When you think of summer food, what comes to mind? I know for me a big juicy burger is at top of the list. Picnics, BBQ’s, festivals, a weekend trip to Home Depot –  there is no bad time for a burger. Am I right, or am I right? When Bick’s asked me if I would like to come up with my own burger using some of their many burger topping goodies, it was a no brainer.

It’s been a week of firsts for me in the kitchen so I was inspired to try another first – deep frying. I know, sounds kinda scary. I was thinking, well I can’t have a burger without fries! then I thought what if I made fried pickles? What if I made pickle fries! It was a very deep conversation I had with myself. So the end result people is the Fried Pickle Burger with a side of pickle fries.

I had an assortment of Bick’s toppings to play with. These are the ones I decided would be perfect for my burger – Bick’s Baby Dill’s Garlic, Bick’s Gourmet Zesty Onion Relish, Bick’s Banana Pepper Chunks, and Bick’s Yum Yum Sweet pickles. The Bably Dills & Sweet slices were the star of the show. How do we treat the stars around here? We deep fry them. So first cook up some of your favourite homemade or high quality pre-made burgers. (psst, here’s a great basic recipe) then you get to play with toppings.

The sweet pickle slices are good to go but I sliced up the baby dills in fry-like slices. Then I coated them all in a basic flour, egg wash, bread crumb mixture (here’s a recipe). How much you need depends on how much you’re making. Season your flour and breadcrumbs as desired, I stuck with salt and pepper to let the flavour of the pickles stand out. Then I proceeded to throw those breaded babies into a hot vegetable oil bath (about 1.5″ high), using a thermometer to keep the temp at 375 F. It was actually super easy, not scary at all. They only took about a minute and out came some golden and delicious fried pickles.

I wanted the fried pickles to be the main attraction of the burger so I left them for the top but they definitely had some supporting acts. I also added some Bick’s Hot Banana Peppers and a generous dolop of the Bick’s Gourmet Zesty Onion Relish on the top bun. Delish!

Now this guy needs a name. Bick’s is having a Name a Burger contest and I’m still trying to figure out what to name this scrumptious fried pickle burger. Any ideas? In the meantime, head over to the Bick’s website to check out all the burger success stories that need names. Just by coming up with a name, you will be entered to win 1 of 4 cottage vacations….where you can make as many crazy burgers as you want. At your own cottage. On your own cottage BBQ.

Be sure to visit Bicks.ca for the official contest rules as well as a ton of recipes to try (ummm, did someone say Poutine Crunch Burger?) . There’s so many options, the burger topping possibilities are endless. Time to get BBQ’ing…and eating. 

Like this post? You can find more good eats here.

(Disclaimer: This post was kindly sponsored by Bick’s but all opinions are my own)