SILVER'S CORNER: Buffalo Bill Burgers - Eat Hard!

Introducing Silver's Corner! Mike Silver - an aggressively disgruntled Chicagoan with very tiny feet - offers insights, observations and (occasionally) cooking tips to help you get through your miserable existence.

Hi there! Name's Silver, what's yours? Really? Well, I guess that could sound ok...with ...maybe a nice last name. Oh. In that case, maybe you have a nick name? You don't? Fancy that. Well, let's just move on...Seriously, that's your name? This isn't some horrible joke? How is your relationship with your parents? Yeah, I'd have the same. Enough about you, let me give you a quick introduction about myself and what you can look forward to reading in this section moving forward.

Height: 6'2" (1.87 meters for you blokes across the pond)
Weight: 192lbs (87.27 kilos - That's a lot of cocaine if I happened to be made out of cocaine!)
Temperature: Medium-rare
Likes: Whiskey, food (both eating and cooking), beer, old Royal Rumbles, hip-hop, FIFA (the video game, not the corrupt head of world football), sweatpants and torn hoodies
Dislikes: Fashion, flavored alcohols, new-age diets, small talk, smoking bans, high-pitched laughs, snakes (especially on planes), Adrian Brody
Sports Teams: Chicago White Sox, Chicago Bears, Chicago Blackhawks, Arsenal, and if you can teach me how cricket and/or rugby is played, you can select my allegiance for that particular sport
Full Disclosure: I have a beard

Now, the focus of this section has not been fully fleshed out - hell, it's barely been thought about - so what will follow is a thought dump (one of the more culturally accepted dumps) for whatever wacky theory, rant, recipe, thought or observation that pops into my head. Tread carefully my new found friends, things could get weird.

I will start this as I start most of my relationships: by bringing the sane, simple, and helpful Me. FYI, I wait for the crazy to start leaking out around date #2. Below is a great recipe that should help make you the star of any BBQ, back yard get together or intervention.

The Buffalo Bill
"Would you eat me? I'd eat me. I'd eat me hard!"

Ingredients
- 1lb ground buffalo
- 1 jalapeno
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1/4 white onion (diced finely)
- 1 sprig Rosemary
- 1 tsp liquid smoke
- Pack of kaiser rolls (or really any of your favorite bun) - Toasted
- Sharp Cheddar cheese (can leave out if you want to stay a bit healthier)
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tomato

Preparation
First, you want to roast the jalapeno. To do this, use any open flame you have - grill, gas stove, blow torch, Olympic Torch - and place the jalapeno on top, turning every couple of minutes. You should get a nice char on the outside. Once roasted, dice the jalapeno, remembering to wash your hands THOROUGHLY after this. Especially if you have a date later that night. Trust me on that one. This roasting process should help lower the heat from the jalapeno, turning it into more of a assisting flavor and not over powering any other ingredient.

Next, mix the buffalo, diced jalapeno, garlic, onion, rosemary, liquid smoke, salt and pepper in a bowl. Let sit - the longer the better. If it will be sitting over night, refrigerate, but remember to bring back to room temperature before cooking.

Section the meat into 3 large - 4 small - patties and place on grill or grill pan over high heat. Cooking times will depend on heat of the grill/stove, but 4 minutes a side should suffice. If you must err, err on the side of less cooking time. Buffalo is an incredibly lean meat, meaning it can dry out very quickly. If you are adding cheese, place on patties after flipping.

Remove patties from grill and let rest on a plate for 2 minutes. Place patties on toasted buns, top with sliced tomato, and whatever topping you like - I'd suggest trying it without anything else as there are a lot of flavors going on already.

Serve along side some home-made chips (crisps) or if you're looking to keep it healthy, serve alongside grilled zucchini spears. Just slice a couple zucchinis into spears, drizzle with olive oil and season with sea salt and pepper. Place on grill until a good char is reached, but leaving a bit of crunch in the middle.

Consumption
Enjoy this great burger while watching Silence of the Lambs, while reading the biography of Buffalo Bill Cody, or while watching Scott Norwood blow Super Bowl XXV for the Bills. Try to finish your last bite just as Al Michaels screams, "No good! Wide right!". It's fun for the whole family. A lot more fun than when that event actually happened. Dad lost the Cadillac to a shady bookie and subsequently beat me with a large paddle. HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW HE WOULD MISS?!?! I WAS FIVE!!!