Build a Better Burger : Burgerbase Data Base Recipe Ideas Tips and Grilling Fun

If you are king of the grill and make a mean burger, you might be a contender in the Sutter Home's Build a Better Burger Contest. It's a chance to win 50 thousand dollars or any other number of smaller cash prizes, and gain an unforgettable experience. But even if you aren't the contest entering type, but just love to barbecue a great hamburger, reading about this contest and recipe ideas is a sure fire way to improve the taste, texture and creative juices of your barbecue burger along with the just right toppings that will dazzle your guests!

And that's not all, search the impressive Burgerbase! It is an archived database where burger recipes can be searched by ingredient, wine pairing, or key word. Talk about a burger paradise of ideas! And burgers are not just beef and red meat, but alternative and vegetarian too. So, if there is an ingredient that actually builds a burger, then you can find it here.

Past Grand Prize Recipes have included burger creations such as Sweet and Spicy Red Fez Burgers, Grilled Avocado BLT Burgers, Hawaiian Tuna Burgers with Maui Wowee Salsa.

If you are vegetarian, you will be delighted to know that there is a special category prize for alternative burgers--- that is that are made from any ground food other than beef.

A maximum of 16 ingredients will be allowed for each recipe. You can enter online or by mail before August 20, 2007. Tennessee residents can enter only by mail, and residents of California and Utah are prohibited from entering, because it is an alcohol sponsored promotion.

For complete contest rules visit this link

BuildABetter Burger

10 Winners will be chosen among all entries ( 2 from each region as described in the official rules on their site), and there will be a final cook-off in Napa Valley, California, on September 29, 2007.

On the day of the Cook-Off, the Finalists will prepare their burgers on the grounds of the Sutter Home Winery.

Here are the prizes:

Cook-Off Prizes: The Cook-Off Judging Panel will select:

(1) A Grand Prize Winner for the Best Beef Burger, who will receive a cash prize of $50,000 (fifty thousand dollars).

(2) A Best Alternative Burger Winner, who will receive a cash prize of $10,000 (ten thousand dollars).

(3) A First Runner-Up for both Best Beef and Best Alternative Burgers, who will receive a cash prize of $1,000 (one thousand dollars).

(4) A Second Runner-Up for both Best Beef and Best Alternative Burgers, who will each receive a cash prize of $500 (five hundred dollars).

Total Cook-Off prize awards: $63,000 (sixty three thousand dollars).

This annual burger competition is now a Sutter Home tradition, since it started 17 years ago. Ten Speed Press published the Official Build A Better Burger Cookbook featuring 15 years of contest tips, and dozens of winning recipes with pages of beautiful and impressive full-color photos. Build a Better Burger Head Judge and award-winning cook James McNair authored this collection.

If you think you've got what it takes to build a spectacular burger, then give it a shot. What's your special sauce? And don't forget to toast the bun, because if you want the best chance possible to compete, then take the time to read all the great recipe writing tips James McNair includes on the Sutter Home web site.

What have you got to lose? Who knows, you may be hosting your own cooking show this time next year, or gracing the covers of a best-selling barbecue cookbook!

To read about the contest go here:

To see the 2006 winners:

If you want to read tips from head judge James McNair go here:

To enter, go here:

To read their blog, and catch the excitement of the contest go here:

and another blog

To see who else is sponsoring this contest, go here: