Black Angus Burger with Tomato Jam and Smoky Mayo

When it comes right down to it, even with all the great shred­ded this and smoked that, noth­ing quite rivals a sim­ple burger for per­fect out­door party food. All the ingre­di­ents are eas­ily obtain­able, most every­one has some sort of a grill at their dis­posal, and the vari­ety for dress­ing them up is end­less! This is just one exam­ple of how you can pre­pare just a few ele­ments ahead of time, and be free to enjoy the gath­er­ing you planned.

The fla­vors of this burger are so amaz­ing! The Tomato Jam is an intrigu­ing stand-in for reg­u­lar ketchup, adding some zip and spice, and just a hint of sweet. The Caramelized Onions are deli­cious enough to be eaten with a spoon, and the Smoky Mayo, well, they haven’t invented words good enough to describe the Smoky Mayo’s yumminess!

You could eas­ily add other favorite fix­ings like fresh tomato, and sauteed mush­rooms, but I will attest to it’s per­fec­tion as is!

Fol­low these sim­ple Tips For a Bet­ter Burger before you begin, and you’ll be set!

Black Angus Burger with Tomato Jam and Smoky Mayo

serves 4

2 lbs. Black Angus ground beef, or other good qual­ity ground beef

4 ham­burger buns

8 slices medium or sharp yel­low ched­dar cheese

1/4 pound com­pound but­ter, chilled (recipe below)

Caramelized onions–from a large Vidalia onion

1/2 cup Smoky May­on­naise

3/4 cup Tomato Jam

green leaf lettuce

Pre­pare the beef fol­low­ing these instruc­tions, stop­ping before set­ting them in the fridge to add the com­pound but­ter by:

1. Care­fully, from the side of the patty, insert­ing a sharp knife about halfway through the burger. Sweep the tip of the knife back and forth to cre­ate a small pocket in the mid­dle of the patty.

2. Take a slice of Com­pound but­ter** and care­fully insert it into the cen­ter of the patty.

3. Pinch up the sides of the patty and reshape, han­dling as lit­tle as possible.

4. Repeat with the three other patties.

5. Ready to chill and grill!

Read the Tips For a Bet­ter Burger before you grill. Make sure you toast or warm your buns. Hot, juicy burger + cold, taste­less bun = just don’t do it!!

**Com­pound Butter**

makes 1 pound

1 lb unsalted butter–softened

3 small gar­lic cloves, minced

1/4 tea­spoon tarragon

1/4 tea­spoon dried parsley

1/8 tea­spoon salt

1/8 tea­spoon pepper

In a medium bowl, blend all the ingre­di­ents together. I just do it by hand–it’s easy and there is less to clean up.

When thor­oughly blended, place the but­ter mix­ture onto a long piece of plas­tic wrap. Using the wrap to keep your hands clean, shape the but­ter into a 1 1/2 inch roll, like you would cookie dough if you were going to chill it.

Wrap securely in plas­tic wrap and set in the refrig­er­a­tor for sev­eral hours to harden.

To use, slice chilled but­ter into fat 1/4 inch slices and insert into the mid­dle of your ham­burger patty.

You can also place a slice on top of your almost cooked burger so it melts all down and into the grilled good­ness of the out­side of your burger. Oh Heavens!

Wrap and store unused but­ter in the freezer for up to 2–3 months.

Can also be used on grilled vegetables.

Related posts:

• Grilled Chicken Flatbread
• Bar­be­cue Baked Beans for a Crowd
• Red, White, and Blue Ebelskivers