29 posts tagged “burgers”
I'm hooked on bison, as far as burgers go, now. The last time I made one, I had a small burger patty left over, and ended up eating it as a (very) late night snack, with toast. I'd made some pretty nice buns (and I think the bun is the most overlooked part of a burger), but I had too many extras, and didn't taste the bison very much. With plain toast, I really could taste the stuff. So this time around I abandoned my homemade burger buns and just went with toast instead. And that doesn't look very photogenic, so I ended up taking the picture like this.
And the potato wedges, well they turned out so-so. I cut them into quarters (rather than six pieces), and cooked them for what I thought was the perfect amount of time, but I think my earlier, slightly overcooked attempts were better — not just soft and well cooked inside, but with far crispier a texture.
I think I put too much oil on them though. You get flare ups that way. And smoky residue.
This was very nice, but there's still some considerable room for improvement — the buns, in particular. I think the buns are the must under-appreciated part of a burger. I got several things right, but a few were still wrong.
I obsess over this thing called bread making. Being obsessive is generally considered to be a bad thing, but I read an interview in a kite flying magazine (is there such a thing? Surely not. Yes, there is) where a guy was asked about how he could create these amazingly intricately decorated kites, and he said he was obsessive-compulsive, but didn't take any medication for it. Funny, if you're not hampered too much by it... I guess.
I've cooked a lot of things, and screwed them all up, but I've gotten most of 'em right, eventually. Bread is the toughest thing I've encountered, culinary-wise, so far. Yet, I stumble on, thinking, with some non-midichlorian mind, that hell, I might never sort this out, but I'm kinda learning things, still. So, it's still all good.
The buns look nothing like what burger buns normally look like. But hey, normal burger buns aren't all that nice. I'm not doing normal burger buns here, baby — I'm trying to do something better than that. Those buns were some of the best I've ever made: flavorsome, chewy, and with a crispy texture: crust and crumb. In this case, I merely baked them wrong — I halfway got some of the proofing stages right.
Okay, I'm gonna shut up now.
Buffalo meat is very lean, so I decided to grate some yellow onions into the mix. I had to dry the grated onion out a lot, since it is so moist, and tends to ruin the (uh, sorry to get all Star Trek Next Generation here, but) structural integrity of the burger patty. Thus, I got some breadcrumbs, and shifted it through a fine sieve, so that only the smallest, most dust-like bread particles came through — to bind things together. I lucked out, and got just the right amount (eg., not enough to dilute the taste of the meat itself, but enough to keep it together). I didn't properly season the burger patties though. They needed a little salt and pepper.
Then, there's the buns... Bread making is magic. Black magic; the dark arts. I don't think Alton Brown could make sense of this stuff.
Making your own bread is kinda like Linux: it's okay for the newbie, and for the expert — but a real struggle for anyone in between. The newbie (or in the parlance of our times, the grandma user) is the primitive user, who checks emails, browses and buys things on ebay. Her mistakes are obvious, and easy to rectify. The expert nerd can make Linux do almost anything. But the dudes in between — well, they just might be better off with some off-the-shelves Microsoft or Apple product.
The whole bread vis-à-vis computer operating systems is like this:
Windows: Buying supermarket garbage wonder breads.
Apple: Buying pretentious, overpriced "artisan breads."
Linux: Baking your own breads. These users, in turn, can be segmented into three further factions: the novice (ie., bread machine), the intermediate, and the expert. I'm barely above the bread machine people. But dammit, I'm gonna keep trying.
Finally, there's the fries. A good burger deserves good fries. Deep frying is impractical — you have to cool the oil down, and then you have to dispose of it properly (you should never pour that stuff down your drain). So I go for oven fries. And they're good. Except I have a really hard time getting a crispy texture.
Not my burgers — all I did for this meal, was to provide the buns. But oh, what buns they were. I've decided to aggressively muscle in on any burger making attempts around here, demanding to practice my bread-making skills. It's a win-win for everyone, I think. The bun is the most overlooked part of a burger, in my opinion — and the homemade ones are just miles better than the decrepit, insubstantial Wonderbread crap the supermarkets flog.
And hey, collective, communal cooking is always nice, too.
This was very good — I really nailed the buns this time, but I overcooked the burgers. D'oh.
I've become so familiar with the "high heat/high coal griddle"-method of cooking, that my abilities at judging things, when grilling in the regular, Weber kettle grill-manner, have become diminished. And daggdabbit (pardon me while I procure my tinfoil hat), I think those Weber people are in cahoots with the charcoal manufacturers, because those devices seem to be custom-made with the intent to make you use a helluva lot more coals than you actually need.
These buns were almost perfect. They took on a very dark color, that I didn't anticipate. Although now, looking at the pictures I took, I think perhaps that they actually look good. Ethereally light, structurally sound, and with a crust and crumb that'd make baby Jebus cry. I'm very happy with this. Burger buns do not get the recognition they deserve — err, hang on — they do. They get none. Because they deserve none.
But that ain't the case with my burger buns.
It's been a long time since I came to the conclusion that a really good burger doesn't need cheese. But I decided to try some Swiss style Jarslberg out, just for the looks. And I think it looks nice. But it didn't improve the burger. Now bacon — that's practically cheating. That DOES improve the burger. But I'd like to be able to do a great burger without too much accoutrements. Of course, once I've figured out exactly how to create the perfect burger, I'll start adding bacon to it — just so that I know that I'm adding something to it all, instead of covering up an imperfect burger. But I won't be adding cheese.
So, there it is; I'm a cheese denier. Wutcha gonna do, kill me? (Sorry, I ran across a nice review/rant of my favorite burger joint where the author declared her love of Nationwide (Sacramento, CA, US and A), but offered a beautiful rant about how cheese had to be part of a great burger, and that she didn't trust "cheese deniers," and although she had nothing against them per se, she said something like, "I just don't trust you cheese deiners. Stay away from my house." You gotta like a good rant.). So oh yeah, I don't think cheeseburger is better than hambuger.
Couldn't resist getting another shot, to show off some grill marks on the buns. And yeah, these were home made buns. Oh yeah.
Oh yeah, and I've completely given up on using sesame seeds on the buns. It looks neat, but the damn things fall off as soon as you look at them. Not much taste in them either. Just a mess. So bollocks to that.
Also, the greenery really has to be proper lettuce. Salad mixes and spinach just doesn't cut it. I've tried a lot of things — including cabbage mixes, but nothing can quite measure up to that plain old lettuce.
A friend of mine was visiting, and since he's never had my burgers, I decided to show him how much of an awesome burger cook I am...
Obviously, I decided to make my own buns — hell, I made the dough four days in advance, so that it had time to rise really slowly (in the fridge) and let the yeast do that enzyme thingie black magic whatnot that makes it develop a lot of character, and a good texture. The last time I tried this, I got it almost right, but the buns were too thick (thick buns are fine if you use standard, commercial buns with that soft, airy, uh ... vacuous Wonderbread type texture, but I don't think it's possible to develop a flavorful crumb with that, hence my buns need to be thinner. They're more like a chibatta, really) so I made these ones very thin.
It looked like an absolute winner at one point, but then they completely quit rising. I think I know what I did wrong, but I'm not sure right now. It'll take a bit before I can wrap my head around this goddamn disaster. I didn't use any egg wash the last time, and thus the poppy seeds didn't stick to the buns. So I decided to use egg wash this time around, but I used too much water (I think) and the buns took on a radically dark color. Now, I'd be willing to ignore this if this was the only problem. But this was not the only problem. The color was an utterly insignificant issue compared to to their texture, which was almost — but not quite — as nice as that of a cookie, if you like cookies made from rawhide or vulcanized beaver tails.
I mean, what fresh hell is this? —
Obviously, I decided to make my own buns — hell, I made the dough four days in advance, so that it had time to rise really slowly (in the fridge) and let the yeast do that enzyme thingie black magic whatnot that makes it develop a lot of character, and a good texture. The last time I tried this, I got it almost right, but the buns were too thick (thick buns are fine if you use standard, commercial buns with that soft, airy, uh ... vacuous Wonderbread type texture, but I don't think it's possible to develop a flavorful crumb with that, hence my buns need to be thinner. They're more like a chibatta, really) so I made these ones very thin.
It looked like an absolute winner at one point, but then they completely quit rising. I think I know what I did wrong, but I'm not sure right now. It'll take a bit before I can wrap my head around this goddamn disaster. I didn't use any egg wash the last time, and thus the poppy seeds didn't stick to the buns. So I decided to use egg wash this time around, but I used too much water (I think) and the buns took on a radically dark color. Now, I'd be willing to ignore this if this was the only problem. But this was not the only problem. The color was an utterly insignificant issue compared to to their texture, which was almost — but not quite — as nice as that of a cookie, if you like cookies made from rawhide or vulcanized beaver tails.
I mean, what fresh hell is this? —
These things were about a quarter inch thick. And rock hard. Breadmaking is pretty damn tricky stuff.
The burger patties themselves were okay, although I added far too much grated, sautéed onions to them (in addition to salt and pepper, as well as freshly toasted and ground cumin and coriander) and they became far too juicy. But apart from that, the burgers were very nice (since I had some commercial burger buns laying around, which was incredibly lucky (I'd have had to do original burgers otherwise, with toasted bread instead).
Now, the oven baked fries were pretty good, although I made some mistakes there though. I parboiled them too long. Also, I didn't add any salt whatsoever to the flour and cayenne mixture — and I added too much cayenne. But I was pretty pleased with it, since I did manage to make them turn out crispy, at least.
The burger patties themselves were okay, although I added far too much grated, sautéed onions to them (in addition to salt and pepper, as well as freshly toasted and ground cumin and coriander) and they became far too juicy. But apart from that, the burgers were very nice (since I had some commercial burger buns laying around, which was incredibly lucky (I'd have had to do original burgers otherwise, with toasted bread instead).
Now, the oven baked fries were pretty good, although I made some mistakes there though. I parboiled them too long. Also, I didn't add any salt whatsoever to the flour and cayenne mixture — and I added too much cayenne. But I was pretty pleased with it, since I did manage to make them turn out crispy, at least.
Oh yeah! Patties of ground beef, grated yellow onions, salt and pepper. Lettuce, Thousand island dressing, burger patty, pickle, tomato slice, and sliced onions. And potato wedges blanched, dredged in flour, salt, garlic powder and cayenne pepper, drizzled with peanut oil and then baked. And most of all — homemade buns, slowly risen in the fridge according to The Breadmaker's Apprentice (and then quickly grilled along with the burger patties — well, obviously, after having been properly baked in an oven, mind you).
I've got high standards, as far as burgers go. I suspect — and feel quite content about it — that I'll never do a perfect burger. But I'm sorta stumbling towards a better burger, every time I make one, though. So I've got that going for me. Which is nice.
(Mind you, I'm listening to the ridiculously uplifting and cheerful music of The Upsetters right now, so don't take my word for it. Medical Operation!)
I've got high standards, as far as burgers go. I suspect — and feel quite content about it — that I'll never do a perfect burger. But I'm sorta stumbling towards a better burger, every time I make one, though. So I've got that going for me. Which is nice.
(Mind you, I'm listening to the ridiculously uplifting and cheerful music of The Upsetters right now, so don't take my word for it. Medical Operation!)
There was a lot of ground beef left over from my previous burger meal, and I honestly wanted to have another stab at it all, since I had a few things go wrong, last time: I used far too much ground onions in the burger patties, which made them stick to the griddle, and my oven fries weren't crispy. I polled the audience, though, because I could have done meatcakes or meatballs (and a meatball soup), as well as an Indian style seekh kebab type of thing. But the burgers won the day.
So I got the beef patties right, this time: some cumin, coriander, black pepper and salt (although I did use a little too much cumin — that stuff really stands out; you've gotta be careful with it). But the fries, they still weren't crispy. They tasted nice, but they really would be far more enjoyable, if they were crispy. Oh well, I'll figure it out, one day.
So I got the beef patties right, this time: some cumin, coriander, black pepper and salt (although I did use a little too much cumin — that stuff really stands out; you've gotta be careful with it). But the fries, they still weren't crispy. They tasted nice, but they really would be far more enjoyable, if they were crispy. Oh well, I'll figure it out, one day.
