The Ultimate Italian Burger
As an all-American boy, I do love a good hamburger. I’m not talking about those cheap fast-food burgers made from frozen patties that were likely ground months ago, I am talking about thick, juicy, flavorful burgers that make your eyes roll into your skull upon first bite.
So what I wanted to do was figure out how to create an amazing Italian-style burger using ingredients that any grocery store sells. It’s going to be a blue cheese stuffed burger with pesto, crispy prosciutto, and grilled garlic bread.
I’m not saying that this is going to be the best burger ever, but I am saying it will be darn good.
The foundation for any good burger is that ground meat patty, and today I’ll be taking it to another level by grinding my own beef.
There’s nothing wrong with grocery store ground beef, but when you grind it at home you will find that the burger will be more tender and you will know exactly what went into it.
If you are going to buy ground beef, I suggest buying it as fresh as possible, looking for an 80/20 meat-to-fat ratio, and, if you can help it, look for a coarse-ground beef for some extra texture.
I will be working with boneless beef short ribs, they have a lot of rich, beefy flavor and a good amount of fat.
The only issue is that short ribs are very tough as they come from a cow’s chuck primal, or shoulder, so I will need to grind them. Hand-meat grinders are fine, but I prefer the kind that attaches to my stand mixer as they take a lot of the workload off my shoulders.
All I need to do is cut the meat into strips, then feed through the hole at the top with the coarse-grind setting with my mixer running on medium-high speed. I do suggest having a bowl or container sitting under the end that the raw beef comes out of.
By grinding these short ribs, I am mechanically tenderizing them, making them much more tender and ideal for a burger patty.
Now, I could form a patty out of this and call it a day, but I want to go bold, so I will stuff my burger patty with some gorgonzola. I love the robust and rich flavor gorgonzola gives, but any blue cheese will work well for this.
By stuffing the burger with cheese, it will keep the burger moist on the inside and add a ton of flavor.
To do this, I divide my newly-ground beef in half, then form about half of that into a classic patty shape.
Pro Tip: When forming a burger patty, you want to make it slightly wider than the bun you plan on using, as the burger will shrink a bit during cooking.
Once I get that patty shape, I’ll make a little divot in the middle of the patty and place my gorgonzola inside. For each patty, I suggest using about 2 ounces of cheese.
I’ll then form another patty shape with my remaining beef and lay that on top of the cheese, pressing down on the edges to seal the gorgonzola inside the beef.
You want to be careful that there are no small holes where the cheese is poking out, as you want as much of that cheese to stay inside the meat as possible while the burger is cooking.
And there we go, my burger patty is stuffed! I’m going to let that hang out in the fridge for at least 10 minutes to help the fat in the burger solidify so it won’t fall apart as I put it on the grill to cook.
Did I mention that I’m grilling my burger? Well, that’s just how I roll, but if it’s a rainy day then you can certainly cook the burger in a cast iron pan.
The other half of a classic burger is, of course, the bun. Classic burger buns are good, but today I’ll be using a rustic Italian loaf because…it fits with the Italian theme.
All I need to do is cut the bread in half lengthwise and have it ready to go onto the grill when my burger is cooked and resting.
My plan with the bread is to grill it slightly to get it somewhat charred and toasty, then rub some garlic on it to give it a classic garlic bread flavor. Again, that will come later.
One of my favorite things in the world is crispy prosciutto, so I’m going to do some of that to mimic the classic bacon that is often seen on burgers.
It is very easy to do. I heat a nonstick pan with some oil, then lay thin slices of prosciutto into the pan and let it go for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until the prosciutto is browned all over.
I’ll remove the prosciutto onto some paper towels and let that cool to crisp up completely.
Ok, now the basic components of my Italian burger are set, let’s get cooking!
I heat my grill over medium heat until it is very hot. I then season my burger patty with salt and pepper.
With burgers it’s always best to season them right before you want to cook them as letting salt sit on the ground beef for too long will cause the beef to start curing and lead to a dry texture.
There is quite a bit of fat in this burger, so I do want to be a bit generous with adding salt as I want to season the burger and develop a nice crust.
I oil up my grill and slap my burger onto the hottest part as I intend on getting some nice marks. Since this burger is stuffed, it is going to be somewhat thicker than normal, so it is going to take a little bit longer to cook than one might expect.
For a medium burger, I suggest cooking it for 5-7 minutes, and only flipping it once, but if you like it more well-cooked, then you can let it go for longer.
Also, once that burger is on the grill, keep the grill lid closed as much as possible! You want to keep the heat from the grill inside, which will help to evenly cook the burger.
You’ll know your burger is cooking when you can see the bottom of the burger start to turn grey, and when that grey gets about halfway up the sides of the patty, then you know it’s time to flip it.
Once the burger is flipped, some of the juices and fat that moved up to the top may drip down to the flame and cause a few flare-ups. This is fine as long as the flames don’t get too out of control.
Once my burgers were cooked to my liking, I move them off the grill to start resting while I rub some olive oil on the cut side of my bread and get that on the grill to start toasting.
Once I was happy with the color of the bread, I cut a garlic clove in half and rub that onto the bread to perfume the bread with that garlic aroma.
Now comes the exciting part, building my burger.
I start by laying a bed of spinach onto the bottom half of my toasted bun, followed by the burger patty, the crispy prosciutto, a generous layer of pesto (Which I made earlier) and finally the top bun.
As for serving, you could do some classics like French fries, salad, or whatever you like to serve with burgers.
I love this Italian burger because it takes some of the components of a classic burger, but does it in a very delicious way! In fact…alright, I’ll say it, this is one of the best burgers I’ve ever made!
I get the salty crispiness of the prosciutto, the funk of the gorgonzola and the garlic toast, the spinach to bring some freshness, and that nutty, delicious pesto to balance it all out!
I will admit that my burger was a little bit more well done than I would’ve liked, but it was still juicy and flavorful and will certainly be something worth making again!
The Ultimate Italian Burger
Servings: 4
2 pounds of boneless beef short ribs (or 2 pounds of 80/20 ground beef.)
8 ounces of crumbled gorgonzola cheese
12 thin slices of prosciutto
Salt and pepper
Vegetable oil, for coating the grill
2 small Italian loaves, split lengthwise and divided in half
Olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, cut in half
1/2 cup of basil pesto
1 cup of baby spinach
Cut the short ribs into thick slices, then pass through a meat grinder (Hand or electric) on the coarse setting. (If you’re using pre-ground beef, then you can skip this step.)
Form half of the ground beef into 4 patties, make a crater in the center of each patty, then place 2 ounces of the gorgonzola into each crater. Form the remaining meat into patties and place those on top, pressing gently to seal the cheese within the patties and create an even shape. Chill the patties for at least 10 minutes.
Heat the grill to medium heat.
Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a large nonstick pan and, working in batches, cook the prosciutto slices for 2-3 minutes, flipping occasionally, until the prosciutto is brown and crisp. Drain onto paper towels, then set aside.
When the grill is hot, grease the grates with either vegetable oil or cooking spray, season the burger patties generously with salt and pepper, and place onto the hot side of the grill.
Let the burgers cook for about 3-5 minutes, or until the bottom half of each patty turns grey, then flip and cook for another 3-6 minutes, depending on how done you like your burgers.
When the burgers are almost cooked to your liking, remove from the heat and leave to rest for at least 2 minutes.
While the burgers are resting, rub some olive oil onto the cut side of the Italian loaf pieces and place onto the grill for 2-3 minutes, or until toasted to your liking. Rub the garlic onto each bread half once toasted.
When everything is ready, divide the spinach onto the bottom halves of the bread, top with the patties, 3 slices of the prosciutto, a layer of pesto, and the top bun.
Enjoy!
