Posted by johngl
It’s gets pretty bad when I had to use the Alcoholian’s search feature to find out if I’d ever done a post on lamburgers. It turns out that we made them at BigDMcC’s one and only monthly party. So, now that I know I haven’t done a post on them, you’re gonna get one.
And no, I am not burgering my way anywhere; the lamb thing was spontaneous.
From the bottom up, that is Beecher’s Flagship Cheddar from Seattle, a 50% lamb-50% beef burger, a ripe avocado, Clausen Kosher Baby Dills, and just a schmear of whole grain mustard and a sploot of ketchup.
So, this lamb thing came about when visiting a new grocery store that cropped up recently in a strip mall. The place is called Sprouts Farmers Market and I half-expected a vegan only kind of joint. I was wrong and I am happy about it. Once I saw the big sign that said Meat, my mind was at ease.
So, after dutifully wandering the aisles and picking out some nice organic Washington Granny Smith apples, some breakfast cereal, and some Borden’s heavy cream (pasteurized, not ultra-pasteurized — this stuff is getting really hard to find), we wandered over to meatville to scope out the selection.
Now, normally, I don’t buy anything pre-ground. I’d rather see the meat before it gets turned into something unrecognizable. But, this was a new place and the price was right and how often do you see ground lamb in your grocer’s butcher shop?
I also bought an equal amount of beef.
So, why the beef? Well, the most glorious spousal unit doesn’t much care for lamb (unless it is a rib chop). The flavor is too strong for her <sigh>. So, cutting it with equal parts of beef seemed like the right thing to do.
I ground the beef along with a half-stick of frozen butter, then mixed in the pre-ground lamb.
Seasoning with the usual blend of salt, pepper, onion powder, and granulated garlic, I then formed up the patties and placed them in the usual skillet.
Naturally, you’ll probably want to flip them.
You should toast your buns about now.
Get all of your fixin’s together and make up the burger any way you’d like.
I think I had to dislocate my jaw to hang a fang on this sucker, but it was worth the pain.
Most glorious still prefers the all beef variety of burger, but to me the lamb makes it just a bit meatier. It’s just a little, well, different. Nice and juicy (thanks to the butter) with bold flavors, this should have been part of the August burger quest. Ah well, better late than never.
Oh, and the wine we enjoyed with this was a 2002 Norton Privada Estate Reserve. This 40% Malbec, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 30% Merlot was a mouthful of flavors and ripe fruit aromas. Those 50-80 year old vines from the highest points in the Mendoza River Valley have cranked this juice up a notch or two. This could have easily cellared for several more years and I am glad I kept it around, just to go with this tasty blend of lamb and beef.
And here is another good reason to get your own meat grinder: http://www.samefacts.com/2009/10/barack-obama/the-jungle-updated/
Oh, and John, when are you going to do that veggie burger?
Great post… OK, I am hooked, and gonna add meat grinder on my list of things that I am not really a cook until i get one.
You always make the best burgers on the net,
There’s a lot of different grinders out there. Some are dedicated, but I chose the KitchenAid attachment since I already had the mixer. Since I don’t use it every day, it is adequate. I do have a backup unit though, just in case.