Paula Deen's Lady Brunch Burger recipe

It turns out chef Howie Kleinberg's burgers aren't so avant-garde after all. Southern cooking demigoddess Paula Deen had concocted a burger that uses doughnuts as the buns a year before Kleinberg opened Bulldog BBQ in 2009.

Here's the recipe for her Lady Brunch Burger, via foodnetwork.com:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds ground beef
3 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley leaves
2 tablespoons grated onion
2 tablespoons butter
3 eggs
6 slices bacon, cooked
3 hamburger buns
3 English muffins
6 glazed donuts
House seasoning (see below)

House seasoning:

1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder


Directions:


Mix the ground beef, chopped parsley and grated onion together in a large mixing bowl. Season liberally with House seasoning. Form three hamburger patties.

Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Add the burgers and cook until desired temperature, four to five minutes per side for medium-rare.

Fry bacon in a hot pan until crisp. Remove and drain on paper towels. Set aside.

While burgers are cooking, heat a non-stick pan, over medium heat. Add two tablespoons butter. Crack three eggs into the pan. Cook until the yolks are just set and still slightly runny and remove.

Place burger patties on English muffins or buns, and if desired, on glazed donuts, as the buns. Top each burger with two pieces of bacon and a fried egg.

Latin Burger and Taco doesn’t live up to its hype

The Latin Burger food truck.

I had been following Latin Burger and Taco’s every move on Twitter for some months now, and I finally decided to head over to a food truck roundup at the Johnson & Wales campus in Miami and try it out.

This food truck is the brainchild of celebrity chef Ingrid Hoffman, host of the show Simply Delicioso on the Food Network.

Latin Burger and Taco has three burgers on its menu.

The Latin Macho Burger: a mix of chuck, sirloin and chorizo beef with Oaxaca cheese, caramelized onions, jalapenos, and red pepper mayo.

The Machito Burger: same as the Macho Burger minus one patty.

The Burger Beast Burger: named in honor of the food blogger, it's the same as the Macho Burger but replaces one patty with barbecue pulled pork.

The burgers come with a soft taco of your choice, a generous side of fries with adobo seasoning and a soda can, all for $15. You can also get two orders for $25. Machito Burgers are sold separately for $5.

Some say an important element to good food lies in the way it’s presented—it seems like the guys at Latin Burger never heard about this.

The burger looked messy; there was less love put into the making of this meal than in a McDonalds’ combo.

The bun tasted like a potato roll, which gave it a nice flavor, but the lower half got really soggy from the sauce and the meat.

The patty was done on a flat iron top, something I found to be good and bad at the same time. While cooking the burger with this approach seals all the juices inside, the fact that burgers were probably too close together also boiled the meat and made it taste more like a sweet meatball.

The highlight was the combination of the Oaxaca cheese and the caramelized onions. The Mexican cheese was really gooey and formed a sort of paste with the onions, which provided a fitting partner to the patty.

Overall the burger wasn’t bad and showed some originality. The food truck’s motto seemed appealing: gourmet burgers at the price of street food—but both assertions turned out to be false.

This is what others are saying about Latin Burger and Taco:

Burger Beast:

One of the best burgers I’ve had this year. It was devastatingly good. It’s different and in this case, it’s a way good thing.

Comments on Foodtrucktalk.com:

Carlos says: This truck no longer has ties with Ingrid Hoffman but they are still delivering amazingly fresh and tasty food. Highly recommend their Latin Macho as well as my favorite, the Burger Beast. Great fries as well, ask for the guachup dipping sauce. The tacos are not too shabby either!!

J says: Tried them the other day, really not impressed. Other than the burger being a little spicier than normal it really did not stand out against the other food trucks and restaurants around South Florida. Not to mention they take forever even without a line.

Comments on Yelp.com:

George G.: I haven't dived deep enough into the menu to give the 5 star treatment.
But let me tell you something!!!!! The Macho Burger the s@#t!!!! So good, tender juicy, done just right!!! So far this is the best thing I have had from a food truck!!!! My son has had the pulled pork twice and loves it?

Celia M.: So on this particular night, I bought a latin macho burger. Now, it's not just any burger, prepare yourself for 2 patties filled with chorizo, chuck & sirloin and oaxaca cheese..I asked for no onions and I'm giving them 4 stars because they were out of their avocadolicious sauce; sad but true. On another note, I ordered a large order of fries & trust me when I say, I left a few because I couldn't breathe anymore. Don't let the burger's size fool you! You will be stuffed!!

LGS S.: FAIL. Can I get a refund and 2.5 hours of my life back? This truck has mediocre food and rude servers. After an eternal wait, one server had the nerve to tell a customer "It's not my fault its taking so long, I can just throw away your food right now." .... Um no, you can't, actually. Been to it twice, disappointed both times by the food and the service.

Wendy’s answers the question after 27 years: Where’s the beef?

Ad for Wendy's new campaign answering the question.

It became an instant catchphrase 27 years ago: “Where’s the beef?” barked a cranky old lady demanding more meat in her burger in one of Wendy’s most notorious commercials.

Now the fast food giant is answering that question.

As part of a campaign to revamp its single, double and triple burgers, Wendy’s is reviving the query and answering in the same fashion: “Here’s the beef!” in a commercial that starts running next Monday, according to the New York Times.

The new cheeseburgers, which Wendy’s claims are thicker and juicier than ever, are “part of an effort we’ve been undertaking the past couple of years to rebuild the core of our menu,” Bob Holtcamp, senior vice president for brand marketing at the Wendy’s Company, told the Times.

To find out more, read the New York Times’ story.

Check out the video of the original 1984 commercial asking, “Where’s the beef?”

Recipe: Barbecue bison burger

Here's my weekly recipe so burger lovers can satisfy their crave at home without thinning their wallets on expensive gourmet burgers. Via cheese-burger.net:

Barbecue Bison Burger

Ingredients:

a pound of ground bison meat
1 bell pepper, chopped roughly
1/2 small to medium white onion, chopped roughly (separate a quarter for later use)
1/2 small to medium red onion, chopped roughly (separate a quarter for later use)
1 egg
1 jalapeño pepper with seeds
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon of crushed red paper flakes
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Sliced cheese
BBQ Sauce
Kaiser rolls or other soft rolls

Instructions:
Mix the bison meat, onions, bell peppers, red paper flakes, jalapeño, bread crumbs, egg, salt and paper in a bowl. Make sure to thoroughly combine everything for an even flavor. Form the mixture into patties (about three to four pieces).

Cook the patties in olive oil on a hot skillet for about three minutes each side. Repeat this two to three times. Be careful when flipping the patties as they break apart easily. Top the patties with cheese and allow to melt a little before taking them out of the skillet.

Do not turn off the heat.

Toss the separated onions on the skillet and stir until they start to turn a little brown. When they do, place the Kaiser rolls on the skillet face down and press them down with a spatula for about a minute.

Remove from the skillet and immediately place the burger patty on the bun, including the onions. Dress the burger with barbecue sauce and serve.

Duffy's Sports Grill offers one hearty burger

I first found out about Duffy's Sports Grill from my apartment’s balcony, when I heard the music blasting out of the waterfront restaurant like a South Beach nightclub.

The place is located at 3969 N.E. 163rd St. in the Intracoastal Shops, just before the bridge connecting North Miami Beach with the tiny city of Sunny Isles Beach. So I decided to walk over to mainland to check it out.

Duffy’s walls are plastered with football paraphernalia, from helmets to framed jerseys. The sports grill and bar is laid out into what looks like three sections.

First there’s the section for elders and families, with carpeted floors and wheelchair access. Walk two steps down and you have the section for middle-aged couples, where there’s music but it’s only loud enough that you can still have a conversation. Then cross the glass doors and you’ll find a huge wooden deck facing the bay, with its own Tiki bar and live music.

Enough with the ambiance, now let’s get to the burgers.

Duffy’s Sports Grill burger offerings were not the most inspired. Here’s the burger menu:

Rodeo Burger: BBQ sauce, cheddar cheese and tower of onion rings.
Patty Melt: Rye Texas toast, caramelized onions and cheddar
Kobe Beef Burger: Snake River farms, toasted onion brioche.
Grilled Turkey Burger: fresh ground turkey on a whole wheat bun.
Black Bean Veggie-Burger: whole wheat bun, topped with sliced avocado and side of cilantro cream sauce.
Yellow fin Tuna Burger: chopped, seasoned tuna grilled to order, whole wheat bun and side of wasabi mayo.

All burgers go for less than $10 except for the Kobe Beef Burger ($12.99). And you can customize your burger with toppings like sautéed mushrooms, sautéed onions, sliced avocado, pepper-crusted bacon or gorgonzola for 99 cents each.

I had a Rodeo Burger with pepper-crusted bacon.

The first thing I noticed was the amount of food—it was massive: a burger, about 8 onion rings and a large side of fries.

I left three onion rings on the burger and ate the others on the side along with the fries.

The burger was quite good. The bun seemed home-made and had a nice sweetness to it. The patty had good smoky flavor but was a little bit overdone for my taste. What stood out for me was the pepper-crusted bacon; not only it gave it a nice texture to complement the onion rings and the patty, but also added a good spicy punch.

I completed the whole bite with a touch of ranch dressing to cut through the pepper.

Overall Duffy’s Sports Grill left me satisfied. The burger itself wasn't the best I’ve ever had and there weren’t any exotic burgers or anything like that in the menu, but the overall experience was better than Bulldog Burger because the waterfront grill has a nice, relaxed vibe.

This is what other people had to say about Duffy's, via Yelp:

Brian L.:

...There were only two drawbacks during the evening. One of our diners got a hamburger overcooked and with the wrong cheese. But kudos to the server who said she would bring a new one. When that was declined, she said you need to let me do something. Her solution was to remove it from the bill...

Kevin L.:

...This place is amazing. HUGE with tons of t.v.'s! The menu is well rounded and the burgers are great. Prices are in line with portions and desserts are big enough for two. Good food, awesome drink specials (2-4-1) on ALL drinks and decent service will make this a perfect destination during FOOTBALL!!!!! I can't wait...

South Florida Burger Food Trucks finder

Sakaya Kitchen food truck.

Food on wheels has become so popular that there's even a show on the Food Network called The Great Food Truck Race, where trucks compete against each other throughout different cities to see who makes the most cash.

I heard so much buzz about these food trucks in the last year that they were actually the reason why I got a Twitter account, not because I wanted to network and be up-to-date with what's going on in the journalism world

Most food trucks advertise where they are going to be at through Twitter.


Here are a couple of burger-oriented food trucks that you can follow on Twitter and perhaps try out, most of these roam around the tri-county area:

Latin Burger: @LatinBurger

Daddy's Grill: @DaddyGrill

Sakaya Kitchen: @SakayaKitchen

Grill Master Cafe: @grillmastercafe

gastroPod: @gastroPodMiami

Latin House Grill: @LatinHouseGrill

Miso Hungry: @misohungryFT

Monster Burgers: @MONSTERBURGERS

The Rolling Stove: @TheRollingStove

See if you can spot some of the food trucks named above in the video:

Recipe: Stuffed gorgonzola burgers

In the past few years burgers went from being a cheap treat you would get when your mom or girlfriend didn't feel like cooking to being something hip like sushi--and expensive too.

In some high-end places, burgers are going for as much as $39 each (check out Burger & Beer Joint's menu if you don't believe me). So I've decided to start this weekly section where I'll post a burger recipe for those of us who can't afford that price tag every week.

Here's the recipe for a stuffed gorgonzola and bacon burger, via cheese-burger.net:

Makes Four ¼ Pound Burgers or Two ½ Pound Burgers

Be sure your one pound of lean hamburger meat is completely thawed before you begin. Place it in a bowl, and, in a separate bowl, beat one egg with a fork. Add the egg to the meat, and mix it together.

Add the following to the top of your meat:

1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground black pepper
¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Next, in a separate bowl, mix together ¼ cup crumbled gorgonzola, and ¼ cup chopped bacon. You can use bacon bits if you want – just be sure they’re the real thing and not those fake crumbled soy bits.

Now, you’re ready to make your stuffed burgers.

Use a patty maker if you have one, or form your patties by hand. Since these are stuffed burgers, divide your meat into eight equal portions if you are making four burgers, or four portions if you are making two burgers. Start by making the bottom sections, and lay them out on a plate. Make a slight indentation in the middle of each, and divide the gorgonzola bacon mixture evenly between the patties.

Next, make the top sections. Lay them on top of the filled lower sections, and press the edges securely together to form a seal. Your burgers are now ready to be grilled. Since you’re using lean beef, be sure to oil the grill before you start, so they don’t stick. If you want, you can do them under a broiler on low, but if you can, make them outside on the barbecue.

When they’re finished, top each with a slice of muenster cheese and some grilled bacon. Toast your buns, add your toppings, and eat.

Allen Susser to open Burger Bar in Palm Beach, more locations to come

Celebrity chef Allen Susser is doing much more than opening up a second location—he seems to be creating a strategy to take over the whole burger industry.

The James Beard Award winner has teamed up with real estate giant Tom Prakas and developers George and Lee Heaton to open a Burger Bar in Palm Beach Gardens in October, and map out a strategy to open more locations throughout South Florida and nationwide, according to a press release.

Chef Allen Susser

“Combining Burger Bar’s quality gastropub fare and great ambiance with some of the area’s most covetable sites is going to take the burger concept, already an established American icon, to the next level,” Susser said.

“The stars aligned with this collaboration, and we’re fortunate to be able to combine our respective areas of expertise to bolster the South Florida dining scene.”

The first Burger Bar is located in Terminal Four of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and offers gourmet burgers ranging between 11.50 to $18 (see burger menu below).

The new location would be in Donald Ross Village and a third one is already set to open in the Vero Beach Resort and Spa in March of 2012.

The Sun Sentinel also reports that there are plans to open up to 15 Burger Bar locations in South Florida next year.

Here’s Burger Bar’s burger menu, via Miami Eater:

Bulldog Burger, original taste at average price

I had watched Howie "the Bulldog" Kleinberg's reality TV fights and arguments with fellow chefs during season 3 of Bravo's Top Chef, and since he wasn't too shabby in the kitchen (he placed seventh) I thought it would be worth trying his new burger joint, Bulldog Burger.

Located at 15400 Biscayne Blvd. in North Miami, the restaurant sits in a tiny mall near FIU's Biscayne Bay Campus. Once inside, there's a slight disconnection between the old part of the restaurant (what's Bulldog BBQ) and the new part next door (Bulldog Burger).

Bulldog BBQ has a bar, a brick wall, a plasma TV and three tables. Instead of following with the hip sports bar look, Bulldog Burger features a bland, custard-colored paint job, about nine tables, and Kleinberg's chef uniforms from Top Chef and the Food and Wine Festivals framed on the walls.

Enough with the decor, let's get to the food.

Here's the burger menu, all burgers go for $9:

Black Angus: crisp bacon, caramelized onions, cheddar cheese, mesclun, tomato, chipotle mayo.
Morning Glory: fried egg, crispy bacon, hash, cheddar cheese, bustello-red hot eye mayo.
Hot Mess: Bacon Candy, caramelized onion, crispy onion, roasted mushrooms, blue cheese, horseradish mayo.
The Heat: bacon-jalapeno marmalade, fried pickle, jalapeno, pepper jack cheese, house sauce.
Luther V: crisp bacon, caramelized onion, cheddar cheese, hot sauce, "crispy cream" sweet glazed bun.
A Hunk of Burnin’ Love: features bacon, caramelized banana jam, pepper jack cheese,and spicy peanut butter.

I tried "A Hunk of Burnin' Love" and "Hot Mess."

Hot Mess

The best out of the two burgers I had. The combination between the strong flavor of the blue cheese, the sweetness of the candy bacon and the texture of the crispy onion, coupled with a patty that's grilled and juicy  makes for one spectacular bite.

The bun is sweet and the good thing about it is that it doesn't get very soggy even after absorbing the juices of the meat.

My critique is that you get inconsistent bites; if more crumbs of blue cheese are placed on one particular side of the burger, the cheese flavor tends to overpower the other ingredients.

Hunk of Burnin' Love

I hate peanut butter, but I was curious about the combination. The first bite was good. The mix between the salty, grilled flavor of the patty and the sweetness and smooth texture of the peanut butter made for an interesting experience.

It all went downhill from there.

Once I got to my second bite all I could taste was the peanut butter; no bacon, pepper jack cheese or fried banana, the peanut butter was just oozing out of the burger as I held it between my hands. It came a point when I almost had to stop eating it because my mouth was so pasty from the peanut butter.

Overall I would say Bulldog Burger is good, original and you pay less for these gourmet burgers than you would pay for a much less memorable burger at T.G.I Friday's. My girlfriend tried the one called "Morning Glory" and she loved it.

Here's what other bloggers had to say about Bulldog Burger:

Fatgirl Hedonist on "Hunk of Burnin' Love":

The beef itself was good, juicy but not overly greasy. The caramelized banana jam gave it a very funky and almost sweet flavor that went well with the spiciness of the peanut butter. The peanut butter itself was very thick and spicy, but in a way that wasn't overpowering or painful. The flavor of the peanut butter reminded me a lot of a spicy thai peanut dressing/sauce. The bacon unfortunately, was extremely dry and brittle, almost as if it had been sitting out for a while. I'm a huge fan of crispy bacon (or any kind of bacon, for that matter) but this bacon definitely didn't taste fresh. Which is a total shame, as it did the burger an injustice. Over all, the burger was very good, I really did enjoy the creative and adult pb and banana twist on a burger.

South Florida Eats Hamburgers:

The burger was better than average and worth the $9 but a little pricey when you add an order of fries and it comes to $13.