Le Bon Temps Burger

Pairs well with:

Zinfandel

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

Having lived in the city of New Orleans for eleven years, my recipes are heavily influenced by the flavors and ingredients of this great city.Le Bon Temps Burger is a great American burger because it uses a local New Orleans ingredient, andouille sausage, to create a surprising cajun twist on the traditional hamburger. The addition of the spicy cajun slaw adds a wonderful crunch and explosion of flavor.

Ingredients:

Spicy Cajun Slaw
1 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
6 cups packaged cabbage mix (or 5 cups shredded cabbage and one cup shredded carrot)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons hot sauce
1.5 teaspoons cajun seasoning
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Patties
1/2 lb fully cooked andouille sausage
1.5 lbs ground beef
2 eggs
1 1/2 garlic cloves
1/3 cup chopped yellow onion
1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons cajun seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

6 Kaiser rolls
6 deli slices pepper jack cheese

Instructions:

To make the spicy cajun slaw, place shredded cabbage mixture in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine the mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper, lemon juice, hot sauce, and cajun seasoning. Mix these ingredients until evenly combined. Pour the mixture over the cabbage and mix evenly. Place plastic wrap over the bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Prepare a medium-hot fire in a charcoal grill with a cover, or preheat a gas grill to medium-high.

To make patties, slice andouille sausage into 1/2 inch slices and place in food processor. Process until the andouille sausage is ground to the same consistency as the ground beef. In a large bowl, combine the ground andouille sausage, ground beef, eggs, garlic, yellow onion, Worcestershire sauce, cajun seasoning, salt, and pepper. Mix the ingredients by hand until the ingredients are evenly distributed. Evenly divide the mixture into six portions and shape each portion into a patty. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and set aside.

Arrange six deli slices of pepper jack cheese.

When the grill is ready, brush the grill rack with vegetable oil. Place the patties on the rack, cover, and cook, turning once until done to preference, about 5 to 7 minutes on each side for medium.

Cut each of the six kaiser rolls into top and bottom halves. With 4 minutes left to go, place each of the halves on the grill to toast. With 2 couple minutes left to go, place one slice pepper jack cheese on each patty to melt. When the patties and rolls have reached the desired doneness, remove from the grill to assemble.

To assemble the burgers, place a patty on each of the bottom halves of the rolls. Next, top each patty with 1/3 of a cup of the slaw mixture, add the top halves and serve.