Norio's slider スライダー

Small hamburgers are called "sliders" in the U.S. and they are a very popular bar food. There appears to be several theories about the origin of the name.  The small burgers sold at White castle burgers are trade-marked as "Slyders". In any case, I made this one day because I had extra ground chicken breast and we had just bought a nice crusty baguette. I made this as an open sandwich on an ellipse of toasted baguette. I served this as the first or second dish (do not remember which) accompanied with a bottle of Von Strasser Cab.  This Cab happens to be the vintage 2000 (we previously tasted 04 and 06) and it was quite good; still lots of nice fruits remaining with mellow but well-structured tannin.

The meat patty is a mixture of ground chicken breast seasoned with minced shallot, chopped basil, garlic paste (I used garlic from a tube), beaten egg, salt, and black pepper. For good measure, I also added a bit of Yuzu kosho 柚 子胡椒 from a tube, which added a certain zing to the meat. I made an oval flat patty matching the size of the baguette. I fried it in a frying pan with a bit of olive oil for 3-4 minutes each side or until done. To assemble, I smeared Dijon mustard on the baguette, layered the chicken patty, added a squirt of ketchup, and topped it with basil leaf and sliced Campari tomato. It sure slid down well!