How to Make a Turkey Burger Edible

How to Make a Turkey Burger Edible

1. Go to Fonda del Mar and order lamb chops and mole negro (eat each item separately)

2. Ask for check, and as you do, ask for a small container of mole (offer to pay and, as necessary, do so)

3. Prepare turkey burger as usual; drench with mole

It’s that simple.

David Hammond wrote:How to Make a Turkey Burger Edible

1. Go to Fonda del Mar and order lamb chops and mole negro (eat each item separately)

2. Ask for check, and as you do, ask for a small container of mole (offer to pay and, as necessary, do so)

3. Prepare turkey burger as usual; drench with mole

It’s that simple.

Nice. It sure beats my usual method:

1. Prepare turkey burger as usual.

2. Throw turkey burger in trash.

3. Go to Jury's and get a real burger.

Turkey. Burger. There, in two separate sentences (well, not such that my HS English teach Ms. Brown would have approved) - NEVER in the same sentence and certainly not adjacent to each other in that sentence.

David Hammond wrote:How to Make a Turkey Burger Edible

1. Go to Fonda del Mar and order lamb chops and mole negro (eat each item separately)

2. Ask for check, and as you do, ask for a small container of mole (offer to pay and, as necessary, do so)

3. Prepare turkey burger as usual; drench with mole

It’s that simple.

I love the idea of using mole sauce! That would actually make a turkey burger edible I think.

David Hammond wrote:How to Make a Turkey Burger Edible

1. Go to Fonda del Mar and order lamb chops and mole negro (eat each item separately)

2. Ask for check, and as you do, ask for a small container of mole (offer to pay and, as necessary, do so)

3. Prepare turkey burger as usual; drench with mole

It’s that simple.

mix 50-50 with very fatty ground lamb. A terrible waste of lamb, though.

I'm much more likely to use the words "vegetarian" and "freak" consecutively than "Vegetarian" and "Burger"

Boys, boys, I'm trying to pay a huge complement to the mole negro from Fonda del Mar, and you're turning this into an Anger Fest regarding turkey burger and now vegetarians.

You guys haven’t been to That’s-A-Burger, eh? I’m not usually a fan of turkey burgers but TAB’s are really good. I even like them unadorned but for full effect try one with swiss cheese, grilled onions, tomato, and bacon. I like the idea of a turkey-mole burger too.

I've asked around. You can't *get* a turkey burger here in Montréal. That probably tells us something useful.

Maybe it could be sneaked into poutine? Or, hey!, how about wrapping it in good ol' streaky Quebec bacon??

I'll keep the inquiry open.

Geo

David Hammond wrote:Boys, boys, I'm trying to pay a huge complement to the mole negro from Fonda del Mar, and you're turning this into an Anger Fest regarding turkey burger and now vegetarians.

At least the turkey burger doesn't pretend to be something it isn't, as turkey "ham" and turkey "pastrami" do. Still, David, I understand you're saying the mole is so good it even lets you choke down a turkey burger, but there must be better ways of enjoying it. Like warming it up and eating it with a spoon.

I've never eaten a turkey burger, turkey chile, or anything turkey, besides the real oven baked turkey for a sandwich or holiday dinner.

Is the benefit any better than eating 95 percent lean beef?

I'd just really rather have a turkey sandwich made with sliced turkey, a little low fat mayo, some iceberg or romaine, some mustard and pepper rings on white bread and skip the turkey burger all together.

Food Nut wrote:I'd just really rather have a turkey sandwich made with sliced turkey, a little low fat mayo, some iceberg or romaine, some mustard and pepper rings on white bread and skip the turkey burger all together.

Okay, let's see if you get as much grief about your low fat mayo as I'm getting for my turkey burger. (Hey, it was the only damn thing in my refrigerator, all right, The Wife bought it, I was hungry, I ate it...jeez).

Enjoy!

Hammond

Rene G wrote:You guys haven’t been to That’s-A-Burger, eh? I’m not usually a fan of turkey burgers but TAB’s are really good. I even like them unadorned but for full effect try one with swiss cheese, grilled onions, tomato, and bacon. I like the idea of a turkey-mole burger too.

Another excellent turkey burger (and the only one of its species I will eat) can be found at Edgebrook Diner. Thay are housemade and mixed with some peppers, onions and some other spices before they are grilled.

At least the turkey burger doesn't pretend to be something it isn't, as turkey "ham" and turkey "pastrami" do. .

Sometimes what something tastes like depends on how you approach it. The idea of turkey "pastrami" is quite repellent, I agree, but a nice spicy smokey turkey sandwich on rye with mustard is a very enjoyable sammy. Vienna Beef makes a very tasty spicy-smokey-turkey.

Giovanna

Giovanna wrote:

At least the turkey burger doesn't pretend to be something it isn't, as turkey "ham" and turkey "pastrami" do. .

Sometimes what something tastes like depends on how you approach it. The idea of turkey "pastrami" is quite repellent, I agree, but a nice spicy smokey turkey sandwich on rye with mustard is a very enjoyable sammy. Vienna Beef makes a very tasty spicy-smokey-turkey.

Oh, definitely -- a deli around the corner from my office does a pretty good job with that exact Vienna Beef product. All I'm saying is that, if you pull apart a turkey to find the pig or steer, heartbreak is in your future.

My wife is a huge fan of ground turkey, but I rarely cook solely with it (probably because I've found it bland as well). If you're going to make ground turkey good you've got to season the hell out of it. The one recipe I've found where you can subsitute beef for turkey meat and make a solid burger is this Emeril winner:

Andouille Burgers with Grilled Sweet Onions and Creole Remoulade Sauce
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_24246,00.html

I've never found a guest who hasn't liked it. Maybe that's because of the heavy andouille component?

P.S. The remoulade sauce is a must!

[quote="Food Nut"]I've never eaten a turkey burger, turkey chile, or anything turkey, besides the real oven baked turkey for a sandwich or holiday dinner.

Is the benefit any better than eating 95 percent lean beef?
[quote]

A lot of turkey burgers are not even very low fat. I would not order one in a restaurant and assume you're saving significant calories or fat unless they give you numbers.

Some of the turkey burgers they sell at Foostuffs are variously lower calorie or lower fat (or low carbohydrate but it's not hard to make a turkey burger low carb anyway) and are not bad at all for a diet lunch.

What I love about this forum is that it challenges me to eat things I would normally pass up out of habit or even arrogance. In the past, I've had mixed results with veggie burgers, and turkey burgers have been dry and inedible. Until today. I tried the Turkey Burger Santa Fe at Schuba's restaurant next door to the tavern just because I had read this thread. Softhearted me, I felt it was only fair to give the turkey burger another chance. And do you know what? It was really moist and flavorful, with a little bit of cumin and parsley mixed into the meat, and on top Swiss cheese, grilled peppers and onions, and (maybe Emeril's) remoulade. I'd order it again.

Schuba's
3159 N. Southport (at Belmont)
Chicago

I tend to go one of 2 ways when preparing disk-shaped-ground-turkey product. The first is a recipe that the Wife found in some highly dubious 'cooking lite' sort of publication, but which actually works. It involves incorporating a lot of fresh lemon juice, lemon zest and fresh thyme. This won't remind anyone of a great beef burger in their favorite saloon, but grilled outside at a picnic, it is a bright, tasty little item.

The other way I go is to make a sort of mini-meatloaf. Incorporate egg and some breadcrumbs, minced onion, into the meat and season judiciously with a bit of both worcestershire and soy sauce. Keeps it both moist and savoury.

Sadly, most restaurant versions I've had appear to be pre-formed, 100% lean ground turkey. No seasoning, no moisture, no chance.

If you grill, and I assume most of you do, try this out. Just once, try it and let me know what you think.

Take about a pound of ground turkey and put it in a bowl. Mix in the following:

About 2 tbsps. Worshcteshire sauce

about a half of a chopped red onion

one diced jalepeneo

some garlic powder, salt, pepper, chili powder to taste

a handful of feta cheese, be generous

a handful of chopped spinach

(Obviously a handful isn't an amount, but you get the idea)

1 egg

Mix all the ingredients together and patty. Grill. Tell me what you think. Obviously a regular burger is always going to taste better, but when you doctor up some turkey in the above way, you'd be suprised how good it is.

DitkaFan wrote:If you grill, and I assume most of you do, try this out. Just once, try it and let me know what you think.

Take about a pound of ground turkey and put it in a bowl. Mix in the following:

About 2 tbsps. Worshcteshire sauce

about a half of a chopped red onion

one diced jalepeneo

some garlic powder, salt, pepper, chili powder to taste

a handful of feta cheese, be generous

a handful of chopped spinach

(Obviously a handful isn't an amount, but you get the idea)

1 egg

Mix all the ingredients together and patty. Grill. Tell me what you think. Obviously a regular burger is always going to taste better, but when you doctor up some turkey in the above way, you'd be suprised how good it is.

I was also once a skeptic of turkey burgers until a recipe I found for "Greek Flavored Turkey Burgers" from, believe it or not, Cooking Light turned out to be one of the best burgers I've ever had. And this is coming for an ardent cow burger lover.

The recipe is kind of similar to the above...ground turkey (I even used the low fat ones and it still turned out juicy), 1 egg white, chopped red onion, chopped fresh mint, breadcrumbs, feta cheese, lemon juice, dill (which I skipped).

Grill it up and serve on buns w/ your toppings of choice would almostly surely convert any former turkey burger haters.