On this week’s episode of Mad Genius: Home Edition, Justin Chapple incorporates flavors of the classic cocktail into juicy burgers.
One of (many) beautiful things about hamburgers is how easy it is to customize their flavor. And in this week's episode of Mad Genius: Home Edition, Food & Wine Culinary Director at Large Justin Chapple gives his burgers a boost with ingredients inspired by a classic cocktail—the Bloody Mary. While there's no vodka involved in this recipe, horseradish, tomato paste, hot sauce and more ingredients help evoke the drink's signature taste. The best part? The burgers are ready in just two simple steps.
Read on for Justin's step-by-step method and follow along with the video above.
Flavor Your Ground Sirloin
These burgers begin with ground sirloin, which Justin carefully breaks up in a bowl using two forks. Next, he incorporates the ingredients that will give the patties their Bloody Mary flavor—prepared horseradish that's been drained, tomato paste, hot sauce (Justin likes to use Louisiana-style here), Worcestershire sauce, celery seeds, and finally, a hit of kosher salt and pepper. Use your forks (or fork) to gently mix everything together, and take care not to over-work the beef. Using your hands to mix the meat, on the other hand (sorry, we had to), would result in it warming up and softening, which you don't want.
Shape the Patties
To form perfect burger patties, Justin has a helpful Mad Genius trick involving plastic one-quart takeout containers. Take two lids, sandwich one quarter of the beef mixture in between them, and press them into patties. Then, transfer each finished patty to a parchment paper- or foil-lined baking sheet and season them lightly with salt and pepper.
Grill + Build
Using either a grill or grill pan, grill the burger patties over moderate heat for eight to 10 minutes, until they're medium rare inside. You'll want to flip them once while they cook—be sure to add the cheese at this point so it gets nice and melty.
Once the burgers are done, grab all your toppings and get building. Since the patties themselves are so flavorful, Justin sticks to red onion, tomato, red leaf lettuce, and American cheese for the accouterments, with a little mayonnaise to spread on the bun as well. Start with the mayo on the bottom bun, and then slide on the burger, followed by the lettuce (Justin likes to do this so it sticks to the cheese), tomato, onion, and finally, the other half of the bun. At this point, you're all set to enjoy your burger—and if you want to serve a Bloody Mary on the side? Even better.
This article was written by Bridget Hallinan from Food & Wine and was legally licensed through the Industry Dive publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.
