Recipe: The French Canadian burger

oh la la!

We waited to do this burger.  Why?  We needed turkey gravy, so we had to wait until after Thanksgiving.  The wait mad it all the more delicious.  Those who have seen the other entries in the Ultimate Burger Series guessed the inspiration right away - "French Canadian?  Oh my god, you're making a poutine burger!"  Mais oui.  We couldn't take the easy way out however, even out way out West in Vancouver, poutine is serious business.  Gravy and curds just don't cut it on their own.  Worse yet, coming off as a cheeseburger chip buddy might start another referendum - we like Quebec, we want you to stay, we've made a burger in your honour.  The final form of the poutine was matchstick fries, turkey gravy, maple pork belly and Oka cheese "curds".  A good start.

The rest of the burger needed character as well, so tipping the hat to croque-monsieurs and French toast, we egged and fried the buns.  Then we gave the buns some brown butter mayonnaise (check the earlier post).  To get one of my favorite soups into the picture, we put on a good dollop of the French Canadian split yellow pea risotto (last post) with extra maple vinegar to qualify it as a relish component.  I think a burger always needs some greens, and arugula seemed to fit best.

Sounds heavy?  Sure it does.  Dan and I managed to reign in the various starchy components enough that it all balanced out in a wave of deliciousness and no feelings of "I'm going to explode!".  Definitely a solid burger, meal wise - two might kill you, but one was perfect.  Here's the breakdown:

The French Canadian Burger:

 - bun - standard sesame bun dipped in egg and fried 

 - patty - standard Canadian beef
 - greens - arugula
 - sauce - brown butter mayonnaise
 - relish - French Canadian split yellow pea
 - garnish - poutine - matchstick fries
                               - turkey gravy
                               - Oka cheese
                               - maple pork belly