Welcome to Bobby Flay Everyday!

I am not an expert. I have never even taken a class. I have no formal training - but I love to grill. I love the food off the grill and I just like the idea, the fun and the relaxation of grilling. So naturally Bobby Flay is a hero. I have his books, I watch his shows and I try out his recipes. So my idea is to grill one of Bobby's grilling recommendations everyday and see how it goes. Bobby Flay Everyday!

The idea to grill and blog is not original. Julie Powell wrote a blog that became a book and then a movie when she cooked all 524 recipes from Julia Child's cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking. But this is not French Cooking - this is backyard, after work, tailgate, American male grilling. I grill outside in a man-cave in every kind of weather. There is no "grilling season" for me - its everyday, year-round. We will skip around through Bobby's books and TV shows and grill what we like. But grilling is more than food, its an experience - so we will also report on what music we listened to or what ball game was on while we were grilling. We will keep track of what we were drinking during the grilling and later with the food. I'll try to figure what went wrong when we fall short of Bobby's perfection and pass on any tips I know about or discover along the way. Maybe it will give others some ideas as well.

The photo is of me and two of my brother-in-laws roasting the Thanksgiving turkey on the grill last year. That's me on the far right. In real life I am a college professor and pilot. I have written 12 books, but they were all about flying - here we write about grilling. We write about Bobby Flay Everyday!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Buffalo Burger


Spicy Buffalo-Style Burger with Celery-Carrot Slaw and Blue Cheese Dressing - page 49 of Grill It! This is Bobby Flay’s version of Buffalo Wings but this time that flavor is on a burger – and it really worked. It began with grilling the burgers the Bobby Flay way. You can see me demonstrate the techniques in a video at  http://www.youtube.com/user/dvcraig1101#p/u/3/UBPkkIKK99k
It is a simple approach. Never mix stuff into the ground beef before making the patties. Some people put in onion, and tomatoes and other ingredients, but as Bobby says, if you do that too much pretty soon you are just making meat loaf! So, no extras go into the burger – everything goes over the burger. Get some really good ground beef, like ground sirloin for instance, and form into patties. Using your thumb, push into one side of the patty to make a small crater. When the burgers are on the grill, they will plump up with the juices inside and unless you make the crater the burger will form a bulge. There is actually no problem with having a bulging burger, but to so some it is too big a temptation. It never happens on Bobby Flay Everyday, but some want to press down on the burger with a spatula and squeeze out the bulge. This just pushes the juices out and leaves you with a dry, less flavorful burger in the end. So one of the great wisdoms of the grill is: Never press down on a burger! Once the patties were formed, I brushed on canola oil and generously added kosher salt and ground pepper. Meanwhile, Dorothy made the slaw. Normally cole slaw is made with cabbage, but this was made with celery instead. I really don't like cabbage all that much so I was really wanting to try this. The recipe calls for thinly chopped celery and carrots with mayo, lemon juice, chives, pepper, and blue cheese. In the burger recipe Bobby gives us the go-ahead to use our favorite store-bought buffalo wings sauce, so I went with Texas Pete. I brushed that sauce on the burgers while they were on the grill and as you can see in the photo, I also drizzled some right on the burger when it was on the bun. The Texas Pete was great - but it was hot. The Celery-Carrot-Mayo-Blue Cheese slaw however was smooth and creamy. They were a perfect complement! I put some of the slaw right over the burger, added some pickles and this became the best burger anywhere!

What to Drink? In the book Grill It! Bobby says that he can polish off a whole platter of buffalo chicken wings with a few beers. We were having a few buffalo burgers, so we figures a few beers would be a great match. 
Dorothy has a taste for crafted dark stouts. The darker the better and the more chocolate or coffee taste the better. Her favorite among this group has actual Kona Coffee right in the beer - that's Pipeline. 

Mix together the following ingredients: A Friday night, temperatures in the 50's, Bobby's Buffalo Burgers, Blue Cheese Slaw, a few Brews, under a Gazebo and with essential Eric Clapton playing. What do you get? An almost perfect night!
Paul
If you missed yesterdays video of the Spit-Roasted Rotisserie Chicken, check it out at



1 comment:

Inspired by eRecipeCards said...

wow.. to the burger... and extra wow to Dorothy for being a "stout" drinker!