Canadian
The Birch Bay Ranch Mushroom Burger
This burger recipe is a favorite of Sarah's. One of the dishes she makes when spending the day out at the ranch writing books, cutting grass and soaking in God's natural wonders. Mushrooms inside the burger, mushrooms on the burger. Subtlety stayed at the ranch.
What It Is
This burger recipe is a favorite of Sarah's. One of the dishes she makes when spending the day out at the ranch writing books, cutting grass and soaking in God's natural wonders. Mushrooms inside the burger, mushrooms on the burger. Subtlety stayed at the ranch.
Origin
The Dinner by the Minute source lists the origin as: Canada (Birch Bay Ranch, Cooking Lake, Alberta).
Fun Fact
Both mushrooms and Worcestershire sauce are loaded with natural glutamates, the compound behind umami, the fifth taste. Stacking them here isn't really a flavour choice so much as a full umami ambush.
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 2 cups sliced mushrooms
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp white pepper
- ½ lb shiitake mushrooms
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- ½ tsp pink salt
- 4 to 6 slices Swiss cheese
- ½ to ¾ cup white mushroom butter herb sauce
- 2 sesame buns
Steps
- Blend the mushrooms in a food processor.
- In a large bowl, gently mix together the meat, salt, blended mushrooms, black pepper and worcestershire sauce. Do not overwork the meat mixture or it will become tough and meatloaf-like. Shape the meat into 3 to 4 patties, using about a quarter to a third of a pound per patty, creating a slight indentation at the centers of the patties
- Turn on grill to medium to high heat. While the grill is heating up, heat a large sauté pan over medium heat for 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and drysauté them, about 2-3 minutes. Add the onions and the olive oil, toss to combine and continue to sauté add salt to taste and cook until the onions soften and begin to brown. Turn off the heat and place in a bowl.
- Grill the burgers between 5-8 minutes per side. When the burgers are almost done, put swiss cheese over them and allow the cheese to melt. To assemble, put a burger on the bottom bun and top with onions and mushroom, lightly pour some of the mushroom cream sauce on top and put the top bun on and serve.
Notes
Don't crowd the mushrooms in the pan, or they'll steam instead of browning. Cook them in batches if needed.
Substitutions
Cremini or portobello both outperform plain white mushrooms here if you want more flavour. Soy sauce can fill in for Worcestershire in a pinch, though it skips the tang. Ground turkey works if beef isn't the move today.
Storage
Cooked patties keep refrigerated for up to 3 days. Reheat gently — a blasted-hot microwave turns the mushrooms rubbery.
Freezing
Not stated in the cookbook. Freeze cooked meat or filling separately when practical; assembled sandwiches with lettuce, tomato or creamy sauces are poor freezer citizens.