The Viking Longburger (Burger Friday)

A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I were talking about how fun it would be to create burger versions of iconic foods. I later on forgot about all that, but this Friday, somehow the phrase “viking longburger” popped into my mind and just wouldn’t leave for some reason.

I started thinking how I would make a viking longburger. Of course, the easiest part is to make it with long buns instead of round ones, and you would need a long patty as well. But what about the viking part? What will make this longburger scandinavian? What do I know of scandinavian cuisine in the first place?

I came to realize that the most iconic scandinavian food I can recall is IKEA’s meatballs. Terrible negligence on my part, one that I shall quickly address, but for now, I was very happy with the challenge of burgerizing the köttbullar.

What you will need:

For the sauce:

• 2 dl sour cream
• a pinch of white pepper
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 3-4 teaspoons of salty soy sauce
• a pinch of salt
• 1 dl milk
• 4 tablespoons grounded almond

For the burger:

• 4 long buns
• 500 g ground beef
• 100 g dried lingonberries
• 3 tablespoons lingonberry jam
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 onion, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• salt to taste
• 1 egg yolk

How to make it:

1. In a smaller frying pan, heat half of the oil. Sauté the onions carefully for 2-3 minutes, add the nutmeg, fry for another 1 minute, then let it cool off
2. Once the onion has been cooled, mix it in a bowl with the meat, the lingonberries, and the egg yolk. Add salt to tase (might need more than you originally would think), and put it in the fridge for around 30 minutes
3. Heat a little oil in a small cooking pot, and add the sour cream. Whisk it until it is smooth, and add the vegetable stock cube, the pepper, the soy sauce and a pinch of salt. Reduce the heat to low.
4. Mix the ground almonds with the milk, and pour the mixture to the sauce
5. Continously stirring your sauce bring it to a boil, then let it simmer until it thickens, stirring occasionally (bear in mind, that the sauce will thicken some more once is has been removed from the heat, so the right time to remove it from the stove could be a bit earlier than one would think)
6. Once the right thickness has been achieved, put the sauce aside, and place the grillpan on the stove
7. Cut the buns in half and toast them on the grillpan
8. Divide the meat into 4 equal, long patties, adding a little oil to their surface, so they combine well
9. Altering the heat between medium and low, fry the patties until well done

The assembly:

1. Spread some lingonberry jam over the lower half of the buns
   

   Hope you like jammin’

2. Add the patty
   

   A bit thicker patty than usual

3. Spread the sauce over the top half of the patty (or the bun)
   

   Almost done

4. Add the top half of the bun to the burger
   

   Färdig

   These are notable sized burgers, I found that even one of these guys managed to get me full. Also, they might be easier to eat, if you cut them in half, but that would have killed the whole longburger theme, so I decided not to do it. 🙂