Most recently I had been craving a really good burger. This brings up the things that I look for in a burger to make it worthy of "really good" .... they are as follows...
1) A really tasty and fresh bun: the key ingrediant to any good sandwich as well.
2) Juicy, tasty, properly seasoned meat.
3) Really good quality cheese with a punch.
4) Fresh toppings, tomatoes with some juice, nice strong red onion, really good bacon, avacado!
5) Excellent aioli or mayo, no kraft mayo. Roasted Garlic mayo seems perfect for me!
6) Lastly, to complete the meal, homemade fries with dijon to dip, or as seen below spicy chipotle ketchup.
All of the above will make for a quality burger, get them all right and you are gauranteed a great burger! Well we got close, never perfect in my book, nothing I ever make is, I actually end up critisizing it for something minute or thinking of how to make it better next time. I have enclosed a few recipes if you want to try at home.
1 pack high quality ground meat
1/4 yellow onion, pureed or zested with citrus zester
1tablespoon dijon
1 teaspoon worchestor
garlic salt
pepper
Mix all ingrediants very gently, do not overmix! Overmixing the meat is the number one reason why meat dries out, or turns out like meatloaf.
Buns, you can find a ton of homemade bun recipes online. I prefer Brioche, although this time I used I stole from the net, and I was not impressed. Next time back to the brioche. Note that if you are making brioche you may want to lesson the amount of sugar and butter in the brioche, this will help it to not be so cakey. Unless cakey is your thing!
Chipotle Ketchup
1 cup ketchup
chipotle to taste
cayenne to taste
tabasco to taste
Garlic Mayo
1 head garlic
olive oil
1 egg yolk
1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon champagne vinegar
salt
1 teaspoon dijon
Roast garlic in garlic roaster or in oven. If you dont have a roaster, which I would suggest getting one... because they work, at least the one I have does... To roast in oven.. Cut off tops cloves. Put cloves on aluminum foil and sprinkle with salt and pour olive oil over to cover. Wrap tightly with foil and put in oven at about 250-300 degrees for about an hour. Each oven varies so check until they are golden and fragrant and soft. Remove once cooled and squeexe the garlic out of its skins, discard skins. Puree or mash garlic into a bowl.
Next put egg yolk, salt, dijon and vinegar in bowl. Combine with whisk. Slowly whisk in a drop at a time oil until starts to emulsify, slowly contiue to add whisking vigorosly. This must be diner slowly. Eventually it will thcken. Add garlic puree and whisk until combined. You can adjust thickness with vinegar or water to thin, or add more oil until thickened to desired texture. Adjust salt and pepper, seasoning.
The rest is pretty simple, bbq the meat, or however you prefer. Use the freshest of ingrediants and you should be fine! Bon Appetit!
p.s. yes we eat on paper plates at my house... occasionally!
1 comment:
I too am in search of the perfect burger- as I'm sure it can not be clearly defined I actually am enthralled with the search itself-YUM! For the meat I recommend either ground chuck or some prefer a chuck/sirloin mix. One key is the chuck has enough fat content and the muscle from the chuck is well developed and is packed with flavor. My favorite breed of cattle to date for flavor in the burger is Hereford. Grass fed South American Hereford I think has the most flavor but you can't go beyond medium rare with it and have exceptional results. Kobe is good too, but is buttery and subtle so watch the agressivness of your toppings!
Post a Comment