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Monday, May 30, 2011

Barbecue "Surprise" Bison Burgers

Happy Memorial Day

Memorial Day.  Decoration Day as it used to be called years ago.  One day a year where we honor and remember those who have died in the military service.  Too often, it is a day of shopping, barbeques, visits to the lake or beach with barely a moment's thought for our brave service men, women, and animals who have given their life to protect our country and our beliefs.  I'm as guilty as the next person, but this year I made sure that I did honor those who have served with my own quiet moment. 


Perhaps it was the young bloggers I met in Atlanta, both married to military men.  Or maybe it was seeing all the stranded military personnel in Dallas (weather closed the airport down) last week as we travelled home.  Not sure why, but this year I felt especially nostalgic and thankful for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.   I encourage you take a minute today to reflect on the true meaning of Memorial Day as you enjoy your shopping, cook outs, visits with family, or whatever you have on your plate for today.  I hope there are some yummy things to eat on that plate too!

Here is a recipe for another "inside out" burger that we enjoyed over the long weekend.

A couple of weeks ago I made inside out turkey cheeseburgers that were really good.  So I thought I'd try something similar but this time I wanted to try the
KC Masterpiece Southern Style Barbecue Sauce that was sent to me as part of the Foodbuzz Featured Publisher Tastemaker program.  It's one of their new flavors. 

What to tuck inside the burgers with the sauce?  I decide to saute some red onion and mushrooms and cook down the sauce to make it thick enough to work inside the burgers.  Voilà!  Worked like a charm!


KC Masterpiece Southern Style Barbecue Sauce

Sauce cooking

Sauce reduced
Making the "surprise"
Ready for the grill
Yield: 3 burgers
Total time: 25 minutes approximately


Ingredients:
1 lb. ground bison
1 tsp olive oil
½ cup finely chopped red onion
1 cup finely chopped mushrooms

½ cup KC Masterpiece Southern Style Barbecue Sauce

Ground black pepper to taste
Optional: lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese and other condiments as desired.



Method:
1.    Clean and oil grill.  Preheat to medium high.


2.    Warm olive oil in a pan over med-high heat.


3.    Add onion and mushrooms and sauté until browning.


4.    Stir in sauce and simmer for 5 minutes until reduced to a thick coating on veggies.


5.    Remove from heat.


6.    Divide bison into 6 equal sections.


7.    Make a small well in 3 sections and add approximately 1 TBSP of veggie and sauce mixture to each well.


8.    Place remaining sections on top of filled and pat gently to seal.  Some sauce may leak out-no problem, just spread it over the top.


9.    Smear a dab of remaining sauce over the top of each burger and season with small amount of freshly ground black pepper.


10. Grill over direct heat 7 minutes on the first side and then 3-4 minutes on second side (for med-med/well), or until burgers reach your preferred level of doneness.


11. Serve on whole grain bun or wrapped in lettuce with condiments of your choice. 





Mr. ELEB's burger on whole grain bun


 
My perfectly cooked (med-well) surprise burger on lettuce wrap

We have another winner for burger night!

The sauce is tasty but a bit thin bodied for my taste.  It reduced down well though and the flavors were nice and vinegary and peppery.  The only real negative for me is the high fructose corn syrup listed as the second ingredient.  I know there is a raging debate about HFCS which I'm not going to weigh in on other than to say if I have two bottles of sauce in my hand and one has HFCS and the other doesn't, I'll be buying the one without it!

I was provided with a bottle of KC Masterpiece Southern Style Barbecue Sauce as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, no other compensation.  The recipe and opinions are mine.

What was cooking at your house over the long weekend?


Printable Recipe