Pioneer Day Burger Cook Off

Last year, my family decided to have a cooking competition--we drew ingredients and had a Chopped style cook off. It was really a lot of fun, and everyone decided to make it at least an annual thing. This year, we decided to do a burger cook-off. We decided about a month ago that we were doing burgers, so we had a month to think of burger creations and to talk smack about how we were going to win.

I was amazed at how different each burger was, and how good each burger tasted. I figured we would all have similar burgers, but we truly did have five unique burgers. The teams were couples--

Me and my wife;

My sister Sara and her husband Tom;

My sister Sadie and her husband Danny;

My sister Jennie and her boyfriend Ryan; and

My sister Hannah and her boyfriend Jordan.

Each team prepared their ingredients to some extent before we started, and we came together and put the finishing touches on our ingredients and cooked our burgers on the same grill.

We made up score sheets with three criteria: 1. Taste, 2. Creativity, and 3. Appeal/Appearance. We also voted for the most creative burger, and overall favorite burger.

We cooked our burgers, then cut them in fourths so that everyone could taste each burger. Besides the teams, my parents and grandparents were also there, and helped watch the kiddies while we cooked.

My wife and I had mulled our burger for about a week before we finally decided on an idea. Some ideas that didn't make it, included a Jambalaya burger (Cajun seasoned ground chicken topped with shrimp and andouille sausage) and my BBQ burger (which is a burger patty filled with onions and bacon, and basted in my bbq sauce and topped with coleslaw). Ultimately we decided to do a "breakfast for lunch burger," which was essentially a thick well seasoned beef patty, topped with chopped bacon, white American cheese, crispy hasbrowns, and a fried egg with a runny yolk. We also garnished our burger with spinach, tomato, and a chipotle lime mayo. We put all of this on a soft wheat bun.




Sara and Tom's burger was an Asian Inspired Turkey Burger. It really was very unique and was voted the most created burger. Sara and Tom made Asian flavored turkey patties, cooked them on the grill, then deep fried them in tempura batter. They garnished this crazy creation with a wasabi flavored mayo and a spicy Asian slaw. I thought the slaw really was a nice surprise. It was very good and very different--the pics below don't do it justice.



Sadie and Danny whipped up an Italian Caprese Burger. They seasoned their meat with tangy Italian Dressing and Italian spices. They topped their burger with mozzarella cheese, basil, Roma tomatoes, salty prosciutto and a basil-garlic aioli. I was surprised how great the seasoning made the patty taste, and I really liked the prosciutto.



Jennie and Ryan dreamed up a Southwest Style Guacamole Burger. They mixed cooked bacon and jalapenos into the beef mixture and topped their burger with Gouda cheese and a chunky and creamy (sounds like a contradiction, but it wasn't--the guacamole truly was heavenly)guacamole. The burger was simple, but if I saw all of the burgers from the competition on a menu in a restaurant, I would order this one first. I also think this burger, along with Hannah and Jordan's, would be the burger I would make again--fewer steps, and really great flavor.



Hannah and Jordan made a wonderful turkey burger. They mixed cooked bacon into their patties, and topped their burger with a cool avocado cream sauce (not guacamole). They also used pepper jack cheese, as well as onions, lettuce, and tomato. It was a great burger, and one that we will make again, because it packed the flavor without 50 steps like some of the burgers.




After we had all gorged ourselves on the burgers, we got down to business and voted. Each person could give a burger a total of 30 points--ten each for taste, creativity, and appeal/appearance. Each vote was anonymous, and after the vote was tallied here were the results--

5TH PLACE--JENNIE AND RYAN
4TH PLACE--HANNAH AND JORDAN
3RD PLACE--SADIE AND DANNY
2ND PLACE--SARA AND TOM
1ST PLACE--ME AND STEF

The vote was unbelievably close--six points separated 3rd from 1st, and only 20 points separated 5th and 1st (14 people cast votes). Sara and Tom won the most creative burger, and Sadie and Danny and Me and Stef each tied for the most votes for the best overall burger. However, each team received at least one vote for the best overall burger.

I really feel that the competition was a five way tie. It was an impossible task to choose a winner, and I would have been satisfied and pleased had I ordered any one of these burgers in a restaurant (although frankly, I may not have ordered some of these burgers based solely on the descriptions, and each burger had one element that really was awesome and made the burger special. I took home the trophy (a wonderfully crafty trophy constructed of a rubber chew toy in the shape of a hamburger, glued onto a plastic candlestick--thanks Sara) but I see myself just keeping the trophy for next year.
Here is me and my wife with the trophy. My wife has an excuse for being round (she is eight months pregnant), I, however, have no excuse.


I think for the next competition, we should dispense with the judging, or perhaps, just vote for the one we liked best. I don't think anyone had hard feelings afterwards, but it made me slightly uncomfortable slotting the burgers 1-5, because they were all so close, it was hard to choose.

I am still working on getting the recipes for all of these burgers, but here are the ones I have so far. Keep in mind all of these burgers were made on the fly, so many of the amounts listed are estimates.

Breakfast for Lunch Burger

1 1/2 pounds ground beef (no leaner than 85/15
Pepper, Salt, Garlic Powder and Season Salt to taste
4 eggs
1/2 bag frozen shredded hash brown potatoes
12 oz bacon, diced
6 slices white American cheese
2 tomatoes
1 bag fresh baby spinach
1/2 cup Chipotle Mayo (recipe follows)
4 soft wheat buns

Chipotle Mayo
1/2 C Mayo
2 chipotles in adobo
1 t. adobo sauce
2 T. fresh cilantro
2 t. minced garlic
juice of one lime

Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth, and refrigerate for at least thirty minutes so the flavors can blend together. This mayo is pretty spicy and can be adjusted by adding only one chipotle pepper, less adobo, or more mayo.
Form ground beef into 4 patties and season liberally with pepper, kosher salt, garlic powder and season salt.

Cook bacon until crisp. Remove from pan and cook hashbrowns in bacon grease. Cook hasbrowns until golden brown and crispy.

Cook burgers until almost done, add cooked bacon and cover with 1 1/2 slices of cheese and allow to cook until cheese is melted and burger is medium to medium well (depending on preference).

Fry each egg, so the white is cooked, but the yolk is still runny.

Spread chipotle mayo on each bun half. Place spinach, tomatoes, hashbrowns, burger patty, and egg on bun. Enjoy!


Turkey Burgers with Ginger Wasabi Mayo and Asian Slaw

1 pound ground turkey
1/2 red bell pepper, diced finely
2 green onions, sliced
1 T minced garlic
1 T minced fresh ginger
1 T hoisin sauce
splash of soy sauce
pepper
salt
grill seasoning
1 T olive oil
Mix all ingredients together. Form into 1/4 lb. patties. Grill until cooked thru. Let rest 10 minutes. Toss patties into flour, then dip into Tempura Batter. Deep fry for 2 minuted on each side.

Ginger Wasabi Mayo
1 t fresh ginger, minced
1 small tube of wasabi paste, about 3 T
1 T lime juice
1 cup mayo Mix ingredients together and refrigerate.

Spread on buns right before serving.

Asian Slaw
1 cup red cabbage, shredded
1 cup green cabbage, shredded
1/2 cup carrots, shredded
Dressing
3 T rice wine vinegar
2-3 sliced green onions
1 T olive oil1
1 T white vinegar
1 T soy sauce
1 T hoisin sauce
1 T sriracha sauce
1 T sugar
1 t fresh ginger, minced
1 t garlic, minced
1 T lime juice
Whisk together in bowl. Pour dressing over cabbage/carrots and refrigerate. Serve over Tempura Battered Turkey burgers.

Italian Caprese Burger--Coming Soon!

Southwest style Guacamole Burger

Provided in simple terms

Add jalapenos and cooked bacon to your ground beef according to your taste. Grill burgers.

Top with Gouda cheese.

Guacamole (all according to your individual taste)

Avocados
Tomatoes
Red Onion
Cayenne Pepper
Lime Juice
Garlic Salt

Mix all together and refrigerate for at least thirty minutes so the flavors can blend.

Top burger with guacamole.

Turkey Burger with Creamy Avocado Sauce--Coming Soon.

We all had a great time, and I am already looking forward to our next cook off. If you have any suggestions for the next go round, please let me know. So far, tacos, soup, and chili have been suggested.

Spark--Restaurant Review

Not long ago, my wife and I tried Spark Restaurant and Lounge in Provo, UT. Spark came highly recommended, so we figured we would give it a shot. I want to start with a disclaimer--Spark may call itself a lounge, but only in Utah County could a "lounge" exist that did not serve alcohol. I don't drink, but found it interesting that the place has a full drink menu, but no alcohol--everything is non-alcoholic.

Spark is very modern, and does have a lounge feel. There are a number of low tables surrounded by chic sofas and chairs--looks cool, but I would not want to take my dinner on the couch.

We started with the herb fries as an appetizer. The fries were seasoned with rosemary and sage, and came with bleu cheese and garlic mayo for dipping. The fries were good, but there is only so much you can do to a fry. My wife and I both ordered a drink--I had the mango mojito and my wife had the pomegron, which was made with pomegranate, tarragon and lime. Each drink was $3.50 and mine was very refreshing. I was disappointed that there was not a spark version of a bloody mary, because all of the drinks were on the sweeter side. The drink was good, but I will stick with a Coke next go round--my wife loved hers however, and would order it again.

For dinner I had the pan-seared salmon. It was served with truffle potatoes. a herb lemon sauce and an arugula salad. My wife had the veggie stir-fry--veggies came on a bed of coconut rice, with a mango sauce and some butternut squash tempura. The food was pretty good, and was definitely a little more upscale than our usual fare. Portion sizes were not huge, but the good quality was very good.

For dessert we finished with the banana strudel, which was excellent. We left Spark full and happy which is always a plus. It was a little more expensive than our usual night out--spent about $65, but it was something different, and a nice change from what we usually eat in Provo.

I would visit Spark again, but maybe only with a gift card. However, I have discovered that Spark has a great 3 course lunch for $10--I would gladly visit for lunch--the menu changes daily, and it seems to be a great deal.

Check out the website at http://sparkrestaurantlounge.com/

Annual 24th of July Cook Off!

It is that time of year for my family's Pioneer Day Cook Off. This year will be our second time around. My family likes to cook and eat almost as much as I do, so we decided to have a little competion. This year we are having a burger cook off. My wife and I have planned our burger and we are sure it is the winner, but I can't post it until after the contest--no sense in giving the family any ideas.

Last year, we combined elements of the food network shows, Chopped, Iron Chef America, Throwdown, and Dinner Impossible. Everybody put four random ingredients (two for an a entree and two for dessert) in a hat and we drew out two ingredients for each course. We had to use the two ingredients in our dishes--the two ingredients we drew for the entree were polish sausage and cabbage. I am not sure who suggested those items, but I was hoping for something a little more exciting to work with--same goes for dessert. The two ingredients for dessert were pineapple and raisins.



After we drew the ingredients, we had five minutes to discuss what we wanted to make, and then we had half an hour to buy what we needed for our meals. After we returned, we had one hour to prepare our meals and present them to the judges.



My team consisted of me, my mom, my sister Sadie and her husband Danny. The other team was my dad, and my sisters, Sara, Jennie and Hannah. My wife Stef, and Kurt and Becky, our friends visiting from Michigan were the judges.



My team decided to make cajun style cabbage wraps. We brainstormed the best way to do this, and decided to use polish sausage, onions, peppers, and black beans and rice. We also made a buffalo brown sugar sauce to drizzle over the wraps. For dessert we made a cinnamon raisin french toast, with a pineapple caramel sauce and whip cream. Because there were so many of us, our team made the backyard our kitchen--we used the Camp Chef stove and picnic tables as our work area.



The other team made a polish sausage sandwich with coleslaw, sun dried tomato sauce and roasted peppers and onions. For dessert they made a fried wanton with grilled pineapple and raisins.


My bro-in-law Tom, filmed the entire thing and kept a running commentary. He has even put it on a DVD, but unless you are part of the family (and probably not even then) you wouldn't want to watch us cook. With all of our filming, you think we would have thought to snap a few pictures of the food we presented, but alas, we forgot.

We presented our food to the judges, and when the dust settled the judges ruled that the other (inferior) team won. What ultimately sunk our team was the ill-fated decision to use Zatarain's Black Beans and Rice instead of making our own. Frankly, I though our food tasted better, but we lost. The judges did say that our french toast with the pineapple caramel sauce was the best dish of the day, but it wasn't enough for us to beat the other team. I think that the judges were trying so hard to appear unbiased (the judges were my wife, my law school buddy and his girlfriend after all), that they actually favored the other team. Oh well there is always this year.

We had a great time, and the food was pretty good. We had a Dutch Oven cook off on Memorial Day (where I proudly redeemed myself) but that is a post for another day.

Smoking for real

We finally upgraded from our little table top propane grill, to a Traeger Grill. We had been using our little gas grill for the last five years. It served us well, but it was very small, and it had seen enough grease, fat, cheese, and other gunk that only about half of a burner actually put out sufficient heat to cook anything.





We upgraded to the Traeger and it is a huge upgrade. The Traeger uses wood pellets as fuel, and is powered by electricity. The wood gives your food a great flavor, and it is much easier to use than a charcoal grill. The Traeger allows you to smoke, grill and even bake (it circulates heat) so you can really make a lot of great food. Since we have bought our grill, we have made pulled pork, chicken, steak, brats, burgers, and prime rib. I have also smoked some homemade hot sausage. Poultry in general is perfect for the grill--you get great flavor, and everything is so juicy.

One of my favorite things to cook on the Traeger is a whole turkey. The turkey gets the right amount of smoke flavor, stays juicy, and doesn't heat up your house. A couple of years ago, my mom and I had a turkey throw down at Thanksgiving. She cooked a traditional Thanksgiving turkey in the oven, and I brined a turkey and cooked it on my parents' Traeger. We had the family vote on the best turkey, and I won--even my dad voted for my turkey. In an upcoming post, I will post my brine recipes, but brining is a great way to impart flavor to your meat, and keep your meat juicy during the cooking process.

This next week, I will be smoking some deer jerky on the Traeger. I will post photos and recipes when I get a minute.

Check out the Traeger grills on their website: http://www.traegergrills.com/
If anyone is interested in buying one, I know a great place to get one.

Mrs. Gourmand the Cake Maker!

About six months ago, my wife took a few cake decorating classes at Michael's. Since then, she has been whipping up a lot of fun cakes for birthdays, etc. She has even made a wedding cake.

Here are some pics of what she has done so far:










My wife has a lot of fun doing this, and really has a knack for it.

Here We Go and Soul & Bones Review!

I have often wondered how people keep and maintain a blog--I have never felt that I had much to share that other people would actually want to read. Recently however, I have started reading food blogs, and realized that whether people read what I write or not, I wanted to write about food. SO HERE WE GO. Basically this blog is a way for me to talk about food that I am cooking, eating, or thinking about. As a general rule, I like all things food, so there really is unlimited blog potential. For my first blog post, I figured I would review a restaurant that my wife and I (along with my sis and her boyfriend) tried recently in Ogden, UT--Soul & Bones.

Soul & Bones is located at 319 East 24th Street in Ogden. It is located right next door to a gentleman's club, and didn't appear to be much from the outside. There was a chalkboard menu on the sidewalk announcing the specials, which were a fried oyster po' boy and blackened flounder. The chalkboard also proudly announced that it had no affiliation with the club next door, and any food served at the club was not from Soul & Bones. Walking into Soul & Bones, it looked like something off of Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. There is a long counter with stools, and about 8 tables. Jazz was coming through the speakers, and the atmosphere was really low key and relaxed. FYI--Soul & Bones does not serve alcohol.

Soul & Bones offers a great mix of cajun/creole food and BBQ. Appetizers include fried dill pickles, fried cheese curds, crawfish beignets, and crab cakes. Cajun entrees included crawfish etoufee, gumbo, jambalaya, creole and a few po' boy sandwiches. The BBQ portion of the menu includes the standard fare--pulled pork, ribs, brisket and chicken. Everything on the menu is reasonable--a full rack of ribs is $20, the jambalaya is $15, and almost everything else is $10 and under.

I had the crawfish etoufee; my wife had a fried shrimp po' boy; My sis tried the gumbo (which was made with blackened catfish) and her boyfriend had the three meat plate--ribs, brisket, and pulled pork. We also started with crawfish beignets and some hush puppies. Everything was delicious and everyone seemed to enjoy their meal.

Our only complaint was that it took awhile to get our meal. We were headed to a movie, and had given ourselves just over an hour for dinner. We didn't get our food until about ten minutes before the movie was supposed to start, so we quickly ate and rushed off to the movie (but still missed the previews). Soul and Bones appears to literally be a Mom and Pop shop--mom was the server and pop was the cook. We all decided we would return (the food was that good) but we would not come on a night when we had somewhere else to be. Overall, I would recommend Soul & Bones to anyone that likes BBQ, Cajun food, or just supporting local restaurants--but not to someone in a hurry.

We were in such a hurry that we had no time to snap any pictures, but I will post some after our next visit. www.soulandbones.com (just a homepage--no menu).