Dinner Tonight: Lamb Burgers
"The ultimate burger for me is actually a lambburger," - Ted Allen, The Food You Want to Eat.
God, is Ted Allen right? I sat there in awe of this seemingly blasphemous creation and couldn't help from moaning. Unlike other devious ground meat patties that aren't beef, ground lamb actually has enough fat and enough flavor to taste like something. It was, actually, really remarkably good. I ate another to make sure. That one ended up being even better than the previous one.
This recipe didn't seem destined to work. I had to substitute various ingredients, including lemon zest, which I replaced with a splash of white wine vinegar. I also kind of screwed up the accouterments. I didn't have the cucumber to make the yogurt sauce, and I didn't think it would be wise to top my burger with a tomato considering the salmonella outbreak. So I just treated this guy like I would any normal beef burger and topped with a squirt of ketchup and a smear of Dijon mustard. Like I mentioned before, everything somehow combined to make a truly memorable burger.
About the author: Nick Kindelsperger is a co-founder of The Paupered Chef, a blog dedicated to saving time and money while enjoying food in every way possible. He sells wine for a living and lives in Columbus, Ohio.
Lamb Burgers
- makes 4 burgers -
Adapted from The Food You Want to Eat by Ted Allen.
Ingredients
1 pound ground lamb
1 teaspoon capers
1/2 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 Dijon mustard
Pinch of parsley, chopped
2/3 kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
4 buns
Canola oil
Procedure
1. Gently mix together the lamb, capers, lemon zest, mustard, parsley salt, and pepper. Form into 4 loose patties.
2. Get out two saute pans. Place one of medium-high heat and the other medium. Pour in a tablespoon or so of canola in each pan and swirl to coat the bottom. Set a couple patties in the very hot pan. Cook for two minutes on each side. Then transfer to the cooler pan and cook for another 2 minutes, but just on one side. Repeat with the other patties.
3. Stick the patty in a bun and top with what you like. Yogurt works well, as does ketchup.
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11 Comments:
Toss a couple anchovies in there, and you've got yourself a deal.
TruckBoatTruck at 5:10PM on 06/16/08
I love lamb burgers! This recipe looks great. I made lamb burgers once with the lamb kofta recipe we featured on SE from Martha Stewart (http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2007/12/cook-the-book-lamb-kofta-recipe.html). We made them into patties and topped them with the yogurt mint sauce. They were amazing, albeit falling apart a bit. We used our leftover spice mix to make bison burgers and they were great, too.
Jenn Sit at 5:12PM on 06/16/08
you should try it with north african spices: cumin, coriander, allspice, cayenne...and maybe a bit of minced onion and garlic. maybe some grilled onions, slice of tomato, and lemon aioli on it? i had something like this in a french bistro once and it was awesome. i haven't tried to recreate it yet, but i bet this would be close. (it never occurs to me to buy ground lamb.) i don't remember what the toppings were, sorry. possibly none. would a harissa aioli work?
oh. now i see this is close to the kefta recipe above... but the one i had didn't really taste like kefta.
maqloubeh at 6:16PM on 06/16/08
I made something of a gyro burger once and topped it with tzatziki. It was tasty. Your lamb burger sounds good, too. Any chance you'd also post the recipe that you adapted your version from???
holdthemayo at 6:40PM on 06/16/08
I made some lamb burgers (lamburgers) about three months ago. I didn't really do anything special to them besides adding just salt and pepper, wanted to see how they tasted before adding ingredients. For the condiment on top I took some mayonnaise and mixed it with mint jelly.
What I would want to do next time I try and make some lamb burgers is chop up some fresh mint and mix it into the raw meat. And then just sear the burger with some salt on it and finish it in the broiler.
EricL at 9:28PM on 06/16/08
I forgot to add that I think some Greek yogurt mixed with mint jelly could be a good topping for lamb burgers
EricL at 9:30PM on 06/16/08
Wow, that looks GOOD! Mmm, must try recipe minus the capers and use yogurt and maybe a slice of onion too
paris221966 at 9:39PM on 06/16/08
or perhaps mixing a bit of feta into the meat...yum!
bisbee at 9:51PM on 06/16/08
I take whole cumin, coriander, black pepper, and fennel seeds and toast them in a pan, grind them into a coarse mixture and put that and some kosher salt on the lamb burger. I top it with feta, some mayo mixed with harissa, and a tomato and arugula.
I like some of the ideas on here like adding the feta into the meat mixture.
EatWisconsin at 2:57PM on 06/17/08
love lamb burgers -- i mix into the meat very gently -- chopped scallions, fresh mint or cilantro - chopped garlic -- mix that up and THEN - some
crumbled feta mixed in very gently.
we cooked them on the grill - you have to watch because the fat in
the lamb causes flare ups -- but the flavor!!! and a cast iron frying
pan works well, too. sometimes the feta sticks, but what the hell ...
pooch at 6:39PM on 06/23/08
50/50 lamb and ground beef, seasoned only with salt and pepper are our standard burgers nowadays. Toss in a good dose of Hungarian paprika and onion for most excellent cevapi burgers that beg to be topped with homemade tzatziki... mmmmmmm......
hyperfocal at 2:37AM on 07/19/09