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Lamb Merguez Burger
Lamb Merguez Burger
What most people don’t know is that anytime you make sausage, you are left with extra bulk sausage that doesn’t get stuffed into casings. With the size of my small sausage stuffer, I get at least a 1/2lb. In an industrial stuffer, you’l get 1-1 1/2lbs. For me, it presents any opportunity to turn that extra bulk into a burger. While making some merguez sausage, I thought “why not a burger?” This lamb patty was topped with cucumber, grilled cherry tomato, harissa mayonnaise, on a toasted brioche bun. You could also cook the sausage crumbled and serve all of these ingredients in pita. Attached is also the recipe if you just want to make the burgers and weren’t planning on making sausage.
Equipment
- chimney starter
- charcoal
- charcoal grill
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground lamb
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp ground fennel
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp paprika
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tbsp harissa
- brioche buns
Burger Toppings
- cucumber thinly sliced
- cherry tomato
Harissa Mayo
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1/2 tsp harissa
Instructions
- Mix together the burger ingredients.
- Form into 3 patties.
- Let your charcoal turn gray in the chimney starter. Pour in the grill in a single layer and place on the grill grate. Place the patties directly over the charcoal.
- Grill for 5 minutes a side.
Burger Assembly
- Mix together the mayonnaise and harissa.
- Spread the harissa mayo on both sides of the bun. Place the cucumber slices on the bottom half of the bun.
- Place the patty on the cucumber slices, followed by the grilled cherry tomatoes.
Seco de Borrego (Ecuadorian Stewed Lamb)
Seco de Borrego (Ecuadorian Stewed Lamb)
Seco de borrego is lamb stewed with beer, white wine, and some type of juice such as tamarind, naranjilla, and passion fruit, in an onion/tomato/bell pepper base. You can use either boneless lamb leg or bone in lamb shoulder. The shoulder will take a little longer to cook than the leg, but both are good regardless of what you choose. The lamb stew is served with rice, yucca, vegetables, avocado, and pickled red onion.
Equipment
- food processor
- blender
Ingredients
Lamb Marinade
- 4 lbs boneless leg of lamb cut into 2” cubes
- 1 large red onion diced
- 1 head garlic peeled
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp mustard seeds ground
- 1/4 cup mixed herbs parsley/cilantro
- 1 cup beer
Lamb Stew
- 1 large white onion diced
- 2 roma tomatoes diced
- 2 bell peppers 1 red, 1 green; seeded and diced
- 1 tsp annatto powder
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 2 cups beer
- 1 cup white wine
- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp tamarind concentrate
- 3 tbsp panela sugar grated
- salt and pepper to taste
Garnish
- cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Add the lamb marinade ingredients to a food processor and purée.
- Marinate the cubed lamb for 4 hours.
- Place the white onion, bell peppers, and tomatoes in a blender. Purée.
- Heat up the oil in a dutch oven over medium high heat. Pour in the purée along with the annatto powder and chili powder. Sauté for 8 minutes.
- Add in the marinated lamb, beer, white wine, water mixed with tamarind concentrate, panela, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 2 hours until the majority of the liquid has evaporated.
- Garnish the stewed lamb with cilantro.
Ground Brisket Burger
Ground Brisket Burger
Like I’ve said in the last 2 brisket related posts: follow the cheeba. It will have the answers. And the cheeba has lead me to this burger creation. That fatty brisket end that I trimmed off a whole brisket got turned into ground beef. Highly fatty and delicious ground beef. 70% lean. The burger was topped with a couple slices of smoked brisket, horseradish white cheddar, pickled red onions, creamy horseradish ketchup, on a toasted brioche bun. Always listen to the cheeba.
Equipment
- meat grinder
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground brisket
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 slices smoked beef brisket
- 2 brioche buns
- horseradish white cheddar
- pickled red onions
Creamy Horseradish Ketchup
- 2 tbsp ketchup
- 1 tbsp mayonnaise
- 2 tsp prepared horseradish
Instructions
- Remember the fatty triangle end from the whole brisket we trimmed off and saved? If you froze it down, take it out of the freezer and allow it to partially thaw overnight.
- Grind the brisket through twice on a medium grinding plate.
- Take 1lb of the ground brisket and season with salt and pepper. Form into 2 patties. Because of the high fat content, they will shrink.
- Sear 2 slices of smoked brisket in a sauté pan for 2 minutes a side on medium high heat. Remove from the pan.
- Toast the buns in the render brisket fat. Remove from the pan.
- Add the patties to the pan.
- Cook for 5 minutes on the first side. Flip. Top with the sliced brisket and the horseradish white cheddar. Partially cover the pan and cook for 4 minutes.
- While the burger is cooking, mix together the ketchup, mayonnaise, and prepared horseradish.
