Kinds Of Spices is the most popular word in 2008

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Mother's Day or have dad do the grilling on Father's Day. We pick arecipe concept and work in teams, taste everything and, after somecomment, usually decide that we like it all. No one person does allthe cooking and cleaning, and everyone has fun.
I do not cook at the cookoff. My job is to buy the ingredients,prepare the beverages, tell people where everything is and helpanyone who asks.
Although our family cookoffs had once been limited to ourdaughters, Meredith and her husband Greg Fein Lichtenberg, andGillian and her husband Jesse Fein Hertzberg, one year we invitedall the cousins. A few adults looked after the kids in our backyardand at least one person from each family was assigned to cook andclean. The kitchen was crowded and there was a bigger mess thanusual, but, after stuffing ourselves on various kinds of burritos,we all agreed it was a great success and we should try it again.
Burgers are perfect for a cookoff precisely because they lendthemselves to so much variation. I gave everyone a month to come upwith a good recipe and we set the date.
No one knew what kind of burger anyone else would be preparing. Allthe cousins worked on their recipes at home and sent me a list ofingredients and quantities. In addition to the food, I boughtbaseball caps for everyone. At www.copycaps.com, you can choosefrom among dozens of styles with dozens of colorful symbols and anywords you might want - we picked one with an embroidered hamburgerdesign.
On the day of the cookoff the weather was perfect, all the guestsarrived on time and children ran right out back to play ring tossand beanbag throw, watched by assorted parents and grandparents.The rest of us took our places in our kitchen.
Out came bowls and wooden spoons, chopping boards and newlysharpened chef's knives. The fridge was raided for perishableingredients and there was a scurry to get at the produce andpackaged items lined up on the kitchen island. Soon the room filledwith rhythmic sounds of chopping. There were the usual items: meat,spices, condiments, onions and garlic. And a few surpriseingredients - Gillian and Jesse decided to make Sweet Potato, BlackBean and Quinoa Burgers, a vegetarian dish that included waterchestnuts and fresh spinach. Meredith and Greg were meltingchocolate and people suspected that theirs would be a Mayan- orAztec-style burger topped with mole sauce.
We were captivated by the fragrance of caramelizing onions forDavid and Courtney Levi's Beef and Andouille Sausage Burgers andfascinated as he sliced the pickled okra I searched for at eightstores before I found a bottle at one of New York's gourmetestablishments (if you can't find pickled okra, a pickle will do).The okra and fresh watercress leaves were the final flourish forthese most chic of burgers.
We looked on as my nephew, Matthew Kraft, deftly mixed the meat andcheese that went into his ground lamb burgers - he seemed to knowinstinctively that it is best not to overwork the meat mixture.
At first glance, everyone wondered why Ed would be preparing aplain old beef burger. It's the classic, to be sure, but ourcookoffs are lightly competitive and we expected something, well,unique. He surprised us with a garnish of fried quail eggs and asplash of truffle oil.
Although there is some low level competition at our cookoffs, wenever declare a winner. The real fun is in the getting together,working on a project as a family, doing something that everyonelikes, then getting to eat some special stuff. A few libations alsoraised everyone's spirits. I got kudos for the margaritas.
We all took our tasks seriously but remembered that this wassupposed to be fun, which it was. Kids, grandparents, cooks andcleaners all got to taste. Gillian and Jesse's Black Bean Burgerwas declared the most unusual and the healthiest. David andCourtney's Beef and Andouille Sausage burger was perfectly moist,and the spicy meat was simultaneously tempered by sweet caramelizedonions and emboldened by a well-seasoned Cajun-spiced mayonnaisedressing and some crumbled blue cheese.
Matthew and Jen's Lamb and Blue Cheese Burgers were deliciouslyjuicy; the distinctive flavor of lamb matched perfectly the tangytastes of blue cheese. Ed got plenty of applause for hisnot-so-plain beef burgers because the fried quail egg yolk oozedinto the meat to add a lush texture and the truffle oil trickledinto the spaces, giving the humble patty a windfall of riches.
But the most gold stars went to Meredith and Greg who bowled usover not with a Central American burger but a dessert: ChocolateBurgers. Classy, stunning and dazzling, the "burger" was a coolslice of lavishly rich chocolate ganache. Strawberry jam stood infor ketchup, orange marmalade for mustard; fresh slicedstrawberries took the place of tomatoes; sliced apples were"onions" and fresh mint leaves "lettuce." These "burgers," stuffedinto crispy cream puff shells, were an unexpected, decadentpleasure.
In New York City, Chef Daniel Boulud is famous for his hamburger,fashioned with ground sirloin and red-wine braised short ribs,studded with black truffles. It costs $150. Not to be outdone, for$175 the Wall Street Burger Shoppe offers a Kobe beef burger thatincludes black truffles, seared foie gras, aged Gruyere cheese,wild mushrooms and flecks of gold leaf. This patty, served onbrioche bread, is accompanied by golden truffle mayonnaise, Belgianfries and a salad. It's the most expensive burger around.
I haven't tasted either creation, but I'm sure they are bothfabulous. Still, I can't think of any better burgers than the oneswe had at the cookoff. And I can't think of a better way to spendFather's Day.