Ultimate Sriracha Burgers and Oven Fries

I love burgers. I could eat one a week and be perfectly happy. Besides being delicious, they're so versatile. You can switch up the meat from beef to chicken or something more exotic, the topping choices are endless and they're fun to eat. Come on, who doesn't like eating with their hands?

I've never cooked with Sriracha before, but I had a small bottle in the pantry for a recipe I still haven't gotten around to making, so when the Ultimate Sriracha Burger was raved about on my cooking board I thought I'd give it a shot.


Since I've never cooked with Sriracha (and therefore had no clue how mild or spicy it was), I should have listened to my gut and reduced the amount of Sriracha in the blue cheese sauce. I just can't handle spice the way I could before having Baby Girl. Otherwise, this was a perfect burger. You can never go wrong with bacon, and the caramelized onions added a nice sweetness. There was a good kick from the Sriracha, which I would have enjoyed more if the blue cheese had been able to come through, and I love peppery arugula and sliced tomato. The Swiss didn't melt enough, but that was my error.

Ultimate Sriracha Burger
Oishii

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
2 TBS. soy sauce
5 TBS. Sriracha, divided
2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
4 slices thick cut bacon
1 large sweet onion
3/4 cup blue cheese dressing
4 brioche buns
4 thick slices Swiss cheese
1 tomato, sliced
several handfuls of arugula

In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef, soy sauce, 2 1/2 TBS. of the Sriracha, and the pepper. Be careful not to overmix. Form the mixture into 4 patties, and set aside, on a parchment-lined plate, covered, in the refrigerator.

Preheat a charcoal or gas grill to medium high heat. In a medium frying pan over medium-low heat, cook the bacon, turning as necessary. While the bacon is cooking, peel and quarter the onions. Cut each section into 1/4-inch slices. Once the bacon is cooked through and slightly crispy, remove the slices from the pan, cut each in half crosswise, and drain onto paper towels, reserving the remaining bacon fat in the pan. Cook the sliced onions in the bacon fat over medium-low heat until they caramelize, 20 to 25 minutes.

Grill the burgers, turning once, 4 to 41/2 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer registers 130° to 135°F for medium-rare.

While the burgers are cooking, combine the blue cheese dressing with the remaining 2 1/2 TBS. Sriracha in a small bowl.

Lightly toast the buns on the grill during the last minute of cooking time. Spread the blue cheese mixture on both halves of each hamburger bun. Stack a burger patty, slice of Swiss cheese, bacon, caramelized onions, slice of tomato, and a small handful of arugula between each hamburger bun.

I served the burgers with oven fries. I've been searching for a good oven fry recipe for a long time and these were delicious (if not as evenly brown as I would have liked).


SP practically inhaled his burger and fought me over the last few fries. He's a very good sport when it comes to my cooking, especially when I'm trying a new recipe, but he definitely has his favorites and has no qualms about offering constructive criticism. The only issue he had was wishing I'd done a better job melting the cheese and keeping the caramelized onions warm.