Fourth of July Fried Egg and Black Garlic Burger

Hello Everyone!
I am all excited because the Fourth of July is tomorrow.

 I love fireworks, swimming at the lake, music by Sousa and, this should a surprise to no one, eating the food!  Although its not the holiday most associated with food, I love to plan an Americana menu to celebrate the day.  And there are so many options to choose from - YUM.  You can grill and do hot dogs and hamburgers with potato salad and coleslaw.  Or you can do fried chicken with mashed potatoes and biscuits. Oooo.  Or ribs with broccoli salad.  The options are delicious and limitless.
As limitless as they are, for this post, I have decided to share a recipe for a hamburger with you.  This recipe was inspired by three things steak and eggs, Bob's Burgers, and McCormick's Black Garlic Powder.  For those of you who don't watch Bob's Burgers there are two things that you need to know: #1.  The show is hysterical and you really should watch it.  #2.  Bob always has a special burger of the day with a pun-ny name.  The burger that I most wanted to try was the Bet It All on Black Garlic burger that was made during season five.  For a person who loves food and garlic I had never heard of black garlic.  So the first thing that I had to do was go online and see if that was a real ingredient -- it was!  The second thing that I had to do was make that burger. 
Fortunately for me, my husband was 100% behind me wanting to make this burger and even got me the cook book so I could have one version of the recipe for us to try.

It was delicious. 

Black garlic is delicious and a taste sensation that I can't describe - but is nothing like you would expect.  Unfortunately, black garlic is expensive and doesn't last long.  If you don't use it almost immediately after opening it goes bad.  And the flavor is strong.  So using it every day for a week was more than I could do - no matter how delicious it was.
Which meant that I was thrilled when I found a black garlic alternative that actually gives the taste of black garlic without the shelf life of black garlic.  McCormick makes a black garlic powder!

I bought this on Amazon for way less what I paid for real black garlic.  I was skeptical, but I started to experiment.  And one of the things that you can make with this that is delicious is black garlic butter.  So I started putting the garlic butter on everything - including the steak and eggs I made for breakfast one morning.  Which then started me to thinking about doing steak and eggs in a more portable version.  And thus, this recipe was born.

Fried Egg and Black Garlic Burger

Ingredients
1 lb ground chuck
1 egg
1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 cup Garlic and Herb bread crumbs
2 tbsp. minced shallot
Creole seasoning, to taste
1 tsp. garlic powder
black pepper, freshly ground to taste
black garlic powder, to taste
2 tbsp.butter
1 egg (per burger)
1 brioche bun, per burger

Instructions
1.  Prepare the garlic and herb bread crumbs.  There are two ways that you can go about doing this, you can make homemade bread crumbs or you can doctor bread crumbs that you can buy in the store.  Personally, I like to make my own and you can find several recipes to make your own online.  But if you don't have the time or the inclination to make your own, then just put about 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of the black garlic powder into 1/4 cup of the store bought prepared breadcrumbs.  Mix together well and taste.  You can add more black garlic powder if you feel the black garlic flavor is not coming through enough.
2.  Put two tablespoons butter into a small microwave-safe bowl and microwave until the butter is completely melted, about 10 seconds.  Sprinkle with black garlic powder and stir until the butter and garlic powder are well blended.  Set aside.
2.  In a large bowl combine the ground chuck, 1 egg, Worcestershire sauce, 1/4 cup bread crumbs, shallot, creole seasoning, garlic powder and pepper.  Mix with your hands until everything is completely combined.  If the burger is to wet to hold together, then add more bread crumbs.
3.  Split the meat mixture into four equal portions and form into patties.  Make sure to press the center down with your thumb to create a divot in the center of the burger- this will help the burger to stay flat as it cooks.
4.  Cook the burgers the way you prefer the burgers to be cooked.  They are good cooked on the grill or on a griddle.  I personally like to cook them so that they are medium to medium well and I like to cook them on a grill pan on the stove top so that I can make them in the air conditioning but still have some grill flavor.
5.  While the burgers are cooking, start frying the eggs.  For this burger, I like to cook them sunny side up with a runny yolk.
6.  Once the burgers and eggs are cooked, its time to assemble the burgers!
     First, place the meat patty on the bun.
     Then put the fried egg.
     Drizzle the black garlic butter over the egg and the burger.
Because of the egg yolk and the black garlic butter, you don't really need any other dressings for the burger.  But if you are worried that you need something more or the burger will be dry, then you can always add the black garlic mayo from the Bet It All On Black Burger recipe I pictured above.

Well, that is it for today's post, I hope that y'all have a safe and happy Fourth of July and get the chance to enjoy the burger!