If you’ve ever been to Austin, TX you know how cool it is (well, scorching hot, but in a cool way)! If you haven’t been – it’s cool! Of course the music scene is one of the best in the US and you can catch live shows at almost any time of day in any genre. As I walked around Austin and checked out some of the bands playing, it became evident that Austin believes in something I believe in as well – nothing goes better with great music than great food and drinks?!

Because of this amazing food scene, last week I had the opportunity to go to Austin to shoot our newest Tillamook Kitchen restaurant. This restaurant has been recognized as having The Best Hamburger by the Austin Chronicle, is on the top 15 best hamburgers list on Eater National, and is run by some pretty cool guys who believe in the power of great food. It’s called Hopdoddy Burger Bar and it is a must have!

Since opening their doors in 2010, co-founders Larry Perdido and Chuck Smith, have been grillin’ and chillin’ the highest quality, most delicious burgers, fries, and shakes in Texas in the uber cool neighborhood of South Congress (they’ve also added locations in North Austin and Dallas – and they’re not done yet!). They use high quality ingredients (they grind their own meat, make their own buns and have used Tillamook since day one) which allows their food to speak for itself as the star of the show. We’ll be sharing recipes, tips and videos with you soon, but here are some teasers to whet your appetite in the meantime.

If you find yourself in Austin or Dallas please go to Hopdoddy Burger Bar. It might just end up being the best thing you do!

By Matt

To celebrate National Burger Month, we’re sharing burger recipes from some of our favorite Texas friends! This recipe comes from the blog, A Southern Fairytale.

Overview
Burgers seasoned with chipotles in adobo, sharp cheddar cheese, roasted poblanos and topped with roasted poblanos, sharp cheddar and chipotle mayo. Perfect for any afternoon bbq.

Prep time: 30 minutes

Yield: 4 burgers

Ingredients
Burgers
2 lbs ground beef (I use 80/20)
2 Chipotles in Adobo plus 2 tablespoons adobo sauce
¾ shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 roasted poblano, chopped

Chipotle Mayo
1 cup mayonnaise
1 Chipotle in adobo sauce

Extras
Sliced Tillamook Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Sliced red onions
Lettuce or spinach leaves
3 roasted poblano peppers

Preparation

How to Roast Peppers

How to make the burgers:
Finely chop the chipotles and 1 roasted poblano pepper. Grate ¾ cup sharp cheddar cheese. In a large mixing bowl, blend together the chopped chipotles and poblano with the ground beef. Add in the adobo sauce and grated cheddar.

Form into four ½ lb burger patties – press a dip into the center of each patty so that they will cook evenly and maintain their shape. Cover the patties and place them in the fridge until you’re ready to grill.

Chipotle Mayo:
Put 1 cup mayo into your food processor, add in 1 chipotle in adobo sauce and pulse until smooth. Place in the fridge until ready to use.

Gettin’ the grillin’ on:
Sear the outside of the burgers over medium high on the grill, then move to indirect heat to continue the cooking process without drying out the burgers. During the last few minutes of cooking, place strips of roasted poblano peppers, and sharp cheddar cheese over the burgers.

Toast the buns over the hot grill, slather the buns with chipotle mayo, put your delicious poblano chipotle cheddar burgers on the bun and top with your favorite burger toppings. Enjoy.

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By Tillamook

To celebrate National Burger Month, we’re sharing burger recipes from some of our favorite Texas friends! This recipe comes from the blog, Simply Being Mommy.

Yield: 6

Ingredients
2 lbs ground sirloin (90/10)
1 egg
2 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon sun-dried tomato paste
1 teaspoon white pepper
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ kosher salt
12 slices Tillamook Cheddar Cheese
12 slices bacon, cooked and cut in half
6 pretzel buns

Preparation
Preheat grill to high heat. In a large bowl, combine first seven ingredients. Make sure not to overwork the meat. Divide meat mixture into six even portions. Make hamburger patties, making sure not flatten too much or pack too tightly. A loosely packed patty makes for a juicier burger.

Depending on how you like your burger will depend on how long you cook it. Grill for about 5-6 minutes, or until you notice the juices on top of the patty. Once you see the juices, flip and cook for an additional 4-5 minutes. Only flip your patty once. If you flip more than once, you will disrupt the juices and that makes for a dry burger.

If your bacon is not already cooked, you can cook it while your patties are cooking on the grill. I like to cook my bacon in the oven so that I don’t have to watch it. To cook bacon in the oven, line a pan with foil. Line the bacon on the pan and put into the oven. Turn the oven on to 400 degrees and set your timer for 17 minutes. Viola! Make sure the bacon goes into a cold oven, not hot.

I used pretzel buns, but you could use whatever bun you want. To assemble my burgers, I put a piece of cheese on the bottom of the pretzel bun, topped it with the patty, put another slice of cheese, added four pieces of bacon (2 whole slices) and then topped it off with the top of the pretzel bun.

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By Tillamook

To celebrate National Burger Month, we’re sharing burger recipes from some of our favorite Texas friends! This recipe comes from the blog, The Nerd’s Wife.

Yield: 6

Ingredients
Whole wheat hamburger buns
1 lb lean hamburger meat
Tillamook Medium Cheddar Cheese Slices
Homemade Taco Seasoning
Salt and pepper, to taste
Tomatoes
Red onions
Sliced avocado
Fresh lime juice

Preparation
Form patties with the hamburger meat. Sprinkle with taco seasoning. It’s ok to be generous with it, if you don’t mind a little heat. Otherwise, a light sprinkling will do. Add a bit of salt and pepper.

Grill the meat for 4-5 minutes on one side, then flip and grill on the other for 4-5 minutes until cooked through. Add the buns to the grill about 2 minutes before the meat is done to allow them to toast for a bit. You can also add a slice of cheese to the patties about 2 minutes before they’re done to allow the cheese to melt. When the meat is finished cooking, squirt a bit of lime juice on the cooked patties.

Place the meat, cheese and other toppings on the buns and serve warm.

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By Tillamook

To celebrate National Burger Month, we’re sharing burger recipes from some of our favorite Texas friends! This recipe comes from the blog, Love, Life, Family… and then some. 

Yield: 4 patties

Ingredients
1 lb lean ground beef
1 egg
½ teaspoon of sea salt
½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
Dash of cayenne pepper
Tillamook Cheese slices

Preparation
Heat your grill to medium-high heat. In a large bowl combine all ingredients and mix well. Using your hands, roll the meat into 4 balls. Next, gently flatten each ball into a patty making sure that it has an even thickness throughout.

Use oil or non-stick spray on the grill grate before adding the patties to the grill to ensure they don’t stick. Cook burgers on the grill allowing for equal cook time on both sides of the patty. When you get a reading of 155 degrees (or higher) from an internal thermometer placed in the center of the patty, your burger is ready! Serve on buns with desired toppings.

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By Tillamook

To celebrate National Burger Month, we’re sharing burger recipes from some of our favorite Texas friends! This recipe comes from the blog, Blinded by the Bite.

Yields: 6-8 burgers (depending upon size)

Ingredients
½ lb ground beef  (If you decide to go with buffalo meat use 1 lb)
½ lb ground pork
1 tablespoon minced garlic
Sliced Tillamook Cheese
Salt
Pepper

Preparation

Fire up the grill! Preheat your grill to 300 degrees, closing the lid on the bbq grill.

Place ground beef and pork in medium size glass bowl. Add in minced garlic, salt, and pepper. With your hands, mix ingredients until garlic is fully incorporated. Taking a cookie sheet, cover with a piece of tin foil or parchment paper and set aside.

Next step is to form burgers. I like my burgers on the meaty side so I make them on the thicker side. This is a personal preference, so when forming your burgers, make’em the way you like. I typically form my burgers to be about 1½ thick and about 4½ inches wide. Grab some meat from the bowl, rolling into a ball. Place on the cookie sheet and press flat until you have the desired shape and thickness.

Now that your burgers are grill ready, head outside and put the burgers on the grill. Shut the grill lid and let the burgers caramelize (takes about 2-3 minutes depending upon which meat used – pork takes a bit longer). Once you’ve got a good caramelization on one side, flip the burger over, allowing the burger to cook for another 3-4 minutes. I like my burgers a bit on the medium-rare side, so at the 5 minute mark, I check the burger to ensure it’s cooked just right (take a steak knife, cutting into the center of the burger to check the color). Next add on cheese, closing the lid to get a good melt.

Take the burgers off the grill, placing onto your cooking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper.  Allow burgers to sit for a moment so the burger retains the juices.  Now your burgers ready to assemble – Here’s how I stack my burger:

• Bun bottom
• Garlic mayo
• Burger with cheese
• Sliced onions
• Amaretto Sauce
• Tomato
• Mixed greens (dress lightly in olive oil and a pinch of salt, mixing by hand to coat greens completely)
• Bun top

I find stacking my burger in this order optimizes the flavors. Get crazy with your toppings. Fry up some onions coated in gluten-free/GMO free cornstarch, as this will add some savory crunch to the burger.  Memorial Day weekend is just around the corner, the perfect time to grill up some burgers and top them off with Tillamook Cheese.

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By Tillamook

To celebrate National Burger Month, we’re sharing burger recipes from some of our favorite Texas friends! This recipe comes from the blog, Sweet Life. 

Yield: 4 burgers

Ingredients
2 poblano peppers
2 pounds ground beef
1 garlic clove, finely minced
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Tillamook Medium Cheddar Cheese, slices
Lettuce
Red onion slices
Pickles
4 hamburger buns, grilled or toasted

Preparation
Preheat your broiler. Place poblanos on sheet pan and broil until poblanos are charred on all sides. Remove from broiler cover with dish towel and allow to steam for about 5 minutes. Remove charred skin, stem and seeds. Dice the poblanos.

Combine the ground beef with the poblanos and minced garlic. Shape into 4 burgers (about 6 ounces each) and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill the burgers until done, turning to sear both sides.

Top the burgers with slices of cheddar cheese and continue grilling for a minute or two, just until the cheese is melted. Spread the toasted buns with your favorite condiments. Place a burger on a bun and top with lettuce, red onion, and pickles.

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By Tillamook

To celebrate National Burger Month, we’re sharing burger recipes from some of our favorite Texas friends! This recipe comes from the blog, Stetted.

Overview
Around here, grilling season means any day that doesn’t have a high winds warning, but there’s still something special about cooking outdoors in the warmer months. Maybe it’s the excitement of not having to turn on the stove or oven. After all, grilling doesn’t count as cooking, right?

Green chiles are a common ingredient in the Southwest, and every year food lovers in Austin go completely bonkers for the new crop of Hatch chiles. Hatch chile season isn’t until August, but most stores carry tinned roasted green chiles alongside the jalapenos and salsas. You can also swap in a fresh Anaheim or Poblano pepper and roast it yourself, if you like. Note that the heat can vary on peppers, so be sure to try a bit of it before adding to the meat in case you want more or less heat. Topping with Tillamook cheese slices, avocado, and pickled onions makes this a hot-and-cool burger full of flavor. There’s also bacon, because why not?

Yield: 4

Ingredients
1 pound ground grass-fed beef
4 slices thick-cut bacon, cooked until crispy and crumbled
¼ cup roasted diced green chiles (such as Hatch variety)
Salt and pepper to taste
4 Tillamook Natural Medium Cheddar Cheese Slices
4 hamburger buns
Butter
Sliced avocado
Pickled onion

Preparation
Preheat grill. Mix together beef, bacon crumbles, green chiles, salt, and pepper. Divide mixture into four equal parts and shape into patties, creating a small well in the center of each patty. Cook burgers 3-4 minutes per side. While the burgers are cooking, butter tops and bottoms of hamburger buns. In the last minute of cooking, add the buns to the grill butter-side down and grill for 1 minute. Remove buns to serving plate, and place burgers on bottom halves, topping with cheese slices immediately. Top burgers with sliced avocado and pickled onions, and enjoy!

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By Tillamook

To celebrate National Burger Month, we’re sharing burger recipes from some of our favorite Texas friends! This recipe comes from Brittany’s blog, Naturally Estes.

Ingredients
Thin large hamburger patties (we made 4 burgers so we needed 8 patties)
Tillamook Medium Cheddar Cheese, slices
Hamburger buns
Shredded cheese
Cream cheese
Bacon chunks
Chives
Jalapenos
Seasoning salt & garlic powder

We made two types of burgers; one regular stuffed and then one kicked up a notch with a little heat. We’re in Texas, what else could you expect?!

Preparation
For the spicy “Texas” option you’ll combine cream cheese, shredded cheese, jalapenos, chives, and bacon. If I were you, I’d also add a shot or two of Texas Pete (or your favorite hot sauce) to the mix. Then for the regular, yet still very yummy, stuffed version combine cream cheese, shredded cheese, bacon, and chives together. Really the beauty of these burgers is that you can stuff them with whatever you want. Maybe you want to add mushrooms or olives…have at it!

Add a dollop of your desired “stuffing” mixture to the center of a thin hamburger patty. Then place another patty on top and pinch the two patties together. Once you have the edges pinched, I sort of shaped the burger again so it looked like a nice plump patty. Make sure you keep your burgers in order so you don’t forget who has which stuffed version. If my husband had the “Texas” version, he might die, ha! Next sprinkle seasoning salt and garlic powder on both sides of your patties. Then grill those babies!

Once your burgers are almost done, place your Tillamook cheese on top so it can melt. Yummy! We also lightly coated the buns with butter and flash grilled them. That way they were crisp and warm.

Enjoy!

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By Tillamook

To celebrate National Burger Month, we’re sharing burger recipes from some of our favorite Texas friends! This recipe comes from Emily’s blog, 52 Mantels.

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef
⅓ cup finely chopped onions
1 teaspoon ranch dressing powder
¼ teaspoon salt
4 slices of thick-cut bacon, cooked and diced
1 egg, beaten
4 slices of Tillamook Medium Cheddar Cheese
4 hamburger buns

Preparation
Preheat grill to medium heat. Combine ground beef with the next 5 ingredients. Divide in 4 and form each section into a patty. Grill hamburger patties until desired doneness. During the last 1 minute of grilling, top each patty with a slice of cheese. Serve on hamburger buns with desired toppings.

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By Tillamook