Simplicity might be the key to bringing in $50,000 this year. For the 16th anniversary of Sutter Home Build a Better Burger Contest & Cook-Off, the search for America’s best burger, judges are appearing for entries to include a maximum of sixteen ingredients.
“In the past, there has been no limit on the count of ingredients,” states head estimate James McNair. “We’re simplifying the competition by paring down the count of details used.”
McNair advocates that contestants reinvent their favourite burger with new & another toppings or exhibit off their cultural background by incorporating conventional components from their land of origin.
From shiitake mushroom ketchup, Cuban pickle salsa & banana chicken chutney to tzatziki with feta, Creole honey mustard & chermoula mayonnaise, winning burgers have enclosed a rate of strange flavors from around the world.
So, the doubt remains, may you build a finer burger with sixteen components or less? McNair states yes. In the recent fifteen years, four grand award winners used sixteen components or less to produce their incomparable burgers. Last year’s $50,000 winner, Barry Rosenstein of Elmhurst, Ill., used a record 35 components to build his Sweet & Spicy Red Fez Burgers.
“All of the judges were really impressed with the taste & introduction of Barry’s burgers, but the length of his recipe was a bit discouraging for the median person to re-create,” states Jeffrey Starr, culinary manager & administrator chef for Sutter Home Winery & Build a Better Burger. “For 2006, we need burgers that are creative, thus far approachable to every day cooks.”
McNair suggests studying “Build a Better Burger,” wrote by Ten Speed Press last year, to watch all of the previous winning recipes through 2004 & get tips on preparing burgers on the grill.
Build a Better Burger lives with entries from May 15, 2006 to August 21, 2006. For total competition entrance rules, travel to build abetterburger.com or send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: Build a Better Burger, Sutter Home Winery, P.O. Box 248, St. Helena, CA, 94574-0248. Build a Better Burger is not open to residents of California or Utah. Ten finalists will be flown to the Napa Valley to vie in a burger grilling cook-off on September 30, which will be adjudicated by a renowned panel of chefs.
Build a Better Burger is sponsored by Sutter Home Family Vineyards, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the California Avocado Commission, Colavita Olive Oil, Barbeques Galore, Grey Poupon, Snyder’s of Hanover & Kettle Chips.
Napa Valley Basil-Smoked Burgers
Makes 6
PESTO MAYONNAISE
2/3 cupful mayonnaise
2 tablespoons prepared sweet pesto
PATTIES
2 pounds ground sirloin
1/4 cupful Zinfandel
1/4 cupful minced fresh basil
1/4 cupful minced blooad onion
1/4 cupful fresh Italian bread crumbs
8 sun-dried tomatoes dense in olive oil, finely chopped
2 teaspoons garlic salt
Vegetable oil, for sweeping on the grill rack
8 oversized fresh sweet sprigs, moistened with water
6 oversized seeded sandwich rolls, split
6 slices Monterey Jack cheese
6 blooad leaf lettuce leaves
6 (1/4-inch-thick) oversized tomato slices
6 paper-thin blooad onion slices, separated into rings
6 fresh sweet sprigs
Prepare a medium-hot fire in a charcoal grill with a cover, or preheat a gas grill to medium-high.
Combine the mayonnaise & pesto in a tiny bowl & mix well. Cover & refrigerate till needed.
To make the patties, mix the sirloin, Zinfandel, basil, onion, bread crumbs, sun-dried tomatoes & garlic salt in a oversized bowl. Handling the flesh as tiny as possible, mix well. Divide the mix into 6 equivalent components & shape them into patties to fit the rolls.
When the grill is ready, broom the rack with vegetable oil. Toss sweet sprigs straightaway onto the fire. Place patties on the rack; blanket & prepare 5 to 7 minutes on every side. During the last couple of minutes of cooking, spot rolls, split side down, on the outer edges of the rack to toast lightly. Top every patty with a cheese slice. Cook 1 minute.
Spread the mayonnaise over the split sides of the rolls. On every roll bottom, spot a lettuce leaf, a patty, a tomato slice, an onion slice & a sweet sprig. Add the roll tops & serve.
With sixteen ingredients, this burger took the grand award in 1990.
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