Tantalizingly Good Burger: The Sriracha Burger, served with Pecorino Broccoli

Bryan: Ohhhhhmmmggg this is good
YiRan: *chews*
Bryan: I think this is better than Shake Shack
YiRan: Now, I think we can both agree that Shake Shack has it's own special appeal
Bryan: Yea, that's true
YiRan: But yea, this is really really good

This is the transcript from the few minutes it took us to devour these delicious burgers. Inspired by the Ultimate Sriracha burger we found for last week's weekend inspiration on burgers, we took it upon ourselves to try the recipe out (sans the swiss cheese and tomato), and served it up with a delicious side of pecorino broccoli.

Yes! Burger time!

The Burger
Start by forming up your patties. Combine a tablespoon of sriracha and a half tablespoon of soy sauce, as well as a generous portion of freshly grated pepper, into the meat and mix it all together. Once done, form into patties and let them rest, letting the flavors incorporate.

Sriracha, soy sauce, pepper, and ground beef

While those flavors are incorporating, get to work on your bacon and onions. In a non-stick pan fry up some bacon. Cook it low and slow so the maximum amount of fat renders out. You'll need it.

Slowly cooking the bacon

Once the bacon is nice and crisp, set it aside on a paper towel to let the fat drain off.

That looks pretty close to done...and pretty close to heaven

Then, into the rendered fat, add in your sliced onions. Yes folks, that's right, we're going to be caramelizing onions in bacon fat for this recipe. Honestly, how could this not be amazing?

Simmering the onions in bacon fat

Sauté the onions over medium to low heat for about 30 minutes until they've reduced significantly in size and taken on a nice brown color. You'll know they're done by looking at them, but since you've been toiling away making sure they don't burn for all this time, feel free to try one to "make sure it's good". Go ahead. No one will judge you.

Caramelized onions

With the onions caramelized and the bacon crisp, the only thing remaining to do is grill up the burger and make the sauce. If you have a grill, we envy you, so go ahead and cook the burgers as you normally would, to about medium well.

Searing the burgers on our grill pan

If you have a New York City apartment, take out your grill pan and heat it up nice and hot so that the burgers will sear nicely. Cook for about four to five minutes per side.

Nice grill marks, even without a real grill!

Then, and this is important - let the burger rest for about 7 minutes or so before doing anything else with it. Failure to follow this step will lead to soggy buns, or worse.

Mixing together sriracha and blue cheese dressing to form the ultimate sauce

While the burgers are grilling, mix together your sauce. We're going for about three parts blue cheese dressing to one part sriracha. Mix it together, and give it a taste. It'll have a kick, that's for sure, but don't be afraid - this will go great on that meat.

And this is how you build the burger

Finally, toast up a bun. Slather some of the sauce on each side of the bun, and then construct your burger. The proper order for doing this is demonstrated above - burger, onions, bacon, and arugula. Yes, arugula - its got a nice kick that stands up well to the sriracha.

Now now, are you going to make some vegetables to go with that?

Making the Pecorino Broccoli
This is a very simple side dish but was incredibly delicious. We found it in Mario Batali's Molto Gusto and though it would make for an excellent healthy side to an otherwise indulgent meal (see: onions caramelized in bacon fat).

Small broccoli florets

Cut up the broccoli into small florets and then blanch in boiling, heavily salted water for five minutes. As soon as it's done, run it under cold cold water.

Running cool water over the blanched broccoli

In a mixing bowl, combine half a cup of freshly grated pecorino cheese with a touch of water and olive oil, and whisk until emulsified. Add only small amounts of water at a time, whisking throughout, so that a nice sauce forms

Then, throw in the broccoli and toss to combine. Let it rest for about 10 - 20 minutes to let the flavors combine.

The Result
The broccoli was a great side, but the real star of the show was the sriracha burger. Boy oh boy, this was delicious. The burger was juicy but with a wonderful kick from the sriracha and the soy sauce. The blue cheese sriracha sauce was divine, and the combination of the caramelized onions, arugula, and bacon provided diversity so that the sriracha wouldn't be overwhelming.

Our take? Go make this burger.

Were you inspired by the weekend inspiration? Let us know what you came up with in the comments!


Click through for the full ingredients list

Sriracha Burger

From: Serious Eats

Delicious. Burger. Eat it.

Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 hr

(Serves: 2)

1/2 lb 85% lean ground beef
2 brioche buns
3 tablespoons Sriracha
1/4 cup blue cheese dressing
4 strips bacon
1/2 onion
1 cup fresh arugula
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper

Pecorino Broccoli

From: Mario Batali

A delicious, easy, and healthy side

Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min

(Serves: 2)

1 head broccoli
4 tablespoons salt
1/2 cup freshly grated pecorino
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons water