How It All Started

Bob Phillips

The title of this blog was inspired by one of my Spanish professor's at Miami University of Ohio, Dr. Robert Phillips, who died in the e...

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Oprah's favorite Turkey Burgers

Reader's of last year's "Celebrating the States" blog know that I read Living Oprah by Robyn Okrant for my Illinois book. Okrant followed all of Oprah's advice for one year, and prepared some of her favorite recipes, including the Mar-a-Lago Turkey burger. I recall that Okrant said that she spent about $50 on some special  ingredients, including some hard-to-find Major Grey's Chutney, in order to make these. She did rave about them though, saying both she and her husband loved them. I decided to try making them, but I used the fruit chutney that was already in my cabinet. I imagine Okrant probaly also had to buy the Chipotle Tabasco sauce that the recipe calls for, but that is already a staple in my house (henceforth known as a "staple on Maple" because we live on Maple avenue, plus, it rhymes).So although we had to buy a Granny Smith apple, and celery for this, we didn't spend anything like $50. I followed the instructions to saute the apple, onion, and celery, and then mix all the other ingredients together and let it meld together for two hours.This really allowed the flavors to come through, and the fruit chutney topping gave this just the right amount of sweetness. The celery and onion also gave it some crunch providing all that texture I like. I think turkey burgers are best when they are prepared with something that has fruit in it. The turkey burgers I made from Jane Brody's recipe while good, didn't have the sweet flavor. One thing Brody said though, is that you can't think of turkey burgers as hamburgers, and she is right. If you want a good ol' hamburger, prepare it your favorite way and enjoy, but don't try to prepare a turkey burger the same way. You will probably be disappointed.

1 comment:

  1. That fruit chutney was perfect for this; I bought it a few months ago, but Pam took the critical step of remembering it at the right time! It is from Karoo Kafe, the essential stop for friends of South Africa who find themselves in P-town.
    http://www.karookafe.com/

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