It’s rare, but occasionally I’ll drop by a restaurant and come across a peanut butter burger. Peanut butter. On a meat burger. I may be behind the herd, but this sounds like a trick to me.
I may be slightly scarred from that awful peanut butter omelet I made once (in my defense, I was 10 years old), but I usually chalk this burger up as the odd restaurant’s playful menu item—pointed at, but never to be ordered. That’s not fair of me though, is it? As they say in the world of earnest food exploration, don’t knock it ‘til ya try it. So I did.
My initial low expectations
Admittedly, as I rolled into the supermarket to pick up ingredients, I had a negative mindset. I was thinking of ingredients that could make the burger better, assuming from the jump that it would need help. I wasn’t totally wrong, but a tad circumspect I guess.
Peanut butter has a powerful flavor. If it has its druthers, it will command the stage and the entire roof of your mouth. I wanted a few co-stars for balance, so I chose bacon and an aged Dubliner cheese from Kerry Gold. I usually love a burger that’s been run through the garden, but this didn’t seem like the right time, so I held off on the usual vegetables.
I expected the burger to be extremely nutty and dull, lacking the normally juicy and umami-packed experience I love when devouring a burger. I was wrong.
Peanut butter is a great savory flavoring
I’m surprised I didn’t think of it at first, but peanuts and peanut sauces aren’t new companions to meats and savory dishes. Think of Thai chicken or pork satay with peanuts, or kare-kare, a stew from the Philippines featuring a thick peanut sauce and beef or oxtail.
Peanut butter, especially the unsweetened kind, has an earthy, roasted flavor, and a subtle sweetness. It plays well with fats and spices. Peanut butter sits in a special category with cocoa and cinnamon—flavors initially considered sweet, but they actually have a natural bitterness or tannic quality that can complement a range of dishes. If spicy peanut sauce makes sense on your fried chicken wings, I have to say, it certainly has a place on your burger.
