Cheesy Western

This one most of you probably don't know. A Cheesy Western is a staple from the "Texas Inn" otherwise known as the T-Room in Lynchburg, Virginia. The T-Room was the late night after party munchies place when I was in college. It was a hole in the wall type of place where there were 6 bar stools and a counter. The waitresses were known as being very surly. I guess that's what will happen after years of serving drunk rednecks and college kids looking for a greasy hangover cure and maybe a fight or two. In the T-Room you have to know how to order or you were not getting served. The T-Room basics were burgers, hot dogs, and chili. The chili was referred to as a "bowl". A burger was called a "cheesy". A glass of water was referred to as "off the James", in reference to the James River which ran locally. A Cheesy Western meant you wanted a fried egg on top of your burger and "All the way" meant you wanted them to add relish. My standard T-Room order was a Cheesy Western all the way with a bowl off the James. It sounds confusing but they knew exactly what you wanted. The entire place was tiny. The waitresses were probably ten feet from the cook yet every time you ordered they would scream your order to the cook where he would flip a burger off of his stack onto the flat top. The whole thing was quite hilarious. So, today I tried to recreate the famous Cheesy Western at home. First, I used the grass fed organic ground beef although somehow I seriously doubt their beef was that good. I formed them into a thin beef patti. Then I added some olive oil into the cast iron pan and seasoned the pan with salt and red pepper flakes. I decided to use a different technique this time to cook the burger. A lot of burger joints steam their burgers. Places such as "White Mana" in Hackensack steam their burgers. The T-Room is no different. This allows you to cook the burger faster and it seals in the juices and cooks very evenly. Once the pan was hot I poured a little water around the burger and covered it with a lid. After four minutes I cracked open an egg on top of the burger and covered with American cheese. Then I added a little more water and covered the entire thing until finished. The one thing that was not quite authentic was the roll. The T-Room uses a soft white roll. I used a Potato roll just because that is what I had. After you put the burger on the bun you then add the relish and press the sandwich nice and thin with the spatula. I have to say I did a pretty good job with this one. It was definitively a taste of Lynchburg, Virginia. Also, I have to say that steaming the burger is really good. Other than outside on the grill this might be my new favorite way to cook a burger. Even my wife Ann loved her steamed burger. She noticed a big difference this time around in flavor and texture. Every bite I took was deliciously juicy with a soft bun to soak up some egg yolk and the relish to add some sweetness. This was a successful blast from the past. Eight burgers to go and I feel like I am just getting warmed up.

Green chili 3 cheeseburger

This burger was inspired by Food Network's Bobby Flay. I have seen him make a green chili sauce before in an episode of "Throwdown". Apparently, in New Mexico green chili burgers are on every menu in every restaurant. I also used another Bobby Flay item that I have seen him make on TV which is a cheese sauce. I saw him make a provolone cheese sauce for a cheesesteak throwdown episode. I decided to combine the two and make a beef burger with a chili and 3 cheese sauce topping. To start I went to Whole Foods and picked out my ingredients. Let me start by saying that I am loving my decision to go organic with all my meat, eggs, and produce. You can really taste a difference. The burger itself just tasted really good without the toppings or anything on it. The quality meat makes a huge difference. Anyway, for my chili sauce I decided to use a red bell pepper, two poblano peppers, and an Anaheim pepper. I cooked the peppers whole on the stove top until the skins were black and charred nicely. Then I put them in a paper bag and sealed tightly for about 20 minutes. The next item was the sauce. In a small sauce pan I melted a tablespoon of unsalted butter and a teaspoon of habenero butter for flavor. Then I added a spoonful of flour to form a roux. When the roux was done I slowly added my three cheeses which were a combination of asiago, fontina, and parmigiano reggiano. After each helping of cheese I also poured in a little bit of milk and stirred until creamy. The last part of the sauce was the peppers. I took the peppers out of the paper bag and placed them on a cutting board. I peeled the charred skin off of the peppers and then sliced into small pieces and put in a food processor with some olive oil. Then I slowly added the pepper mixture into the sauce pan while gently mixing with the cheese sauce. Lastly, I added some salt and black pepper and the sauce was ready. Now for the burgers it was pretty simply done. I formed the patties with the grass fed organic ground beef. Then I heated the cast iron pan with some of the habenero butter to coat the pan. Then I cooked the burgers for about 6 minutes on each side until medium rare. The bun was a large kaiser roll which I toasted. When the bun was ready I put a healthy portion of the green chili 3 cheese sauce on the bottom and a little bit of ketchup on top. Then I placed the burger in the middle and was ready to enjoy this southwestern burger delight. The cheese sauce was creamy and little spicy. The ground beef tasted really fresh and clean. The ketchup cut the spice by adding some sweetness. The bun was crunchy. This burger was very balanced flavor wise and texture wise. This was the best burger I have had in a while. I was a happy guy tonight. I have so many other burgers that I want to try and I only have nine weeks left.

BBQ sliders

This week's burger came about in two ways. First, my mother in law bought me a Billy May's slider maker. For those of you who haven't seen this on the late night infomercials it is sort of like a cupcake pan with a press. You can use it on the stove top. Sliders are all the rage the last couple of years. These small burgers are on every restaurant menu from the average chain to a high end restaurant. I recently saw Bobby Flay endorse a 50 dollar slider made with Kobe beef and all top of the line ingredients. To start my slider I mixed the grass fed ground beef with organic cheddar cheese and an organic egg. Again, I have made my new year's resolution to buy all my meat and produce organically. Then I mixed in the seasoning which was salt, pepper, garlic, red pepper flakes, and hot smoked paprika. After I hand mixed the patties then I formed into little balls. There is no need to flatten them as you would for a full size burger because the slider maker presses them down into the uniform shape. My wife Ann suggested that I make my sliders as you would a pulled pork sandwich. I really liked this idea because I love a pulled pork. So I decided to season my burger with the typical pulled pork style dry rub which is garlic, paprika, and garlic. Then we used a barbecue sauce and some cole slaw to top the burger. We just bought some store made cole slaw. It had a sweet flavor which was good for the smoky and spicy burger. For the BBQ sauce I used my favorite store bought sauce which is K.C. original and mixed it with a chipotle mustard. To prepare the sliders I put a small amount of a habanero butter into the pan. Then I preheated the pan before I put the meat into it. Then I pressed the top down and cooked the burgers nicely on both sides without flipping. The buns were nice and soft and we slathered the top with the chipotle BBQ sauce. Then when the burger was finished we topped the burger itself with a bit of a sweet cole slaw for a delicious slider. It had a smoky flavor with a little bit of late heat in the throat after you swallow. Overall the burger really did taste just like a pulled pork sandwich. If I only had a nice piece of corn bread then it really would have been a meal. But this burger was yet another success. As you can see above even one of my dogs, Millie, was excited for these little burgers. I can't believe it but I only have 10 burgers to go. I am looking forward to next week. Another type of slider might definitely be in my future. If you have any suggestions please send them my way.

"The New American Burger"

This burger was inspired by a Men's Health article I read in last month's issue entitled "The New American Diet." The article was inspired by the book with the same title. The basic point of the article was that hidden chemicals in our foods are making us fat. Even things like fruits, vegetables, and lean meats such as chicken and fish are full of steroids and pesticides that are causing us to store more estrogen which in turn leads to less muscle and more body fat. So for this burger I ventured to Whole Foods for some good organic meat and produce. To start I hand mixed some grass fed ground beef with no hormones included with a large organic cage free egg. Then I added diced red onion and organic fresh spinach leaves which I chopped finely. The last two ingredients were organic shredded cheddar cheese and one cup of old fashioned oats. Not instant oats like you would make oatmeal with but old fashioned whole oats which are a great source of fiber and can be really filling. When they make oats into instant oatmeal it completely takes away all the nutrients. The reason that instant oatmeal is all that you see is because it is a lot easier than boiling water and infusing and slow stirring the oats. I hand mixed all of these ingredients and formed them into patties to cook on the cast iron. Of course I seasoned the beef with salt and red pepper flakes before I put them on the pan. I cooked the burgers for about 8 minutes on each side to medium rare. The buns were whole wheat which I toasted in a toaster oven. I topped the burger with a slice of organic tomato, two slices of organic avocado, and some Guildens brown mustard for moisture. The burger was very good. It was just a nothing fancy, good tasting, filling burger. I really liked it and because it was made with healthy fresh organic products it made me feel good to eat it.