Hawaii Da Kine Burger

HAWAII DA KINE BURGER

INGREDIENTS:

Ginger-Goat Cheese Spread

4 ounces Surfing Goat Dairy Rolling Green goat cheese (made with fresh garlic chives) or other garlic-flavored mild goat cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 1/2 tablespoons finely minced fresh ginger

Patties

3 ounces spicy Hawaiian Portuguese sausage or other Portuguese sausage, such as linguica
2 pounds ground chuck
1/3 cup minced ripe papaya
1/3 cup minced Maui or other sweet onion
5 teaspoons McCormick's Gourmet Collection Asian-style Spiced Sea Salt or 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse sea salt

Sweet-Chili Glaze

2/3 cup Thai sweet chili sauce
2 1/2 tablespoons Japanese shoyu (soy sauce), preferably Yamasa brand

Hot Watercress Salad

3 tablespoons macadamia nut oil or peanut oil
2 small ripe Hass avocados, pitted, peeled and thinly sliced lengthwise
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, preferably Meyer variety
1/2 ripe papaya, coarsely chopped
5 cups watercress
2 small Maui or other sweet onions, thinly sliced and separated into rings
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons Japanese shoyu (soy sauce) preferably Yamasa brand
Vegetable oil, for brushing on the grill rack
6 high quality seeded hamburger buns or sandwich rolls, split

DIRECTIONS:

Prepare a medium-hot fire in a charcoal grill with a cover, or preheat a gas grill to medium-high.

To make the spread, combine the cheese, mayonnaise and ginger in a small bowl. Cover and set aside.

To make the patties, place the sausage in a food process and process until finely chopped. Transfer to a large bowl and add the chuck, papaya, onion and spiced salt. Combine well, handling the meat as little as possible to avoid compacting it. Form into 6 patties and refrigerate until ready to grill.

To make the glaze, combine the sweet chili sauce and soy sauce in a small bowl. Set aside.

To make the salad, pour the oil into a fire-proof skillet and heat on the grill until it reaches its smoking point. White the oil is heating, halve the avocado slices and place in a large bowl. Add the lemon juice and toss gently. Layer the papaya, watercress, onions, garlic and pepper flakes over the avocado and carefully drizzle the hot oil over the top. Add the soy sauce and toss to combine.

Brush the grill rack with oil. Place the patties on the rack, cover and cook for 4 to 5 minutes per side basting often with the glaze until the desired doneness is reached. During the last few minutes of cooking, place the buns cut sides down on the outer edges of the rack to toast lightly.

To assemble the burgers, spread the goat cheese over the cut sides of the bun tops. Place a patty on each bun bottom and top with equal portions of the salad. Add the bun tops and devour.

Due to papaya's tenderizing enzyme, do not make the patties more than 2 hours before grilling. Some sweet onions can still have a pungent bite. To remove the "bite", soak the onion slices in iced water for 15 to 20 minutes; drain on paper towels. The quality of the buns or rolls is more important than the type. They should be fresh and moist but not airy or delicate; they need to be substantial enough to hold the patties without falling apart.

Recipe from Kristine Snyder, Kihei, Hawaii and this recipe won the 50 Thousand Dollar Burger cook off in 2008.

Note: I had to make some substitutions for the watercress, spinach or mustard greens and could not find name brands of some of the items but found substitutes for the goat cheese, soy sauce, etc.

The burgers were very moist and tasty, however there is a very complex set of spices coming into play....noticed the ginger and of course the Portuguese linguica sausage right off of which I made the fresh linguica sausage several days ahead of time.

Personally, I would much rather have my own Stretch Burger made from ground venison and my own Wild Bill's Dry Meat Rub with condiments and flavors more accustomed too. This recipe is a little pricy and hard to find some of the ingredients but still an excellent recipe to do and expand your horizon for different flavors and textures!

Bill aka Mickey Porter 06-20-10. Pix below of the Hawaii Da Kine Burger plated:

Sequence pixs taken while completing this recipe:

Bill aka Mickey Porter 06-20-10.