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kicking off that holiday season

Recipe: korean bbq-style burgers

Administrative note: The strong undertow of the holiday season is fast sucking me down to the bottom of the sea. I will do my best to answer any pressing questions in the comments this weekend, my good people!

Jeremy and I met our pal for a quick happy hour yesterday evening and there were THREE parties going on at the restaurant. I guess Office Party Season has officially begun. We had one to attend ourselves last night. It’s more of an event though. Ignite Boulder 7 – another sold out crowd at the Boulder Theater! My friends Andrew Hyde, Ef Rodriguez, and heaps of wonderful coordinators, volunteers, sponsors, and speakers pulled off yet another hugely entertaining evening of presentations, music, and prizes. AND they donated all proceeds to The Food Bank of the Rockies. It’s great meeting so many people from my online communities in real life, plus some fresh out of the blue.


ef always warms up the crowd with his sweet voice, guitar, and wit

sold out crowd

fellow citizens play the intermission



What was I saying the other day about my love of summer food in winter? Right… I can’t help it. We had some record low temperatures smacking the Denver-metro area about recently. Last weekend, I was flipping through my copy of Jaden‘s Steamy Kitchen Cookbook. I know, everyone has already seen it. It was part of the schwag bag from the after party at BlogHer Food 09 and I had emailed in for my free copy a few months ago. I waited and waited. I saw tweets and posts from everyone and her sister raving about the book. I waited some more. Then one day, I whine-tweeted online that mine had yet to show up.

Then Jaden, aka Busiest woman on the Planet, said she’d fix everything. And she did.


i love this book almost as much as i love jaden



For as long as I have been aware of food blogs, Steamy Kitchen has always been one of my goto sites for rock-solid Chinese recipes. That and Jaden makes me laugh much like the way my sister made me laugh. But her book is more than just Chinese recipes. It has Thai, Viet, Korean and lots of great Asian fusion dishes like her Korean BBQ burgers.

look at all those goodies

they go *in* the burger



So I’m flipping through the book on a cold and snowy day. Kaweah was curled up next to me on the couch and I saw the burger recipe. I saw it and shouted to Jeremy, “Do you think it’s too cold to grill?” It was 0°F on the deck, but thankfully it wasn’t too windy. Sure, we could grill.

i added yellow pickled radish to the pickle dish

now that’s a brightly colored topper



Everything about the burger recipe appealed to me, although I have to admit that the two biggest draws were Sriracha chili sauce and kimchi. That’s my kind of comfort food. While Jeremy fired up the grill, I made a little Sriracha mayonnaise condiment for the burgers. Jeremy never takes Sriracha straight (white boy), but Sriracha mayonnaise can still deliver the great flavor of chilis without the kick to the gut.

sriracha mayo

grilling the patties



Kaweah could smell the aroma of grilled burgers on the air. She just circled the grill in the snow with her snout raised high, drunk on the odors. They smelled ten times better than a regular burger, that’s for sure. I thought it was just me, since I have grown up loving the combination of green onions, ginger, soy sauce. When Jeremy brought them in off the grill he said, “That smells AMAZING. I can’t wait for lunch!”

just like summer, except for the snow

tomatoes, lettuce, kimchi, pickled vegetables, sriracha mayo, sriracha, ketchup



The burgers were out-of-this-world-awesome and they were incredibly easy to throw together. The base burger alone is worth trying, but then you can customize it with toppings (I’m all about the toppings). I piled mine with kimchi and Sriracha because that’s True Love right there, folks. That’s probably why I like my burgers to be on the thin side to save space for the toppings. Have some burger with your kimchi?

awww yeah!!!



Full disclosure: I received a free copy of The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.

Korean BBQ-Style Burgers
[print recipe]
from The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook with permission to reprint courtesy of Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen

1.5 lbs ground beef
3 tbsps garlic, finely minced
3 tbsps ginger, freshly grated
2.5 tbsps soy sauce
2.5 tbsps brown sugar
3 tbsps green onion, finely minced
2 tsps sesame seeds
freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tsps high-heat cooking oil (if grilling on stovetop)
burger buns

banchan burger bar
tomato slices
lettuce leaves
quick cucumber carrot pickle
kimchi
ketchup
Sriracha chili sauce
Sriracha mayonnaise (Jen’s addition)
hot mustard

quick cucumber carrot pickle
1 cup carrots, sliced into thin matchsticks
1 cup cucumber, sliced into thin matchsticks
1 cup yellow pickled radish (daan moo ji), sliced into thin matchsticks (this was my addition)
1/2 tsp sesame seeds
4 tsps rice vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar

Mix together.

sriracha mayonnaise
3 tbsps mayonnaise
Sriracha chili sauce to taste (I used 1 tbsp)

Mix together.

Make the burgers: Mix the ground beef, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, brown sugar, green onion, sesame seeds, and black pepper together in a bowl. Jaden makes 4 patties out of the batch, but I prefer my burgers thinner, so I made 6 patties. I generally shape them wider than the bun diameter and fairly flat since the burger will shrink in diameter and get taller. Let rest for 15 minutes at room temperature. In the meantime, prepare the quick cucumber carrot pickle. I added the yellow pickled radish (daan moo ji) to mine. They are easy to find in most Asian grocers and some specialty sections in traditional grocery stores. Assemble the condiments and garnishes of your choice for the banchan burger bar. Grill or fry your hamburgers to desired doneness. I grill ours, but Jaden gives some nice instructions on frying them over the stove: Set a large grill pan or frying pan over high heat. When a bead of water sizzles upon contact and evaporates, add the cooking oil. Place the patties on the hot grill or frying pan, not touching each other. Cook the patties 5-7 minutes on each side for mediuam (internal temperature of 150°F/65°C). Serve with burger toppings. Makes 4-6 burgers depending on your preferences.

29 nibbles at “kicking off that holiday season”

  1. jaden says:

    LOVE IT! thank you thank you!

  2. white on rice couple says:

    Awww hell yeah!! Jaden’s recipe made by Jen ! It can’t get better than this!!
    *waving* Hi Jeremy! You look like the rock star out there in the cold, grilling burgers! Gosh you guys eat and grill well, even in the middle of winter. Awesome.

  3. Julie says:

    … and now I know exactly what’s for dinner tonight! Those look/sound amazing! Thanks for posting :)

  4. Christy says:

    Oh. My. Goodness. Yes they do look very sexy. I am jealous. Great idea to bring a little summer in on a cold wintery day.

  5. Phoo-D says:

    It’s never too cold to grill! I need to crack open my copy and check out this recipe. It sounds totally delicious.

  6. Fiona says:

    Bookmark! And thanks for the book recommend. I dunno if you heard, but there’s this holiday coming up. I might just have to order one for myself. I know what I need better than Santa.

    Love that slaw/pickle dish.

  7. heather says:

    we [my boyfriend craning over my shoulder] are oohing over the burgers, as well as the awe-inspiring view off your deck! [sigh]

    cheers,

    *heather8

  8. Memoria says:

    What a beautiful, colorful burger.

  9. Cheryl Paff says:

    I have to try this…outside… on the grill… in the snow… too! They look incredible.

  10. dawn says:

    LOVE that last photo! Killer food porn!

  11. Dawn says:

    Whoa. Is that big dollop of red on your burger all Sriracha? That’s some serious “Love,” girl. But sub in some Sriracha mayo and that would be my perfect burger. Beautiful photos, too. I’m so jealous of the light quality in your pictures. Are you lucky enough to get that from windows, or do you enhance with artificial light?

    One more thing: It’s never too cold to grill hamburgers. If you’ve ever eaten a hot, juicy burger after a morning of skiing in deep snow, you know exactly why this is true. :)

  12. Neel | Learn Food Photography says:

    What a super great last photograph is. Wonderful, love the styling. Very well done. great light wonderfully composed.

  13. Lori says:

    Delicious. You know I trust you, even though I dont know you. I bought The Border Cookbook after you had talked about it on your blog. I absolutely love it. Now, if you say Jadens book is all that, I may have to buy it. Arent you glad you got that book to Jenyu! ;)

  14. Bridget says:

    Wow, that sounds amazing. I’m a lot newer to that combination of flavors than you, but I know I love it. I think I’ll be (finally!) buying my first grill in a month or so, and since it’s warm nearly the whole year where I’m moving, I should be making these fairly soon!

  15. Chaitali says:

    I love thin burgers for the same reason! The awesome toppings.
    I’m guilty of spending way more time on prepping my toppings than the burger itself. But they add so many different flavors to the burger.

  16. Kelly Dugan says:

    my friend is in the Fellow Citizens :)

    Also, YUM. cooking asian food scares me – strange ingredients and the sometime need for a wok, mainly – but this looks like something I could do!

  17. Mrs Ergül says:

    Wow! This is great to serve at a small gathering which I will call Make Your Own Burgers! I had just bought a bottle of Sriracha chili sauce when I saw in at a supermarket in Bangkok, Thailand! This will be a great recipe to break it out!

  18. Eesh says:

    The burger looks great, but what really amazes me is the lack of gloves on your man’s hands. That is truly fantastic!

  19. Kristin says:

    I’ve been telling myself that I need another cookbook like I need a hole in my head, but you may have just sold Jaden’s to me. My picky kids love Chinese, Vietnamese & Thai food…go figure. Should be a good investment. Totally unrelated…does Kaweah think it’s the coolest thing when you move a piece of furniture to a new spot, so you can bring in something, like a Christmas tree? I’ve got cats running around like maniacs, jumping on & off a chair they usually ignore. Nutso creatures.

  20. Kevin says:

    Great looking burgers! I made some Korean style burgers a while ago by seasoning the beef with bulgogi marinade and then topping them with kimchi.

  21. Melissa says:

    That’s a very sweet thing to say about Jaden and your sister.

    These burgers look amazing, and bring on the kimchi! I have a very simple recipe to send you based on something you said here. I’ll email you.

  22. Caitlin says:

    Yep, those look awesome, although I question your sanity when you’re grilling in 0*F weather… And kimchi makes everything better (sriracha? um, let’s just say I’m white enough I can’t do straight sriracha on anything :) )

  23. Brittany (He Cooks She Cooks) says:

    Funny, I was just thinking of making a Korean marinade for beef for dinner tonight, so the flavors in this burger are screaming to me right now! Looks gorgeous!

  24. Kelley says:

    Goodness, that looks like perfect comfort food for a cold night.

    I am raving to friends about some shredded duck tacos with kimchi and lime that I had at the Red Fez here in Providence a couple of months ago… yum. Hope you’ll make it to New England one of these days.

    ps – happy birthday, Kaweah!

  25. Lisa says:

    I’ve been checking out Steamy Kitchen for a while now and have seen many recipes from her cookbook on other blogs (PW, White on Rice amongst others), but this was the one that made me order the book. It is in transit right now!

  26. jenyu says:

    Jaden – naww, thank YOU, hon!

    WoRC – oh, we’re just trying to be like you guys grilling year round, except we don’t have that perfect bbq weather ;)

    Fiona – the book is terrific. I hope you like it!

    Dawn – no, that’s ketchup :) but I do have Sriracha on my burger for sure. When I shoot it’s either with natural light if daytime, or artificial lights if nighttime.

    Lori – oooooh, the Border Cookbook is such a great book, isn’t it?

    Kelly – how cool :) This is a super easy intro to Asian, definitely give it a try (total winner).

    Kristin – ah well, that would imply some sort of intelligence on the part of the dog which… there isn’t. When we move furniture around she watches until the furniture stops moving so she can hop up on the couch again to sleep :)

    Kelley – thank you, sweetheart! If I’m ever in the area, I’ll send you a holler :) xoxo

    Lisa – woohoo!

  27. Amy Q. says:

    We in Lake Placid, NY had Colorado warm and nearly powdery skiing today— yee- ha!– and to celebrate, had these tremendous burgers for dinner. Love. Them. Yes. I. Do.

    Also ordered the Steamy Kitchen cookbook– can’t wait to get it!

  28. Rikki says:

    I love you for this! <3

  29. Chisun says:

    Tried this recipe and it was AWESOME! Thank you, Jen. Recipe is delicious. The only recommendation for the vegie salad topping is that for future, I would only use the solid parts of the cucumber, not the seedy part. it gets too watery. I used the English cucumbers and i would probably use wax cucumbers or Korean pickling kind. This is now my favorite burger! Thanks so you!!

    Keep adding more of your delicious recipes and beautiful pictures of the food. They inspire me!

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