Saturday, August 21, 2010

Weekend Cook: Chicken Burger


Specifically, that's a juicy chicken burger with caramelized onions, mesclun, and sriracha mayonnaise on a hollowed-out wheatless bun.  Gotta hollow out those Schar buns, they're kinda cardboardy.


A pound of cubed chicken breast meat is mixed with:

1 TB Sunflower Oil
1 TB Sriracha
1 Egg White
1 Tsp Tapioca Flour
1/2 Tsp. Black Pepper
3 Cloves of Garlic, grated
1/4 plus 1/8 Tsp. Salt*

* I added the extra 1/8 Tsp. Salt after tasting a sample of the burger mix.


Whiz in a processor until "moussey" and cohesive.  Fry or microwave a small sample and adjust for your taste.


Chill for an hour or so for the flavors to combine.  Then, lightly oil your hands and form 5 flatish burgers.  They puff when you cook them.


Pan-fry on medium-low heat on one side until lightly browned.  Flip, cover the pan, and cook for 1 - 2 minutes.  Turn the heat off and let set (cover on) for 5-6 minutes.  Nervous about ground chicken?  Slip a knife horizontally into the burger and take a peak.  Rest easy.


I made a sauce from a few tablespoons of mayonnaise and as much sriracha as necessary to make it hot and spicy.


Caramelized onions take forever, but are so worth it!


Piled high with condiments, this was a real treat.  I haven't had a bunned hamburger in over three years, and it's been even longer since I had a chicken or turkey burger.  Spicy, sweet, savory, and Dan didn't complain about the wheatless bun (for once).

The leftover burgers were served the next day slathered with a compound butter of 1/2 TB butter and 1/2 TB Boucher Blue Cheese, allowed to melt into the patty.  Perfection.   I'm officially "in" to chicken burgers.