Best Zuni Hamburgers Recipes

RED ONION PICKLES

Red Onion Pickles image

These pickles make a great accompaniment to the famous Zuni Hamburgers served at the Zuni Cafe in San Francisco. The restaurant's chef and owner, Judy Rodgers, shared the recipe with us.

Provided by Martha Stewart

Categories Food & Cooking Ingredients Vegetables

Yield Makes about 2 pints

Number Of Ingredients 10

Ingredients

3 cups distilled white vinegar
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
A few whole cloves
A few whole allspice
1 small dried chili
1 star anise, optional
2 dried bay leaves
A few whole black peppercorns
2 medium red onions, (about 1 pound)

Steps:

To make the brine: In a medium saucepan, combine vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, dried chili, star anise, bay leaves, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for 3 minutes. Turn off heat, and let stand until cool to allow the spices to infuse the brine.
Peel onions, trim ends, and slice 3/8 inch thick. Separate the slices into rings, discarding any green sprouts and thin, leathery outer rings.
Uncover the brine, and bring to a boil over high heat. Immediately add about one-third of the onion rings, and stir. They should turn hot pink almost immediately. As soon as the brine begins to simmer, about 20 seconds, stir them again, and remove from the heat. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, immediately remove the onions and spread on a baking sheet to cool. The onions should still be firm. Repeat with remaining onions, in two batches.
Once the onions have cooled, repeat the entire process in step three, exactly as above, and cooling between batches, twice more. After the third round of blanching, chill the brine, and then add the pickled onions. This process saturates the onions with fragrant brine without really cooking them, and guarantees that the color sets to a fuscia pink.
Transfer to sterilized jars, cover, and store, refrigerated, for up to 3 months.

THICK BURGER

Thick Burger image

Oozing with juice and loaded with beefy flavor, it's a burger connoisseur's fantasy.

Provided by Martha Stewart

Categories Food & Cooking Ingredients Meat & Poultry Beef Recipes Ground Beef Recipes

Time 15m

Yield Makes 4

Number Of Ingredients 9

Ingredients

Safflower oil, for grill
1 1/2 pounds ground beef chuck (80 percent lean)
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
4 slices sharp white cheddar cheese (4 ounces)
4 large bakery sandwich rolls or buns
4 teaspoons mayonnaise (optional)
1 beefsteak tomato, cut into 4 slices
1/2 Vidalia onion, cut into 1/4-inch rings
4 lettuce leaves, such as green-leaf, Boston, or romaine

Steps:

Preheat grill to medium-high; brush grates with oil.
Gently form beef into four 1-inch-thick patties, about 4 inches in diameter. Make an indentation in the top of each patty. Generously season both sides with salt and pepper.
Grill burgers 3 minutes. Flip, top with cheese, and grill 4 minutes for medium-rare. Toast rolls face-down on grill until just lightly charred, about 30 seconds. Spread them with mayonnaise if you're a condiment die-hard -- though our food editors swear you won't need it.
Sandwich burgers in rolls with tomato, onion, and lettuce.

ZUNI CAFé'S FOCACCIA

Zuni Café's Focaccia image

The excellent hamburger at Zuni Café in San Francisco has always been served on a square of toasted rosemary focaccia. The pastry chef Annie Callan offers this house recipe: Scaled to a reasonable size, it is easy to put together and fun to make. Bake it in a 9-by-12-inch rimmed baking sheet for a nice, thick focaccia that can be cut into six 4-inch squares (the trimmings are a delicious snack), and split horizontally into a hamburger bun. The baked focaccia can be kept for several days in an airtight container and needs only a brief toasting to bring it back to life. But you can also roll the dough thinner and bake a more pizzalike flatbread, perhaps topped with stewed onions or peppers.

Provided by David Tanis

Categories brunch, dinner, lunch, breads

Time 2h30m

Yield 6 squares

Number Of Ingredients 8

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups/300 milliliters warm water
1 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for greasing pan
2 teaspoons minced rosemary
1 2/3 cups/215 grams bread flour
1 2/3 cups/215 grams all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
Fine cornmeal or semolina, for dusting bottom of pan

Steps:

In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, combine water and yeast, stirring to dissolve. Add 3 tablespoons oil and rosemary. Add bread flour and mix, using dough hook, to make a stiff batter. Let sit at room temperature until bubbly and doubled in size, about 20 minutes.
Add all-purpose flour and salt. Mix at low speed until dough comes together. Continue mixing for 10 minutes, until smooth.
Remove dough hook and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise until doubled, about 40 minutes. Punch down dough, remove from bowl and knead briefly on work surface. Dough should be soft and slightly sticky. Dust with about 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, if necessary, for easier handling.
Using a rolling pin, stretch the dough into a rectangle about 10 by 14 inches. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let relax for 10 minutes.
Grease a 9-by-12-inch rimmed baking sheet with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Dust bottom of pan lightly with cornmeal.
Transfer dough to baking sheet, and, using your hands, stretch it to the edges of the baking sheet. Dough will spring back: Let it rest again for a few minutes; it may take several attempts to fill entire baking sheet evenly.
Cover stretched dough loosely with a damp kitchen towel (or use an inverted rimmed baking sheet), set in a somewhat-warm place, and let rise to top of baking sheet, or slightly higher, about 40 minutes.
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Uncover and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until nicely browned. Cool on a rack and cut into 4-inch squares. (The extra focaccia trimmings are delicious toasted.) Split squares horizontally and reheat before serving.