Mushroom Swiss Burger Recipe

The first burger I fell in love with many years ago was a simple mushroom swiss burger. Nothing fancy here, especially compared to the burgers they make these days. Today’s burgers you can get mustard crusted, double stacked, stuffed with cheese and so much more. Like I said I’m simple, however I have found that if you get a mushroom swiss burger at your local restaurant or favorite burger place there’s something missing. Something important, like flavor maybe?! Mushrooms in these places taste like nothing. I don’t know if that’s due to food costs or even disgruntled employees not caring or even that the humble mushroom has been forgotten and has become an after thought. Mushrooms, one of the key ingredients in the simple mushroom swiss burger is perfect for enhancing the flavor of the burger. Often times mushrooms and umami (a term used to describe a pleasant savory taste) are used in the same sentence and that is why my amazing sauteed mushroom recipe will be one recipe you never go without when making this mushroom swiss burger.

What is Umami?

Your tastes buds are able to experience sweet, salty, sour and bitter. Umami is the newest(not really) classification to your taste buds. Umami translated from Japanese is yummy, deliciousness or a pleasant savory taste, and was quoted in 1908 by a chemist at Tokyo University called Kikunae Ikeda.

[su_quote cite=”Dr. Kikunae Ikeda, Eighth International Congress of Applied Chemistry, Washington 1912″ url=”http://www.umamiinfo.com/2011/02/the-discovery-of-umami.php”]”Those who pay careful attention to their tastebuds will discover in the complex flavour of asparagus, tomatoes, cheese and meat, a common and yet absolutely singular taste which cannot be called sweet, or sour, or salty, or bitter…”[/su_quote]

Now I know mushrooms are not in that quote but they are on the list of foods with natural umami flavor.

My Mushroom Swiss Burger

I use store bought medium ground beef and shape my own burgers. Convenient and fast, however I do have a meat grinder on my “to buy list”. I have heard there is a huge difference in store bought ground beef and beef grounded at home. You get to control the different cuts of beef you put in the meat mixture and you can control the consistency of the grinding at home as well. Grinding the beef at home also gives you a looser meat mixture which translates into a tender burger.

This is the grinder on my “to buy list” Cuisinart Meat Grinder – Electric – 300 watt

Shape your burgers loosely to the size you want or to the size of your burger bun. I only season the outside of the burger with salt and pepper, but I season heavily. Sear both sides on high heat in a non stick pan and finish in oven if you want your mushroom swiss burger cooked all the way through. When the burger is close to being done in the oven add the bun so it gets toasty, add the swiss cheese so it gets melty and assemble when all is done. DON’T forget the mushrooms!!!