The Cuban Burger Frita Recipes

THE CUBAN FRITA BURGER.

Steps:

• To make the secret sauce, combine the tomato paste, water, orange juice, Spanish paprika, cumin, brown sugar, vinegar, salt and sriracha in a small sauce pan. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer 15 minutes or until the sauce has thickened slightly.
• To make the fries, heat 2 to 3 inches of oil in a heavy-bottomed pot to 350 degrees F.
• Carefully cut the potatoes into shoestrings (or matchsticks) using a mandolin fitted with the narrowest julienne blade (about 1/8-inch wide) or just use your knife (this is what I did). Rinse the cut potatoes thoroughly in a bowl of cold water to remove the surface starch. Keep the potatoes in water until you're ready to fry. (I like to begin frying mine while the burgers are cooking)
• To form the burger patties, combine the beef, chorizo, ketchup, Spanish paprika, cumin and a pinch salt and pepper in a bowl and mix until just combined. Form the meat into six patties.
• Heat a large cast iron skillet or griddle over medium-high heat. Cook the burger until your desired doneness, but traditionally Fritas should be cooked to medium. During the last minute of cooking, add a slice of cheddar cheese.
• Meanwhile, fry the potatoes, transfer the potatoes to a paper-towel-lined baking sheet and pat them dry, as dry as you can get them.
• Fry the potatoes in batches until the potatoes are crisp and turn a nice golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per batch. As each batch of fries comes out, transfer to a large mixing bowl and toss with salt to taste. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined baking sheet.
• Serve the burgers on warmed Cuban buns that have been slathered with a little special sauce. On to the bottom bun, place the burger, fries, more special sauce and top with a fried egg. Place the top bun over the egg, grab the burger with two hands and EAT!

THE CUBAN FRITA BURGER: FRITA CUBANA

Steps:

• To make the sauce, mix all of the ingredients together in a small saucepan: ketchup (1 cup), water (1/4 cup), vinegar (1 tablespoon), sweet paprika (1 1/2 teaspoons), cumin (1 teaspoon), salt (1 teaspoon), oregano (1/2 teaspoon) and sriracha (1/2 teaspoon). Cook at a gentle simmer, partially covered, for 5 minutes. Sauce can be made a day ahead and refrigerated until ready to use.
• Peel the potatoes and shred them on a box grater or in your food processor with the coarse shredding blade. Swish them in a bowl of cold water, pour out cloudy water, and repeat until the water is clear. Just before frying, drain them in a colander and dry them well by squeezing them between several clean absorbent dish towels. The dryer the better for getting them crisp and brown. Pour oil into a heavy, non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and fry the potatoes, in small batches, until they're golden brown. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and sprinkle with salt.
• Make the meat mixture in a large bowl or in a food processor. Combine ground meats with 1 cup of the onions and the garlic (2 tablespoons). Mix by hand or pulse a few times in the food processor, to combine. Add ketchup ( 3 tablespoons), cumin (1 teaspoon), paprika (2 teaspoons), smoked paprika (2 teaspoons) and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Mix by hand or pulse just until combine. Form the meat into 8 thin patties.
• Cook patties in batches, on a preheated flat griddle or in a frying pan coated with a little vegetable oil, over medium heat, for 2-4 minutes per side or until they're cooked to your liking. (I suggest medium rare to medium). Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
• To assemble the fritas, spread some special sauce over the bottom half of a bun. Place a patty on top, add more sauce, some finely chopped raw onion and a big pile of shoestring fried potatoes. Spread a little sauce on the inside of the top bun and place it on top. Repeat with remaining burgers. Serve immediately.

FRITA CUBANA (CUBAN HAMBURGER)

Steps:

• First, we are going to make Burger Sauce #1 now, so it has time to cool down while we are making the patties. In a small bowl whisk all of the ingredients together for Burger Sauce #1. Transfer to a sauce pan and bring to a boil stirring continuously.
• Reduce the heat to low and continue cooking for 5-10 minutes. Take off of the heat when done and transfer to a squeeze bottle and let the sauce cool down.
• In a large bowl combine all ingredients for the burger patties. Mix together with your hands.
• Form burger patties. A trick I learned from Rachel Ray was to make sure the patties are a little thinner in the middle so when they are cooking they will cook evenly and not turn into a flying saucer. Cover and let all of the flavors combine while we prepare the shoestring potatoes and Burger Sauce #2. Chop onion half and reserve for when we cook the burger patties.
• Wash and peel potatoes. Using a julienne peeler or a mandolin slicer, slice potatoes into shoestring size strands. If you want to use store bought potato sticks you can.
• Submerge potatoes in a large bowl of ice water. Preheat oil in a fryer or large pot to 350 degrees.
• Burger Sauce #2. In a small bowl combine all of the ingredients together. Cover and let flavors combine.
• Heat a griddle or a cast iron skillet on medium high heat. Put patties down and sprinkle on some of the chopped onions. Cook 3-5 minutes depending on how thick your patties are.
• Right before you flip the patties squeeze some of Burger Sauce #1 on the the patty and onions and then flip.
• Continue cooking until burger is done another 3-5 minutes. Squeeze a little more of Burger Sauce #1 onto the patty and when cooked through using a spatula, remove from griddle making sure to get all of the onions that have cooked into the burger with the sauce.
• Remove potatoes from ice water and dry completely. I used a salad spinner to get all of the water off of the potatoes. Fry potatoes in fryer or pot for 3-5 minutes until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel.
• Assemble burger. Bottom bun, burger patty, shoestring potatoes, top bun slathered with Burger Sauce #2. Eat and enjoy!