With a bigger-than-usual meat patty topped with mashed avocado and fresh pico de gallo, these burgers are a double handful of drippy good fun. Mexican chorizo does the heavy lifting, flavor-wise, along with a bounty of fresh cilantro in both meat and pico. As for the cheese, American is the platonic ideal for burgers—salty, creamy-melty, and, well, what burgers need in order to taste like burgers.
When we were shooting the photos for my last book, Dorie’s Cookies, lunch was a highlight of the day, as each of us took turns cooking. One morning, Claudia Ficca, the food stylist, announced that she’d bought some salmon and had an idea for lunch: salmon burgers. Like everything Claudia does, these are special. They get a supersized helping of zip from lemons, capers, two kinds of mustard, scallions, lots of dill and Greek yogurt, which adds tang and, most important, moisture.
A Greek-style burger packed full of flavour. You’ll need to make the minted yoghurt and super-simple cucumber pickle a day ahead, but they’re worth it for this delicious lamb burger.
I use medium-size raw shrimp and puree the tails in a food processor, then combine the puree with pieces of the shrimp to form thick burgers.
When a reader named Quinn suggested a recipe that used both lentils and meat, I started thinking about how veggie burgers and beef burgers each have their own strengths. Why not combine the two ideas to create a burger with meaty flavor but the lean protein and low cost of lentils?
Be prepared to fry the potatoes twice: once to cook them so they fluff inside and again to get them crispy on the outside. When I use an electric fryer, I always follow the manufacturer's instructions. To make good fries in a pot on the stove, a deep-fat thermometer is essential. It ensures that the oil is at the proper temperature for deep-frying and lets you check that the oil isn't overheating, a potentially dangerous situation. A mandoline is a very useful slicing tool for cutting the potatoes (and other vegetables) quickly and to a uniform size. Both the deep-fat thermometer (also called a candy thermometer) and the mandoline are available at most cookware stores. The third essential is a pot that is large and tall enough to contain the oil without overflowing when the potatoes are slipped in.
Being a Top Chef contestant can be grueling and exhausting and crazy fun. When we're all wiped out from nonstop competition, we do what we do best: eat good food. Some of my most memorable meals with those talented chefs involved banh mi, traditional Vietnamese sandwiches that layer cured meats, sausages, and pickled vegetables in small, soft versions of French baguettes. I love anything with pickles and fresh cilantro! I've put those flavors in a burger patty here and sandwiched them in my favorite French roll: buttery brioche. The rich bread makes all the difference, as does high-quality pork.
Life doesn’t get much sweeter than a grill surrounded by good friends and laughter, and topped with these Italian inspired focaccia burgers. Here, fresh mushrooms, red onion, bell pepper, garlic, basil, oregano, parsley, sundried tomatoes, and other ingredients belt out an opera of flavors we can all sink our teeth into.
Here’s our new summer burger, packed with a ton of flavor and so juicy you could skip the ketchup.
Gould farm in Monterey, Massachusetts, is a farm like many others in some respects —there are acres of organic gardens along both sides of the narrow road and cows that greet you with their kind stares. Up the hill there are pigs and chickens, and there is a dairy where Cheddar is cultured and aged before traveling to stores all over this part of the state. Poke your head into any door or walk through the garden beds and you will find staff and volunteers hard at work.