Foodie Friday is back, and with the weather warming up and spring in the air, it’s time to dust off those grills and get cooking. Our Executive Chef Joe Raiola cooks up some mean burgers for iPlay America’s Game Time Bar & Grill, and today he’s given us a recipe for a twist on the perfect burger. It’s a juicy, grilled summer staple you can make at home.
The Best Burger in the City
Yields four burgers
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. prime chuck roll, 80-20 blend
- 3 ounces tomato juice
- 1-1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 6 ounces cream cheese
- 4 tbls. scallions, sliced thin
- 1/2 cup soy or canola oil
- 3 large jalapenos, sliced 1/8 inch thick on a bias and deseeded
- 1 cup flour
- 4 ounces pasteurized eggs
- 1/2 cup coarse grain yellow cornmeal
- 8 slices bacon
- 4 brioche rolls
- 4 tbls. whole unsalted butter
- 1 head Boston lettuce
Preheat oven to 375. Mix the first four ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside. In another smaller bowl, work the cream cheese and scallion together with your hands. Set aside. Scale out roughly nine ounces of meat for each burger. Mold them just a bit larger than the bun, then make a crust-like rim around the burger so it resembles a small pizza shell. The “crust” should be about a half-inch wide. Now take 1/4 of the cream cheese mixture and form a disk and place it on your burger. Fold the “crust” over the cream cheese very gently until the cream cheese disk is in the middle of your burger. Make sure there are no cracks in the burger and it is a uniform shape. Repeat three more times. Put your four burgers in the fridge to set, about 10 minutes or so.
Meanwhile place the bacon on sheet pan in the oven. Pour the oil in a medium sauté pan over medium heat. While that is going, coat your sliced jalapenos with about three tablespoons of flour. Mix the remaining flour with the cornmeal. Drop the dusted jalapenos in the eggs, then in the cornmeal. The jalapeno slices should now be covered completely with the cornmeal mixture. Pan fry them for about a minute or so on each side. You are looking for a golden brown color. Place them on a paper towel and set aside. Take the crispy bacon out of the oven and place it with the jalapenos.
Gently place the burgers on a hot, oiled grill or broiler and cook for three to four minutes on each side. Do not press down too hard on the burgers during cooking because this will cause the cheese to run out. While your burgers are on the grill, slice the buns in half, butter the cut side, and put them on a sheet pan butter side down on the bottom of your oven and toast them till they are browned.
Lastly, place a piece of the bib lettuce on the bottom bun followed by the burger, another piece of lettuce, three jalapeno slices and then the bacon.
Eat!
We hope you enjoy! These burgers are sure to be a hit this summer. Share your Best Burger in the City photos or your own recipe additions in the comments!
Looking for more of Chef Joe’s tasty creations? Stop by iPlay America’s Game Time Bar & Grill any day of the week, and check out our menus online.