One year at the Boyd County Fair, the organizers attempted to have a hamburger grilling competition. Tim and a friend were invited to be the judges of the competition. At the start time for the competition, there were no grills warming up, and none were in sight. Not to have an empty show, I grabbed a couple of FFA members and we scrounged around and had ourselves a little competition.
The goal was just to make sure that Tim had something to eat, judge and write about. If you have ever watched “Chopped” on Food Network, you would kind of understand the situation we were in. The other competitors and myself started scrounging around in the kitchen at the fairgrounds and came up with some burgers to serve the judges.
I cannot recall what my competitors fixed but I remember mine well enough to have fixed it a few times since. Here is the “Blue Ribbon Secret Recipe”.
2 lbs of 70/30 ground beef (this recipe needs a lot of fat)
1- 3 oz pkg Ranch flavored Doritos (crushed into very small pieces
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Bacon Jam: About 1/2 cup of grape jelly
1- 3 oz package real bacon bits
Just a dusting of garlic and onion powders
Burger: Mix ingredients well, but don’t overwork the burger. Patty into about 8 oz patties. Grill burger to almost medium (slight pink in center), cover with foil and let rest for about 5 minutes. Residual cooking will cook it to medium without overcooking the burger and drying it out.
While the burger is resting, place the jelly and bacon in a sauce pan over medium-low heat until it is close to honey consistency.
For extra crunch and flavor, butter and toast the bun. Liberally spread the bacon jam onto the top and bottom buns and serve.
This burger has a lot of flavor and doesn’t need the normal toppings, so I would recommend trying it with just the bacon jam once before adding the other condiments so you get the full bacon jam/ Doritos flavor in the burger.
Now, it’s your turn to share. What’s your favorite dish this week?
Photos by TIM PRESTON
