A couple years ago, I came across a T.V. show for building a better burger sponsored by Sutter Home.  I thought about it back then that I should try and enter the contest as I was watching it on T.V., but of course never did.  Well I randomly came across it online the other night, and unfortunately the recipe submission period just ended for this year.  So now I am on a mission to come up with a recipe to enter next year. Tonight is going to be the first randomly created burger recipe I come up with in the next year.  I am going to actually include a bunch of pepper jack cheese cubes that was left over from a party we had last weekend, the rest of the ingredients are going to be based on what I have in the house.  I am also going to make this Creole Mayonnaise to serve with the burgers.

Hamburger Ingredients:

1. 2 lbs Ground Chuck (random guess here, manually split a 10 lb package a couple months ago and tossed in the deep freezer, I should probably buy a scale someday.)
2. 12 Cubes of Pepper Jack Cheese diced as small as you can get them (approx. 4 O.Z. of pepper jack cheese).
3. 1/4 C Worcestershire Sauce
4. 1 T Garlic Pepper
5. 1 T Chipotle Chili Pepper
6. 1/2 T Garlic Powder
7. 1/2 T Ground Coriander Seed
8. 1 T Ground Mustard
9. 2 T Brown Sugar
10. 1/2 T Kosher Salt

Creole Mayo Instructions:

1. Mix together 1/2 T Creole Seasoning with 1/2 C Miracle Whip (may use real Mayo if you wish),

Cooking Instructions:

1. Mix together the dry seasonings in a small bowl
2. Mix together the Worcestershire and hamburger in another bowl
3. Add seasoning to the hamburger mixture and mix well
4. Add cheese to the mixture and mix.
5. Prepare the grill for direct grilling
6. Dice up pepper jack cheese cube
7. In a bowl mix together all ingredients
8. Form hamburger patties with meat mixture.
9. Place burgers on grill directly over heat
10. After about 5 minutes, flip burgers and cook for another 5 minutes (or until desired doneness)

Results:
The burgers were a bit on the spicy side, but had a pretty good flavor.  If I were to go by this recipe again, I would probably reduce most of the dry seasonings in 1/2.  The burgers were good for a random night of cooking, but this recipe is definitely not a winner yet.  The ground chuck was also not the greatest, but it was cheap, which makes it good to experiment with.  So why do I blog about things that don't turn out to as planned?  Basically to show the process of coming up with good recipes and to show you my true BBQ Adventures.

So what do you think makes a good burger?

Upcoming recipes:

• Yucatan Chicken Skewers
• Fajitas
• Pastrami (Finally, something in the Smokette)
• Vegetarian Black Bean Hamburgers (this one for my wonderful wife)
  

J