I wanted to make a triumphant return to my blog with some great pics of last weekend’s Bacon Fest, but we were so busy cooking I never left the booth.  I think I need to recruit an even photographer, Is anyone interested?  The Bacon Fest was a huge success; Team AlbuKirky served up over 900 of our Bacon, Cheddar, Jalapeño Corn Fitter with Honey Butter to the hungry and slightly inebriated crowds.  The downside of Bacon Fest is just the smell of bacon has made me a little nauseous, and I have not eaten any bacon this week.  I will have to break out some of my homemade bacon and get back on the horse, or in this case, the hog. But there’s no stopping me from sharing our very own Smashed Green Chile Cheeseburger.

Getting started with the Smashed Green Chile Cheeseburger

I have the next best thing to bacon, Smashed Green Chile Cheeseburger pics.  I know I’ve done this burger before, but it’s one of my favorites, and I’m a little short on content this week, so work with me here. Ever since Freddy’s opened, I have been obsessed with the smashed burger.  I’m still working on getting that super thin patty with the crispy edges, but I have been unable to do it.  One, I’m afraid the patty will fall apart if I get it too thin, and second, I don’t think I have the grind or mix of beef.  But I will keep working on it, and when I figure it out, you can read all about it here.

I started by weighing out quarter-pound balls of organic grass-fed beef.  Let me clarify I’m not one of those organic meat nazis; I use this meat because it tastes good, and they have it at Costco, I’m all about taste and convenience. I hit the soon-to-be patties with some of my Green Chile Rub and let them sit at room temp for about 20 minutes while I prepped my Disc-It.

Smashing the Burger

I fired up the Disc-it with the flat disc.  I then coated the disc with a good amount of canola oil.  Once this disc was hot, I dropped the beef balls on the griddle. I flattened the patties using a heavy spatula and a can for extra smashing power.  I like them moving to build up the board when cooking the patties. This can be done by flipping and turning them every minute or two.

As for the green chile, I just chopped up some fresh roasted green chile and heated it on the disc. I then added a little bit of Casa Seasoning.  Heating the green chile for a few minutes concentrates the flavor and brings out more heat from the chile.

Now for the cheese, I used the Kraft Deli Slice American Cheese, the gourmet white trash cheese. And why do I use American cheese?  Because it freaking tastes good!  I put a slice on each patty and stacked them to get a tower of meat and melted cheese.

I place my meat and cheese stack on a plain white bun. I topped it with a heaping spoon full of green chile, put a little yellow mustard on the top bun and bam! One of the best damn burgers ever! The beef, cheese, and green chile all have equal parts in the delectable trio and there result is pure music to the New Mexico boy’s taste buds.