Buffalo Cherry Burgers with Cherry Orange Relish

At the top of this recipe torn from a newsletter I have written in all capital letters “OH MY!” because that’s what the Sweetie Pie and I both said the first time we bit into these burgers. Seriously, these burgers are truly incredible. And just in time for cherry season. As if you needed an excuse to buy a big bag of cherries and invite your friends over for a cookout……although if you invite your friends over you’ll find yourself wishing your hadn’t. Because you’re going to want to eat every one of these burgers yourself. Promise.

If you haven’t tried buffalo meat it’s really tasty. I notice a slight, somewhat hard to describe, flavor difference from beef, but it’s not a bad thing. I buy this brand from the freezer of our local natural food store. Here is a nice Q and A about buffalo meat, if you aren’t familiar with it. For the purposes of this recipe, all you really need to know is that buffalo has a lower fat content, and will therefore cook faster, than beef. Don’t overcook your burgers! If you can’t locate buffalo (or just don’t want to) you can also use ground beef here. I’ve done it both ways. I prefer the buffalo, but to each his own.

We don’t own an outdoor grill, for some reason. So I use my little countertop grill which works okay. In order to get it to cook without burning, I turn a large rectangular cake pan upside down on top of it to hold in some of the heat. This acts like the grill top.

The most exciting part of this recipe was locating the allergen-free Worcestershire sauce. I had long ago resigned myself to miniscule amounts of Worcestershire sauce laden with soy, gluten, and corn. But with this post, I started my search anew. I began at the local natural foods store, assuming that any allergen-free Worcestershire sauce would have to be bought there. I was greatly discouraged to not find anything there that I could use. I spent some time on the internet and–wouldn’t you know it??–the best solution was right under my nose. Lea and Perrins is gluten-free and corn-free. The only ingredient that raised a red flag was the elusive “natural flavorings”. I suspect that one of these flavorings may be a gluten-free soy sauce. So I can’t claim that Lea and Perrins is completely allergen-free, but I can say with conviction that it is probably 98% allergen-free and that it’s the closest thing I’ve found. If you have a serious soy allergy and are just REALLY craving some Worcestershire sauce, I did find this little recipe on making your own, naturally fermented sauce. It sounds intriguing, but I just don’t use it enough to justify the labor required to make it.

My other find for this recipe was the allergen-free hamburger buns. I don’t know how I overlooked them so long. They were sitting on the shelf right beside the bread I usually buy. I’m still a fan of the lettuce-wrapped burger, but sometimes I do really want a toasted hamburger bun. This one fit the bill nicely. Like any other gluten-free bread, don’t eat it room temperature, or (the horror!) cold. You’ll need to toast it in order for it to taste anything like the real thing.

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