Madrid (EFE).- The hamburger made with meat and goat cheese sauce from the island of La Palma by Mariana Hernández, from El Baifo Street Food (Santa Cruz de La Palma), has become champion of the third Burger Combat held this Monday at Salón Gourmets, whose 36th edition has started in Ifema (Madrid).
In this contest that “measures the creativity of chefs when preparing their ‘premium’ hamburger recipe,” Hernández has opted for products from his island such as palmera beef matured for 15 days, goat meat stew cooked on empty that has also served him to prepare a sauce that he has combined with another of island cheese and palmera goat leg ham.
“For me, the perfect hamburger, like any other dish, must tell a story, have a heart, show our work and our history beyond just being good,” the 31-year-old cook explained to EFE, who is committed to whenever the island’s production allows it, for working with meat from La Palma.
Under the name ‘Benahoarita’, the best hamburger in Spain will be added to the menu at El Baifo, a business that Hernández opened last summer to offer gourmet hamburgers and which complements his La Gatera Gastrobar restaurant.
The second best hamburger in Spain
Second place was Sergio Sanz, from Pólvora (Madrid) with his hamburger with tempura white shell crab, shiso leaf, sweet soy reduction, kimchi mayonnaise and clarified butter.
“I opted for crab instead of meat because I didn’t want to do something conventional,” the executive chef of the Vespok group, with several restaurants in the capital, including the specialized Bomba, “the first in Spain to bring the hamburger,” told EFE. ‘slider’, between the ‘smash’ (crushed) and the conventional one, weighing one hundred grams and served in butter peanuts”.
Javier Almado (El 2 de Gasteiz, Vitoria) came in third place with his La Vacuna 2.0 hamburger made from 90-day-old beef chop meat, roasted piquillo sauce and mayonnaise, raclette cheese, guancciale and roasted pineapple grilled with rum and cinnamon, a nod to his Venezuelan origins, he has referred to EFE.
The jury, made up among others of Iñigo Urrechu (Urrechu and Zalacaín, in Madrid), Juan Antonio de la Rica (Juancho’s BBQ, Madrid) and Mikel Galán, winner of the last edition, has valued the most ingenious combinations of flavors, presentation, harmony and innovation in the ingredients used.
The rest of the finalists who have competed in this third Burger Combat live before the public of Salón Gourmets have been Sergi Mateo, from Hamburguesería Paradise (Girona); Alfonso Escolar, from Autocines Restaurant (Madrid) and Juan Manuel Giralda, from Tapas Camino de Santiago (Cádiz).