Our Eleventh Annual Burger Contest is in the books! It was a great weekend (June 24-25) and a wonderful time was had by all. For those that have followed our annual contest, you know we set up unique rules for each contest. This year required us to “remake” a burger from a previous contest that had not won (excluding your own losers). As usual, great creativity and competition reigned. Without further ado, I present the 2023 contest burgers. We made it really tough for our judges!
Runner-up Burgers
Breeze remade Jordan and Angela’s “Make Breakfast Great Again” burger. She waffle-baked crescent rolls for a unique bun. Blackberry jam added a sweet touch to sage sausage patties and cheese. It was yummy!
Ryan and Emily recreated Rod and Pam’s Chicken-Fried Steak burger. Burgers soaked in buttermilk and dredged in flour were deep-fried. A slider bun created the foundation for the burger, cheese, and a fried egg with sausage gravy as a condiment. So good!
Jordan and Angela created a new version of Ryan and Emily’s “Origins” (Seafood) Burger as a Seafood Benedict burger. They cracked and shelled fresh crab, broiled a lobster tail, and mixed it all with tasty ingredients to make a crab/lobster cake. Jordan fried the cakes while Angela made hollandaise sauce. A fried egg topped the burger on homemade English muffins. I thought it was a winner!
Second Place Burger
Justin made the Dantes Bison Burger as a reflection of Jordan’s Monte Cristo burger. He griddled bison burgers topped with diced red onions and melted Muenster cheese. He plated is on French-toasted brioche bread sprinkled with powdered sugar and garnished with a raspberry and lemon balm. He made raspberry-peach thick syrup as a condiment. It was great and received a first-place vote.
The Winner (Finally!)
Pam finally won a contest when she and Rod used Justin’s Bacon-Wrapped Cheeseburger as a basis for their Peach Wellington Burger. Earlier in the week, Rod cured a pork-belly and smoked it for homemade bacon. On contest day, he grilled “Secret Seasoning” burgers and sliced peaches. Pam caramelized onions with rosemary and thyme from the herb garden and then mixed up an aioli made with a bit of mayo, homemade Smoked Peach Jam, chopped rosemary, and balsamic glaze. The burger, onions, and provolone cheese were stacked and wrapped in oven-fried homemade bacon. Pam wrapped it all in puff pastry and baked it in the oven. It was garnished with a grilled peach held in place by a sprig of rosemary and served with the aioli.
The winners were presented with a substitute spatula until the Grillmaster Trophy Spatula can be delivered. (Pardon the shadows!)
Our Judges
Our judges were wonderful and we so appreciate their willingness to be a part of our contest. The judges were Randy (Rod’s brother) with John and Linda (Angela’s parents).
Father’s Day Celebration
This weekend was also our Father’s Day celebration for Rod, Ryan, Justin, and Jordan. Coffee mugs with Grandpa/Dad themes were loved by all.
After the first stages of cleaning up the trashed kitchen and dining room, we hit the pool to cool off.
Sunday Morning
On Sunday morning, we gathered at church as a family to hear Ryan speak for the first time at Creekside and Emily led worship. So proud of them for responding to God’s call to ministry.
After church. Breeze snapped a family picture for us to commemorate the weekend. Love Olivia’s scrunchy face!
We were so glad that Breeze, Lavanna, and Levi got to join us for the weekend! The cousins love being together.
What creative ideas do you have for drawing your family together? A contest, a party, camping? Please share it with me. I’m always looking for more ideas.
Thank you for letting me share our contest and my heart for home with you!
Congratulations! Looks like you had a blast, thank God for wonderful weather to celebrate.
Loved seeing this years event. It looked like so much fun and great food for meat/fish lovers. How come know one does a veggie burger???
We are a bunch of carnivores. LOL!