It seems to me that these days, the word “Chipotle” is key in quite a lot of recipes! A real catchword or word-of-the-day and rightly so! Chipotle is awesome and it’s no small wonder that it’s in the spotlight and claiming huge renown on the world’s foodie stage. A good friend of mine even makes his own Chipotle and bacon jam! Yum!
If you aren’t sure what a Chipotle is, allow me to explain. Chipotle is a Mexican smoke-dried chili pepper. The variety that’s smoked the most is the Jalapeño pepper however, there are other varieties that are smoked as well, such as Serranos, Habaneros and Hungarian wax peppers. They are used as a spicy flavouring for soups, stews and marinades, among many other uses of course. It offers a full-bodied, earthy, smokey flavour with a medium to medium-high heat level similar to that of Tabasco sauce. Chipotle is sold whole, crushed, powdered, as a sauce and whole in cans in “adobo” sauce.
For this recipe you’ll need Chipotle sauce which you can find in most grocery stores alongside the other hot sauces or in the Mexican food section.
These burger should actually be called “Bacon, Cheddar, Chipotle and Smoked Paprika Burgers” because they are jam packed full of all those good things but we’ll use the shortened name from the main title. Below is your shopping list for the ingredients you’ll need for the Chipotle burgers!
Ingredients: (Makes about 6 large patties or 9 medium)
1 kg (2.2 lbs) Minced lean meat of your choice (Beef, pork, a mix of both or poultry all work well. Make sure the meat is lean, there’s plenty of fat in the bacon and cheese that will keep the burgers moist. Plus, if it isn’t lean, they will shrink down considerably while cooking.)
120 g (4.25 oz) Smoked bacon, chopped very finely
150 g (5.3 oz) Strong cheddar cheese, grated
1 Large egg
3 tbsp Fresh coriander, chopped finely and well packed
3 tbsp Chipotle sauce (or more!)
2 tbsp Yellow mustard
1.5 tsp Whole cumin seeds
1.5 tsp Onion powder
1 tsp Chili powder (the same used for making Chili con Carne)
1 tsp Spanish smoked paprika
0.5 tsp Sea salt
Thanks to our good friend Rick in the USA for the Fornetto burger idea and cooking method that inspired this post. Let’s check out his direct on the grill cooking method below!
Method:
- Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly.
- Form into the desired amount of patties with your hands or using a burger press (see a previous blog here for more information). If the mixture is too wet you can add some bread crumbs to absorb the extra moisture. This won’t affect the flavour and will help create a stickier mix.
- Remove the racks from the Fornetto oven and place a drip pan filled with water in the bottom. This will catch the drips and will keep the patties moist while they cook.*
- Preheat the Fornetto to 200C (390F).*
- Place the patties directly on one of the racks and when the oven is at temperature, place the rack with the patties into the oven, in the lowest position possible over the drip pan.
- Cook for about 8 minutes per side or until you reach the desired doneness. Turn only once during the cooking and once turned, toast your buns beside them on the rack.
*You could easily grill the burgers directly on a gas or charcoal BBQ (with the lid on if you have one) or in a Fornetto kamado or smoker for additional smoky flavour!
While the burgers cook, prepare the simple Chipotle slaw! Finely dice and combine half of a small cabbage and half of an iceberg lettuce. Mix in 1.5 cups (375 ml) of mayonnaise, 3 tbsp of Chipotle sauce (or more) and the juice of 1 lime.
Serve the burgers on the toasted buns with slices of tomato, onion, avocado, fresh coriander, the Chipotle slaw and rings of pickled Jalapeño peppers! The cheese and bacon flavour bursts with every single bite and the Chipotle weds everything perfectly adding a touch of earthy smokiness and heat!
Brace yourself because these burgers make a mess while you eat them, but what good burger doesn’t? If you’re having a larger group of people, use both racks and be sure to switch them half way through the cooking process.
