Not Your Old-Fashioned Burger + Homemade Buns

4/25/10 : Turkey Meatloaf Burgers with Onion Buns

Meal details: I made king sized burgers that had apples, onion, mustard, and ground turkey and I served it with homemade onion buns.

Defining moments: First time for my family to use ground turkey.

Recipe sources: The burger recipe came from the November 2009 issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine. I specifically chose it because I am part of the Food Network Chef Cooking Challenge that is being hosted by the writer of the I Thank My Mother blog. The onion bun recipe came from the King Arthur's Flour blog.

What I learned: These onion buns were really fun to make and really have a unique spiral. I had to roll out my dough to a large rectangle, roll it up like you were doing cinnamon rolls, and cut them with a bench knife. I don't know why but forming a jellyroll turned out to be a lot of fun. The dough was real easy to work with and had a bit of sheen to it.
I was cringing the moment when I had to form the burgers (manipulating any ground meat is something I hate!), but the whole process went very fast. I placed all my ingredients in one bowl, mixed it together by hand, formed them into eight equal burgers (about 1/4 pound each), placed them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper, and when the large skillet was up to temp, I placed gingerly transferred them to the hot pan. Worked like a charm.
I waited until the burger registered 185 on the cooking thermometer and that took about thirty minutes. I discovered that it is really important to wait until the first side is completely brown before I flip--if the burger doesn't have a crust it will fall apart.

Any modifications? I made some alterations to the burger recipe and followed the onion bun recipe exactly.

So for the burger recipe I. . .

Didn't add celery
I used cojack cheese instead of white cheddar
I didn't serve sour cream, onion, lettuce or chives for condiments
I used the onion buns instead of English muffins.

How it tasted? The bun and burger tasted wonderful together and the cranberry sauce was a very good condiment. However, the cojack cheese overpowered the flavors of the burger. The burger was very moist and full of flavor and the bun, even though I couldn't taste the dried minced onion, was soft and crusty.

How about a 2nd time? Yes, I would make both again but next time I would not add cheese on top of the burger.