Sometimes I cook a movie star recipe and for some unknown reason, I don’t blog about it immediately after I cook it. Then of course,
and I forget the dish even existed. Such is the case with these burgers. This recipe was included in my Cooking With Columbo cookbook in the “extra recipes” section.
I had personally test cooked all of the recipes that accompanied each of the 69 episodes, but there were lots of other recipes I wanted to put in the book, and this was one of them.
I wrote the following, “As soon as this book is published, I am going to celebrate by making these.” And I did. I made these in February 2018, almost a year ago, and I’d forgotten all about it until today. It was this blog post, about Anne Jackson’s English Muffins that reminded me, as those were the buns I encased William’s burgers in.
So here, in pictorial form, is what went down at
I definitely remember eating those spaghetti hoops though!
William Shatner’s Deluxe Hamburgers
2 lbs lean ground beef
½ cup minced Bermuda onion
¼ teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
Salt, freshly ground pepper to taste
½ cup dry red wine (Use quality domestic vintage either Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon)
8 cleaned mushroom caps
¼ teaspoon sage
4 slices aged cheddar cheese
English muffins (just muffins if you are a Brit!) – or hamburger buns.
Place meat, onion, garlic, thyme, wine and salt and pepper to taste in a mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly with the fingers. Divide into eight, making 1-inch thick patties. On each of four patties place slice of cheese and two mushroom caps. Cover with remaining patties, sealing edges carefully. Broil over charcoal to desired doneness. (Or pan broil in cast iron frying pan on top of stove by heating pan until red hot, scatter surface with generous sprinkling of salt. Plunk in hamburgers, broil over high heat, turning once.) Serve patties alone with thick slices of beefsteak tomatoes or on toasted split English muffins. Adorn with a choice of condiments (catsup, hot mustard, pickle relish, chutney, chopped onion, bottled Escoffier sauce).
Makes 4 generous servings.
