Your best burger recipes

Transform your summer favorite into something new and exotic. Plus this week's challenge: It's picnic time!

Published June 2, 2010 12:20AM (EDT)

L-R: Beef banh mi sliders by Felicia Lee, Silk Road lamb burgers by Linda Shiue and Buffalo sliders by Lucy Mercer
L-R: Beef banh mi sliders by Felicia Lee, Silk Road lamb burgers by Linda Shiue and Buffalo sliders by Lucy Mercer

THIS WEEK'S WINNER:

Beef banh mi sliders by Felicia Lee: In her moving and beautiful entry, Lee writes about how her mourning in a foreign country -- China -- for a woman she barely knew -- her grandmother --  led her to eat, in an unexpected place and at a moment of particular vulnerability, a meal that put life, death and her trip into a new perspective.

AND NOW FOR THIS WEEK'S CATEGORY WINNERS:

In the American History category:

Buffalo sliders by Lucy Mercer: In a fascinating post, Mercer explores her family's personal connection to the great American burger, by telling the story of her great grandmother, the delightfully named Minnie Hamberger. Hamberger was part of a generation of German immigrants who helped turn the now-legendary combination of ground beef and bread into a quintessential American dish.

 In the Melting Pot category:

Silk Road lamb burgers by Linda Shiue: Shiue delves into the history of Asia's Silk Road to create a Chinese lamb stir fry-inspired burger whose ingredients include cumin, scallions, onion and chili -- a dish that, as she puts it, Marco Polo would have loved.

AND NOW FOR THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE:

The best picnics are often the impromptu ones, the ones that start out with a chunk of cheese, a bottle of something to drink, and all of a sudden, it's you and a couple of your favorite people spending the rest of the afternoon-into-evening on the grass, wondering why you would ever need anything more.

But there's a lot of love to be given to picnics with plans and baskets, and everyone's got a friend with a killer picnic basket treat: some kind of salad that just keeps getting better through the day, cold fried chicken, a punch packed in a cold thermos, a brownie that's always the first thing to disappear. So this week, what's the dish you would always want in your picnic basket?

Be sure to tag your posts: SKC picnic

Scoring and winning

Scores will be very scientific, given for appealing photos, interesting stories behind your submissions, creativity, execution and blanket-worthiness.


By Salon Staff

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