Christina Flores Gomez-Pina was featured in the Miami Herald for her blog La Cocina de Christina. Inspired by the Julie and Julia book, she decided to use Nitza Villapol‘s Cocina Al Minuto as the guide for her blog.
There are over 600 recipes that she plans to make, and her blog will cover it all. Christina is a co-worker of my sister Michelle, so I asked about a possible invitation to her kitchen.
Initially, I only wanted to watch her prepare the book’s burger recipes. But, unfortunately, I had already missed her Frita recipe, which her family told me was excellent.
An important note is that this was a family affair as her husband, children, parents, brother, and his squeeze were there to taste test everything.
Nitza Villapol’s Cheeseburger Recipe
The recipe for Cheeseburgers called for the burger to be made out of half ground beef (she used chuck) and half of either ham or ground pork. She decided to try making both and see which was better.
The recipe involves grinding the ham/beef and pork/beef mixtures with onions, garlic, and mustard. Twelve patties are formed as the recipe makes 6 burgers (6 doubles, sounds like Nitza was my kind of lady) with cheese in the middle.
Christina decided to use Martin’s Potato Rolls as the buns and Velveeta as the cheese (the recipe called for processed cheese). Unfortunately, I believe neither existed in Cuba. Ok, I know that neither existed in Cuba, which led to a great conversation with her mother about Spam.
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound of ground beef (I suggest 80/20 chuck)
- 1/2 pound ground pork or ham
- 1 small onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tablespoon of yellow mustard
- 6 slices of processed cheese (we used Velveeta)
- 6 buns (Martin’s are best)
- Ketchup, mustard, salt, & pepper
Directions
- Grinding of both the ham/beef and pork/beef mixtures with onions, garlic, and mustard.
2. Make 12 even-sized patties.
3. Heat your pan (a cast iron skillet is suggested) with oil.
4. Cook patties on both sides to the desired temperature.
5. Remove patties from pan and use the pan to toast buns
6. Each 2 patties sandwich a slice of cheese.
7. Put on toasted buns and add salt, pepper, ketchup & mustard & to your liking.
We all tried both burgers. I found the pork version tastier and with an actual burger taste.
Everyone else seemed to prefer the ham version. Some of them compared the ham version to a Frita taste. I didn’t say a word.
Why? It’s not my house (and I was outnumbered), but since I’m writing on my blog, I can now say what I thought. It didn’t taste similar to a Frita, but it was good, not as good as the pork version, though.
Also, Check Out
You should probably check out my Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dog Recipe post.
This recipe was originally part of the post, An Afternoon in the Kitchen of the Christina/Nitza Project.