All-American Zinburgers

Accolades 2004 Finalists
Serves Makes 6 burgers
Pairs well with:

Zinfandel

Bright and full-bodied, this Zinfandel wine is a curious contradiction in tastes.

Ingredients

Burgers:

1 cup crumbled Maytag blue cheese
2 cups mayonnaise
3 medium shallots, chopped fine
1 cup Sutter Home Zinfandel
2 tablespoons Better Than Bouillon Beef Base
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco Pepper Sauce
3 pounds ground sirloin
1 teaspoon salt
Scant 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
6 seeded hamburger rolls
6 ounces mesclun salad greens, rinsed and dried

 

Instructions

Make sauce by combining crumbled blue cheese with mayonnaise. Set aside.

In a grill with a cover, prepare a medium-hot fire for direct-heat cooking.

Place a nonreactive 9- or 10-inch sauté pan on the grill. Add the chopped shallots and wine. Cook and swirl gently until syrupy. Add beef base, Worcestershire sauce, and pepper sauce. Stir together and set aside. Let cool. When cool, mix with the ground sirloin. Add the salt and ground pepper.

Form six 1/2-pound patties and place on grill until nicely browned, about 5 minutes. Turn over and grill another 5 minutes, or until just done throughout but juicy.

Just a couple of minutes before the patties are done, halve rolls and lightly brown on grill, placing cut sides down.

Place patties on bottom halves of rolls, adding a generous dollop of blue cheese sauce on top of each one and a sprinkling of greens. Top with roll tops.