Peter Piper’s Pickled Pepper Patty

Ingredients

Dill Sauce:
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons dry mustard powder
2 teaspoons Dill Herb Blend
1/2 cup half and half
Patties:
1 1/2 pounds ground round
½ pound ground chuck
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 Kosher Dill Pickle at least 6 1/4” long
6 teaspoons Colavita pepperonata 
3 teaspoons Dill Herb Blend
2 tablespoons Colavita Extra Virgin Olive Oil for brushing the grill rack
12 slices rye bread

Instructions

Directions Preheat a gas grill to the medium-high heat level. According to the thermometer in the hood of my grill, this is approximately 300-400 degrees. Make the Dill Sauce first. In a small sauce pan place the lemon juice, dry mustard powder and  Herb Blend. Whisk to blend. Slowly add the half and half as you continue to whisk the mixture. After whisking the ingredients together place the saucepan on the grill and heat. Continue to whisk the Dill Sauce to prevent burning and heat for approximately 7 minutes allowing the mixture to come to a slight boil and thicken slightly. Turn off the grill and leave the mixture in the sauce pan off to the side on the grill. This will keep the mixture warm and allow it to further thicken. Now for the fun! To make the patties, layout on a flat surface a piece of saran wrap about 2 feet long. In a bowl gently and briefly mix the ground chuck and ground sirloin together. Take the meat mixture and place it in the middle of the saran wrap. Without a lot of handling spread the meat out to create an approximately 20” long and 6” wide rectangular patty of uniform thickness. This should take about a minute or two. If it takes longer you are overhandling the meat. Do not pat or slap, it is more of a kneeding and pulling with your fingers. All you want to do is spread the meat out you are not trying to compress it as with traditional patty making. Lightly salt the meat as it sits on the saran wrap. Using your pepper grinder, pepper the meat with a generous helping of the fresh ground black pepper as it still rests on the saran wrap. Using a knife cut the Kosher dill pickle, lengthwise into 16 equal pieces of which you will use 13. Place one of the pickle strips across the meat about a 1” in from the end. You can use the width of a butter knife or if you want to get crazy a ruler as a guide. The ends of the pickle strip should just poke past the edges of the meat. I also start my first pickle strip at the left side of my rectangle. Using the butter knife as a guide place another pickle strip across the meat two butter knives widths or approximately 2” inchs away from the first strip. Continue to lay down pickle strips alternating the spacing from 1” – 2” until the13 strips have been used. Take a teaspoon of the roasted pepper mixture and using your fingers press the peppers against the spoon to drain off some of the oil. In the first of the larger spaces created by the pickle strips evenly spread out one teaspoon of the roasted peppers on the meat. Do not put the same spoon or knife used to spread the mixture on the meat back into the jar containing the roasted peppers. Continue filling in the larger spaces with a teaspoon each of the pressed roasted pepper. Use a butter knife to spread one streak or half a teaspoon of the dill herb blend in each of the smaller gaps created by the pickles. Nothing should be in the first or last inch of the patty. We only want the meat, because next we are going to roll this patty like it was a giant sushi roll and we will need to leave meat on both ends to keep the roll sealed. Now carefully lift up the saran wrap starting at the left side of your patty. Use the saran to support the meat so that you can roll the meat to your right. As you continue to roll be sure to pull the saran out of the way so it does not get caught up in the meat mixture. When you have finished rolling you will end up with a 6” long log. With the saran wrap covering the outside of this log gently press and squeeze a little, so the log will keep it’s shape. Remove the saran wrap and mark the log in one inch increments. Using the sharpest knife you have stab through one of the marks you made and gently cut through the log working from the middle out to the edges as you go. When you are finished you should have a roughly 1” patty approximately 4.5” in diameter. Cut on your remaining marks to yield six rolled burger patties. If necessary you may need to reform your patties a little to maintain their shape. Turn your grill on so it is between low to medium heat. My grill thermometer reads 180-200 when it is ready. Wipe the grill down with a paper towel and some olive oil. Place the patties on the rack and grill until browned on the bottoms, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn the patties and continue grilling until done to taste. I find a spatula and a pair of tongs work well in turning the patties. This prevents them from falling to hard on the flip and potentially coming apart. Theyare much better when they fall apart in your mouth and not on the grill! During the last few minutes of burger cooking, lay your rye bread on the grill and lightly toast one side. To assemble the burgers, place one slice of rye bread on a plate toasted side down. Place about a tablespoon of dill sauce on the rye bread. Place one Peter Piper Pickled Patty on top of the dill sauce and rye bread. Add another tablespoon of the dill sauce to the top of your Peter Piper Pickled Patty and cover, toasted side up with another slice of rye bread. Enjoy. Makes 6 burgers Richard, Sebastian Florida