Bone Marrow Burgers (with Roasted Garlic Aioli)
Bake the foil packet in the oven at 375 degrees F for about one hour. When it’s done, unwrap your foil pack of garlic goodness and allow that beautiful, fragrant roasted garlic to cool down a bit so that you can handle the bulb. Then, you can just squeeze the soft garlic cloves out. Turn the head upside down, squeeze gently, and the garlic will come out in a paste-like consistency.
Servings: 4 burgers
Ingredients
- 2-3 marrow bones *Enough to yield about ½ cup of cooked bone marrow.
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 lb 80/20 ground beef
- cheese of your choice *See notes
- 2-3 tablespoons butter
- 4 brioche buns
- salt and pepper *Or substitute your favorite all-purpose seasoning like Shake That All Purpose Seasoning.
For the Roasted Garlic Aioli:
- 1 head garlic
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Roast garlic for the roasted garlic aioli. Cut the top ¼ off of the head of garlic, exposing the cloves. Add about ½ tablespoon of olive oil to the top of the cloves. Wrap the garlic bulb in aluminum foil and bake in the oven at 375 degrees F for about one hour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to the touch.
- Make the roasted garlic aioli. Squeeze the cooled garlic out of the bulbs into a medium bowl. Add the mayonnaise, lemon juice, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper. Mix well and set aside.
- While garlic is roasting, preheat grill or smoker to 300 degrees F and cook the marrow bones.
- Place the bones on a wire rack on top of an aluminum foil lined baking sheet, with the cut side facing up. Apply a very thin layer of olive oil to the cut side of the bones. Sprinkle on a small amount of salt and pepper or your favorite all-purpose seasoning. Cook the marrow bones on the grill for about 40 minutes, or until the marrow is lightly browned and has a jelly-like consistency. Be careful to not overcook the marrow. Remove the bones from the grill and allow to cool.
- Heat griddle to about 425-450 degrees F.
- While griddle is heating up, add about 2 tablespoons of butter and sauté diced onions until caramelized and slightly crispy.
- Make the burger balls. Scoop the bone marrow out of the bones into a large bowl. Add the ground beef and mix well with your hands, until the bone marrow is evenly distributed in the beef. Divide the beef mixture into 4 equal portions and roll each portion into a ball.
- When griddle is hot, place the balls of beef down on the hot zone of the griddle, making sure to leave enough space in between each to smash and flip. Place a piece of parchment paper over the first ball, and use your burger press or a stiff spatula to press down until the burger patty is about ⅓ - ½" thick. Repeat the process until all 4 burgers are smashed.
- Season the top side of each patty with salt and pepper or your favorite burger seasoning.
- When burgers are a bit more than halfway cooked through (and there are still some pink spots on top), use a spatula or scraper to flip the burgers to the second side, making sure to scrape under the burger crust to remove it from the griddle with your burgers.
- Immediately after flipping the burgers, top each patty with cheese. Continue to cook the burgers until done (about another 1-3 minutes). *If needed you can use a dome to help melt the cheese.
- While the burgers are cooking, add the buttered brioche buns to the griddle to toast.
- Remove the bone marrow burgers from the griddle. Allow the burgers to cool about 3-5 minutes. Build the burgers - spread some roasted garlic aioli on to the bottom bun, top with caramelized onions and a burger patty. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- For the cheese - I used a combination of about 4 ounces of shredded Tillamook Smoked Black Pepper White Cheddar and about 1/4 cup of Alouette Creme de Brie. When mixed together, the consistency was similar to pimento cheese. If you prefer to use sliced cheese, then I recommend gouda, Swiss, or white cheddar.
- For oven-baked bone marrow - Place the marrow bones on a baking sheet, cut side up. Season with a small amount of salt and/or pepper. Roast at 450 degrees F for about 15-25 minutes, or until the marrow begins to bubble up. Don't overcook, as the marrow will become too liquid.