Recipe: Ultimate hamburger patties - or meatballs

The sunshine brings out the barbeques, which in turn brings out the burgers.  As we've explored in the Ultimate Burger Series, by investigating the fixings, and even the buns used, some amazing burgers result.  As with everything, a solid foundation is a very good place to start, so it's about time we got around to a rock solid burger patty - or as it says in the title, this recipe makes dynamite meatballs.  Depending on the rest of the burger, or your mood that day, you may add a few more spices, but this is a very good starting point that can stand on its own with the basic toppings on a moment's notice.  This is the kind of recipe you can make a large number of patties and store a few in the freezer for later (make sure you have one or two fresh though).  Carla and I even have one of those goofy plastic burger presses with the teflon dividers - they are gold for serious burger production - you may even know someone with one tucked away in the back of a tupperware cupboard - see if you can adopt it and use it.

When buying the meat, tough cuts have the best flavour.  This recipe uses chuck and brisket as an example, but you can get creative.  If you have a meat grinder, you can get even more creative.  Feed the meat in with the grain lined up so the grinder cuts across it for the most tenderizing effect.  It may seem counter-intuitive to buy extra lean meat, then add in pork fat, but fat carries flavour and pork fat is delicious.  By switching the animal, you also add a complexity to the flavour beyond going with pure cow.  If you have pork issues, no problem, just go with a regular or lean meat instead of the extra lean.  As an additional note, even though there is salt and pepper in the recipe, I still season the patties before grilling for that extra surface flavour.

You will need:

500g / 1.1lbs              extra lean ground chuck

500g / 1.1lbs              extra lean ground brisket

200g / 7oz                  ground pork fat

200g / 7oz                  onion

30g / 1oz                    confit garlic - drained of oil (see post "Garlic oil / roasted garlic vs confit garlic)

10ml / 2tsp                 Dijon mustard

5ml / 1tsp                   Worcestershire sauce

11g / 0.4oz                 kosher salt

9g / 0.3oz                   black pepper

6g / 0.2oz                   smoked paprika

6g / 0.2oz                   cumin

Method:

 - grind the meat and fat if necessary

 - take half of the meat and cold smoke it for 1 hour

 - puree the onion with the confit garlic

 - if working by hand, add all the ingredients and mix until meat gets "sausagey"  and sticks together well

 - if using a mixer, add all ingredients into a bowl with a paddle and mix on slow speed for 20 seconds

 - raise the speed to mid and mix another minute and check the texture

 - take a small amount, make a mini patty, cook it up and check the taste and texture

 - adjust seasonings and mix more if necessary

 - form patties (170g / 6oz or 227g / 8oz are good sizes)

 - start grillin!

Recipe: The Mac and Cheese burger

so good it's just plain stupid

You could call this the Mackin' Cheeseburger and it would be just as right.  Never has a burger paid such tribute to the world's most popular topping for meat.  As this burger developed, it became clear that the meat component would wind up garnishing the cheese instead of the other way around.

It was Dan's idea to do a macaroni and cheese burger.  At first I wasn't so sure as my first visions were of some crazy pasta based Sloppy Joe - we would make it tasty no doubt, but was it inspired?  After some ruminating, it came to me to stretch our definition of macaroni and cheese to include other burger friendly pastas, namely lasagna.  We could layer pasta, cheese and sauce up into a patty of its own, which would then fit nicely in a burger bun.  Since macaroni is often topped with bread crumbs, we would have to bread it and deep fry it for best results, a sacrifice both Dan and I were willing to make.

the cheese patty before breading

The construction of the cheese patty was quite the production.  We first cooked off large sections of pasta sheets and laid them out to cool.  Then rounds were cut to suit the size of the burger buns.  Layering up, we started with pasta, then jalapeno jack cheese, another pasta, brie cheese, another pasta, then smoked cheddar and finally the top layer of pasta.   Cold Alfredo sauce (so it would be thicker) was liberally brushed over every layer except for the very tops and bottoms.  The patties were frozen for better handling, then double breaded with finely ground panko bread crumbs and returned to the freezer to set.  

Now the rest of the sandwich.  Macaroni and cheese doesn't normally get that much in the way of dressing up - ketchup, maybe some hot sauce - some places might match it up with some short rib.  Since the cheese patties were now looking pretty intimidating, we felt that a saucy pulled short rib would let us ease back on the overall weight of the sandwich, and should be arranged on top of the cheese.  Our bacon and tomato jam kicks ketchup's ass any day of the week, so it would be our "ketchup" on the bottom bun.  Pickled banana peppers would throw some nice heat and very necessary acidity into the mix.  Dan also mixed up a nice Dijon Alfredo for added sauce and filling the "mustard" slot.  With all these powerful flavours going on, arugula was the only green to handle the job.  For the first time ever - EVER - the top bun got no sauce, no spread, no nothing, it just wasn't needed.  Just to be sure we didn't leave anything out, we added some crispy fried onions.

everybody in the pool!

The execution.  Any worry of cheese leakage from the patties was unfounded and they held strong.  Once they had coloured nicely, they needed a little oven time to completely heat through, but were intact and crispy.  The short rib and Dijon Alfredo were simply heat and serve,  and the rest was assembly.  Eyes began to bug out and fear filled the room as these monsters came together.  Most of the eaters were going to try their hand at half a sandwich, but I was committed to putting  a whole one away (I used do battle with the 1lb burgers at the original Save-On-Meats on Hastings).  The first burger got cut, and "oh my god" was all anyone could say - the cheese just flowed like some wonderful fountain.  I got into mine and couldn't believe how good it was - it wasn't too saucy, and the taste was incredible.  I finished mine almost without pause, then cleaned the plate.  Truly amazing.  Completely nuts.  Beyond ridiculous.

The Mac and Cheese burger:

it's ok to be afraid, but better to be brave

 - bun - brioche

 - patty - (4) rounds of sheet pasta
            - jalapeno jack cheese
            - brie cheese
            - smoked cheddar cheese
            - Alfredo sauce
            - breaded
            - deep fried (finished in oven)
 - meat - pulled short rib in red wine jus
 - sauces - bacon tomato jam
               - Dijon Alfredo
 - greens - arugula
 - pickles - banana peppers
 - garnish - crispy fried onion

Recipe: The Buffalo hot wing burger

one bad biddy

It's been a while since we cranked out a crazy burger - between Christmas, then Dine Out Vancouver, then the yearly gong show that is Valentines day, it's hard to find time to make some really good food simply for the sake of making some really good food.  I'd had the inspiration for this burger since fall, but in the end, the wait was worth it.  Dan and I would talk about it, the possibilities for toppings, and when we might be able to pull it off.  With the extra time put into planning, the final execution was focused, surprisingly technical, and possibly on the verge of lunacy.  The wait made it equally delicious.

The central concept was that of a chicken burger with the patty giving representation to all the aspects that make for a great hot wing.  Naturally, the fixins were to be all about the sides and extras that accompany a good plate of wings.  Considering the shape of a chicken breast and the fact that it was inevitable that this would be a saucy little number, our hoagie shaped ciabatta buns were the best suited for the job.

season the brined breasts

The chicken is where things got pretty crazy.  I definitely prefer a chicken breast when making a chicken burger, the size and shape are just the natural choice.  Considering that the theme for this burger was wings, part of the deal had to be the chicken skin, and at best, a breast only has skin on one side.  To further complicate things, we rarely have any skin on breasts to spare - they are usually all claimed by banquets.  Luckily. we do have Activa RM and access to random chicken skin scraps.  See where this is going?  Visions of Dr. Frankenstein and Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs ... scary stuff.  I also like when wings have some sort of breading so the sauce has something to stick to, so we needed a coating once we had the skin sorted out.  My technique for fried chicken suited me just fine for this and I followed it right down the line with the exception of being able to season the breast after brining, yet before gluing the skin on, then cooking the breast sous vide before the breading (allowing us to focus on the cook on the breading without worrying about the internal cook on the meat).  Once all was said and done, we went with good ol' Frank's Hot Sauce over the whole deal - it's a classic and didn't need messing with.

Activa the skin

By comparison, after dealing with the chicken, the bun fixins were comparatively smooth sailing.  If you've followed a few of the earlier posts, you are already familiar with the hot and sweet celery slaw and my adventure creating the (eventually) awesome ranch powder.  Dan made a delicious creamy Parmesan dressing and we crumbled some lovely Danish Blue cheese on top.  Every burger needs greenery, and arugula was the only thing that could possibly compete with all the powerful flavours coming together in this sandwich.

The final result definitely ranks among the best of our burgers with and amazing blend among the spices and the tangs (from multiple sources).  Not least of all, the chicken was unbelievable - between brining, seasoning, encasing in skin, the sous vide and finally the ridiculously crisp breading, I don't know if you can have a juicier chicken burger.  Here's how it all eventually went down:

The Buffalo Hot Wing Burger:

encase the breast in skin

 - bun - ciabatta
 - patty - chicken breast - brined and seasoned (see fried chicken recipe)
                                       - encased in chicken skin using Activa RM
                                       - sous vide 1hr at 63C / 145F
                                       - breaded (see fried chicken recipe)
                                       - deep fried
 - sauces - Frank's Red Hot
               - creamy Parmesan
 - greens - arugula
 - relish - hot and sweet celery slaw (see hot and sweet celery slaw recipe)
 - cheese - Danish Blue
 - garnish - ranch powder (see ranch powder recipe)
                              

bag up and sous vide

pat dry and bread

fry until insanely crisp

saucy!

Recipe: Ranch powder

Ranch powder was maybe my biggest victory in the creation of the hot wing burger.  We already had a creamy Parmesan for the bun and the burgers were going to get hot sauce, so another "sauce" wasn't needed, but I felt ranch dressing deserved representation as one of the all time favorite wing dips.  

I first tried using tapioca maltodextrin to see if the fat content of the dressing was enough to make a powder - it wasn't.  The moisture content of the ranch killed the powder before any significant flavour could be developed.  We could always go with the creamy Parmesan on one side of the bun and ranch on the other, but I really wanted to make the powder happen, but how?

As with lots of great ideas, just before I went to sleep the night before the burger, it came to me - old school.  I could use egg white and dehydrate the ranch, the only question was if there was time.  As it turned out, the dehydrated ranch was ready to go to work with about a half hour to spare, and the result was even better than expected.  

Whereas powders made with maltodextrin are really fluffy, they take a small amount of product and spread it over a large area, so to speak.  By dehydrating the ranch, I took a larger amount of product and reduced it, thereby concentrating the flavour.   The long and low heat mellowed the garlic, but really brought out the tang in the buttermilk and sour cream.

For this recipe, I used the ranch dressing recipe from the earlier post, but kept all the herbs and pepper aside and mixed them in later to keep their flavours sharp and fresh.  I crushed the dried dressing fine by hand so it stayed flaky and closer to the size of the chopped herbs, but as long as you have it dry enough, it will grind in a spice grinder to a fine dust.

By the way this powder is ridiculously good on popcorn.

You will need:

spread thin and dehydrate

250ml / 1C               ranch dressing base (dressing minus herbs and pepper)

1                               egg white

to taste                      chopped chives

to taste                      chopped Italian parsley

to taste                      chopped dill

to taste                      coarse ground black pepper

1                               large silicone mat

Method:

 - blend the ranch base with the egg white

 - spread out on a silicone mat as thin as possible

 - dehydrate at 140F / 60C or as low as possible for 6 to 7 hours until totally dry 

 - scrape the ranch off the mat and crush fine

 - mix in the herbs and pepper to taste

crush up and mix in the herbs and pepper

 - use as needed or store in an airtight container

Recipe: Hot and sweet celery slaw

peel and julienne the celery

This little ditty came about as Dan and I were brainstorming the hot wing burger (coming soon).  We wanted celery involved in an interesting way and a slaw seemed a good direction to go.  We didn't want to muddle the celery with other vegetables but still needed something to qualify it as a slaw.  We finally settled on using the pickle liquid from a jar of banana peppers as the base for the dressing.



You will need:

as needed                   celery
250ml / 1C                 banana pepper pickle juice
60ml / 1/4C                sugar

melt the sugar into the pickle

Method:

 - peel the outer ribs of the celery with a vegetable peeler
 - julienne the celery and put in a bowl
 - put the pickle liquid and the sugar in a saucepan and heat to melt the sugar
 - cool the liquid
 - pour over the celery and mix well
 - use as needed

dress the celery

Recipe: Jamaican patty filling

To continue with the Jamaican patties, Dan and I wanted to keep one of the three varieties we made as close to "traditional" as possible.  That said, my favorite comment I had come across in doing some research was that as long as the filling was tasty, how you got there didn't matter.  Amen.  

Now I can't exactly say this recipe is 100% mine, but I can't say it's 100% anybody else's either.  It is 100% what we made however, and definitely stands as the way I'll do it in the future.  When I research a recipe, I generally scan a wide variety of recipes I have on hand or I come across on line and keep my eye out for the ones that seem most in line with what I'm making.  I then take what I like best about what I came across and put them all into one "super recipe".  In this case I wanted to achieve as complex a flavour profile as possible while staying in the parameters of the "traditional" Jamaican patty.  I have to give a shout out to Emeril, his recipe was one of the only ones that used rum in the mix - an obvious appeal there - and his spice mix went beyond "add X amount of curry blend".  Of course, once armed with our super-recipe and in the heat of the moment, there were adjustments, but the result was stellar.  Here's what we ended up with.  

With reference to size, I've doubled the recipe in order to fit the recipe for the pastry I gave you.  What Dan and I made would only have filled 3 of our extra large patties, so this one will give you six.  Within reason, the size of the patties won't really matter since roughly half the pastry goes on top and the other goes under the meat.

You will need:

907g / 2lbs                       lean ground beef

2                                       large onions - small dice

907g / 2lbs                       tomatoes - small dice

12 cloves                          garlic - minced

2 knuckles                        fresh grated ginger (2 generous tablespoons microplaned)

10 - 12 slices                    pickled banana peppers - minced

6                                       scallions - sliced

60ml / 1/4C                      parsley - chopped

4 sprigs                             thyme - chopped

5ml / 1tsp                         ground anatto (achiote)

20ml / 4tsp                       cumin

5ml / 1tsp                         allspice

5ml / 1tsp                         cardamom

15ml / 1Tbs                      black pepper (feel free to use more if you like it like me)

to taste                              kosher salt

60ml / 1/4C                      dark rum

500ml / 2C                       beef stock

Method:

 - in a large fry pan, brown the ground beef and season lightly

 - remove the beef, saving the fat in the pan

 - fry the onion in the fat until lightly golden, then add the garlic and ginger and cook a few minutes

 - add in the anatto, cumin, allspice, cardamom and black pepper and cook some more

 - add the tomatoes and banana peppers

 - add the beef back in along with the beef stock and thyme

 - let the mixture cook and the liquid come down

 - when the liquid is almost reduced out, add the rum and season with salt

 - when the liquid is basically gone, turn off the heat

 - mix in the scallions and parsley and set aside to cool

 - use as needed in the patties

Recipe: Jamaican patty pastry

mix the spices and flour

As promised, here's the recipe I used to make the Jamaican patty pastry for our little trip to the Caribbean.  I think this is the most important part about the patties since it has such an important role in what sets this food apart from others.  In so many cases with other types of meat pies, the pastry is often quite neutral - as long as it's flaky, it's acceptable.  With Jamaican patties, there's so much flavour in the pastry itself, it has its own identity within the form.  Indeed, the colour it pretty tell-tale - as I was rolling these out, people instantly knew what I was making.  Not to take away the importance of the filling, but that tends to be the sort of thing that everyone has their style - maybe even handed down from a grandmother.  Dan and I experimented with three different fillings and while one was "traditional", all were indisputably Jamaican patties.  Why?  The pastry was proper.  This recipe made us 6 big patties, but could be stretched to as many as 8 -10 smaller ones.

rub in the butter

You will need:

300g / 10.6oz (2C)         all purpose flour (plus more for working the dough)

175g / 6.2oz (3/4C)        unsalted butter (cold and cubed)

5ml / 1tsp                        curry powder

5ml / 1tsp                       ground anatto seed (achiote)

5ml / 1tsp                       ground black pepper

2.5ml / 1/2tsp                 tumeric

to taste                            kosher salt (about 5ml / 1tsp)

work the pastry

125ml / 1/2C                  ice water

as needed                       egg wash

Method

 - cube the butter and keep it cold

 - mix all the flour, spices and salt

 - add the butter to the flour and use your fingertips to break up the butter

 - when you start to get a pea-sized crumb, add the ice water

 - mix until the dough is just shy of coming together

 - turn the dough out on a floured surface

roll thin

 - use the heel of your hand with a twisting press to mash the butter bits into the four 

 - when the dough has come together, divide into portions (ours were 100g each)

 - use your hands to form disks with the dough and wrap with plastic 

 - let the dough rest (I left mine overnight, but a 1/2 hour will be fine)

 - on a floured surface again, roll the disks out thin

 - transfer to a paper lined tray

 - place your filling on half the patty and egg wash the edge

 - fold the dough over and crimp the edge with a fork

 - cut a few vents in the top

 - heat the oven to 375F / 191C if you have convection, or 400F / 204C in a still oven

 - cook about 15 minutes, rotating if necessary

ready for the oven

 - let cool slightly

 - enjoy!

ready for my belly!

Jamaican patties!

The latest foray with the Ultimate Burger Series took a little bit of a sidestep.  We wanted to go Caribbean, specifically Jamaican.  Try as we might to conceive of a Jamaican burger, it all seemed inferior to trying our hands at the classic Jamaican patty.  Since the Burger Series is a fun project and Dan and I agreed at the beginning to be flexible with our definition of "burger", we went with the plan.  

ready to fold and bake

In the spirit of burgers, we had to up the size a bit, and in the spirit of fun, we had to try a few variations.  The dough we made (the recipe will follow) provided for a six big patties, so we decided two would be the traditional ground beef filling (that recipe will follow too), two got a 48 hour short rib filling with corn and a mango and pineapple salsa, and two were filled with grilled cajun chicken and feta.

All three were delicious, and the variations all came across as appropriate to the style.  If one topped out, it might be the short rib if, only on the surprise factor.  It just melted in your mouth and the salsa perfectly cut through the richness.  "Oh my god, this is insanely good" pretty much summed it up.

Sidestep or not, I think we did Jamaica justice (for a couple white guys).  Watch for the recipes.

traditional, 48 hour short rib, and cajun chicken

Recipe: The India burger

two India burgers - one open and one closed

This burger was a lot of fun to make, and had a real complexity to it.  You know how you can sit down to an Indian dinner and eat an array of dishes, each with its own blend of flavours and yet it all comes together in harmony?  We managed to do that in burger form.  Dan and I wanted to be careful how we put it together and avoid coming away with a saucy mess that overwhelms the tastebuds.  With so many favorite Indian dishes, it was hard to pick which ones would contribute best to the effort.

Butter chicken came to mind early, but it almost seemed too obvious.  Then in considering the cheese component, I thought of butter paneer - one of my all time favorite dishes of any nationality.  I think in the end I was almost as excited for the paneer as I was for the rest of the burger.  Needless to say, couldn't do two butter dishes together, so we opted for a tandoori chicken for our meat (a beef patty seemed altogether inappropriate for this outing), the recipe is the one in the recent post.  The mango papaya chutney from the other recent post stood in as our "relish", and a cucumber raita topped off with micro cilantro helped cool things off.  Things were starting to get pretty saucy, so we threw in a few miniature vegetable pakoras as a layer to soak things up.  You might notice that we like a bit of crunch in our burgers, and we slid a single papadam in for that effect.  The bun?  Just had to go with naan.  Truly a pleasure in the eating.  The breakdown was as such:

The India Burger:

 - bun - naan bread
 - patty - tandoori chicken
 - cheese - paneer
 - relish - mango papaya chutney
 - sauces - cucumber raita
               - butter sauce for the paneer
 - greens - shredded spinach
               - micro cilantro
 - garnishes - vegetable pakoras
                     - papadam

Recipe: Tandoori chicken

Tandoori chicken is one of the great roasted meats of the world.  As with the chutney in the last post, the key to a superb tandoori marinade is in the careful blend of flavours and spices.  In this recipe, you have some acidity from the yogurt and lime juice, sweetness from the honey, floral notes from the cilantro, heat from the chili, the coziness of the spice blend, and even a hint of smokiness from the paprika.  A lot going on, I know, but it's all in the balance.  What's missing?  Artificial food colouring, boo, sorry.

In the execution, make sure the chicken gets about 24 hours marination to get all the flavour in possible.  Want to go a couple days?  Sure, even better.  Also, tandoori ovens are insanely hot, so the roasting temperature in a regular oven will be high.  I cooked these at 450F (232C), but as long as you are right by the oven, go as high as you feel comfortable - some colouring on the residual marinade is ideal.  I used 4 chicken breasts here, which are pretty easy to cook through at a high temperature - if you go with some bone in cuts, it will take a little longer in the cooking.

You will need:

4 - 6                       chicken breasts

250ml / 1C            yogurt

1/2                         white onion - grated on a cheese grater (really)

45ml / 3Tbs           lime juice

30ml / 2Tbs           honey

4 cloves                 garlic - minced

small knuckle        ginger - grated on a microplane (about 5ml / 1tsp)

1 handful               whole cilantro - just wash it, don't cut it

15ml / 1Tbs           smoked paprika

5ml / 1tsp              cumin

5ml / 1tsp              coriander

5ml / 1tsp              chili

5ml / 1tsp              ground black pepper

to taste                   kosher salt

Method:

 - trim up the chicken if needed

 - grate the onion and ginger and mince the garlic

 - combine all the ingredients (except for cilantro) for the marinade and mix well (how's that for easy?)

 - toss the chicken in the marinade with the whole cilantro until well coated

 - cover and marinate in the fridge for a day

 - preheat the oven to 450F / 232C - convection if you have it

 - drain excess marinade from the chicken - some residue is ok

 - place chicken on a paper lined pan

 - roast for 7 - 10 minutes until cooked and coloured

 - serve

Recipe: Mango papaya chutney

sweat the onion and spices

You can buy some nice chutneys out there, but nothing will ever compare to something you make yourself.  Even with a relatively long cooking time, this chutney comes across a deliciously fresh, light and fruity.  One of the things common in all my favorite Indian recipes is how they can achieve such a harmonious combination of flavours -  this one has a really nice blend of spices, yet doesn't raise the heat level too much.

You will need:

1                         mango - small dice

1                         papaya - small dice

1/2                      white onion - brunoise

add the fruit

3 cloves              garlic - minced

1 knuckle            ginger - grated (about 1Tbs)

60ml / 1/4C        lime juice

45ml / 3Tbs        honey

5ml / 1tsp           cumin

5ml / 1tsp           chili powder

5ml / 1tsp           cracked black pepper

2.5ml / 1/2tsp     coriander

2.5ml / 1/2tsp     tumeric

as needed            vegetable oil

to taste                kosher salt (about 5ml / 1tsp)

Method:

add liquid and cook down

 - slowly sweat the onion, garlic and ginger in a pan with some oil

 - add all the dry spices (except salt) and keep sweating (to "toast" the spices and deepen the flavour)

 - when the onion is very soft, add the mango and papaya and cook 5 minutes

 - add the honey and lime juice

 - cook the liquid out

 - season with salt

 - remove from the pan and cool

 - store in the fridge until use

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

Recipe: French Canadian split pea "risotto"

this gives new meaning to "chunky soup"

This little number came as a bit of a crazy inspiration as Dan and I moved along in the Ultimate Burger Series.  As you'll see in an upcoming post, we made the French Canadian burger.  As a country built largely on immigration, the question of "Canadian cuisine" is always a tough one, especially if you are focusing on the Francophone component.  French Canadian split pea soup is a favorite of mine and I was trying to think of how it could be incorporated into a burger without getting too ridiculous.  I managed to pull it off, and in the process discovered an amazing side dish I would be happy to serve anytime.

For the sake of the burger, I figured that if we could make a split pea saute with all the flavour components of the soup, we'd be onto something.  Cooking it risotto style seemed to be the natural approach to ensure that the final product wouldn't sog out the burger - it worked like a charm.  For the burger, we seasoned it at the end with some maple vinegar just to give it a bit of a "relish" characteristic and it was more than welcome.  Risotto is often seasoned with lemon juice, so the maple vinegar wasn't out of line and gave a nice balance to the richness of the dish.  I've included it here as a "to taste" ingredient because I think you'll find that a dash will just bring a lot of the flavours forward.  

pork sweats!

For the pork stock and fat, we were fortunate enough to have sous-vide pork belly around, so as they got used, I periodically raided the bags for their jellified juice and residual fat.  The inclusion of bacon lardons would be a delicious way to impart that pork flavour and provide you with the pork fat  needed to cook with.  Just render them off in the pan first, then take them out and start with your onions.  If you want to make a real nice pork stock, simmer off a couple smoked hocks with some mirepoix - this will also give you some delicious meat to use and the fat cap of the stock is perfect for cooking with.

You will need:

500ml / 2C                 soaked yellow split peas (about 250-300ml / 8.5-10 fl oz dry)

1/2                              white onion, fine dice

5ml / 1tsp                   minced garlic

saute the peas

60ml / 1/4C                pork fat

100ml / 1/3C+4tsp     pork stock

as needed                    water

to taste                        kosher salt

to taste                        black pepper

to taste                        maple vinegar (cider will also work well)

Method:

 - wash the yellow peas well, then soak for 24 hours

 - dice the onion fine and mince the garlic

 - render the bacon lardons if you need the fat

add the stock and be gentle

 - sweat the onion and garlic off in the fat really well

 - drain the water off the peas and add to the pan

 - saute the peas well, then turn the heat down and add the pork stock

 - like making a risotto, add water periodically (just enough to cover) and stir often

 - cook gently for about 30 - 45 minutes, then test the peas

 - if they are almost tender, stop adding water and reduce the mixture down to a risotto consistency

 - season with salt, pepper, and vinegar (if desired)

 - garnish with pork

 - serve

Recipe: The Italian burger

The latest burger in the series took us to Italy.  As yet, this one was by far the sauciest.  For the "patty", we thought it would be fun and appropriate to divide the normal patty into a couple meatballs.  Since we were using rectangular ciabatta buns, two meatballs suited the change in the shape of the sandwich.  The balls just had to be cooked in a sauce, but luckily for us the ciabatta had enough crust to contain the  added moisture.

Sadly, we kind of got rocked with the dinner service that night and in our determination to pull of the burger,  omitted one of our intended elements - thinly shaved and shredded prosciutto.  I'll still include it here because I'm convinced the omission simply meant the difference between a great an a greater burger.  On the happy side, we still had pork represented in the form of pancetta mayonnaise.  This followed the same formula as the brown butter mayonnaise recipe, just using rendered pancetta fat instead.  As stated in that recipe, animal fat mayonnaise is very temperature sensitive - when I spread the pancetta mayo on the toasted ciabatta, it softened right up and got very cozy with the bread.

first the salad

Another main feature of the burger was essentially a complete tomato and bocconcini salad on the bottom bun.  It was only natural - burgers have tomatoes, burgers have cheese, and we already wanted to get bocconcini involved.  To avoid overloading the burger, it was necessary to slice the tomatoes and cheese as thinly as possible.  A drizzle of balsamic reduction completed the picture.  The full breakdown of the burger was as follows:


The Italian Burger:

then the meatballs

 - bun - ciabatta garlic bread
 - patty - meatballs (2)
 - greens - arugula
 - cheeses - smoked provolone (melted onto garlic bread)
                - fiore de latte bocconcini
                - shaved parmesan (on the meatballs)
 - sauces - pancetta mayonnaise (top bun)
               - basil mayonnaise (bottom bun)
               - balsamic glaze
               - oven roasted tomato sauce
 - bacon - shaved and shredded prosciutto
 - garnishes - yellow vine-ripened tomatoes
                   - roasted red peppers

only ciabatta can contain this much juiciness

Recipe: Brown butter mayonnaise ... or bacon mayonnaise ... or ...

Now that we've started to stockpile brown butter from making our croutons, we need more uses for brown butter - we can't just keep making brown butter and beer pie crusts forever - well ... no we better not.

Brown butter mayonnaise definitely ranks up in the decadent category, but that makes cooking fun.  As long as you aren't eating it on every sandwich, I'm sure your doctor will forgive you.  That's why this recipe is calculated down to one egg yolk - it's pretty much the lowest common denominator to make mayonnaise without getting silly and it keeps you from going overboard on the stuff.  What is really neat about this recipe is that it's pretty much adaptable to any of those delicious animal fats that go hard in the fridge - bacon drippings, duck fat, the fat caps on chicken or beef stocks, fat drippings from the Sunday roast (oh, mama yea), the list goes on.  Cooked up a bit of foie gras, you bet save the fat.  The most recent one I made was the drippings from cooking out diced pancetta - I made sure not to add any more salt, but it worked great.

Since these fats tend to go very hard in the fridge, it is necessary to add some vegetable oil and water to keep the mayonnaise soft.  The alternating whisking and cooling stage helps incorporate some air into the mix, which also helps keep it a bit softer when cold.  Keep in mind that since the base fat is very temperature sensitive (unlike vegetable oil), the mayonnaise will be too.  If you keep your fridge extra cold and it comes out a bit firm, give it a moment to temper up.  If you accidentally leave it out too long, it may go a bit loose on you - just repeat the cooling and whisking step to bring it back. 

You will need:

125ml / 1/2C             brown butter (melted but not warm)

100ml / 3.4 fl oz        grapeseed oil (or other vegetable oil)
45ml / 3Tbs               water

2                                large egg yolks

5ml / 1tsp                  Dijon mustard

5ml / 1tsp                  lemon juice (or vinegar of your choice)

1/2 pinch                   cayenne

to taste                       kosher salt

Method:

 - melt the brown butter then let it cool to just above room temperature

 - separate the yolks and put it in a small bowl with the mustard

 - whisk the egg and mustard together well

 - add the lemon juice, water and cayenne and whisk

 - while whisking, slowly drizzle in the brown butter

 - drizzle in the vegetable oil

 - season with kosher salt

 - place the bowl in the fridge to cool for five minutes

 - whisk the mayonnaise again and return to the fridge

 - periodically whisk and refrigerate until the mayonnaise is completely cool and has a soft consistency

 - keep in the fridge until use

Recipe: The Asian Supernation burger

"in Rand-Mcnally, hamburgers eat people" - Lisa Simpson

This burger was a knockout!  The name came around as we were brainstorming - Dan and I started by wanting to utilize a Korean barbeque marinate on the patty and soon found that there was no way we could limit ourselves to just Korea with an Asian themed burger.  To omit Japanese mayonnaise alone just seemed wrong.  Once we widened the parameters of the burger, it was clear that it would evolve into an unstoppable force of flavour - the Asian Supernation!  Does this mean that there's a European Union burger coming?  Maybe, not yet, but it might be necessary to compete with this.

This burger also gave rise to the culinary maraca - the puffed rice won-ton - a beast so dangerous it warranted its own post.  We wanted some real crunch to compete with the Nacho burger - I had prepared some puffed rice and we were toying with the idea of including a single fried won-ton wrapper inside the burger.  Then I thought about locking in the rice between two wrappers - would it work?  If it did, it would be a one-two punch of crunch.  I actually did a test run the day before we made the burgers.  I thought it was going to burst the way it inflated upon frying, but it held strong.  Once in the burger, it added a ridiculous height element to the equation, but that made it so that in order to eat the burger, you had to press down on the top bun until the won-ton broke.  Kind of like a starter's pistol signalling that it was time to eat.  Here's how it all finally came together.


The Asian Supernation burger:

 - bun - standard white sesame
 - patty - Korean barbeque marinate
 - greens - shredded nori
 - relish - kimchee
 - sauces - Sriracha aoli
               - Japanese mayo
 - garnishes - teriyaki marinated and grilled pineapple
                   - Chinese style barbeque pork
                   - togarashi puffed rice won-ton
                   - sauteed hon shimeji mushrooms