The James Beard Foundation’s Blended Burger Project is back for its second year, and three area chefs — Chandler Cook of DeVine Wine & Grill in Winter Springs, Kevin Fonzo of K Restaurant in College Park, and Chez Bernard of catering company D’Bernard Gourmet Foods — are participating.
The Blended Burger Project encourages chefs to make healthier, more sustainable burgers by getting them to blend ground meat with at least 25 percent mushrooms into their burger patties.
After sampling the burgers, the public can then vote for their favorite at jamesbeard.org/blendedburgerproject.
The five chefs with the most online votes win a trip to the James Beard House, where they’ll cook their blended burgers at the welcome reception for the annual JBF Food Conference Oct. 17-18.
Here’s a look at our local entries:
Wagyu beef brisket, short rib, house-cured bacon and cremini mushrooms. Topped with sweet onion jam, bread & butter pickles, gruyere cheese and fire-roasted tomato ketchup on a duck fat bun.
Short rib, ground beef brisket, ground portobello mushroom, minced button mushrooms. Topped with truffle aioli, Waterkist Farms heirloom tomato, Waterkist Farms lettuce on a Olde Hearth brioche bun.
Ground top round steak and chuck roast, blended with oyster and box mushrooms. Seasoned with soy, anchovy sauce and a touch of mirin. Topped with banana ketchup, provolone cheese, carne asada and mustard green kimchi on a toasted sesame seed bun.
If you’re posting photos of the burgers on social media, be sure to use the #BlendedBurgerProject hashtag.
The Blended Burger Project runs through July 31.
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This article appears in Jun 8-14, 2016.
