Magic Burger

Some people have asked me why I started out with recipes for dry rubs and sauces. Well first of all, they are things that have a lot of different uses and second of all, they are pretty simple and straight forward to make. So with that thought in mind, I thought I'd share with you a simple way to make use of a sauce and a rub that I've already published here. I call this my Magic Burger and it calls for the use of the Magic Dust and the Carolina Mustard Barbeque Sauce.

A lot of people don't try and get creative with their burgers. They grill it up, slap on some ketchup and mustard and off they go. Maybe they'll add a slice of tomato or lettuce if they have some kicking around the fridge. I think that burgers are one of the best things to get creative with because they are so simple and easy to make. Just the other night I made mushrooms in a red wine reduction and threw that on some turkey burgers that I was grilling up. If you think about it, just about any vegetable can be prepared in such a way as to enhance the flavor of a burger (ratatouille anyone?).

Now in this case, we're using a rub and a sauce. A rub is typically used prior to cooking a protein and a sauce is typically used after cooking a protein. Both are used to provide additional flavor not present in the protein itself. It just so happens that this sauce and this rub compliment each other very well. The problem is that the burger, while spicy, seemed to be lacking something. It turns out that the something was a vegetable and the vegetable that worked best was an avacado. The creamy flavor and texture of an avacado is exactly right to offset the spicyness of the other flavors. Now me being me, I couldn't leave that avacado alone, I had to fancy it up and makee it into a simple guacamole. Voila! The Magic Burger is born!

Magic Burger

1 lb 80/20 ground beef (Author's note: 80/20 makes the best burgers. I know people like to go with leaner beef for health reasons, do youself a favor and run your ass around the block a couple of times instead. Use the 80/20)
1 Hass avacado
1 garlic clove minced
1 tsp lemon juice
a pinch of kosher salt
Magic Dust
Carolina Mustard Barbeque Sauce
4 hamburger buns

To make the guacamole: Remove the avacado from the tough outer skin. Place in a medium sized bowl and mash with the back of a fork. Mix in the garlic, lemon juice and salt.

To make the burger: Form the ground beef into four equal sized patties. Make a dent in the center of each patty (Author's note again: A burger will shrink on the edges and plump in the center when you grill it. By making a dent in the middle to begin with, it will turn into a perfect disk when done cooking). Liberally cover the patty with Magic Dust (both sides). Grill over direct medium heat for 10 minutes turning once. Place the burger on the bun and top with the Carolina Mustard Barbeque Sauce and a tablespoon of guacamole.