Recipe to Accompany 2021 Estate Petite Sirah

Bacon blue cheese smash burgers

Servings: 4 Prep Time: 45 minutes  Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2lb Ground beef (80% – 20%)
  • Blue cheese sauce
  • American cheese slices
  • 1 Pack of bacon
  • Two yellow Onions, to caramelize
  • Brioche or Potato Buns

Blue Cheese Sauce: 

  • 300g blue cheese, crumbled (any blue cheese will do)
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 3 Dashes Worcestershire sauce
  • 5-6 garlic cloves, crushed

Directions

  1. Thinly Slice onions and slow cook them in a bit of oil or butter and caramelize.  (This could take as long as 45 mins.) and set to the side. 
  2. Cook bacon to your preference. 
  3. Being very gentle make 8 – 4oz balls with the ground beef. Do not over work the meat, loose is good. You will not get the smash burger effect if you overwork the beef. Roll the meat balls in your seasoning of choice.
  4. Heat your griddle or stovetop with a cast iron skillet to screaming hot (around 400 to 500) 
  5. Place the meatballs on the surface let them sear about 30 seconds and then smash them with a large spatula as flat as you can.  You want them as big and flat as possible. They will shrink as you cook them.

If using a cast iron skillet do the same method – you will just have to do 2 or 3 at a time depending on the skillet size. 

  1. Let cook for about 3 minutes or until the sides start to brown. Flip and cook for another 3 minutes.  Add American cheese slices to the top and if possible cover patties to melt cheese a bit.

After your initial smash try to not keep smashing the burger over and over. You will lose all that good juice. 

  1. Assemble your burger with 2 smash patties, caramelized onions, blue cheese sauce, and bacon.

 

Recipe Notes

    • If you are not a Blue Cheese fan you can substitute with the cheese of your liking. Make sure you add your cheese while the burger is still on the grill.
    • Toasting the buns on the griddle before you start cooking the meat will help with texture and flavor.
    • Melting cheese tip: stainless steel bowl and a squirt of water do an amazing job at melting cheese. Basically, you are steaming the cheese under the bowl. Just 60-90 seconds will do the trick. 
    • Mixing some blue cheese crumbles into the meat balls before cooking will also add more flavor.
  • Can be made as a slider as done in our Perfect Pairings Club by Teresa Z!

 

Serve with Page Mill Estate Petite Sirah for a Perfect Pairing!