Burger Bar: Build Your Own Ultimate Burgers [Hardcover]

Hubert Keller′s Burger Bar restaurants in Las Vegas and St. Louis have been a huge success. Drawing on his experience as a four–star chef and using only the finest fresh ingredients, Keller has taken the American burger to new heights, offering intriguing, perfectly paired flavor combinations and beautiful presentations––and launching a vogue for chef–crafted burgers. Now Chef Keller shows everyone how to re–create his extraordinary burgers at home––and raise the bar on cookouts and casual entertaining.

Illustrated throughout with gorgeous color photographs, Build Your Own Burger offers more than 50 great recipes. Beef burgers come stuffed with blue cheese, with mushrooms, or with braised short ribs––or topped with sliced truffles. There are Brazilian–style pork burgers with black beans, lamb burgers with a Provencal flair, a turkey burger with BLT trimmings, a fresh–and–smoked salmon burger, and a seasonal vegetarian burger featuring pumpkin and quinoa. Keller even serves up burgers for dessert, including a mock cheeseburger made with chocolate–hazelnut ganache and mango gelee. In each recipe, Keller explains exactly how to create and combine garnishes and condiments––and build an unforgettable burger.

Complete with recipes for spectacular fries and sides as well as detailed guidance on selecting meat, forming patties, and cooking juicy burgers, Build Your Own Burger is the ultimate cookbook for everyone who loves a great burger.

Hubert Keller (San Francisco, CA) is the Executive Chef of the Burger Bar in the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Resort in Las Vegas and the Lumi?re Place Casino in St. Louis as well as the Executive Chef and owner of Fleur de Lys in San Francisco. Winner of a James Beard Award for Best Chef California and named one of the ten best chefs in America by Food & Wine, he is also the host of the public television series Secrets of a Chef. Penelope Wisner (San Francisco, CA) is a freelance writer whose books include the James Beard Award–nominated Tra Vigne Cookbook (978–0–8118–6379–7) and two other collaborations with Michael Chiarello.

"Every chef dreams of extending his vision to appeal to as many people as possible. Keller has done that with his restaurants and this book, by sharing with cooks how to build the best burgers."—Guy Savoy

"We knew everyone loves burgers, but we wanted to offer something new. What if we reimagined burgers and applied our fine–dining culinary training to create the best–tasting burgers possible? We would take them seriously because, we noticed, burger lovers take the subject seriously. Very seriously."

Those are the words of Hubert Keller, nationally acclaimed chef and owner of the dining hotspot Burger Bar with locations in Las Vegas, St. Louis, and San Francisco, and host of the PBS–TV series Secrets of a Chef, explaining how he and his colleagues brought their passion for high–quality food to everyone′s backyard favorite: the burger.

In Burger Bar, Chef Keller and Penelope Wisner show you how to create a mouthwatering, out–of–body burger experience—the ultimate burger. Through easy–to–follow recipes illustrated throughout with gorgeous color photographs, this cookbook features a collection of 50 succulent burgers complete with Keller′s personal suggestions for sauces, buns, and condiments.

Just imagine a rich beef burger stuffed with luscious melted blue cheese, a BLT turkey club burger, or a smoked salmon burger. There′s an unforgettable lamb burger with a Provençal flair. You can go vegan with the Southwestern Bean Burger or a seasonal temptation that features pumpkin and quinoa. And let′s not forget dessert: wow your family and friends with a knockout s′mores "burger" or tease your eyes and palate with a rich chocolate–hazelnut ganache "burger" draped with a slice of mango gelée "cheese" and enclosed in a warm glazed donut "bun."

The real beauty of this book—other than the burgers themselves—is that you can re–create the customized, build–your–own concept of Burger Bar. You can suit your taste, time, and budget by paring down presentation or by borrowing condiments or sauces, and even techniques, from one recipe and applying them to another. Keller encourages you to try the burgers that have won over thousands of fans and make your own burger masterpieces.

In addition, you′ll find recipes for spectacular fries and sides, as well as guidance in selecting meat, forming patties, pairing burgers with beer, and cooking the juiciest burgers you′ve ever tasted.

If you aren′t wishing for a burger by now, you will be once you sample the culinary wonders that Burger Bar has to offer!