15 posts tagged “burgers”
My burger-making abilities seem to be getting better (or at the very least, my tendency to screw up the accoutrements is getting less severe -- although I burned the caramelized onions (and thus ended up going with very thinly sliced, raw, red onions instead), at least I didn't burn the buns this time around). But I'm not happy with my food photography -- it seems like the field-of-depth is limited to 1/16th of an inch, when using the flash. And I'm taking these shots with the camera at full zoom, about four or five feet away. Weird.
I got good grill marks on the buns, but not on the patties -- because I didn't wait long enough to let the griddle heat up, before cooking the burgers. I figured I could place the onion, tomatoes and Jalapeños to one side, to show off the grill marks on the patties, but no point in this case...
Now, the fries -- those were great. I'm absolutely stoked that I've managed to figure out how to to proper, "home-style" (or whatever it is called) fries in the oven -- without having to resort to deep frying. Heston Blumenthal is a genius. These fries are absolutely awesome -- soft and chewy on the
inside, but totally crispy on the outside. I love these suckers. Blumenthal flavors them with garlic, thyme and rosemary -- and adds these components throughout the cooking process -- I'm a little less sophisticated and subtle, and just go for some cayenne pepper and salt at the very start. But I'm very happy with the results.
I got good grill marks on the buns, but not on the patties -- because I didn't wait long enough to let the griddle heat up, before cooking the burgers. I figured I could place the onion, tomatoes and Jalapeños to one side, to show off the grill marks on the patties, but no point in this case...
I dunno if there's such a thing as perfect food, but if there is, this is about as close as I'll ever get to making it... It's been ages since I did burgers. This is the first time I've adorned them with bacon and Jalapeños (won't be the last! -- I always thought frying bacon was a pain, but it's extremely easy to just do it in the oven...)
This was done with 95% lean, supermarket-ground beef, which I know is much too lean according to most recommendations -- but the patties didn't dry out, though. I cooked them rare/medium rare, over very hot coals. And I know the expert, black-belt burgermasters grind their own beef, but I don't have a meat grinder, and never liked the results I got from my food processor. So it's supermarket ground stuff for me -- and you know, why not? Snobbery and elitism is fine by me, as long as there's a valid reason for it. In this case, I just don't see it, though. Supermarket ground beef makes perfectly decent burgers.
As long as you've got some juicy, home-grown tomatoes and Jalapeños (and yeah; bacon) to go with 'em! I didn't get a good shot of the buns, though -- got some nice grill-marks on those. Oh, and there's some caramelized onions under the tomatoes.
But I completely forgot to get a picture of my fries... Crap. I avoid deep frying as much as possible -- I just don't like having to deal with the hot oil; the smell; disposing of it etc. But when it comes to making fries, that gets to be tricky -- or perhaps even silly. Sometimes, there really is a perfect way to cook certain foods -- and maybe deep frying is it, for pomme frites. Also, I've noticed that when shortcuts are attempted in the world of cooking, they seem to end up being far more trouble, than the traditional methods.
However, there's this culinary genius/madman named Heston Blumenthal that I'm a bit of a fan of... And I came across this Q&A session on egullet, where he described a way to make good, oven-baked fries. And I've also seen a couple of episodes of his "In Search of Perfection" television series, where he covers similar topics. So I dare say that I can make some pretty decent, oven-baked fries at this point.
Oh, and one important thing -- about the buns -- just before grilling them, I brushed them with a compound butter with rosemary, thyme and marjoram. That stuff seriously elevates the flavors of a burger... I can't really say this without feeling a tad pretentious, but what the hell -- it really gives a hamburger a sophisticated flavor; a really profound, elegant flavor. Hence, I'm only using half a slice of bacon, and very thinly sliced Jalapeños -- anything more, and it would overwhelm the delicate flavors that the bun brings to the table.
I don't know if I'll ever master the art of the burger, but I think I'm getting closer every time I try. The last barrier of course, is the bun itself -- I've only dared attempt making my own buns once, and that was a complete disaster. Cooking may be an art, and baking a science -- but bread making is bloody magic.
This was done with 95% lean, supermarket-ground beef, which I know is much too lean according to most recommendations -- but the patties didn't dry out, though. I cooked them rare/medium rare, over very hot coals. And I know the expert, black-belt burgermasters grind their own beef, but I don't have a meat grinder, and never liked the results I got from my food processor. So it's supermarket ground stuff for me -- and you know, why not? Snobbery and elitism is fine by me, as long as there's a valid reason for it. In this case, I just don't see it, though. Supermarket ground beef makes perfectly decent burgers.
As long as you've got some juicy, home-grown tomatoes and Jalapeños (and yeah; bacon) to go with 'em! I didn't get a good shot of the buns, though -- got some nice grill-marks on those. Oh, and there's some caramelized onions under the tomatoes.
But I completely forgot to get a picture of my fries... Crap. I avoid deep frying as much as possible -- I just don't like having to deal with the hot oil; the smell; disposing of it etc. But when it comes to making fries, that gets to be tricky -- or perhaps even silly. Sometimes, there really is a perfect way to cook certain foods -- and maybe deep frying is it, for pomme frites. Also, I've noticed that when shortcuts are attempted in the world of cooking, they seem to end up being far more trouble, than the traditional methods.
However, there's this culinary genius/madman named Heston Blumenthal that I'm a bit of a fan of... And I came across this Q&A session on egullet, where he described a way to make good, oven-baked fries. And I've also seen a couple of episodes of his "In Search of Perfection" television series, where he covers similar topics. So I dare say that I can make some pretty decent, oven-baked fries at this point.
Oh, and one important thing -- about the buns -- just before grilling them, I brushed them with a compound butter with rosemary, thyme and marjoram. That stuff seriously elevates the flavors of a burger... I can't really say this without feeling a tad pretentious, but what the hell -- it really gives a hamburger a sophisticated flavor; a really profound, elegant flavor. Hence, I'm only using half a slice of bacon, and very thinly sliced Jalapeños -- anything more, and it would overwhelm the delicate flavors that the bun brings to the table.
I don't know if I'll ever master the art of the burger, but I think I'm getting closer every time I try. The last barrier of course, is the bun itself -- I've only dared attempt making my own buns once, and that was a complete disaster. Cooking may be an art, and baking a science -- but bread making is bloody magic.
Bit of a messy presentation, this one. The oven roasted fries turned out particularly nice. There's nothing like a good, homemade burger.
But this is getting repetitive... I've figured out how to make proper oven-roasted potato wedges now, so my next goal is to be able to bake some proper hamburger buns. No more burgers until I get that one sorted out, dammit...
But this is getting repetitive... I've figured out how to make proper oven-roasted potato wedges now, so my next goal is to be able to bake some proper hamburger buns. No more burgers until I get that one sorted out, dammit...
Another attempt at a good hamburger picture, showing off grill marks on the bun and the patty -- this time by hiding the toppings under the patty. Dunno if that's the right way to go -- and the lettuce doesn't look too photogenic. The highlight of this meal were the oven-roasted fries, which is a variation on Heston Blumenthal's fries (of The Fat Duck). Slightly less refined and elegant, with cayenne pepper in lieu of thyme and rosemary -- but perfect with a burger.
Normally, I try to leave the bun and condiments out of the way to display the glorious grill marks, but for some reason, I just shot this picture with the burgers fully stacked up. It looks really good -- you can see a bit of the grill marks on the burger on the left. Good colors. But these suckers look a lot better than they tasted. Turkey can dry out fairly easy. And these did it big time.
Hamburger with grilled onions. Nothing much else to say about this one. Pretty unremarkable picture -- but good burger, though.
I avoided making hamburgers for the longest time, because there's this fantastic burger joint nearby. I never thought I could make anything that could compare in taste to it. They've got top-quality, properly aged beef, and also a great, locally made bun (the bun is easiest the most overlooked part of a truly great hamburger, I think).
The place is doing really well, and it's nice to see that people care enough about food to be willing to pay a little extra for it, while supporting a genuine mom & pop store. In recent years, their prices have started climbing at an alarming rate -- which is great for them; I certainly wish they continue their success. But it isn't so great for those who occasionally have to pinch their pennies... So, after a bit of trial and error, I have finally figured out how to make a good burger. The only thing missing, is that I need to learn how to bake some good buns -- this bread making business is tricky stuff.
Other than that, I still need to learn how to plate the burger so that it will look good in a picture -- showing off the grill marks on the patty, as well as the bun. In this case, the patty doesn't have any good grill marks, and the accoutrements covers up the bun -- and the use of spinach looks a little odd. But it was a great tasting burger.
The place is doing really well, and it's nice to see that people care enough about food to be willing to pay a little extra for it, while supporting a genuine mom & pop store. In recent years, their prices have started climbing at an alarming rate -- which is great for them; I certainly wish they continue their success. But it isn't so great for those who occasionally have to pinch their pennies... So, after a bit of trial and error, I have finally figured out how to make a good burger. The only thing missing, is that I need to learn how to bake some good buns -- this bread making business is tricky stuff.
Other than that, I still need to learn how to plate the burger so that it will look good in a picture -- showing off the grill marks on the patty, as well as the bun. In this case, the patty doesn't have any good grill marks, and the accoutrements covers up the bun -- and the use of spinach looks a little odd. But it was a great tasting burger.
Grilled (as always) burgers -- one with cheese, one without. Thousand Island dressing, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and grilled red onions. Grilled buns. If you're just making two burgers it's manageable but any more than that, and it gets a little tricky to keep track of, and fit things on a Weber charcoal grill -- you got two buns, a patty and onions for each person. But two is fine.
This was pretty funny -- the burgers were way too big to be eaten in one sitting. They ended up like that because I tried making my own buns, which ballooned up like crazy, both vertically and horizontally. I cut away a big slice away from the middle of it -- which helped a little, but the buns were way too dense). Instead of further massacring them, I ended up just making the patties the same size...
Not a good decision, but doing burgers on a charcoal Weber grill can get a little complicated. You've got a patty plus the top and bottom buns for each person, plus whatever else you want grilled like onions or tomatoes -- there's a lot of stuff to keep track of. Actually, when I look at the picture, I realize I never grilled the buns. Whatever the hell was I thinking?
Not a good decision, but doing burgers on a charcoal Weber grill can get a little complicated. You've got a patty plus the top and bottom buns for each person, plus whatever else you want grilled like onions or tomatoes -- there's a lot of stuff to keep track of. Actually, when I look at the picture, I realize I never grilled the buns. Whatever the hell was I thinking?
A Squealer is apparently a Texas thing -- a burger patty with bacon ground in. It sounded like a good way of adding flavor to the patty, so I thought I'd try it. Sadly, it didn't live up to my expectations. Minced garlic, grated raw onions, chopped, caramelized onions, and occasionally some crumbled blue cheese remains my favorite flavorings for burgers.
