Early November Turkey Burgers

With Thanksgiving coming up it's time to turn some attention towards the beloved turkey.  While nationally popular come November, turkey, especially in burger form, is a year round staple here at the Impeccable Palate.  Given how often CW and I enjoy turkey burgers at home, I figured it was about time to devote a short column to one of our favorite grilled foods.

Now I love any good burger, but CW does not eat mammals - thus beef is out at our house.  That's why we opt for ground turkey as a burger base.  When shopping, be wary about buying the ultra-lean, 99% fat-free, turkey that is sold.  We have tried that before, and the total absence of fat leads to a dry, less flavorful patty - certainly NOT an impeccable meal!  Most packaged pre-ground turkey meat comes in around at around 7% fat - still pretty lean for an animal product.  Packs are usually 20 ounces of meat, which makes 4-5 good sized burgers.

When making my turkey burgers, I always season the ground meat prior to shaping the patties, to ensure flavor throughout the body of the burger.  My standard is a few pinches of kosher salt, 2-3 teaspoons of ground sage, a few shakes of garlic powder, some ground pepper, and about a half cup of panko breadcrumbs.  If you don't like sage, you can use a different herb, or no herbs of you prefer.  Sometimes I'll add in a tablespoon or so of soy sauce or Worchestire sauce to enhance the flavor.  Keep in mind though that adding wet flavoring agents will make the uncooked patty more wet, which may result in a burger that doesn't hold its shape very well.  For this meal, I did not use any sauces, but did add in about a teaspoon of ground cumin, to add a different flavor and hopefully some warm depth to the final product.

Uncooked Burgers - note indentations in centers!

Once all the seasonings are added, I mix the meat thoroughly.  Then I form patties with my hands.  From experience, I know that burgers puff up in the middle when they cook, so I make a little indentation with a finger in the middle of my patties.  Once they are made I put them in the fridge for about half an hour to set, which helps them maintain their shape better when grilling.

While the burger patties were in the fridge, I prepped my salad and side dish for the night.  As a side, CW and I chose to grill up some broccoli, which takes on a great charred caramelized flavor when grilled.  Seasoning was simple: I just cut the broccoli into long pieces (preserving most of the stalks - the larger pieces make for easier grilling, and stalks have a lot of flavor and nutrition) and toss them with olive oil, kosher salt, and ground pepper.  This time i added a pinch of dried red pepper too, for a little heat.

Mixed Greens with Grapes and Feta Cheese

For the salad I rummaged in the fridge and found some grapes.  I had a bag of mixed greens so threw those together with sliced grapes and some feta cheese, hoping that the salty cheese would offset the sweetness of the grapes.  For a dressing, I took some Huckleberry liqueur (which I had purchased on a whim since it was on sale) and made a vinaigrette from it, along with some olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper.  It came out surprisingly well, though I had to stir the dressing very vigorously to combine the liqueur with the oil. 

Plated Turkey Burger with grilled Broccoli

When it came time to grill the burgers, I pre-heated my grill on medium for about 15 minutes.  The grill should be nice and hot to develop a good sear on the meat.  I put the burgers and broccoli on the grill.  The broccoli crowns will start to char before the stalks, so you need to keep a close eye on them and turn them before any part gets to burnt.  Once the broccoli has a bit of char all around, I reduce the heat on that part of the grill to avoid any further burning.  As for the turkey burgers, 5 ounce patties usually get about 5 minutes per side or so.  It's important to cook poultry through, to a temperature of at least 165 F in the middle, since it can harbor salmonella.  With about 2-3 minutes of cooking time left, I added some thinly sliced cheddar cheese to the burgers and closed the grill cover to keep the heat in and melt the cheese.  While the burgers were cooking, I also had some thickly sliced Roma tomatoes charring on the grill.  I leave these on until they are a tad blackened on each side, then remove them from direct heat.  They are used to top the burger later.  Finally, I gave a couple of whole grain English muffins a few minutes on the grill to serve as a nice toasted bun for our meal.

Beckmen 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

We enjoyed the burgers with a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from one of our favorite wineries in Santa Barbera county, Beckmen.  If you ever find yourself exploring the wine country near Los Olivos, their tasting room is worth a visit.  It is small and unpretentious, with some really nice wines.  We especially enjoy the Grenache and Cuvee le Bec, which are fruit forward with excellent aromas!