Round two of PW Wednesdays. This week Megan chose our recipe. I was excited to make sliders for the first time. This week’s episode of The Pioneer Woman on Food Network was a repeat but just happened to have sliders featured, it was meant to be! Or maybe that’s where my downfall started.

You see… it all started out dandy. I prepared by writing everything out in reduced quantities and little notes to myself. This way I wouldn’t accidentally put double the amount of seasoning for half the amount of meat. It’s something I do frequently, the writing and preparing ahead… not the unintended doubling of seasoning.

I prepped my veggies… and some extra for added color and flavor to the final product.

I prepped my sauce.

And the meat. So far so good.

Oh wait… yeah. This was there it started to go downhill. The original recipe calls for 12 sliders with 2 1/2lb of meat. I was using half that and even made a note, underlined twice(!!) to make 6 burgers. Back to the PW episode – Ree made sliders and used a large cookie scoop to keep them all evenly sized. Brilliant! So I did that, but then I didn’t have 6 sliders and didn’t realize it until after they were all made and at that point I didn’t want to go back and remake them. I thought, no problem. Now I had 12 and they looked like the perfect size!

The mushroom sauce wasn’t a problem. Easy peasy.

Now came the big part, cooking the mini burgers. Melt some butter and cook for a few minutes on each side. Easy, right? Wrong! We’re still adjusting to our new oven so I blame that and not the recipe because in the end I didn’t have a problem. But, there was a casualty. First round of mini burgers burnt because the heat was too high apparently and poor OXO spatula RIP. I’ve never had this happen before. Crazy. It’s an excuse to go shopping for some new kitchen gadgets though.

Had to cool the pan a bit and lower the temp… from here on out it was mostly smooth sailing. Promise.

After some adjustments and a learning curve these ended up being rather delicious. Juicy pan fried beef sliders topped off with a warm mushroom mixture, melted swiss cheese and a spicy fry sauce. The sauce gives the burger a perfect kick. Add additional toppings for flavor and color as desired. Serve with your favorite baked onion rings.

My notes:
-Prepare all of your ingredients ahead. Read the recipe two, maybe three times before starting.

-While I love the cookie scoop tip for evenly sized burgers, for this… a large scoop is too small since the meat shrinks while it cooks. Even my slider rolls needed some trimming. Do make 6-12 burgers depending on if you make a half or full batch. The size will fit most slider buns a bit better.

-If you don’t have wine for the mushroom mixture, use broth. I had beef broth on hand and it worked just fine.

-Cook over medium to medium/low heat for best results. In the future I would actually prefer to grill these… keep the mess outside and off of my stovetop.

-Use a small spoon or small cookie scoop to add the mushroom mixture to your burgers.

-Cover the pan (or close the grill) after adding the cheese. I stood there for a minute waiting for the cheese to melt with little results. Once I topped off the pan, the cheese melted like a dream!

-Add your favorite additional toppings.

-Most of all… don’t be discouraged when your first attempt fails… with any recipe. We’ve all had adventures in the kitchen and are only two recipes in. I hope the next few recipes prove a bit less troublesome… but just as delicious (if not more!) :)

Check out the other PW Wednesday posts:
Table For Two Blog
My Life As A Mrs
Running To The Kitchen

Stop by Megan’s for the complete recipe:
Wanna Be A Country Cleaver

If you missed week 1 of PW Wednesdays, check it out: Fried Chicken Tacos