Cindy's Kitchen in Brooklyn: My Famous, Almost Award Winning, California Cobb Burger

So over the summer, the Brooklyn Paper ran a contest for the best burger in the borough, and the winner was to be sent to Rachel Ray's Burger Bash (an annual part of the NYC Food Festival). Seeing as how I sort of pride myself on my burgers, and considering my love for all things red meat (sorry heart), I entered. I came up with a random recipe on the fly, based on what I was eating at the time - a Cobb salad. And lo and behold, a finalist I was named!

So this reporter from the Brooklyn Paper, Gersh, and his assistant came over to taste my heaven-on-a-bun. I though I had this contest in the bag, since my husband plays softball with Gersh in the park (yay connections!). The two guys devoured my patties, were impressed that I cooked the burgers in bacon fat (sorry thighs), and loved the egg yolks oozing down their arms once they took their first bites.

After much exciting deliberation, I came in... second. Thanks Gersh, I'll make sure my husband bats you 9th in the lineup next summer. Regardless, my burgers were friggin awesome, and I'm going to share with you my almost-award-winning recipe. Don't be intimidated by the number of ingredients; the recipe is really quite easy and everything goes really well together.

(serves 4)
Ingredients
For the Patty
1 pound ground beef (any kind is fine, but try to use an 80:20 meat to fat ratio)
1 egg
1/4 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
2 large clove garlic, minced
1 small shallot, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons worcesterchire sauce
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flake
salt and pepper

For the Toppings
4 to 6 slices bacon
1 avocado, sliced
blue cheese crumbles
sun-dried tomatoes (preferably packed in oil)
iceberg lettuce
4 eggs, room temperature
4 buns, preferably Martin's potato rolls, available at most supermarkets

For the garlic aioli dressing
1 cup mayonnaise
1 head garlic
olive oil
1-2 teaspoons lemon juice
salt

Directions

1. To make the dressing, first roast the head of garlic by slicing it in half, drizzling with olive oil, wrapping in tin foil and roasting in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. The cloves will be softened and will easily be squeezed out. Rough chop them and mix them into the mayonnaise. Add the lemon juice and salt to taste.
   
2. Fry the bacon in a large skillet. When crisp, remove the slices but retain the bacon drippings.
   
3. To make the patties simply mix all the ingredients with your (preferably clean!) hands. Form four equal sized patties.
   
4. Cook the burgers in the skillet with the bacon drippings. For a medium rare burger, cook for 3 to 4 minutes on the first side, flip, and cook and additional 2 to 3 minutes.
   
5. In a small, non-stick pan, fry the eggs for about 4 minutes. I recommend cooking each one separately so they don't bleed together. It also helps to gently fold the egg white over the yolk so it doesn't break too soon.
   
6. Assemble, making sure to put the egg on the top.
   
7. EAT :)
   

For an additional burger recipe from this site, SashaInTheKitchen's Philadelphia burger, click here.