turkey sliders

This all started with a photo that popped up on my Facebook feed earlier today:

I love the meat letters! I had mentioned a desire to try this, warning that my burgers would likely be lewd phrases like "BUTTCHEESE" or something equally awful and inappropriate. A buddy of mine suggested I make a Tumblr about it, and I became so taken with the joke that I planned four meals out of ground meat, bought some turkey and pork, and started the damn blog. He's thrilled about it, I'm still in stitches playing with meat like some sort of mental patient with kitchen access. I figured sliders for labor day, right? So sliders it is!

These are a mix of pork and turkey, purely for economic reasons. Four bucks a pound for beef, when turkey and pork are half that? Make that switch, man. I buy the big triple pound tube of turkey and a couple pounds of discounted pork and mix them together before dividing them up for storage, to be used in meatballs and cabbage rolls later on this week. 

After shaping some choice four letter words out of the meat mix and snapping a couple photos for the Hamburger Swears blog (again, gasping for air as I do this), i grabbed out enough meat for twelve sliders -- think golfball size -- stuck the meat back in the fridge and started the buns. These were soft yet firm, and went from dough to done in under a half an hour. I think I'll make them again. 

Just add yeast to a cup of warm water, then oil and salt, then an egg and a little sugar, and like three cups of flour, until the dough's no longer sticky. Turn onto a floured surface and knead a couple minutes, not too much or they'll be tough buns, baby! Divide the dough in half, then half again, and into thirds for twelve total. Put them in an oiled pan for ten minutes then bake at 425F for 8-10m. I used a whoopie pan for round buns and brushed egg wash on the tops. 

Burgers were too cinch, too. Heat a chopped onion in a big skillet, then add some oil to them (I heard somewhere doing the onions with dry heat first helps them cook faster? could be wrong though). Take the twelve balls of meat and mix them with some panko, a couple egg whites (i used the yolk to wash the buns), salt and pepper, paprika, oregano and some cayenne powder and form the twelve meat wads again, pressing each flat. Set six patties on the onions and add a little water or bouillon or beer (or grated onion juice for classic sliders) and let the burgers cook a bit. 

Ideally, your buns would be done, and you can cool them, slice them and stagger them over the cheesy patties, but my timing was a little off today and my buns were still baking as the patties cooked. This traps the steam and makes the cooking time faster while adding a little flavor to the meat. Scrape off the patty with some onions and place it on a bun, serve immediately (or don't, but you'll eat one and then two more, just own up to it, it's okay man). 

The fries weren't nothing, just some sliced spuds shaken in a plastic bag with some oil, parmesan and seasonings (salt, pepper, onion, garlic, cayenne powder) and baked alongside the buns until crispy outside, chewy inside. 

I'll make the rest of that meat (and some more dirty, meaty words) into meatballs and cabbage rolls, photo it and blog it for another post. If you have any tweaks to this recipe, as well as suggestions or requests for dishes you'd like to see me make for you virtually (and perhaps personally someday! your kitchen, though), put it in the comments, or hit me up on Facebook. 

Stay Hungry!