These pub-style short rib burgers with gorgonzola, crispy fried shallots, and secret sauce are thick, juicy, and meaty.
The deal with this burger is not how much you can pile on it. It's more about the meat. First, each burger contains half a pound of beef. Second, the meat comes from short ribs, pretty much the most flavorful cut of beef there is (at least for me).
Short ribs are amazing braised, cooked in the Instant Pot with Asian flavors, and made into burgers by grinding your own beef. If you do a search on my blog for short ribs, you will find out how much I love them.
Whenever I see short ribs on the menu in a restaurant, I order that dish. When I don't, I regret it. Recently, we went to a fabulous Mexican restaurant in Paso Robles. I ordered the fish tacos and my husband had the short rib birria tacos. I finally convinced him after begging to trade one of his three short rib birria tacos for one of my two fish tacos. Seems fair, right? Let's just say, I'm ordering the short rib tacos next time.
How to grind your own hamburger meat:
To grind the meat for these burgers, cut a pound of boneless short ribs into 1/2 inch pieces and then freeze the meat for about 20 minutes in a single layer on a sheet pan or plates. Hint: don't trim off the fat, just trim any gristle or silver skin. You want the fat for extra juiciness!
Next, process the meat in your food processor in batches, about 35 pulses per batch.
After that, stir in melted and cooled butter, lots of pepper (no salt), and form the meat into two patties. You can either cook the meat right away, or wrap the patties and refrigerate them for up to one day.
Because these patties are so large, brown them in a skillet and then finish them in the oven. That way, the meat in the middle cooks evenly and stays pink from one crusty edge to the other.
What to use for pub-style burger toppings:
While I topped these burgers with gorgonzola cheese and crispy fried shallots, you can top them with any combination of cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, bacon, and/or sautéed mushrooms. You can also top them with the traditional lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, and red onion slices.
What is in the secret sauce?
Don't skip the secret sauce! It's a mixture mayonnaise, lots of chives, soy sauce, Worchestershire sauce, garlic, and black pepper.
Be generous with the secret sauce. It's so good! Just have plenty of napkins on hand.
Welcome to this year's #BurgerMonth, hosted by Girl Carnivore. For past Burger Month contributions, I've made Bourbon Bacon Cheeseburgers, and Banh Mi Burgers. Both are delicious.
Here are all of the participants for this year. These links go to everyone's home pages, so when you get there, be sure to search for burgers or #BurgerMonth.
Chiles and Smoke 🍔 Grumpy’s Honeybunch 🍔 Honeybunch Hunts 🍔 Miss in the Kitchen 🍔 Out Grilling 🍔 Our Good Life 🍔 A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures 🍔 The Redhead Baker 🍔 Simple and Savory 🍔 Grillax 🍔 Sumptuous Spoonfuls 🍔 Real Life with Dad 🍔 A Day in the Life on the Farm 🍔 Wildflour’s Cottage Kitchen 🍔 Grilling Montana 🍔 Devour Dinner 🍔 Plateful of Passion 🍔 Pastry Chef Online 🍔 An Affair from the Heart 🍔 Karen’s Kitchen Stories 🍔 The Best Vegetarian Recipes 🍔 Wok and Skillet 🍔 BwellQue 🍔 The Spiffy Cookie 🍔 Cheese Curd in Paradise 🍔
This recipe was adapted from The America's Test Kitchen Cooking School Cookbook. There are over 600 recipes and 2,500 how-to photos in the book.
Pub-Style Short Rib Burgers with Gorgonzola, Crispy Fried Shallots, and Secret Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless short ribs, trimmed of silver skin and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- Pepper and salt
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup crumbled gorgonzola (or blue) cheese
- 1/2 recipe secret sauce
- 1 recipe crispy fried shallots
- 2 hamburger buns, toasted and buttered
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon minced chives
- 1 large garlic clove, minced
- 3/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- Pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 300 degrees F.
- Spread the cut meat over a sheet pan or large platter in a single layer and freeze for about 20 minutes.
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse 1/4 of the meat at a time, about 35 pulses each (to 1/16 inch pieces of meat).
- Spread the ground meat over a sheet pan and pick out any gristle and any other inedible buts if you have any. Drizzle on the melted butter and sprinkle on 1 teaspoon of black pepper. Toss the meat with a spoon to combine everything evenly, and then form the meat into two balls. Press down on the balls until you have 3/4 inch thick patties.
- When ready to cook, sprinkle the patties with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat the oil in a skillet over high heat. Cook the patties on one side for two minutes. Flip, and cook on the other side for 2 more minutes. Transfer the patties to a baking sheet, top them with the gorgonzola cheese, and place them in the oven for 3 to 5 minutes, until they reach 125 degrees F in the center. Remove from the oven and let rest, lightly tented with foil, for 5 minutes.
- Place some secret sauce on the bottom buns, place the burgers on top of the sauce, and top with some crispy shallots. Serve.
- Whisk together all of the ingredients and refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Toss the thinly sliced shallots in the cornstarch and shake off any excess.
- Heat the oil in a sauce pan until about 350 degrees F. Drop in the shallots and cook until light golden brown. Remove them quickly with a slotted spoon and spread them over a paper towel lined plate. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
