Chorizo Chili Cheeseburger with Deep Fried Avocado Slices

This cheese burger is a bit over the top with gooey Oaxacan cheese, spicy chorizo chili, and deep fried slices of avocado.

But this burger needed to be a bit over the top because Kita at Girl Carnivore is hosting a Burger Month with an epic burger every day of August. Yes, the official Burger Month is in May but is one month really enough for burgers?  

Kita is on the Char-Broil All Star Bloggers  with me and she also knows a thing or two about burgers. She and Clint Cantwell (Grillocracy) teamed up and kicked the rest of the food bloggers' butts in the best custom burger grind competition at the Certified Angus Beef #GrillTalk session this summer.  So I wanted this burger to be extra special to make up for the crushing emptiness that I felt in my burger soul after that humbling defeat!  (Kidding, we all get along great and it was all in good fun.  Plus they cheated:) )

Here is why I picked the Tex-Mex characters that I did.

Chorizo

I love the edge that chorizo brings to a chili sauce for burgers and dogs.  This is the raw style Mexican chorizo, not the cured, hard Spanish style.  It is highly seasoned and packs a flavorful punch without being too spicy. 

Oaxcan Cheese

The Oaxacan style cheese is what we call Mexican mozzarella - it's semi-soft, has a mild buttery taste, and is an excellent melting cheese.  That makes it a perfect candidate for cheeseburgers.   I've seen this cheese even at Walmart so hopefully you can get your hands on some.  If not, you can substitute mozzarella or maybe some thin sliced pepper jack cheese.  

Deep Fried Avocado

Ahh the deep fried avocado slices. We got this idea from a food truck that was selling fried avocado tacos and man, were they fantastic!  The crispy texture contrasts the chili and cheese.  The richness helps tame the spiciness of the chili sauce.  You could just use avocado slices without frying but if you have time, it's worth deep frying!

Chorizo Chili Burger with Deep Fried Avocado Slices

By www.nibblemethis.com
Published 08/25/2015

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds ground chuck
• salt, pepper, and granulated garlic to taste
• 4 hamburger buns
• 4 ounces Oaxacan cheese

For The Deep Fried Avocados

• 1 avocado, seeded, peeled, and sliced lengthwise
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon fajita seasoning or taco seasoning
• 2 eggs lightly beaten with 2 tablespoons cold water
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• oil for deep frying

For the Chorizo Chili Sauce

• 3/4 pounds ground sirloin
• 1/2 pound chorizo sausage
• 1/2 cup beef broth
• 1/4 cup picante sauce or salsa
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried minced onion [or 1 Tbsp grated fresh onion]
• 1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground corriander
• season salt to taste, about 1/2 teaspoon

Instructions

1. Make the Deep Fried Avocados. Preheat oil between 350 and 375°F. Season the flour with fajita seasoning, coat avocado slices, and knock off excess. Dip in the egg wash and then roll in the bread crumbs. Carefully deep fry until golden, 60 - 90 seconds and remove to a resting rack. Season with salt to taste as soon as each batch comes out.
2. Make the chili. Place all chili ingredients in a medium saucepan over a medium high heat burner. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer, stirring and breaking up the pieces of meat. It should take about 45 minutes to reduce to a chili sauce consistency. Taste for seasoning and add more salt/pepper if desired. If you want more heat, kick in some of your favorite hot sauce.
3. Preheat your grill to 450°F. Obviously the grates should be scrubbed clean and spritzed with a high temp oil just before the burgers go on.
4. Keeping the meat as cold as possible and handling as little as possible, form the ground chuck into four 6 oz patties.  Sprinkle some salt, pepper, and granulated garlic over the patties only right before they go on.
5. Grill the burgers until the brown color creeps up the edges and liquid starts to push out of the tops - about 4-5 minutes. Flip and cook another two minutes. Top with slices of the cheese, close the grill lid, and cook until the burgers reach an internal temp of 160°F - about another 2-3 minutes. Remove to a resting rack. [If you know the risks and know how to mitigate them by grinding your own meat, feel free to cook them to medium rare instead.]
6. Toast your buns. Lightly brush the buns with some melted butter and toast on the grill until slightly crispy and brown.

Yield: 4 Big Booty Burgers

Make sure that your oil is at temp before dropping the avocados in or you will get a soggy, nasty mess.  A trusty Thermapen or other super fast read thermometer is your best bet for checking this out.

I hate deep frying inside the house because of the lingering odors, that is why I love using my grill's side burner for deep frying outside.

Waiting to season the burgers at the last minute keeps the salt from drawing moisture out.  Salt, pepper, and garlic are fine, but I cheated and used my NMT Beef Rub (black pepper, green pepper, garlic, onion, bell peppers, oregano, salt) for a bit more flavor.

This isn't a sponsored post but I have to say that I have really enjoyed my Char-Broil Commercial Series gas grill this summer.  The TRU-Infrared panels and cast iron grates deliver even, powerful heat without drying out my food - unlike any gas grills I have used in the past.  For a charcoal and wood guy, I have been really impressed with this gasser.  If you're in the market for a gas grill, you should check these out at Lowe's.

The sizzle and smoke of grilling burgers is a part of summer magic, whether it's something a bit involved like this recipe or something as simple as a plain grilled burger.

The Oaxacan cheese is from the Oaxaca state of Mexico.  It is rich, buttery, and melts easily.  It is great on burgers, in queso sauce, and casseroles.

I liked to put my burgers on a resting rack when they come off.  If they go directly on a flat surface like a plate, the heat gets trapped and will create a steaming effect on the bottom, making it easier to lose juices.  

This was a fantastic burger.  More involved than your usual cheeseburger but well worth it.

So put this burger on your "try soon" list and hop over to Girl Carnivore to see a month's worth of killer burgers.

[FTC Standard Disclaimer]  We received no compensation for this post, but I am a member of the Char-Broil All Stars and they are a sponsor.  Thermoworks is also an equipment sponsor.

High Low Beef Filet with Marsala Portobello Sauce

National Filet Mignon Day was this past week so I decided to try out Adam Perry Lang’s High-Low method on my Grill Dome.

Certified Angus Beef filet from Food City here in Knoxville.

Adam is a renowned pitmaster, a classically trained chef, restauranteur, and appears regularly on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Adam has "dabbled" in competition BBQ, winning first place pork shoulder at The American Royal (one of the BBQ “majors”). He is also an accomplished grilling cookbook author. His Serious Barbecue book is a modern classic and I think that BBQ25 is a must have for up and coming grillers.

Adam’s High-Low technique comes from his third book, Charred and Scruffed, and it is similar to the wildly popular “reverse sear” technique. But instead of doing a low temp and then a high temp, the High-Low technique relies on positioning in the grill. This method starts off cooking “high” up in the grill on a raised rack to moderate the heat intensity. Then it finishes close to the red coals, searing it off. This technique works extremely well in a kamado grill.

I followed his technique and baste recipe but used my normal rub and I made a Marsala-Portobello sauce to compliment the filet.  For the beef rub, you can use Adam's Four Seasons Blend or another beef rub, I used my NMT Beef Rub.  To make the herb brush, an APL signature technique, take a handful of fresh herb sprigs and tightly tie them around the handle of a wooden spoon with kitchen twine.

Beef Filet with Marsala Portobello Sauce

Adapted from Adam Perry Lang's High Low Filet
Published 08/15/2015

The high-low technique slowly cooks the filet before finishing it off with a high temp sear to build that delicious crust.

Ingredients

• 4 8-10 ounce Certified Angus Beef tenderloin filet
• 1 1/2 tablespoons beef rub

For the baste

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup tallow
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried minced onion
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flake

For the Marsala Portobello Sauce

• 4 tablespoons butter, divided
• 16 ounces sliced baby bella or crimini mushrooms
• 1/4 cup dry Marsala wine
• 1 cup beef stock
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh herbs, finely chopped
• black pepper to taste
• salt to taste
• several sprigs of herbs for an herb brush

Instructions

1. Take your steaks off of refrigeration and let rest at room temperature. Set up your grill with a raised rack (see notes) and preheat to 450-500°F
2. Make the baste. Mix all ingredients in a small pot and bring to a slow simmer, whisking frequently for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Make the sauce. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and melt 3 tablespoons butter. Add sliced mushrooms and saute until softened and browned, 8-10 minutes. Carefully add Marsala wine and deglaze the skillet, scraping any stuck bits with a wooden spoon. When liquid is almost all evaporated, add in the stock and herbs. Simmer until reduced by half and thickened, about 15-20 minutes. Season to taste with salt (1/4 -1/2 teaspoon) and black pepper (about 1/2 teaspoon). Stir in 1 tablespoon of butter and keep warm over very low heat.
4. Season steaks with the rub. Then with wet hands, work the rub all around the steaks to form a paste. Let set for 5 minutes.
5. Place the steaks on the raised rack and grill for 2 minutes. Flip and grill another 2 minutes. Grill the sides for 1 minute each.  Keep the grill lid shut each time.
6. Continue cooking the steaks, turning and basting them with an herb brush every minute, until the steaks reach an internal temperature of 90°F, about another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest at least 5 minutes or up to 30 minutes.
7. Remove the raise grate and return the steaks to the grill. Flip and baste the steaks every minute until they reach an internal temperature of 110-115°F. This will take about 5 more minutes if doing on a regular grate or only 1-2 minutes if using a lowered grate (see notes).
8. Remove steaks and let rest for 5 full minutes. To serve, spoon some of the Marsala Portobello sauce onto the plate, top with a filet, and then spoon a slight amount more of the sauce on top.

Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 00 hrs. 15 mins.

Cook time: 00 hrs. 20 mins.
Total time: 35 mins.
Tags: beef, filet, grill, steak

A note on substitutions

• Baste - This is all about building layers but if you don't feel like making your own, you can buy a jarred baste.  The Shed and Stubbs both make a pretty good bottled beef baste.
• Tallow - I need to do a post on this but tallow is just rendered down beef fat that I keep on hand.  You can substitute additional butter or bacon fat.
• Herb brush - sure you can skip it and use a basting brush but again, it's building layers.

 

I am loving these disposable cutting boards.  We got a roll of them for BBQ comps but they really come in handy for outdoor cooking at home too.

Gorgeous afternoon for outdoor cooking. I used the Grill Dome as my main grill and had the Egg fired up to fire roast the potatoes.

I roasted the potatoes at 400°F for a total of 50 minutes.  Rubbed with oil and seasoned with Meat Church Season All, chopped garlic, and a few pinches of chopped herbs.

Flipped them after about 30 minutes.

You can do the mushroom sauce on the grill or on stove top.

My beef rub is black peppercorns, green peppercorns, dried garlic, dried onions, dried red and green bell pepper coarsely ground up and then oregano and salt added.  It's a bit of a pain to make since we dry the peppers ourselves but well worth the flavor for beef.  BTW, I love these flip top shaker tops you can buy for plain old mason jars now, perfect for BBQ dudes and dudettes.  I think we found ours at the grocery store or Walmart.

Rubbing the seasoning in with wet hands to make a paste is one of Adam's techniques. Normally I just lightly oil them before seasoning but this technique worked well too.

The "raised grate" or "elevated grate" set up for my Grill Dome was the double duty Indirect rack.  It served as the raised and lowered rack for this cook, I just flipped it upside down.  Here are some other options.  For a gas grill you can just use the top rack.  

There is a lot of turning, flipping, basting, and handling in this recipe - that's a trademark of Adam Perry Lang. He's the opposite of the "only flip a steak once" school of thought.   Cooking on the elevated grate like this is effectively cooking at a lower temperature like the start of a reverse sear.  

Basting with the herb brush just adds layer upon layer of flavor.

There's a lot of fat in the baste which will cause flare ups.  Don't panic, your elevated grill grate will take care of that for you.  Closing the grill lid between each step helps keep flames knocked down too.

Flipping the indirect rack grate for the second part of the cook gets the steaks right next to the super hot coals, giving you a power sear in just a minute or two. You could also use a spider rig with a 13" grate.  If you are cooking on a normal level grate, this step will take more like 5 minutes. 

This was a great meal.  Even the green beans were something special because that bacon on them was home cured and smoked by my BBQ teammate and neighbor, John.

I like this technique and plan to use it this weekend when I try to recreate a pork tenderloin dish that I had at a restaurant recently.  I like the layering of flavors and the crust that this builds up.  It doesn't replace the reverse sear, this high-low technique is just another awesome tool to have in one's grilling skill set.

Have a great weekend and fire up those smokers and grills!

[FTC Standard Disclaimer]  Grill Dome is our kamado grill sponsor and Certified Angus Beef recently provided me with an educational trip package.  I paid full price for the steaks, Meat Church Season All, APL's books, and the mason jar shaker caps. The links for the books and caps are Amazon Affiliate links.

How Certified Angus Beef is Graded - CAB #GrillTalk Trip

This summer, I was lucky enough to travel to Wooster, Ohio for a #GrillTalk session and butchery lesson with the fine folks at Certified Angus Beef (CAB). I was excited to learn more about one of my favorite brands.

I have been using Certified Angus Beef for years but I really didn’t know that much about them as an organization or what they do. That’s the first thing that I learned. They were formed in 1978 after a bad steak experience in a restaurant. CAB is owned by the American Angus Association which consists of some 25,000 ranchers and serves as a resource to the ranchers and 15,000 partners (grocery stores, restaurants, etc). So they don’t actually own or sell beef, rather they are the brand and provide the framework (quality, best practices, etc) and marketing in which CAB is sold.

I have a ton of information but I'll limit this post to the most important thing I learned which is how beef earns that Certified Angus Beef label.

How Beef Is Graded In The United States

Dr. Phil Bass (yes – a meat scientist, what a cool job!) first walked us through the USDA grading process. 

• First, only a USDA Inspector is required at a plant and his/her role is limited to making sure the food is wholesome to eat.
• Grading (prime, choice, select, etc) is actually optional and the plant has to pay for the USDA grader.
• If the meat is not graded, it is referred to as “no roll” beef. (My personal experience is to avoid “no roll” and “cow” beef. There’s a chance “no roll” could be as marbled as prime, it just wasn’t graded. But it’s a gamble I don’t take.)
• Grading is done only at the 12^th and 13^th rib 24-48 hours after the steer has been harvested. This is why you will sometimes see a piece of USDA Choice beef that looks like it should have been select – they only look at the one spot to make the call for the entire steer. I've also seen Choice look almost as good as prime. The grade is based on maturity and marbling.
• “Black hide” carcasses get an “A” stamp for Angus.

So that last one (black hide) was an open issue for me. Like I said, I have used CAB for years but in November 2011 on the BBQ Central Radio show, I heard a butcher decry Certified Angus Beef as “nothing but a marketing ploy” because they rely on phenotype (appearance) instead of genotype (genetics) to determine if a steer is Angus. At that point, I decided to not rely on the CAB label and just go by which steaks looked better to me. But I quickly noticed that I was still buying the Certified Angus Beef steaks anyway because they consistently looked better than the regular USDA Choice steaks.

So was it just chance that the CAB steaks always looked better? No....

How Certified Angus Beef Makes The Grade

There are lots of Angus products on the market, but only 1 in 4 Angus get selected for the Certified Angus Beef program because they use 10 quality standards above and beyond the USDA grading. These standards ensure that when you buy CAB, you are getting beef that is in the upper 2/3rds of USDA Choice. The standards include:

1. Modest or higher marbling - There are 7 levels of marbling in the beef in most meat counters. Select has slight. Choice has small, modest, and moderate. Prime has slightly abundant, moderately abundant, and abundant.
2. Medium or Fine Marbling Texture – With USDA grading, coarse marbling is cause for beef to be knocked down one grade level. But with CAB, the marbling MUST be medium or fine, coarse marbling disqualifies a carcass for the CAB program.
3. Only “A” Maturity – This isn't a chronological age, rather physiological based on color, skeletal aging. It is categorized A through E. USDA Prime must be A or B. Certified Angus limits itself to only A maturity, so in this case, it's a higher standard than USDA Prime.
4. 10-16 Square Inches For The Rib Eye – They use the clear guide pictured below to measure this. This is important for portion sizing. Bigger than 16 inches will result in either a too thin steak for a typical 12 ounce portion or an expensive steak if cut to typical thicknesses.
5. 1050 Hot Carcass Weight or Less – Hot carcass means fresh killed, not refrigerated and dressed yet.
6. Less than 1” Fat Thickness – as measured ¾ way down the side of the 12^th rib.
7. Superior Muscling – this is a way to exclude dairy cows and such.
8. Practically Free of Capillary Ruptures – Ever see a gross, dark, bloody spot on meat? That's a capillary rupture. It's mainly cosmetic but can cause a metallic taste.
9. No Neck Hump Greater Than 2” - No lovely lady humps here. This rules out Brahman beef (boss indicus) that was brought in for cross breeding in the South because it's heat and parasite resistant but has tough meat.
10. No Dark Cutters – Beef is usually bright red because it oxygenates or blooms when exposed to air because of the iron in the beef. If it fails to turn red, it is called a “dark cutter” and will likely have tenderness and palatability issues.

That is why the CAB products always look better to me – they are held to these higher standards to ensure I get a great cut of beef. I have confidence that when I get a Certified Angus Beef product, I am getting quality beef.

So here are some pics from our 2 days of training.  This was definitely a "hands on" experience and I loved every minute of it.
 

Dr Phil Bass explaining how the physiological age of a steer is rated.

The carcass cut between the 12th/13th rib for grading on the left.  On the right, you see the guide used to determine the area of the rib eye to make sure it is between 12 and 16 square inches.

"Beef tattoo"

Chef Michael Ollier says that he butchers by feel as much by sight.

Chef Ashley Pado seasoned a CAB brisket with their Angry Texan Rub (click for recipe).

Then we went outside and started talking smoke, barbecuing on both a commercial smoker and a Weber Smoky Mountain.

Chef Ashley checking a tri tip for a reverse sear.

Beef Bacon - cured from the short plate pastrami, aka center cut beef navel. It tasted like a very intense bacon and this would be fantastic on a burger.

My butchering partner, Mike of Dad Cooks Dinner, shows off the pretty eye that we cut from a whole ribeye.

Erin of Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts cleaning up the cap or spinalis dorsi from the whole ribeye.

Manhattan style steaks cut from the whole ribeye.

Mike Vrobel breaking down our ribeye.

Scott Thomas of Grillin Fools contemplating what he wanted to do with his cap steak.  It's one of the best cuts from the steer and you only get 2 per carcass so you want to treat it as something special.

My favorite cut of the butcher sessions.  It is the cap from the ribeye wrapped around the complexus muscle for a mini-ribeye roast that you can stuff with just about anything. 

Kita Roberts of Girl Carnivore rolled her cap steak as a roast.  Same cut as the picture above but a different presentation.

Testing the pH of beef.  The pH affects the color and should be between 5.2 and 5.6.  Greater than 5.8 will cause it to be dark and rejected from the Certified Angus Beef program.

We had a custom burger grind competition where we picked from an array of cuts and ground our own burgers.  Clint and Kita won.  Mike and I used ribeye, short rib, and sirloin flap.

This is the device that measures the amount of fat that is in a batch of ground beef.  It grills down a sample of the meat and measures the rendered fat.  Very cool device.

How about the classroom kitchen, eh?  I could "make do" if I had this at home, how about you?

One of the cuts we broke down was the top sirloin butt.  Before cleaning them up, right to left, here is the coulotte, top sirloin petite roast, roast that we will steak out, and the "mouse".

For every individual cut that we did, staff grilled them off so we could taste the differences between the various cuts. Yes, we ate a LOT of beef in 48  hours.

Clint "Don't Call Me Blackwell" Cantwell of Grillocracy talks ribeyes with Chef Ollier.

Dr. Bass walking us through one of the cuts we were to break down.  Very educational sessions.  For me the hardest thing was breaking out the flat iron steak from the shoulder clod - I'll never complain about their price again, it's a pain to break down.

Of course we did side by side comparisons for appearance, taste, and texture. 

We had a food styling and photography session where they gave us the secrets to creating those flawless "on the grill" money shots.  Hint....it's not on a grill.  Very insightful session.

The dry aging cabinet at Certified Angus Beef's headquarters. This wouldn't fit in my carry on luggage unfortunately.

A 45 day dry aged strip loin that we had for dinner.  Just gorgeous steaks, right?

Did I mentioned that the kept feeding us and feeding us?  Top is the charcuterie buffet that was just an appetizer.  Bottom left strip steaks, bottom right "bar candy" made from deep fried smoked brisket point.

Top left is a dry aged strip loin.  Top right, Chef Peter Rossenberg dishing out Bar Candy.  Bottom is the dry aged NY Strip that I had the last night we were there.

I'll just skip the bull and steer puns here...just too easy. 

This was a whirlwind trip and there is so much more to cover - I took 7 full pages of notes.  Thanks to the people at Certified Angus Beef for a fun and highly informative adventure! 

[FTC Standard Disclaimer]  My trip was paid for by Certified Angus Beef and I received a steak/grill package from them; however, I have used CAB for years and the opinions given are my own.