Temper The Tanginess Of Blue Cheese Burgers With Fig Jam

When it comes to making burgers, there is one important question that could make or break the dish: What kind of cheese should you add to it? Of course, cheddar is always a good choice, as is American, but what if you want something more unique? Well, it's hard to get more unique than blue cheese, which is known for its robust flavor. This is why Tasting Table has a recipe for blue cheese-stuffed burgers developed by Michelle McGlinn.

There's a reason that blue cheese is a little bit divisive — it has a very strong tangy taste. When it comes to eating a burger, you may not want that tanginess to be the main flavor. Luckily, McGlinn has a solution to that: fig jam. Fig jam is sweet but not too sweet, making it the perfect ingredient to balance out the blue cheese. The combination of the blue cheese and the fig jam, along with roasted pears, makes for a burger that has everything: savoriness, sweetness, and tartness. Plus, an extra perk of this recipe is that you can adjust each of those flavors to your exact liking. If you only want a hint of tanginess, then you can add less cheese, or you could heap on extra fig jam to further counteract it.

Maybe you love the idea of a blue cheese-stuffed burger, but you aren't able to find fig jam in stores anywhere, or maybe you're not a huge fan of figs. If either of these situations applies to you, don't worry. There are other ways to bring in that sweetness to balance out the tangy blue cheese. Another jam that would work well in this recipe is apricot jam, which is also semi-sweet and should be easily found in stores. You want to stick to a jam that isn't overly sweet — like some store-bought brands that contain a lot of added sugar — so that the jam doesn't overpower the other flavors.

You could also use peach preserves, which have a lot of sweetness but also undertones of tartness to avoid becoming overwhelmingly sweet. Similarly, plum preserves will provide the right amount of sweetness. Plus, by using preserves, which are a bit thicker than jams, it'll make for a slightly different texture, which you may prefer. If you really want to stick to the original recipe but can't find fig jam in stores, then you can always make your own fig jam at home, which will allow you full control over how sweet the end result is.