Carter Family Recipes

The Ultimate Umami Burger
Don’t be afraid of the fish sauce. Understand the crucial umami factor that fish sauce brings to food and it will become your best pantry friend. So often, the powerful, pungent punch of fish sauce can be intimidating to cooks who aren’t familiar with it’s marinading magic.
Fish sauce is essentially the salty liquid from the fermentation of small fish and salt. But when used in small quantities, fish sauce brings fabulous umami savoriness to the burgers. It won’t taste like a “fish sauce burger.” It just tastes like a darn great burger! You’ll be a fish sauce marinade convert very quickly.

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs Ground Beef
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce (for more daring, savory depth, use 2 tablespoons)
  • 2 cloves Garlic, crushed or fine mince
  • 1 teaspoon Sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground Black Pepper
  • 4-6 Hamburger buns
  • condiments of your choice and cheese makes it extra decadent and special

Preparation

  1. In a small bowl, combine fish sauce, garlic, sugar and black pepper.
  2. Add the marinade to the ground beef and combine until all the ingredients are mixed together well.
  3. Refrigerate the beef for at least 30 minutes. We like to allow the beef to marinade overnight in the fridge for optimum flavor.
  4. Gently form meat into patties. Form them to the size of your burger or slider buns.
  5. Cook on a skillet or grill. (1/2 patties on a med./high grill take about 3 min. per side for med. rare burger. Heat temp., thickness, etc. all affect cooking times)
  6. Assemble your burger with your favorite condiments and treat yourself to the cheeseburger version!
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