The Graham Burger

This is another recipe I took from one of my new cookbooks. Cooking Like a Master Chef by Graham Elliot is a fun cookbook with endless recipes that don’t seem overwhelmingly hard. I chose the burger because it has Brie cheese on it, and that’s my favorite cheese in the whole wide world. This recipe is meant for burgers on a grill, but in January in a second story apartment in New York City, I had to make it work on a stove top, and it came out darn delicious! I am giving you below the recipe for the stove top version, but hopefully you’ll get the book and grill it in the summer, if that’s what your heart desires!

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What you’ll need:

  • 5 tsp chopped garlic
  • 1 1/2 cups olive oil
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 pound ground sirloin beef
  • 1/4 pound ground pork
  • salt and black pepper
  • 1 large red onion, sliced
  • 1 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1/2 pound of Brie cheese, sliced
  • 4 Pretzel rolls
  • I bunch Upland cress (I used baby greens actually)


Put the chopped garlic in 1 cup of oil in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the garlic from the pan while saving the oil. Add the garlic and the mayonnaise to a blender and blend to combine until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Add the red onion to the vinegar and 1/2 cup of oil in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. If possible, marinate the onions overnight, or as long as possible, at a minimum 30 minutes.

Mix the sirloin and the pork in a medium bowl, add salt and pepper. Form equally sized patties, about 1/2 inch thick. Heat some of the the remaining oil in a frying pan to medium heat and add the patties. Cook the burgers for at least 3 minutes on each side, depending on you preferred level of doneness. At the last stage add 2 slices of Brie cheese on top of each burger until it starts melting.

In the meantime, heat the burger buns in an oven or toaster. Also, pan fry the red onion for a couple of minutes in some of the leftover oil.

Assemble the burger by first spreading the garlic aioli on the bottom of the bun. Lay the greens on top, then gently place the burger with the Brie cheese. Top it with the fried red onions and the top of the bun. Enjoy!

Bon Appétit!

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For info on Graham Elliot’s cookbook click here

Author: Gotham Foodie

Hello there, fellow foodies! My name is Erica, I was born and raised in Germany, and moved to the US, New York City to be exact, in July of 1987. I have worked most of my time here in the Big Apple as a bartender, but my true love is food. I cook just about every day, I search for good food everywhere, and pretty much always find it. I don't consider myself a food critic, I don't have the culinary background for that kind of expertise. I do however know good food, good chefs and good restaurants. I report back about my culinary adventures, and I choose to leave out my unsatisfactory experiences. We have enough negativity in our daily lives, I don't want to add to that. All the recipes in my FROM MY KITCHEN and DOTW blogs are cooked and prepared by me. All pictures are taken by me. I don't always eat everything you see in my pictures, but you bet your buns, I do try everything. Last but not least, you should know that I am a huge Top Chef fan. I have never missed an episode of the Bravo TV show. I have at this point visited almost 20 restaurants run by Top Chef contestants, and I'm continuously impressed by their skill, drive and passion. So I will continue to seek them out, and I hope you join me in my journey!

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