Grilling Season '12: Turkey And Pork Burgers

Living in Montana, we've got to get as much grilling in as we can while the weather holds, as it's not uncommon for a sunny and hot day to be followed by rain or snow the next. We unfortunately went through that phenomenon recently when an unexpected temperature drop and sprinkling of snow forced us to switch gears and cook beef ribs in the oven.

Despite the schizophrenic weather patterns, we've still managed to get in several great grill sessions. For some of our recent exploits, check out some amazingly tasty pork baby back ribs and our first attempt at making a homemade smoky raspberry BBQ sauce.

Burgers are a classic of grilling, but we generally only make beef burgers a handful of times over the summer, instead opting for some more exciting and less traditional options. Here we'll take a look at two different varieties: spicy chipotle turkey burgers, and pineapple-apple pork burgers.

For turkey burgers, we start off with chopped white onion, fresh cilantro, and some chili in adobo sauce. For more on adobo sauced marinated chilis, check out our pepper comparison guide.

Just like with a beef burger that has extra seasonings added in, the ground turkey is mixed together gently with the onion, cilantro, and chili.

After ensuring all the ingredients are mixed together well, the turkey is formed into circular patties by hand.

The grill is going hot and the coals are almost ready. We're also having potato packets (read more about these fun side dishes here!) along with our burgers. Because the packets take much longer than the turkey burgers, I've got them inside the grill while the coals are still flaming and heating up.

After the fire has died and the coals are properly white-hot, we lay down the turkey burger patties and start to take in the amazing smells of grilling.

About 10 minutes later we flip these low-fat but high-taste burgers over to reveal some great grill marks and a nice layer of char.

And here's the finished burgers along with the still steaming potato packets, which are still heating up before being opened.

A spicy turkey patty can be put together like any other burger, using mayo, mustard, ketchup, etc. This time I went with some of our homemade guacamole (check out our guide to making guacamole) along with a few dabs of hot sauce.

Next up I'm piling on some colby jack cheese and a squiggle of standard ketchup for that familiar burger flavor.

Here's my finished plate, complete with delicious potatoes and peppers ready to be dipped into more ketchup.

The turkey burgers are fantastic, but sometimes we want something without the spicy kick and with a different texture - which is where pork burgers come in. To pay proper homage to this unusual burger meat, we're going to take things to a different level by using some Hawaiian inspired sweet ingredients. For this burger, we're starting with diced green apple and some sweet onion.

Like before, the meat is mixed together thoroughly and then formed into perfect burger shaped patties.

Unfortunately these burgers didn't hold their form together as well, as you can see by the one poor burger that fell apart in the upper-left corner. To combat that nonsense we layed down an extra grill cover so nothing fell through the cracks.

Besides the green apple and sweet onion, these burgers also get topped with grilled fresh pineapple slices! We always try to interconnect our meals by ensuring any ingredients we buy can be used for multiple dinners, so to check out what was done with the rest of the pineapple, take a gander at our pineapple pork roast. You can also see at the bottom the corn on the cob grilling inside tin foil underneath the burgers.

Now that everything has reached perfection on the grill, we've got our burgers, pineapple slices, and corn ready to be served up.

Cooked up on the grill, the thick pineapple slice is actually very tender and still a bit on the juicy side, adding a perfect flavor and texture to the sweet pork.

Here's my finished burger and corn on the cob, about to be messily devoured. Although very different from a beef burger, the flavor and consistency of these pork variants are fantastic, and I highly recommend them if you'd like to try something outside the norm.

The weather has unfortunately turned again, so while we wait out a few days of rain we'll take some time to cook inside and create a wide range of amazing meals.  Coming soon you'll see the Canadian entry in our culinary world tour, making our own onion rings and corn dogs, and more ways to jazz up cheap and ordinary food into extraordinary dishes.