There can only be one winner of The Brooklyn Paper’s first-annual “You’re Going to the Burger Bash!” contest, but our burger-eating team of Mike “Rib-Eyd” McLaughlin and Gersh “Good Cholesterol” Kuntzman attest that there were certainly no losers. All five finalists served up excellent hamburgers that gave the judges fits trying to pick the single best one. Here are the recipes, so you can try them all at home.

Less is Amore Burger

(created by Daniel Schermele)

For the sauce

To caramelize the onions, heat the olive oil, then toss in onions and brown sugar. Meanwhile, mix egg into beef. Then add rest of ingredients into beef, including caramelized onions. Shape burgers to be about one-inch thick. Put aside.

To make the sauce, sauté the pancetta and garlic together. While that cooks, grate lemon into a metal bowl over a double-boiler. Add egg yolks and olive oil and whisk yolks until thickened. Add vinegar. Squeeze roughly two tablespoons of lemon juice. Add Worcestershire sauce and mustard. Continue whisking. Add all other ingredients except pancetta and garlic. Add in pancetta and garlic and mix.

Grill meat as desired.

A minute or two before the burger is taken off grill, add Cambozola cheese. Then add sauce as cheese melts. When done, serve on sesame seed bun with tomato and arugula.

Summer Corned Beef and Cabbage Burger

(created by Sean Vostinar)

Salt meat, add spice mixture, and knead to combine. Grill or skillet fry in clarified butter. Melt cheese on burger. Mix mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise, salt and pepper in a bowl. Fold shredded cabbage into dressing. Place completed slaw between split soda bread roll.

Irish Brown Soda Bread

Combine ingredients and form into patty shapes. Cook on covered grill or covered cast iron skillet. Maintain surface at 325-350 degrees for 20 minutes, flipping half way.

* Seasoning consists of: 9 tsp. black peppercorns, 6 tsp. mustard seed, 3 tsp. whole cloves, 3 tsp. allspice, 3 tsp. juniper berries, 2 tsp. ground ginger, 1 tsp. ground cardamom, 1 tsp. ground nutmeg, 1 tsp. fennel seed, 1 tsp. Kosher salt.

California Cobb Figadelli

(created by Cindy Levine)

Sauté the minced garlic and shallot in olive oil until just golden, about two minutes. Let the garlic and shallot cool a bit; add them and the rest of the figadelli ingredients except for the onion into a medium sized bowl and mix with hands. If the mixture is too dry, add an egg, if it’s too wet, add bread crumbs and/or bacon crumbles.

Form into three patties. Poke a few holes into the patties about half way through. Preheat a pan or griddle on medium with oil or a non-stick spray, and sauté the onions for two to three minutes, until softened and aromatic. Cook the patties on top of the onions, so the aroma gets into the holes you’ve poked. Cook for five minutes on each side, or until burger is done to your taste.

Place each burger on bun and top with lettuce, tomato, sliced avocado, fried egg and blue cheese dressing.

For the blue cheese dressing:

Mix ingredients with whisk until well combined.

Portuguese Fishing Town Burger

(created by Kyle Huebbe)

Season beef patties with sea salt and freshly ground pepper and grill or cook in a cast-iron skillet to medium-rare. Add cheese about two or three minutes before removal of burger from grill. Place on Portuguese muffin and add sauce, tomato, lettuce, and onion.

Horseradish sauce:

Mix all ingredients together.

Cajun Burger

(created by Reggie Taylor)

Form patties from ground meat and place on a 350-degree griddle. Season liberally with salt, pepper and Cajun spices. Slice andouille sausage lengthwise and place on griddle. Two minutes before removing burger from heat, cover with two slices of American cheese. Plate the burger and top with the andouille sausage and the onion ring and drizzle with BBQ sauce.

* To prepare onion ring, dredge a thick slice of onion in flour and then in a beer-based batter. Deep fry for two minutes.

©2009 Community Newspaper Group