Creating My Fiesta Burger
Thought I would try something different this weekend and it turned out pretty darned good. This will eventually be the Fiesta Burger
For starters, I like to use ground sirloin for all my ground beef needs. It just tastes meatier. Steakier. Yeah, I just made that word up. Straight sirloin – unless I’m literally smoking a burger – then I mix sirloin with some ground chuck for some fattier beef that renders down to meat juice when smoked. But this was not going to be a smoked burger. This is going to be my take on the TexMex burger.
For this burger I used straight ground sirloin. I seasoned them with some Fiesta brand Fajita Seasoning instead of salt and pepper. Liberally on both sides. I started the cook on the indirect side, covered, and let the patties come up to medium well. At this point, I removed the cover and threw the buns over the direct coals to toast the buns. They don’t take very long. This also allows the coals to get a bit more hot being exposed to all that open air and the burgers are ready to sear.
I placed the burgers directly over the hot coals and brushed a little melted butter over the top so that it drips into the coals causing a flare up which helps to sear the first side to a charry, buttery finish. Flipped the burger to sear the other side and about halfway through my desired char level of that second side I added a slice of pepper jack cheese and let it finish searing and removed from the grill.
I placed the melted cheese-topped patty on the bun, added some fresh made pico de gallo. For the initial tasting of this experiment I also had a wee bit of mustard. I wanted to see how well the flavor of the cheese and pico got along with the burger. It was delicious. Pico recipe will be listed at the end. Served up with fries cooked in peanut oil and Heinz Chili Sauce for dip.
Next step to this burger will be to lose the mustard and put a layer of guacamole on the bottom bun, followed by the pico on the guac, then the burger with the pepperjack and some sour cream on top of the burger. Placing the pico on the guac will help hold the pico in place. It wanted to fall all over the place.
Pico is super easy to make. This recipe will make you about a quart container full. For my batch I use:
- 8 romas, diced
- 6 jalapeños, diced
- 1 small red onion (I usally sub bunch of green onions but I couldn’t find any decent ones), diced
- half a bunch of cilantro (don’t be scared of them stems), chopped
- juice of 3 small limes, and
- kosher salt to taste.