As per Bressler's latest avatar I decided to try making some hamburgers and have a nice cab with them. I've got to say that the combination worked pretty well. I put cheese on one of the hamburgers but I think I'd skip that in the future.

Has anyone tried this? What were your results?

That would have been just too much for me. I'd have been lying in the gutter!

I've done it and always enjoyed the combination.

Assuming it is just a regular kind of hamburgwer without any bizarro additions (like pineapple!), then that combo works quite well, IMO.

I love burgers and cab. I just haven't stepped it up yet like Bob has. I usually have a ~$20-40 cab....not a Dalla Valle Maya!

A word on making great hamburgers. If you're grilling them, add at least 4 tablespoons of water or chicken broth to each pound of the hamburger meat. The burgers come out nice and juicy.

I find most people overcook burgers.

I find that most people & restaurants overcook meat. The "finer" Restaurants are excluded in that statement.

I like to mix in a little bit of onion and bleu cheese crumbles into my burger meat. Most of the reds seemed to go ok.

lcc-
Perhaps in your experience. I eat out less and tend to order fish when I do, so I offer no worthwhile opinion. Probably very restaurant dependent.

This also depends to some extent on how you like the meat cooked, if at all.
For those like me who prefer meat medium -well done, this is as tricky as for the tartare or rare crowd. Well done shouldn't mean dry and stringy. I like Board-O's suggestion, and crock pot cooking, basting and/or marinading, all efforts to keep meat moist. A well cooked piece of meat doesn't need to be dry.

Beef and red wine juste taste well together.

Hmmm, the sun is finally shining here, we usually go out FRiday nights but still recuperating from our Napa trip and getting in late Wed night... so now I am thinking a burger on the grill at home w/ some Cab may hit the spot tonight!

I am not a fan of bleu cheese co-habitating with my burger.

I'm with you, TJ. No blue cheese on my burger. Blue cheese (dressing) only goes well with spicy chicken wings!

Relish, tomato and catsup only. Oh yes, a bun and some meat too.

bleu cheese on a burger rocks!!!

so does feta or stilton inside the patty itself.

I'm serving Oliver Hill Grenache with burgers tonight.

I'm with QOH. I prefer a Grenache, or a big Zin with a grilled burger.

Hoping that the rian stays away for weekend.

I like pineapple in my burgers, cooked with cheese and bacon on top.Kiwiburger recipe as follows(Mac Donalds did this for a promotion because this burger was available at the local fish and chip shop where ever you were in NZ.)

Kiwiwburger from local Fish and Chip shop.

250 grams of steak (not steak mince- not great quality but certainly edible.)
2 eggs
3 slices of beetroot
50 grams of fried onion
4 pieces of big lettuce leaf
30 grams of cheese
tomato sauce (aka Ketchup)
1 Ring of pineapple
2 slices of tomato

So my cheese, pineapple, and bacon burger ain't too far out there in comparison.

all for $8 NZD (or $4 USD.)

EDIT: They go pretty well with Aussie shiraz or cab's.

I got my new issue (July 2003) of Bon Appetit yesterday and the cover is "Who's who is American Barbecue". Well anyway with a quick glance through it I found it funny that one of the first recipes is from James McNair of St. Helena CA.

Quote:

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Some people like a beer with their burger, but this recipe is an ode to a wine that you drink with beef. Having lived in Napa Valley for 12 years, McNair wanted to come up with a burger that saluted the locally grown varietal Cabernet Sauvignon: "I thought, Why not put the wine in the burger?" The result is such a natural, it makes you wonder why no one ever thought of it before.

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Napa Valley Cabernet Burger

1 750ml bottle Cabernet Sauvignon
1/4 cup minced shallots
9 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons golden brown sugar
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary

1 1/2 pounds ground beef (15% fat)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Vegetable oil
1 cup (packed) coursely grated extra-sharp white chedder cheese

4 4 1/2-inch squares focaccia, cut horizontally in half
8 large tomato slices
2 cups arugula

Boil wine and shallots in medium saucepan until reduced to 3/4 cup, about 20 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon butter and brown sugar; whisk until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Mix remaining 8 tablespoons butter and rosemary in small bowl. Set aside.
Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Mix beef, salt, pepper, and 1/4 cup wine-shallot mixture in bowl. Form meat into four 5-inch squares or rounds. Brush grill rack with oil. Grill burgers until brown on bottom, about 3 minutes. Turn burgers and brush with wine-shallot mixure. Continue grilling burgers until cooked to desired doneness, turning and brushing occasionally with wine-shallot mixture. Sprinkle with cheese after last turn and grill until cheese melts.
Spread cut sides of bread with rosemary butter. Grill, cut side down, until golden, about 2 minutes. Arrange bread, grilled side up, on plates. Top bottom halves with burgers, then tomatoes, and Arugula. Cover with top halves of bread.