How would you host a Burger-off?

[Jenise]

Last night on a whim I invited our Dorks tasting group over for Bocce and Burgers on Sunday--one of our group is sadly about to start chemo and radiation, and we thought this would be a fun way to wish him well. Melissa then said oh great, we've had this idea to do a burger-off, let's do that on Sunday. By that she means pit our favorites against each other's and see whose burger reigns supreme. Well, okay, I'm game with that, but as the hostess I'm a bit stumped on how to stage it. I'll provide the meat and the buns, of course. Should I add standard condiments and leave it up to others to bring whatever they need to make their own version? I'm a bit perplexed. And then, of course, there's how to judge the results. Please feel free to throw your ideas in the hat.

Well, yeah, but the meat and the buns are IMPORTANT! Some will want French buns, some Rainbo buns, some no bun at all, perhaps. And some will want meat with some fat and some will want the lean. And some will put stuff in the meat and some won't.
Myself, I like to use different buns depending on how I feel that day. They do make a difference. And I mix stuff in my meat, which I believe should have some fat in it.
So maybe you should just provide basics and the standard condiments, and PROCLAIM that if you want something other than ground chuck and Rainbo, bring your own.
Back in '01 at the family reunion before the one we had on the 2nd of July, we had a chili cookoff. The pots were numbered, and you voted Australian style - first, second, third - for your favorites. The votes were announced (in a very loud voice, we had about 75 people) and everyone clapped. And that was it.

John

I'm sorry to hear about your friend, but that sounds like a fun uplifting party.
The format question is a bit perplexing since burger toppings are a bit personal. You may like pickles and mustard, while I like tomatoes and mayo (I can see you wincing.) So, how do you judge that?
One idea would be to make a variety of diffferent slider-sized meat patties; turkey, bison, beef, lamb, etc so people could get really creative. I don't know........ A blind tasting? Make them figure out which meat is which? I'm at a loss.
Someone I know makes one HUGE burger for large gatherings. Something like a three pound burger patty and buys a loaf of large round bread and then cuts the burger into slices like a pie.
I know I've been no help, but just thought I'd throw some things out there. There are no bad ideas in brainstorming right??

I had the same idea as Carrie regarding sliders. If you can get hold of some decent small buns, that might be a good way for people to try out different condiment combinations and such. Maybe each couple would be responsible for coming up with a set of creative toppings? You could throw out some ideas - pastrami, chili, kim chi, etc. - and then see what happens? You could let them grill the burgers if you want to take it that far. That would allow for different cheeses and such to be incorporated into the mix. Then everyone could get half of a slider and try them all out. Let everyone pick their first, second, and third place burgers and give each three points per first place vote, two for second, one for third. (Or something along these lines - this is all stream of consciousness here...)

I also like Carrie's idea of doing different kinds of meat and having folks guess which is which. In any case, it sounds like fun and I can't imagine your friend not having his spirits lifted by such an event.

[Jenise]

Well, yeah, but the meat and the buns are IMPORTANT! Some will want French buns, some Rainbo buns, some no bun at all, perhaps. And some will want meat with some fat and some will want the lean.
John

True enough. My standard bun choice is a Kaiser roll. Pricier but oh so much nicer than the standard cheap supermarket bun. And the meat would be 85% lean organic beef. Like you, I think a little fat is best in a burger.

[Jenise]

I'm sorry to hear about your friend, but that sounds like a fun uplifting party.
The format question is a bit perplexing since burger toppings are a bit personal. You may like pickles and mustard, while I like tomatoes and mayo (I can see you wincing.) So, how do you judge that?

And it's even more perplexing than you realize: one family is vegan, and the cancer victim can only eat pureed food (situation's pretty bad). Fortunately wine, being liquid, goes down pretty good. Oh, and there are kids, five under 10. Not sure how adventurous any of them are.

I read this yesterday and boy did you get me to thinking. If judging someone else's burger meant eating their white and creamy special sauce, I'm doomed! So I called Melissa and asked how she imagined making this work. She hadn't a clue, never really gave the details any thought. She just liked the idea of trying a lot of different burgers.

Will look into the possibility of a slider style bun.

Btw, I love the idea of one huge burger. What a GREAT party idea. Hmmm....

[Jenise]

I had the same idea as Carrie regarding sliders. If you can get hold of some decent small buns, that might be a good way for people to try out different condiment combinations and such. Maybe each couple would be responsible for coming up with a set of creative toppings? You could throw out some ideas - pastrami, chili, kim chi, etc. - and then see what happens? You could let them grill the burgers if you want to take it that far. That would allow for different cheeses and such to be incorporated into the mix. Then everyone could get half of a slider and try them all out. Let everyone pick their first, second, and third place burgers and give each three points per first place vote, two for second, one for third. (Or something along these lines - this is all stream of consciousness here...)

I also like Carrie's idea of doing different kinds of meat and having folks guess which is which. In any case, it sounds like fun and I can't imagine your friend not having his spirits lifted by such an event.

The small bun thing could really be a problem. Typically, we don't have a lot of options up here. Love the idea of pastrami, chile, and kim chi, though, for offbeat toppings/additions. Left to my own devices I'd just throw out green chiles, red onions and arugula, my personal favorites. Going out on a limb for me doesn't go much further than onions cooked down in zinfandel for a fresh marmalade.

I'll provide the meat and the buns, of course. Should I add standard condiments and leave it up to others to bring whatever they need to make their own version? I'm a bit perplexed. And then, of course, there's how to judge the results.

Jenise, it isn't really possible for you to provide everyone's "secret ingredient" so just take it easy!

[Jenise]

Jenise, it isn't really possible for you to provide everyone's "secret ingredient"

Well, that's why I was thinking I'd just provide the basic platform and leave it up to them to bring what they need to customize their entry. Which all gets very fussy and complicated and which is why I'm balking at the whole idea--sounded okay after eight bottles of wine Tuesday night (see wine forum post "F*uckers on a Boat"), but a lot less exciting by noon yesterday.

I've done something similar when we hosted a "thank you" for our boating neighbors in Hawaii-bought a bunch of slider buns and started out with raw ground meats of the following variety: beef (15% fat), ground pork, ground chicken. I made a variety of slider sized patties using each kind of meat separately, then some blends of all three and blends of chicken & pork, plus seasonings (diced onion, minced herbs like parsley, cilantro & basil). Then we grilled the patties, put them on the little buns, and let people dress them any way they wished with sliced tomato, lettuce, onion, mustard, catsup, special sauce, etc. It got a little confusing because some of the sliders ended up on the wrong platter, but I can say with certainty that every one of them was gobbled up, and I made 75 sliders total. As I recall the group favorite was the blended patty of all three kinds of meats, seasoned with onion, cilantro and a dash of oyster sauce. What really surprised me was that people who would normally eat one burger ended up eating 3 or 4 sliders! By the way, having limited access and not much local knowledge, I used yeast-raised little dinner rolls as the slider buns. That worked out well. Have a great time!

[Jenise]

Well, here's the update: the sick friend has had to bail out and two other couples can't make it, so we're down now to four couples (including ourselves) of whom 25% are vegans, and children. So where I was quite taken with the multiple meats idea, the complexities of doing that for the smaller group of just omnivorous adults doesn't pencil out. So, I'm going to do a southwest burger menu and serve everyone my favorite (beef burger with oregano-marinated hatch green chiles, jalapeno muenster, and arugula), with their choice of condiments: a smokey mesquite mustard, a zinfandel-red onion marmalade, and a chipotle basil mayo. They can dress their burgers as they like. The vegans will get portobello mushrooms. For snacks I'll serve tortilla chips with several salsas and green shrimp (boiled shrimp tossed in a cilantro-garlic pesto), and I'll do three vegan-friendly side salads. Someone else is bringing ice cream (and a sorbet for the littlest vegan.)

What the heck is a Rainbo bun? Never heard of them.

[Jenise]

Bill, not a familiar name to me, but I was presuming that it's a common plain white store brand in his area, like Wonder bread.

like Wonder bread.

Ah - as in "I wonder if this is bread?"

I long ago concluded that white bread is like generic chardonnay from any given tank farm - bland, tasteless and not really better than the alternative, even if the alternative is nothing at all.

BTW - holding a burger-off that includes vegetarians? Isn't that kind of like hitting up your Jehovah's Witness neighbours for the old blood drive.....

Hmmm, mini sized burgers since they are easy to eat. Also, it will be more of a challenge since it is smaller, and still has to be super juicy and flavorful. It'll be nice to toss in a broad range of ingredients that haven't been tried before such as the different kinds of spices, wine, etc. It'll be a great test to see how they choose their ingredients and how they incorporate it into their burger.