Cookind Day: Stuffed Hamburger

Watching cooking shows always makes me want to cook something myself. This time it was Master Chef, where I watched the entire 1st season in 24 hrs. The dishes weren't all very complex (some were) and some of the challenges were outright easy (I think I could have won the "name all 25 ingredients" contest hands down...), but the dishes looked absolutely delicious. The challenge that drove my latest craving: the hamburger.

While I have a high appreciation for good restaurants, sometimes the best version of a food can be found at home. I haven't found a worthy burger around town yet (although Jack's Prime has an amazing Wine Country Burger that I love) so I decided this would be the dish to make at home. :-)

I've never made one in the house before, but thought I'd give it a go. Hamburgers for me are generally an outdoor drill ordeal, but since I live in a balcony-less studio apartment, I guess I'll have to live with the grease splatters and hamburger smells for awhile.

I made the burger the way my mom loves it: pure ground beef patty stuffed with cheese and mushrooms. My mom would put bacon in there are times too, but I chose to opt out because I thought it would be too much.

The appeal of stuffing a burger instead of putting the toppings on top:

The cheese, mushrooms, (and bacon) add moisture-rich foods to the center of the burger. This helps to avoid drying the burger out from overcooking. As the burger cooks, the cheese melts, the mushrooms steam, and the bacon starts sheddings its greasy fat. Unless you completely burn the patty, you will have a juicy burger almost always.

As indulgence, with the greasy run-off from the burger, I used it to toast the bun. Add salad and tomatoes and there is the yummy burger!



For the side, I steamed asparagus and mushrooms with Italian seasoning, olive oil, salt, pepper, and a dash of white truffle oil.

I go lay down and have a food coma now.

-^_^