Hamburger Sticks Wrapped in Pita Bread
This hamburger recipe is a new twist on an old favorite. It is simple to prepare and the kids will love it.
Directions
Find a heat resistant container tall enough to hold the sticks.
Boil enough water to fill the container and put the sticks in the container.
Let the sticks soak for at least 1/2 an hour to an hour, turning them over once. Or soak as long as it takes you to mix the meat. This is so that the sticks won't immediately catch on fire when exposed to heat. Or, if you are really organized and think out your meals in advance, soak your sticks in cold water overnight or for a couple hours prior to using them.
You can grill or broil these hamburger sticks. If you grill, get your grill going so that it is hot enough once all the sticks are ready for cooking. If you are broiling, turn on the stove to a low broil heat and move your rack to a high place in your oven.
Put the parsley flakes, garlic powder, season salt, cinnamon and salt and pepper in the bottom of a large bowl.
Add just enough water to make a paste. Make sure you don't add too much water and get this runny as it will effect how the meat forms around the sticks.
Add the meat and onion and, using your hands, mix the paste and onion into the meat completely.
Remove the skewers from the water and place near your meat.
Take a handful of meat from the bowl and shape it into a large cigar shape.
Holding the cigar-shaped meat lengthwise, press a skewer into the middle of the meat and form meat around the skewer. Set aside on a plate for grilling or on a tray for broiling.
If broiling: Continue to make sticks until your tray is full. Place tray in the oven and broil on one side until brown. Make sure you watch that the sticks don't burn. Turn over and continue to cook until stick is completely brown. Continue to make sticks and cook them until all the meat is gone.
If grilling: Continue to make sticks until all the meat is gone. Once all the sticks have been made, take them out to your grill and place on the grill. Be sure to place the sticks in such a way that the sticks are cross-wise on the racks so that they don't fall into the coals.
Cover your grill and set your air flow to partially open. This will help reduce some of the heat of the grill so the sticks don't burn immediately.
Cook on one side until crispy brown and then turn the sticks over.
Cook on the other side until crispy brown as well.
Serve on the stick, with the fixings and let your kids eat the meat right from the stick.
Additional Notes
When I first met my husband's Syrian family, they served hamburger this way. It was different, but delicious. They rolled pita bread around the hamburger on the stick, pulled the stick out and had a nice compact sandwich. Add some tomato, lettuce and other fixings, and you have a long hamburger on pita. This is also a more compact way of grilling hamburger. You can get more sticks on a grill than flat patties and they stack on a picnic table better. But watch out for pointy ends. Anything to make hamburger interesting.
