Dempster’s #DIYSandwich | A Summer of Burgers!

Last updated on February 21st, 2021 at 09:34 pm

I’ve come a long way since my culinary inclinations as a kid, where I’d come home from school to a Miracle Whip Sandwich, my snack of choice. A little older now, my palate’s developed with my various foodiesque life experiences, and for my next #DIYSandwich, I was long overdue in proving I could put something appetizing together without anyone holding my hand.

The Internet’s awash with a plethora of recipes, and without a clear idea of where to start for my next sandwich-making session, I went to my social network to see what they had in mind!

My Twitter friends were a little more helpful with links and ideas I’ve never have thought of…

A Whole Lot of Tweets About Food!

…while Justin took… the more direct route.

Buy ground beef you lazy ass

patties are chaunced

Roll and press for a 6oz patty. Butter and toast the bun (use a frying pan). Pepperjack Cheese, Bacon (thin, the patty is thick so you don’t want to kill the bite), finely diced (think pico de gallo) Jalapeno, Fried Egg (over easy). You’ll need a sauce but I’m awful with sauce flavour profiles. Something with zing but not too sweet as it’ll conflict with the heat. I’d say Dijon but it doesn’t play nice with egg.

But despite the great advice pouring in from every direction, we’re deep into barbecue season, and our freezer’s already stocked with meat and toppings galore that need using—waste not, want not, right?

So for the third of four #DIYSandwich posts, it looks like we were getting our grill on, making burgers with all the fixings to complement the Dempster’s Deluxe White Hamburger Buns they’d be sandwiched between! But all suggestions and commentary aside, the real question was this—was Dempster’s tasty enough to make even these frozen store-bought patties taste delicious?

Can Dempster’s Live Up to a Burger Challenge?

One reason why it’s taken so long for me to write a burger #DIYSandwich post is because these buns are always sold out. Every time a #DIYSandwich date came up, I’d scour every grocery store in my vicinity for Dempster’s Deluxe Hamburger Buns, but no one ever seemed to have any! When I found this pack at a metro in downtown Toronto, it was literally the last package on the shelf, while the racks on either side were still filled with competitors’ buns.

That’s saying something.

Despite the overcrowded train ride home (shout-out TTC rush hour), I managed to get my precious cargo home safely, ready to join an experiment in sandwiching to sate a man of my demanding appetites.

Much of this recipe resembles your standard burger, with the expected lettuce, tomato and cheese garnishes to top it off, but we shook things up a little by sautéing mushrooms and making some homemade chipotle mayo to add some zest! Check check check it out!

Burger || Ingredients

• 1 package Dempster’s Deluxe Hamburger Buns
• As many hamburger patties as there are people unless you’re feeling a mite gluttonous, then eat however many you want
• Old cheddar cheese (because anything milder just isn’t worth it)
• 5-6 lettuce leaves
• 1 medium tomato
• a handful of mushrooms

Chipotle Mayo || Ingredients

• Mayonnaise (I would’ve preferred Miracle Whip, but I knew Sarah wasn’t having any of that, so…)
• Cajun spice
• Hot sauce

Directions

Sautéing Mushrooms

1. Take a damp paper towel and wipe the mushrooms off—as Sarah told me in a tip, mushrooms are like sponges, so rinsing them would make them take on unnecessary water.
2. Slice the mushrooms into thin slices for the sauté.
3. Put a generous amount of butter in a skillet large enough to hold the raw mushrooms—don’t worry if it looks too small; they’ll shrink as they sauté.
4. Stir often, making sure all the mushrooms get cooked in the butter. If you feel there’s not enough butter to sufficiently sauté the mushrooms, add more.
5. Once all mushrooms brown, pour mushrooms into a strainer to get the excess butter and water out.

Cooking the Burgers

1. The mistake too many make with cooking on the barbecue is letting it get too hot, giving you meat that’s charred on the outside, but uncooked within. I set our barbecue on low and let it heat up to about 400 F to cook.
2. Open the lid and cook the burgers. If cooking from frozen, allot 6-8 minutes per side. If you’re fancy enough to make your patties from scratch, adjust accordingly, you bourgeois kitchen dynamo, you!
3. In the last minute of cooking, put thin slices of old cheddar cheese on the patties and close the lid. After 60 seconds, the cheese should melt and you can take the patties off of the grill.

Making the Chipotle Mayo

Making Chipotle Mayo

1. Super-easy recipe. Take a small dish and pour some mayonnaise in. As much as you’ll need.
2. Sprinkle some Cajun spice on top for flavour.
3. Pour some drops of hot sauce in—I used some No. 7 Mexican Hot Sauce I’d picked up at #ReGiftTO—for more flavour!
4. Stir! Stir! AND STIR SOME MORE!!! …and that’s it!

Bringing it all together

Take your burgers and top them with your sautéed mushrooms, lettuce leaves, sliced tomatoes and chipotle mayo and Bob’s your uncle! (Hi, Bob!)

The Final Word

The verdict? Delicious buns were an important part of what I’d say was a very satisfying burger. With some ketchup and Dijon mustard to finish the flavour mélange, I’m happy to say that I can indeed make a few things without Sarah needing to lead me through.

Who knows—in enough time, I might whip up some gourmet creations of my own to tantalize taste buds. Until then, this is a good start.

Happy cooking, guys—I hope this inspires some awesome summer creations from you all, and you know where to find me should you ever want to share!

Until the next recipe,

Disclaimer: This burger was utterly delicious—though I’ve Dempster’s to thank for the incentive to get in the kitchen and put something together, if I’d botched the job, this would have been an entirely different post! If you want to showcase sandwiches of your own or see some amazing creations from others, feel free to visit the DIYSandwich website, Instagram or Twitter! I’ll also be posting this recipe on Appehtite!

See you on the delicious side!