.

Buffalo Chicken Smash Burgers

Gringo Jalapeno Smash Burgers Sliders

 [FTC Standard Disclosure] We received no compensation for this post. I am fortunate to cook with the Flavor Anonymous guys at Memphis in May each year and recently they were kind enough to send me a box of their exciting rubs and seasonings.

Hungry? How about this triple-decker smash burger with bacon and layers of roasted jalapeno cream sauce? 

Don't panic, that's not as big as it looks - it's only a slider. A slider with a half-pound of beef on it but still a slider. 

The Gringo Jalapeno sauce is a cream sauce with fire-roasted jalapeno and the Dirty Gringo rub from Flavor Anonymous. This rub has Southwestern flavors with smoky chiles that bring a lot of flavor to this sauce. I originally made it as a dip for hot wings but it also goes great on burgers.

Gringo Jalapeno Sauce for Wings and Burgers

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter, unsalted
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup half and half
• 1 jalapeno, fire-roasted, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon Flavor Anonymous Dirty Gringo rub
• pinch or two of salt to taste

The Hatch and Guac Burger

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We have made a boatload of juicy and delicious burgers this Summer, and this Hatch and Guac Burger is among the best of them. 

It's a 6-ounce beef patty cooked on a coal-fired griddle to get the grilled taste but with a flavor-delivering crust of which Maillard himself would be proud. We put it on a bed of mixed greens and topped it with fire-roasted Hatch chiles, a slice of Grainger County tomato, homemade guacamole, and fried tortilla strips.

But a great burger isn't just about toppings and condiments. For me, a phenomenal burger patty starts with two factors - 

1. the freshness of the grind and 
2. the cuts used in the grind. 

We used brisket and sirloin for the ground beef that we used for these burgers. Let's talk about grinding before jumping into the recipe.

The Daily Grind

Half-Pound Cowboy Burgers on the Grill

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We get so busy "doing" on the weekends that we'll often eat lunch so late that we just combine it with an early dinner. Do you do that? That's what we did last weekend when we made these classic, big honkin' Cowboy Burgers for our lunch-dinner. 

This elbow-dripping burger starts with an 8-ounce patty of fresh ground beef and is loaded with smoky cheddar cheese, crispy bacon, bourbon-laden BBQ sauce, fried onions, and homemade spicy pickles.

As always, I have my cooking notes, tips, and more mouth-watering pictures below the recipe. Enjoy!

Cowboy Burgers

By www.nibblemethis.com

Published 08/30/2020

Ingredients

Cheddar Burger with Candied Bacon and Brisket Jus Mayo

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This burger that we made for dinner last night was amazing. It boasted a big half-pound beef patty laced with mild cheddar, topped with candied bacon, sliced fresh Grainger County tomato, greenery, and a ridiculously good brisket jus mayo. 

Brisket jus is the delicious, gelatinous nectar that is left in the foil after wrapping a brisket. It comes from the magic of breaking down the connective tissues during the long cook and turns it into something intensely flavored and velvety in texture. Adding it to mayonnaise creates a killer condiment or dipping sauce.

This is the gelatin formed by the beef jus when I left the whole brisket in the fridge overnight. It's a cheat code for beefilicious flavor.

I realize most folks aren't going to have brisket jus sitting in their fridge. I haven't tried it yet, but I think you could probably substitute one of those concentrated Knorr Beef Stock gel packs. Mix it with some mayo and adjust the flavor with some finely ground beef rub if necessary.

I used some of my home-cured and home-smoked Sorghum and Bourbon Bacon for the candied bacon.