If you have a taste for a “sliderific” holiday weekend, you can bite down hard right here!
Calling All Burger Lovers!
Time to start planning your upcoming holiday weekend menu – for SLIDERS!
I love holidays! Cooking burgers is one reason, grilling sliders is another. Look at how good this is, a perfectly composed slider getting a big assist from my best friend, BACON:
Here are some of my favorite slider recipes – all with an international flair!
A Worldwide Slider Celebration!
The key to an international slider is what flavors the basic hamburger patty. Your basic hamburger uses good quality ground beef with at least 15% fat content, to ensure lots of juicy flavor. I mix in raw minced onion and minced garlic, with salt, pepper as well.
That’s it for me – upon this temple of meat flavor, I add unique ingredients that give my sliders an international flavor…here are some of my favorite recipes!
Spanish Sliders – Hamburguesa!
Let’s get started with Spain, since I just got back from Barcelona…this is a great example of taking a regular burger and giving it an international feel…using some of the special spanish flavors to give the burger a catalonian flavor!
Begin by cooking the burger first with Manchego cheese (a sheep’s milk cheese from the La Mancha region in Spain) and Jamón Iberico, (Iberico ham – prosciutto-like ham that comes from Spanish black pigs). Then, top the burger with olive tapenade…you can find recipes for making it, or you can buy it in a jar, but it includes black olives, capers, anchovies, garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice. Take a bite and you will wake up in Barcelona…
Or, if you are just in the mood for a burger that will drive you NUTS…or perhaps you don’t want a burger at all, well here’s the answer!
The Nut Burger!
The Nut Burger was made famous at Matt’s Place Drive-In in Butte, Montana. Matt’s Place Drive-In was established in 1930.
And, in honor of vegetarians who have chosen to read this post, there is a great “no meat” burger waiting for you!
“No Meat” Nut Burgers!
1 medium onion
1 cup walnuts, pecans, almonds, cashews or other nuts, preferably raw
1 cup (raw) rolled oats or cooked short-grain white or brown rice
2 tablespoons ketchup, miso, tomato paste, nut butter or tahini
1 teaspoon chili powder or any spice mix you like
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 egg
2 tablespoons peanut oil, extra virgin olive oil or neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn.
1. Grind onion in food processor. Add nuts and oats, and pulse to chop, but not too finely. Add remaining ingredients except oil. Process briefly; don’t grind too finely. Add a little liquid — water, stock, soy sauce, wine, whatever — if necessary; mixture should be moist but not loose.
2. Let mixture rest a few minutes, then shape it into 4 burgers. (Burger mixture or shaped burgers can be covered tightly and refrigerated for up to a day. Bring back to room temperature before cooking.) Put oil in nonstick or well-seasoned cast iron skillet and turn to medium. When oil is hot, add burgers to skillet. Cook about 5 minutes, undisturbed, until browned, then turn with spatula. Lower heat a bit and cook 3 or 4 minutes more, until firm.
This is good enough to satisfy meat eaters, too!
Korean Kimchi Barbecue Sliders
When I was in Seoul, we ate every night at a korean BBQ, where you grill your own meat and seafood on the round grill embedded in your table, then wrap the grilled food around lettuce or thinly sliced pickled vegetables. Taking that as an inspiration, Korean sliders are best when you add pickled cucumbers, a splash of rice vinegar and kimchi.
As you can see, it’s all about how you season your burger patty – and there’s a world of great flavor to enjoy!
Japanese Wasabi-Avocado Slider!
I read about this over the holidays and I made one…it was delicious! It is very simple: a slider patty topped with sliced avocado, and a heavy dose of wasabi mayonaise. Trader Joe’s sells it, or buy some great mayo and wasabi and mix it together to the strength you can handle…this is delicious with a Sapporo! One last look….trust me, MAKE THIS ONE!
The Sriracha Burger!
Wasabi not powerful enough for you? Well, THIS will do the trick:
This is a GREAT idea…the recipe is from the terrific “Serious Eats” website!
3 pounds ground beef (preferably chuck, 80/20)
1/4 cup soy sauce
10 tablespoons Sriracha
4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
4 slices thick-cut bacon
2 large sweet onions
3/4 cup blue cheese dressing
8 sesame seed buns
8 thick slices Swiss cheese
1 large beefsteak tomato, sliced
Arugula or romaine lettuce
In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef, soy sauce, 5 tablespoons of the Sriracha, and the pepper.
Cook the bacon. While the bacon is cooking, peel and quarter the onions. Once the bacon is cooked through and slightly crispy, remove the slices from the pan, reserving the remaining bacon fat in the pan. Cook the sliced onions in the bacon fat over medium-low heat until they caramelize, 20 to 25 minutes.
Grill the burgers. While the burgers are cooking, in a small bowl, combine the blue cheese dressing with the remaining 5 tablespoons Sriracha. Lightly toast the buns on the grill during the last minute of cooking time.
To assemble, spread the blue cheese mixture on both halves of each hamburger bun. Stack a burger patty, Swiss cheese slice, bacon, caramelized onions, tomato slice, and a small handful of arugula between each hamburger bun.
Bam!
Australian Sliders!
I uncovered these two years ago in Melbourne. They add a slice of beetroot underneath the burger. It adds a great, slightly nutty flavor to the slider. Look at how beautiful that big chunk looks on the burger above…Everything else is the same – add cheddar cheese, tomato, lettuce if you like – and if you want to go totally Aussie, add a fried egg on top….the best!
Now, if you REALLY want to get creative, throw the concept of a slider out the window altogether!
THE CHEESEBURGER SUB!
From The White House Sub shop in Atlantic City, I got this delicious cheeseburger sub – it’s a cheeseburger on a sub sandwich roll…easy to do and a fun change of pace!
The All-American Bacon-Cheeseburger Slider!
What can you say? After a trip around the world, it’s nice to come home and have an all-american slider…made vertically like so:
Top Bun
Cheese – melted and dripping
Bacon! Bacon! Bacon!
Slider Patty
Tomato
Pickle
Mayonaise, mayonaise, mayonaise!
Bottom Bun
See that? DO NOT DEVIATE – this is perfection.
WHAT THE – ???!!???
What do you think of THIS? My daughter Jessica poses in front of the ad for the “Green Peas Pachislo Burger” in Tokyo…we don’t know what it was, and didn’t bother to find out, but we loved the ad!
Jessica sent me a list of sliders being made by an innovative food truck in Seattle. Look at some of these variations on a slider!
Curb Jumper Classic Cheese Slider
Certified Angus Beef, Melted Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Roma Tomato, Red Onion,
Spring Mix with Roasted Garlic Aioli.
Shrooom Slider
Certified Angus Beef, Melted Provolone Cheese, Sauted Crimini Mushrooms,
Caramelized Sweet Onions, Spring Mix, Roma Tomato and Spicy Mustard Aioli
Southwest Turkey Slider
Handmade and spiced Turkey Patties, Melted Pepper Jack Cheese, Roasted Anaheim Peppers,
Cumin- Cilantro Slaw, Frizzled Onions with a Chipotle Aioli.
Salmon Slider
Handmade Salmon Patties, Frizzled Onions, Spring Mix, Roma Tomato with a Lemon Pepper Aioli
Paulie’s Pulled Pork Sliders
Rubbed and Slow Roasted Pork in a Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce topped with a fresh
Cumin- Cilantro Slaw
Don’t Be Intimidated!
And remember, if all else fails:
White Castle To The Rescue!
And when in doubt, grab a dozen White Castle sliders and dress them up with some of the above flavors – talk about happy holidays!
Let me know if you try any of these and how they turn out! Thanks!
Categories: BACON, cookbooks, Food, Food Review, Hamburgers, Recipes, Restaurants, Tokyo!, Travel, Travel Memoir, Uncategorized, Wacky Food
johnrieber 
Spoilt for choice here what a great collection of burgers…
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I have to have sliders today after reading this…
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Oh great, because of this amazing post I have to go have a hamburger now. 😀
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Thanks for reading it! You MUST have the japanese wasabi avocado slider – or the Ausse!
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