| The Burger Buster Cook-Off & Wine Pairing |
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Borrowing from the minds of Food Network’s “Iron Chef’s”, this
past Saturday, on June 21st, the Dallas Secret Wine Society
decided to stray down the path of culinary excellence with our first
ever “Burger Buster Cook-Off & Wine Pairing”. We had a total
of six contestants, well seven, by I technically didn’t count. The
rest in attendance were our judges for this contest. The end result
was some fantastic food by our Burger Chef’s and our hostess
with the most-ess, Sally!
Our Burger Chef’s were graded as follows; Up to ten points for
overall taste and up to five points each for originality,
presentation and how well their wine paired with their particular
burger. The winner would be declared by the number of first place
votes they received in the contest. I started things off with a tuna
burger recipe that I nabbed from Bobby Flay called “Tuna
Burgers with Tapenade Aioli” - Click Here for Recipe
For those that liked seafood it was a big hit, but many of the
people that did not care for seafood were afraid to try it. I paired
it with a Mumm Sparkling Rose from Napa , California . I
thought the pairing worked really well if I do say so myself.
Our first legitimate Burger Chef was Chris and he really had the
gourmet working over time on his burger. Using charcoal instead
of gas, he prepared a burger that featured a mushroom gravy
topped with grilled onions and paired it with a Cabernet Sauvignon
from Bonterra. What a way to get things rolling! Our second
Burger Chef Ann, featured a burger with some bleu cheese
accents throughout the burger (a popular ingredient among our
chefs) paired up with a Tempranillo wine. My wife Leslie offered
up our third burger with an herb butter that infused inside the
burger as it melted topped with Fontina and placed between some
Kaiser rolls. She paired her burger, which was chocked full of
black pepper, with a spicy Aussie Shiraz from Revolution. The
fourth Burger Chef, Sheree, really concentrated on keeping the
burger both flavorful and moist. It had a great spice to it and nice
shallot crunch all the while being very juicy. She paired it with a
Rancho Zabacco Zinfandel. The fifth Burger Chef and possibly
the biggest smack talker of the evening, Brad, threw a myriad of
flavors at our judges featuring, bleu cheese, roasted red peppers
and mushrooms. It was very complex and a good thing too
because he paired it with a complex Cabernet from Rutherford
Hill. Our sixth and final Burger Chef, Susan, decided to put some
of her spicy personality into her burger creation with a bleu
cheese burger topped with a bruscetta topping. She paired this
tricky combination with an Italian Chianti from Gabbiano.
In addition to our burgers, sally prepared quite a spread of side
dishes and appetizers that were quite delicious. Our judges were
also required to bring a bottle of wine to our event. Some of the
highlights there were a 2004 Rodney Strong Symmetry, Alban
Tithing’s, Black Bart Syrah, Turley & Ravenswood Zin and the
wine of the evening, an Elderton Command Shiraz from the 2002
vintage. Jim and Sandy brought a creation from their very own
vineyard that was really quite good and fun to drink as well.
After our voting wrapped up, I tallied the scores for the evening.
It was a three horse race with very close scores between, Chris,
Brad and Sheree. In the end, Sheree nudged out the victory by a
single vote. I presented her with the prize which was a $35.00 gift
certificate to Sur La Table. Now she’ll be able to bolster up her
grilling repertoire.
I want to thank everyone for coming to our event, we had a great
time as always. I would also like to thank all of our Burger Chefs
for stepping up and participating. You all did a fantastic job. I
would really like to give a Huge THANK YOU to Sally and Chris
for hosting this event. You did a fantastic job and I believe
everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Another great event
for The Dallas Secret Wine Society!
past Saturday, on June 21st, the Dallas Secret Wine Society
decided to stray down the path of culinary excellence with our first
ever “Burger Buster Cook-Off & Wine Pairing”. We had a total
of six contestants, well seven, by I technically didn’t count. The
rest in attendance were our judges for this contest. The end result
was some fantastic food by our Burger Chef’s and our hostess
with the most-ess, Sally!
Our Burger Chef’s were graded as follows; Up to ten points for
overall taste and up to five points each for originality,
presentation and how well their wine paired with their particular
burger. The winner would be declared by the number of first place
votes they received in the contest. I started things off with a tuna
burger recipe that I nabbed from Bobby Flay called “Tuna
Burgers with Tapenade Aioli” - Click Here for Recipe
For those that liked seafood it was a big hit, but many of the
people that did not care for seafood were afraid to try it. I paired
it with a Mumm Sparkling Rose from Napa , California . I
thought the pairing worked really well if I do say so myself.
Our first legitimate Burger Chef was Chris and he really had the
gourmet working over time on his burger. Using charcoal instead
of gas, he prepared a burger that featured a mushroom gravy
topped with grilled onions and paired it with a Cabernet Sauvignon
from Bonterra. What a way to get things rolling! Our second
Burger Chef Ann, featured a burger with some bleu cheese
accents throughout the burger (a popular ingredient among our
chefs) paired up with a Tempranillo wine. My wife Leslie offered
up our third burger with an herb butter that infused inside the
burger as it melted topped with Fontina and placed between some
Kaiser rolls. She paired her burger, which was chocked full of
black pepper, with a spicy Aussie Shiraz from Revolution. The
fourth Burger Chef, Sheree, really concentrated on keeping the
burger both flavorful and moist. It had a great spice to it and nice
shallot crunch all the while being very juicy. She paired it with a
Rancho Zabacco Zinfandel. The fifth Burger Chef and possibly
the biggest smack talker of the evening, Brad, threw a myriad of
flavors at our judges featuring, bleu cheese, roasted red peppers
and mushrooms. It was very complex and a good thing too
because he paired it with a complex Cabernet from Rutherford
Hill. Our sixth and final Burger Chef, Susan, decided to put some
of her spicy personality into her burger creation with a bleu
cheese burger topped with a bruscetta topping. She paired this
tricky combination with an Italian Chianti from Gabbiano.
In addition to our burgers, sally prepared quite a spread of side
dishes and appetizers that were quite delicious. Our judges were
also required to bring a bottle of wine to our event. Some of the
highlights there were a 2004 Rodney Strong Symmetry, Alban
Tithing’s, Black Bart Syrah, Turley & Ravenswood Zin and the
wine of the evening, an Elderton Command Shiraz from the 2002
vintage. Jim and Sandy brought a creation from their very own
vineyard that was really quite good and fun to drink as well.
After our voting wrapped up, I tallied the scores for the evening.
It was a three horse race with very close scores between, Chris,
Brad and Sheree. In the end, Sheree nudged out the victory by a
single vote. I presented her with the prize which was a $35.00 gift
certificate to Sur La Table. Now she’ll be able to bolster up her
grilling repertoire.
I want to thank everyone for coming to our event, we had a great
time as always. I would also like to thank all of our Burger Chefs
for stepping up and participating. You all did a fantastic job. I
would really like to give a Huge THANK YOU to Sally and Chris
for hosting this event. You did a fantastic job and I believe
everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Another great event
for The Dallas Secret Wine Society!
| Burger Chef Sheree |
| Burger Chef Brad |
| Burger Chef Chris |
| Burger Chef Susan |
| Burger Chef Leslie |
| Burger Chef Ann |
| Burger Chef Shane |