So, yeh; not the best of all possible images, but my! is this a fine and tasty burger.
I’ve been enjoying this combination of beef, teriyaki marinade, mayonnaise, pineapple, and cheese on a bun ever since I first came across it at a Red Robin restaurant just South of San Francisco in the mid 1980s. I used to would make my take on the burgers with bottled sauce from the market, but an idea came to me while updating an old teriyaki post that needed some work, and can now say I am most well pleased.
My new take on Terryaki (sorry, I just had to) is everything I’ve been looking for in a soy and mirin based marinade and sauce: a bit sweet, a bit spicy, nicely smooth but with an oh, my! bite at the end.
To test it out, I picked up a couple of Pub Burgers from our local market – their store brand premium fresh burger patties – and poured the sauce over.
Stash the burgers, covered, in the fridge for at least a few hours – tho’ – as always – overnight is much more better – turning when you think of it.
When ready to grill, slice an onion, some nice melting cheese, and pineapple and arrange near the grill. I used canned pineapple slices, sweet onion, and Velveeta.
By the way, did you know that you can make Velveeta at home with just three basic ingredients? Well, you can, and it is good; but won’t last as long in the fridge as the stuff in the friendly yellow box.
Back to the burgers…
Heat and lightly oil your grill. Remove the burgers from their marinade and cook for five to ten minutes per side, turning once – these are big, thick burgers, and my kitchen grill, even set on ‘high’, is not as hot as a traditional grill, so you may need to adjust your cooking times based on pattie size and grill temps.
About a minute or two before the burgers are ready, add a slice of cheese to each and add the sliced pineapple and onion to the grill (I would use a grill pan if doing this on a regular grill).
Grill the pineapple and onion slices for a minute or so to get a bit of a char on them, then flip and repeat with the other side.
Now, your cheese is melted, pineapple and onion good to go, we can have us a burger.
Apply a bit of good mayonnaise to a lightly toasted bun, then add the burger with a pineapple and onion slice, some freshly chopped romaine, a garlic dill pickle slice and some bright yellow mustard.
Heaven on a bun.
Oh, and the Terryaki sauce?
Well, that’s all new and improved and stuff, so check out those details come Monday.