The L.A. Times' Battle of the Burgers: We picked our five favorites
After a week of testing, tasting and testing again, here are our favorite five burgers from the L.A. Times' first ever Battle of the Burgers:
The German Cuban burger by Robert Burmeister of Staten Island, N.Y. (For you social media types, he's on Twitter @sichefrob.)
The red, white and blueberry burger by Brooks Walker of Folsom and the food blog Cakewalker. (He's on Twitter @cakewalkr.)
The Southwest turkey burger by George Levinthal of Goleta.
The Italian caprese sliders by Susan Salerno of Henderson, Nev., and the food blog Simply Cooking 101. (She's on Twitter @simplycook101.)
And the Mexican cemita burger by Harold Cohen of Hollywood, Fla.
In all, we received nearly 90 recipes from readers and burgermeisters nationwide. From there, we asked you to vote on your favorites. Once we had the top 20 vote getters, Times Test Kitchen Manager Noelle Carter and her fleet of kitchen interns went to work. (They're showing off their handiwork in the photo above.)
Now, you may be wondering: OK, where are the burger recipes? Well, the testing is just the beginning. Recipes need to be written to adhere to L.A. Times recipe format, then they need to be edited for clarity and copy edited, and then there's another round of burger preparation for the photo studio....
In other words, we're not done.
Originally, we were planning to post the recipes online June 29 and in print June 30, just in time for your Fourth of July barbecue planning. But because of overwhelming demand, we're rushing to get the recipes posted even sooner. We'll aim to post a recipe a day next week. If all goes well, you should have all the top recipes by this time next Friday.
Thank you to all who entered, and congratulations to our Top 5 burgermeisters. Please let us know what you thought of the Battle of the Burgers, and whether you see any room for improvement. One suggestion that cropped up online was to limit the submissions to Southern California residents. We considered it, but because we have so many readers nationwide (and in Northern California, like Brooks Walker!), we decided in the end to open it to one and all.
ALSO:
--Rene Lynch
Twitter / renelynch
Photo credit: Noelle Carter
With a name like Burmeister (burgermeister?), the German Cuban has got to be the winner !!!
Posted by: russ g | June 21, 2011 at 02:12 PM
Numbers 7 and 9 look like prime rib on a bun!
Posted by: jackwells | June 21, 2011 at 10:25 AM
I didn't enter the burger contest because it used on-line voting. Only 90 entries? There must have been others who stayed away. On-line voting is just a popularity contest and has nothing to do with the recipe at all. Please stop using it and you may get more entries next time.
Posted by: Judy | June 21, 2011 at 08:43 AM
Tommy's may not be as elegant or complicated a burger, but I'd rather have theirs than any other. They're perfect. Next choice would have been the Hamburger Hamlet burger. I don't think they're still with us any more.
Posted by: Bob Hanks | June 21, 2011 at 07:23 AM
What did I think of your Battle of the Burgers? Thumbs down. Voting is an idiotic method for judging a recipe contest. People vote for their friends, not the best recipe. Odds are that the best burger recipes weren't even tested. Suggestion for improvement: get rid of the voting component.
Posted by: Tracy | June 21, 2011 at 04:04 AM
Why, if you are the LOS ANGELES Times, do you not have one burger from Los Angeles County?? Do you really mean to say that in the land of BBQs and numerous independent eateries, as well as the home to In N Out, you can't find ONE burger that makes the cut? Or was this just an excuse to use Travel Budget money to wing around the country?
Posted by: john | June 20, 2011 at 07:30 PM
This is a joke, right? Turkey? Cemita? Blueberries? Shouldn't a burger competition include a real burger?
Posted by: buster | June 20, 2011 at 06:24 PM
Jack I think you missed the point. It seems like individual
personal recipes and not food chains here
Posted by: kwhy8strm | June 20, 2011 at 05:19 PM
Precisely what good is a burger you can eat only after you get a plane ticket and a rental car?
Posted by: oldusedcop | June 20, 2011 at 11:42 AM
Someone forget "The Apple Pan"?
Posted by: Seven Moshlak | June 20, 2011 at 07:39 AM
Brooks Walker grew up in Long Beach, CA so he is a Southern Cali boy at heart.
Posted by: Gary | June 18, 2011 at 12:31 PM
Hello? In-N-Out should be on the list!
Posted by: Jack | June 18, 2011 at 11:59 AM