Friday afternoon, Sibyl and I had the following conversation.
me: give me something to make for my blog on saturday
Sibylkavak: umm a burger
me: omg what kind of amateur blog do you think i have?
Sibylkavak: WHATTTT
me: LOL
Sibylkavak: burgers are like the gourmet of gourmet
me: ok i can't tell if you're being sarcastic
Sibylkavak: haha im not
me: burgers are like the easiest thing to make
Sibylkavak: omg make a good burger BURGER challenge
me: no problem yo OMG can we?
Sibylkavak: yess haha do you have a bbq
me: wait i'm seriously down for this like tomorrow? no hahha but you do!
Sibylkavak: hahah yes!! tmw! pool and bbq! challenge
This got my mind churning for the best burger. I immediately knew that I would use the Spanish espanola meatball recipe for the patty because the meatballs have always been very moist. Luckily, it turns out the meatball recipes works just as great for a burger! As for the toppings, ingredients started to click for me. A few weeks ago, I went to the Silverlake Cheese Shop and bought this amazing fig jam that I haven't been able to incorporate into anything except cheese. So, I tried to think of things that would complement the fig jam and went with the following toppings: caramelized onions, Monterey Jack cheese, avocado, and arugula.
The caramelized onions took a lot longer than I had expected, but was really the star of the show. In case you don't know how to make caramelized onions, you just cut an onion into thin strips and cook them in enough oil and butter to coat all of the onions. Keep them cooking and moving for about 30-40 minutes or until nice and dark brown. I added about an 1/8 tsp of sugar within the last 5 minutes of cooking the onions. Anyway, Sibyl made a burger with bacon in the patty with pepper jack cheese and arugula. It was pretty tasty, but in terms of winning, I won by a longshot. ;) Below is the patty recipe.
