Meat-free burgers - wild style! With Elm tree seeds, weed flowers, and an assortment of amazing homestead pickles! Come into my post and join me for a burger feast! ![xburger 5 TN.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmR4Ejsoc3CrqH2u8CURtHdQU1sCTiaZHkLrKfJcJJCfF1/xburger%205%20TN.jpg) The theme for my week has been, "Sometimes you're the windshield and sometimes you are the bug." But at least I got to end it with a great dinner of wild food! It was a struggle in the kitchen, mirroring the rest of my week, lol. So I'm glad to head into the weekend with these delicious meat-free burgers! -------------------------------- # Getting It All Together! # I've had this plan for meat-free burgers all week. But I couldn't be in 1 place to do it until Friday, the last possible day of entering Steemit Iron Chef Round 15. Here was my plan: a trio of burgers based on Jerusalem artichoke tubers. They have such a sweet, smoky flavor this time of year. And they are just starting to wake up for spring, so I want to enjoy them now, before they go out of season. ![xburger 1.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmeV1xsPaaxBvLhkxPZAQbZwqKGSjhyP3p91BCt6TwH4pq/xburger%201.jpg) *Upper left: My buger-fillers, left to right: wild field mustard flowers, dandelion flowers, American elm seeds. And some giant Dandelion leaves! Upper right: Jerusalem artichoke tubers. Lower left: my burger-fillers, off their stems. Lower right: Pickles! Redbud flowers, Wild field mustard flowerstalks, and hop shoots.* Those American elm seeds are so tasty right now. I posted about [using Siberian elm seeds](https://steemit.com/food/@haphazard-hstead/free-hotel-salad-wild-style) last spring. If you have any Elm trees, of any kind in the *Ulmus* genus, they are worth getting to know! The season for their seeds is short, but there are always a lot of them and they are so good! Those dandelion leaves are big. But they grew in the shade, in good soil. They are not bitter, if you know 1 sweet trick. I have a video about that, [Monster Dandelion Greens](https://youtu.be/f89O2d-NCeU), if you have big dandelion greens around your area. I made all these pickles over the last few weeks. They each taste different because they use a different pickling mix. I'll show you how I made these in future posts, so stay tuned! ---------------------------------------- # The Burger Debacle! # These burgers nearly got the best of me! Don't ask me to show you my kitchen after this Steemit Iron Chef round! I had a plan in mind, but boy-o-boy. This was a case of #8 in my 8 P's of Foraging -- Practice. I cook with Jerusalem artichokes regularly, and I've made them into patties. But I wanted something more meaty and burger-like. I cooked the Jerusalem artichokes and pureed them with their skins in a food processor. I experimented with mixing in the elm seeds and trying to get a burger consistency. But with those 2 ingredients, I couldn't get anything to work (in a skillet, on a grill pan, in a deep fryer). I ended up adding a couple eggs and a little corn meal and wheat flour, but not much. That made them even worse -- until I tried baking the burgers in an oven! Success! ![xburger 2.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmU6rV4axBptC2zAEFxBwiBW2EHh7rZ1PLKm8taR8s2mr1/xburger%202.jpg)*Yes! I dominated these Jerusalem artichoke burgers, finally! That "Total Domination IPA" brew is so fitting!* ------------------------------------- # Eating! # These burgers eat like a meat burger. Nice and chewy. Not at all dry. Delicious! ![xburger 4 TN.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmR27kLUCfE6YwpAXM7E87EejB4ksJd1mojGtpd3jn3DjY/xburger%204%20TN.jpg) *Each burger has a different filling. And a different homemade pickle to go with it. All on a bed of raw dandelion greens. No bun -- still a delicious trio of burgers! They look like burgers and eat like burgers -- that's the Total Domination!* ![xburger 6.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmQJfpxTH4Xi49xgKUJPn8eV58A9nwajASvnbC4f73W3Mb/xburger%206.jpg) *Look how that Elm burger looks like a burger! It has the American Elm seeds in it. They are not good at binding a burger together at all! But they add a nice sweetness to the smokiness of the Jerusalem artichokes. Those Pickled Hop Shoots go great with this burger. They have a peppery snap that goes well with the sweeter flavor of this burger.* ![xburger 7.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmVSG4XLFh65NXnKwXLsDfMXXe4V9rSvqysr7wm1AUryzP/xburger%207.jpg) *This is a Wild Field Mustard burger, all the way. Inside the burger are lots of wild field mustard flowers, with their mustard flavor. The pickled mustard stalks are a bread-and-butter pickle recipe that's a little sweet, that compliments the light mustard hotness of the stalks. This is a great little burger!* ![xburger 8.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmY59gvWzey4sNMhvHJBhzborHKH3FuqjxwADwPz8AB7mA/xburger%208.jpg) *THe Dandelion burger! Dandelion flowers are a real binding ingredient. They bring a sweet pollen taste to the smoky Jerusalem artichoke burger. I topped this burger with the redbud flowers that have been sitting in cider vinegar for a few days. They aren't mature pickles, yet, with complex flavors quite yet. So I added the Grand Fir-Salt mix that I used in my [Rice Platter](https://steemit.com/steemit-ironchef/@haphazard-hstead/steemit-iron-chef-2018-act-01-round-14-rice-gone-wild) last week. So, so delicious!* ![xburger 3.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmUUS23hv88WW5xApp936CNGsTxDw93iejpQQh7WHhCqVP/xburger%203.jpg)*I hope @progressivechef hasn't started judging round 15 yet, so this entry can still qualify. But even if it doesn't, I had a great dinner that was a fitting end to a tough week -- and a tough time in the kitchen today. Total Domination of Wild-Style Burgers!* But I am done with today! I'll respond to comments tomorrow. Have a great weekend! ------------------------------------- # What Do You Think? # - Have you eaten Jerusalem artichokes? - Do you have any elm trees near you? - What's the biggest dandelion leaf you have ever seen? - Would you eat my wild burgers? I eat a lot of wild plants and show you how, because I believe that we can all have lives that are richer, more secure, more grounded, and more interesting by getting to know the plants and the land around us – in our yards, our parks, and our wild places. Thanks @progressivechef for creating the Steemit Iron Chef contest series! I try to make content that's interesting! If you found this informative and helpful, please give it an upvote and a resteem. ---------------------------- # Plant List # - Jerusalem artichokes - *Helianthus tuberosus* - tubers - Hops – *Humulus lupulus* - spring shoots - American elm – *Ulmus americana* – green seeds - Eastern redbud – *Cercis canadensis* - flowers - Wild field mustard - *Brassica rapa* - flowers and flowerstalks - Dandelion – *Taraxacum officinale* – leaves and flowers - Grand Fir - *Abies grandis* - needles ---------------------- **Haphazard Homestead** https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmXZQ7rhdYcw3iuF87Lx1ASPmP12PjNPC4jBUPqbjRdndE/Flag%20Gif.gif ***foraging, gardening, nature, simple living close to the land*** All content is 100% Haphazard Homestead!My YouTube channel: [Haphazard Homestead](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcZCvPPU9dgxD0yXrc9DaPA)