Made with real, fresh cantaloupe from California.
Yes, it is possible to take real fresh ingredients and create a meatless burger. Let us show you how with this unique, surprisingly easy and delicious recipe created by New York-based Chef Will Horowitz. Will has created a plant-based burger by simply brining fresh cantaloupe in a few simple ingredients commonly found in your kitchen and then cooking in a smoker. No, it’s not really meat, but you won’t believe how great it tastes.
Because Everything is Possible with cantaloupe.
How to Make a Smoked Cantaloupe Burger
Chef Will Horowitz
Serves: 4 people (4 burgers)
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Inactive cooking time: 16 hours
This is not your everyday vegan burger!
INGREDIENTS
Burger:
- 1 Cantaloupe melon (preferably underripe but not necessary)
- 4 Hamburger buns (I love sesame potato buns)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp of your favorite burger sauce (we found sauces like ranch, thousand island or bbq sauce work best!)
- 3 to 4 slices of bread & butter pickles for each burger
- 2 pieces of bib or Boston lettuce for each burger
- 1 white or Spanish onion, peeled & sliced into ¼ inch rounds
Brine:
- 2 ½ cups of water, cold
- 3 tbsp of soy sauce (can substitute gluten-free tamari)
- 2 tbsp worcestershire sauce (can substitute a mushroom vegetarian one)
- ½ tbsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
- 2 tbsp sriracha or similar chili sauce
- ½ tbsp of garlic powder
- 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, destemmed
Specialty equipment: BBQ Smoker
Directions:
- Trim all outer skin of your melon and then cut into 4 equal pieces, slicing from end to end. Then scoop and discard all inside seeds and pulp along with the trimmed away skin.
- In a medium bowl use a whisk to mix together all brine ingredients very well until smooth.
- Place the 4 melon pieces in either a medium glass baking dish or a large ziplock bag and pour your brine mixture evenly over melon. Whichever container you choose to use you want the melon to be submerged in the brine. Refrigerate container and allow to marinate for 4 to 8 hours.
- Remove melon piece from brine and place each curved side down in a preheated bbq smoker at 200f degrees. Smoke cantaloupe for 4 hours or until they’ve turned a nice light golden brown.
- Once smoked your cantaloupe burgers if needed can be saved for up to 3 days covered and refrigerated.
- To finish burgers, preheat oven to 400f degrees. Then place your olive oil in a large heavy skillet or pan and heat to medium high then place each piece of smoked melon curved side down carefully in the pan. Make sure you’re using a pan large enough so that the pieces of melon have a tiny bit of space from one another, as to not overcrowd the pan.
- Saute burgers for 3 to 5 minutes on both sides until they begin to brown then place the whole pan in your preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes until they have significantly darkened. Remove from oven and carefully place burgers on a rack to rest for a few minutes.
- To serve burgers, place your pieces of lettuce and a few slices of onion on each bottom bun then your melon patty on top followed by your pickles, burger sauce and the top bun.
- Serve while still warm and enjoy!
Meet Will Horowitz: Creator of the Smoked Cantaloupe Burger
Will Horowitz is an acclaimed New York-based chef, food writer and culinary consultant. He created the cantaloupe burger as the former owner of well-awarded New York City restaurants Ducks Eatery and Harry & Ida’s Meat and Supply Co. In fact, Horowitz is the inventor of multiple international food products and viral social media sensations.
The cantaloupe burger was born out of Horowitz’s desire to offer something made from fresh, natural food for his restaurant’s growing vegetarian and vegan clientele.
“With something like the cantaloupe burger, we can take whole vegetables and whole fruits and prepare them using old processes like smoking, barbecuing and grilling. For us that’s much more of a natural route than taking something that is over-processed or created in some sort of laboratory.”
Horowitz specializes in integrating heritage food techniques and ingredients into modern renewable practice and has spent extensive time studying off-the-grid living and primitive survival. A big believer in using the natural world as our greatest inspiration and teacher, he is an avid forager, fisherman and naturalist.
Horowitz has been a regularly featured chef with The James Beard Foundation, New York Times, Food Network, Discovery Network, Rachel Ray Show, Eater and multiple national morning shows. He is the author of a book on heritage cooking techniques called “Salt Smoke Time” and co-founder of seaweed based sustainable food company Akua.
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