Turkey Burgers

2 pounds ground turkey (NOT all white meat)
1/8 cup olive oil
2 eggs
¾ cup breadcrumbs 
 Text Box: Hint: Make your burgers 30-90 minutes before you plan to grill. Many folks don’t realize that meat sticks because it’s cold, and no meat is guiltier of this than ground poultry. Room-temperature turkey burgers will fare much better on the grill.3 tablespoons prepared horseradish
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
¼-½ cup chopped onion (red is best)
¼ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley 
Several generous dashes of Tabasco
1-2 teaspoons Liquid Smoke
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce 
1 tablespoon seasoned salt
Lots of fresh black pepper

 

Cranberry Dressing

4 oz canned cranberry sauce
A nearly equal amount of Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon rice vinegar (or other with a pinch of sugar)
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
A squeeze of lime juice
S&P to taste

If you want it a little creamy, add some plain yogurt and leave out the vinegar. Refrigerate to keep it firm. This will keep for a week or two, so make a bunch. It’s also good with turkey cold cuts.   

Text Box: Hint: I usually taste a bit of the mixture to check seasoning. If doing this raw makes you squeamish, pan-fry, bake or grill a tablespoon and taste that. Then you can adjust the salt, pepper and Tabasco to your liking.For the Turkey Burgers:

Don’t be surprised by the amount of seasonings in these burgers.  Ground turkey is quite bland, and it needs some love to make it rock.  The oil is needed to keep the dry turkey meat moist.  Simply mix all the ingredients (with your hands!) in a big bowl. 

Make your burgers more round than flat.  This will help them stay moist.  Make them big, too.  Poultry shrinks a lot.  Spray or smear a little olive oil on each burger, and set them on a med-high grill that is already heated up.  Leave them on this side until it is completely done—just before they start to burn.  You can give them a quarter turn if you want, but leaving them on one side allows the heat to rise up through the meat into the center before you flip the burgs.  If you keep flipping them, the center never gets hot.  Leave the lid on throughout cooking.

After you flip them, start pressing gently with your finger every minute or two.  You should feel them go from soft and yielding to a more firm feeling.  Get them off sooner than you’d probably think, because over-cooked turkey burgers are dry.  Check one (the cook’s) to see how it looks inside.

(Note: You may also cook these burgers indoors. Start them in a non-stick fry pan. Brown them on both sides, and then finish them in a 350° oven.)

Mix up the ingredients for the cranberry dressing, and serve the burgers with big Kaiser rolls, lettuce, tomatoes and rings of red onion.