Trying to perfect the duck burger, need some advice

[thorgrim29]

So, I looked and there doesn't seem to be a food thread at the moment (outside of a thread I started a few years ago to buy an espresso machine that got resurrected by bots funnily enough. For the record I went with the breville barrista and I love it). So here goes

A few weeks ago I got some ground peking duck meat on sale and I looked around a bit for a recipe, settled on one where you season the meat with a bit of fivespice and serve in a sesame seed bun with dijon mustard and onion and apple slices lightly caramelised in duck fat. It was pretty good, but I've been thinking of a way to improve it and blow my friends away next time I have them over (I like to pull all the stops when I invite people over, gives me an excuse to cook some fun stuff and it's always more interesting to eat in good company than alone).

First of all next time I'll get cooking apples instead of mackintosh so they break down less, that's easy. Next is a bit more nebulous. Between the apples, the fivespice and the onions the burger was a bit sweet, so I'd like to balance that out, maybe with a slightly bitter green like arugula, maybe with a sharp cheese that melts properly like a nice gruyere or a strong raclette. I don't think it calls for much heat so peppers or sambal olek are out but maybe some other spice or herb would be nice too. Also maybe there's something to do with the onion, last time I used standard yellow onions, maybe shallots would be better.

What do you all think?

[Spacewolf]

That sounds really nice actually. Personally I quite like strong tastes so I'd be tempted to replace the yellow onion with spring onion and add some Cajun spice into the five spice mix. Did you cook the onions with the apples, separately or not at all out of curiosity?

[thorgrim29]

Separately but in the same fat and pan, it's just that I only had a tiny pan left. Cajun might work. I may have to test this by making many different sliders.

[Flickerdart]

Red onions, maybe? Leave 'em raw and slice 'em thin for that crunch.

[Gnomvid]

Add some sage and smoked paprika powder, Sage goes well with all sorts of fowl and smoked paprika gives a nice smoky touch to it as well as you didn't want spice otherwise I'd have recommended adding some Chipotle.

[veti]

If there's one thing I've learned about burgers, it's: don't make them out of 100% meat.

I suggest finely chopping a spring onion, and mixing it into the patty itself.