The hamburger has come a long way. No longer relegated to fast food joints, this classic back yard barbecue, no-time-to-cook-tonight food has risen to new heights. Authors Jane Murphy & Liz Yeh Singh tell us, "Americans can't stop their craving for this popular comfort food. In fact, The Dictionary of American Food and Drink says that the average American eats 3 hamburgers per week. That adds up to about 38 billion burgers a year..." Three burgers per week demands variety and in this authoritative guide to all things burger, the authors offer that variety to us with recipes that roam through all possibilities, from a variety of meats and seafoods to veggie burgers that will appeal to meat lovers as well as vegetable lovers.
Beginning with a section of cooking burgers, they offer advice on how to identify when a burger is ready to desired doneness, safe cooking, safe handling and storage, storing, thawing and even grinding your own meat.
The emphasis of the book is on meat with several choices in this section, many of them for the grill. Though the authors establish recipes for the basic burger, a global influence is evident in such recipes as Pampas Burgers with Chimichurri Sauce from the beef-loving Argentine, Burgers Diane inspired by the France-oriented Julia Child, Cuban Frita Burgers, Mexican-inspired Taco Burgers, and Italian-inspired Pizza Burgers. If it's late at night and you aren't prepared to fire up the grill in the dark, there's even a recipe for Late-Night Beef Burger with Cheddar, Horseradish, and Onion. In addition to the classic beef burger, there are recipes using pork, turkey, chicken, duck, even ostrich.
We increasingly use seafood into make a creative and lower calorie burger. The authors call these 'burgers from the sea.' Starting with tips on using fish as well as a list of substitutes that use the many local varieties of fish, they offer recipes such as Bluefish Burgers with Roasted Yellow Pepper Sauce, Asian Salmon Burgers, Scrod Burgers with Pear and Radicchio Poppy Seed Slaw, Legal Sea Foods Tuna Burgers, Smoked Trout Burgers with Horseradish and Ricotta, Jalapeno Crab Burgers with Mango Salsa, Caribbean Crab Burgers with Papaya Chutney, and a combination Crawfish Pork Burgers with Scallion Mayonnaise.
There are veggie recipes, such as Grilled Portobello and Spinach Burgers, Dilled Chickpea Burgers with Spicy Yogurt Sauce, Falafel Burgers, Spicy Black Bean Burgers, and for those who celebrate the Fourth of July without meat, there are Red, White and Blue Tofu Burgers.
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