Around about these parts, folk take their Bloody Mary’s very seriously; order one and each bar will serve it with their own special twist, like sliders on sticks, sausage, shrimp, celery, and da google only knows what else sticking out of the top.
Oh, and there’ll probably be a teeny tiny bottle o’ beer on the side because, Wisconsin.
Thing is, although I love all of the parts of a Bloody Mary, I cannot drink one.
The tomato juice is, to me, too thick and cloying, but, when I came across the concept of Bloody Mary Hamburgers, I knew I had to try them!
I found several different recipes and suggestions, so took a bit from one, mixed it with pieces of another, then tossed everything up into the air and made my own, really quite tasty, version.
INGREDIENTS
Burger Mix:
•1 lb ground beef
•1 lb ground pork
•1/4 cup tomato paste
•2 tbsp prepared horseradish
•2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
•1 tbsp vodka
•1 tsp Cajun Power Spicy Garlic Pepper Sauce*
•2 tsp celery seeds
•1 tsp black pepper
•1 tsp Aleppo pepper
For cooking:
•Kosher salt
•Grape tomatoes, halved
•Sliced pickled cherry peppers
•Sliced peperoncini
•Cheese slices
*Or your favorite hot sauce, to taste.
Combine all the burger ingredients together using your hands or your stand mixer. I like the stand mixer because it seems to blend stuff more evenly.
Grab a good handful of the meat mixture and shape into burgers.
Full disclosure, I used one of those burger molds and ended up with nine patties, five of which I cooked and four I stashed in the freezer for later.
Sprinkle some Kosher salt in a large skillet and warm over medium high heat.
Add the burger patties, cherry peppers, tomatoes, and peperoncini and cook for three minutes or so, until the burgers have a nice crust on them,
Flip the burgers and cook for another three or four minutes.
Place a slice of cheese over each burger, turn off the heat, and cover the skillet.
Let rest until the cheese is nicely melted, then spoon the peppers and tomatoes over the top.
I served mine with Asparagus Salad on the side, topped with Honey Mustard Egg Salad.
Most of the recipes I came across called for a Thousand Island Dressing kind of sauce to drizzle over the burger and, in the spirit of all things retro and Mad Men, I actually found Howard Johnson’s Thousand Island Dressing (and Triple Decker Burger Secret Sauce) recipe.
Which I will happily share.
Tomorrow…