Owensboro Burger Week 2024 gets underway on Friday, March 1st and I wanted to get a little bit of a jump start on the festivities. So, just like last year, I visited Hill View Farms Meats in Owensboro, KY.  Hill View is an official sponsor of Burger Week and several competing restaurants are using Hill View's beef patties in their entries for the contest.

For fun, I grabbed a Hill View Farms Meats apron, laced it up, scoured the store for some inspiration and created some 'gourmet' burgers of my own. This year, I came up with three: my Grilled 'Six Cheese' Burger, a Potato Chip Encrusted BBQ Burger and my favorite creation- a take on the Thanksgiving favorite you may know as the 'Yurducken.' I created a burger-chicken combo I am calling a Burclucken! More on that rather creative cuisine in a second.

First, I whipped up a Grilled Cheese Burger. I love a good burger. I also adore a great grilled cheese. So, I decided to marry the two in a heap of cheesy deliciousness. Hill View has lots of varieties of cheese and I pulled and shredded (shout to Robin!) five different blocks of it for this burger.

Chad Benefield
Chad Benefield
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I had Southern Gem Cheddar, Garlic Cheddar, White Cheddar, Baby Swiss and Spicy Chipotle. Then, to add even more cheese to the mix, I opened up a container of "River Rat" Beer Cheese Spread and layered one side of two pieces of homemade sourdough bread.

Chad Benefield
Chad Benefield
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This burger was DELICIOUS! The meat was seasoned with Worchestershire sauce, minced garlic, salt and pepper. The combination of cheeses did the rest.

The second burger I cooked up was inspired by Hill View's new line of Joe Chips. I decided to encrust a Hill View beef patty with crushed Bacon & Cheddar chips.

Brooklyn Maple
Brooklyn Maple
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Plus, I used a ridiculously sweet BBQ sauce from FDKY.  The burger was crunchy, sweet and delicious!

Brooklyn Maple
Brooklyn Maple
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Then, I made what I consider my personal masterpiece. My Blueberry Burclucken! I knew I wanted to create a turducken-inspired Burger Week hamburger and I knew I wanted it to be a mix of savory and sweet. So, I rounded up all my ingredients and went to work.

Jim Gilles
Jim Gilles
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I cooked the hamburger in butter. I breaded the chicken strips in a gluten-free cookie mix. I baked Hill View's Sugar Cured Bacon. I made a blueberry pancake and started to stack all the deliciousness on top of it.

The layers were as follows- blueberry pancake (the 'bun'), hamburger, two strips of bacon, two chicken strips, a nice amount of white cheddar cheese sprinkled on top, fresh North Bay blueberries and a drizzle of pure maple syrup from Spring Valley Farms. The Blueberry Burclucken was a hit!  Hill View owner Jim Gilles said it was his favorite of the day. I agree. If I had a restaurant, that would be my $7 burger competing in Owensboro Burger Week 2024.

Hill View Farms Meats is located at 5024 Lee Rudy Road in Owensboro. If you'd like to try to make any of these burgers on your own, swing on by and pick up the ingredients! And, make your plans for Burger Week. Here's a look at this year's competing burgers.

2024 Owensboro Burger Week Burgers

That’s right, Owensboro! Burger Week is BACK and BIGGER than ever before! You now have NINE days to try all the beefy goodness that Owensboro has to offer.

Now here is the exciting part- one price! $7 for every burger you try! This gives you an unbelievable chance to not only get your favorite burger, but try so many more at some restaurants that traditionally don’t even serve burgers.

Owensboro is known for BBQ, but can those BBQ restaurants do burgers? What about burgers from some of our Mexican restaurants? This week is an epic showdown of burger awesomeness.
Who will have the best burger in 2024? A distinguished panel of self-proclaimed burger experts will blind taste test to determine one champion. Plus, stay tuned for a social media contest during Owensboro Burger Week. Hint, the more burgers you eat, the better chance you have at a prize!

-owensboroburgerweek.com

Gallery Credit: Chadwick J Benefield

 

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