BIG Burger for Hamburger Hunger

(CBS)  Hungry for a hamburger?

Hamburgers are one of the nation's most popular dishes, with Americans eating about 13 billion a year, according to the Eric Schlosser book "Fast Food Nation."

With this standard dish, consisting of patty, buns and topping, it's easy to create something delicious if you if you go by the book. But Michael Chiarello, head chef and owner of Bottega restaurant, never does anything by the book.

So, when Chiarello, one of three finalists left on "Top Chef Masters" on Bravo, was asked to create a signature burger for the show's three judges, he didn't rely on the classics. Chiarello came up with a "Hamburgese Enorme," a triple burger made as one large creation.

Why one enormous burger?

Chiarello says if you make a big patty and cut it up among three smaller buns or create the same large patty and serve it one big bun, it's really a family-style burger. Cutting it up means there's less dry edge on the side of the patty, and everyone served gets a nice cut of the big juicy center. And with the manchego and white truffle chips -- unusual but delicious -- this menu, he says, is a can't-miss for any table.

The concept of a huge burger isn't totally new -- the biggest burger ever served weighed 8,266 pounds. It was cooked at the 2001 Burger Fest in Seymour Wisconsin. Another large burger, served in Rutland, North Dakota, was 3,591 pounds and was consumed by about 8,000 hungry people. But this is a large burger you can have right on your own dinner or lunch table:

"Hamburgese Enorme" with Truffle Manchego Potato Chips
Total Time: Under 1 Hour
Skill Level: Moderate

HAMBURGESE ENORME
3 pounds ground chuck
1 round Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam cheese (if you cannot find, try a store bought brie)
Salt and pepper to taste
4 Sourdough round rolls (OR 1 large bread loaf such as a round sourdough or ciabatta)
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions
Divide meat in half. Place half the meat on Glad Wrap piece and top with another. Press to 1/2 inch thickness. Do the same with the other half of the meat. On one patty top with cheese and season both patties with salt/pepper. Top the cheese side with the other half of the meat. Top with Glad Wrap and press into perfect patty. Season the outsides of the burger with salt/pepper.

Heat a cast iron pan hot, drizzle olive oil in the pan and add patty. Cook over high heat to desire temperature.

While meat is cooking toast your buns and spread the roasted garlic mustard on all cut sides of bun. Arrange the buns buttoms in a square on a platter of bottom of another cast iron pan. Top with cooked meat, divide onions on top burger and top with 4 top buns.

ROASTED GARLIC MUSTARD
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
8 garlic cloves, roasted in medium heat in 1/4 cup olive oil and mashed
1 teaspoon rosemary, chopped

Mix Dijon, roasted garlic and rosemary.

ONIONS
2 red onions, sliced
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Sauté onion in olive oil for 30 minutes until brown. Season with salt and pepper. Add balsamic and sauté until almost dry.

TRUFFLE MANCHEGO POTATO CHIPS
3 Idaho potatoes
1 tablespoon truffle olive oil
1/4 cup dry Manchego cheese, grated
1 teaspoon grey salt

Slice potatoes thin on Mandolin length-wise and soak in cold water 30 minutes. Rinse, pat dry. Fry in 375 degree peanut oil until crisp. Drain. Season with salt, pepper, truffle oil and cheese.

Alternatively, you can heat up plan potato chips to bring the oils out-about 350 until they shine slightly. Then toss those chips with the grated Manchego and truffle oil.

[z-chef]

Has any of these "journalists" heard of the obesity epidemic in the US? This just adds fuel to the fire...and serves no social purpose. How about showing healthy alternatives to the traditional gut buster. How about lamb burgers with feta, tomatoes and spinach, or a ground turkey burger BLT? The creativity involved in this segment was poor and not well thought out...get back to the drawing board.
By the way, Chef Michael IS NOT a "Master" chef, a CIA graduate but not a certified master chef. Your journalists should research terminology before they throw around words they have no idea of its true meaning.

[myteagoddess]

If the Chef is in charge of his own restaurant, I'd say that he knows what he's doing in the kitchen.
This broadcast was really a stretch.
Truffel oil, in August, is leftover from last year (2008). On potato chips?
A giant "filled" hamburger? Have you nothing else to offer?
This has been a year for Basil here in the northeast - a bumper crop!
Try to offer something other than "pesto", or mozzarella/tomato/pesto salads (boring). How about a basil/buttermilk dressing, instead of ranch? Pesto sourdough rolls? Egg/basil breakfast cups? (God forbid..)Quiche?!
Keep on cookin'....
p.s. re: "filthy habits..." real people (and Chefs) do use their hands for cooking, as we wash our hands often, usually more often than required (comes with the territory).

[limey6]

This cook has the filthy habit,also his guest, of handling raw ground beef with bare hands. Please buy them gloves as in many other countries.

[seagraver]

Great show - a very interesting show. Michael Chiarello, head chef and owner of Bottega restaurant,seem to be a very professional chief and an excellent presenter.