The Pub Burger

I didn't post anything about it yet, but I made burgers two weeks ago. It was my first foray into the burger making world. I didn't want to half ass it, so I didn't start until I had my own meat grinder. I previously made burgers in the style of an In and Out Double Double Animal Style. This time I tried the recent Cook's Illustrated Pub Burger. I documented the process quite well, so pictures before the recipe. 

Chopped Sirloin

Ready to grind

Grinding begins.

Freshly ground beef

Butter the beef

1/2 lb Patties 

Grilling - in a cast iron pan on the grill

2 min per side

5 min in the oven

The treasure

Inside

The Pub Burger

Makes 2 burgers

Ingredients

2 good hamburger buns 

1 lb petit sirloin 

2 tbsp butter

6 strips peppered bacon

2 oz good cheese (I used beechers flagship)

1 tbsp vegetable oil

salt

pepper

Pub Style Burger Sauce

     3/4 cup mayo

     2 tbsp soy sauce

     1 tbsp worcestire sauce

     1 tbsp brown sugar

     1 tbsp chopped chives

     1 tsp ground pepper

     1 clove garlic, minced

Directions

Cut the meat into 1/2 inch cubes trimming away large chunks of fat.

Lay out the chopped meat and place in freezer until slightly hard but not totally frozen.  About 40 minutes.

Also put the kitchen aid attachment in the freezer for at least 15 minutes.

Grind away using the coarse option.  Melt the buter in the mean time.

Spread out the ground beef and drizzle the butter throughout, add some pepper as well. 

Form into 2 meatballs and press out patties from there. Be careful to not overwork the meat.

If you aren't ready to eat, the patties can be stored for no more than a day.

Whip up the sauce (literally, just combine everything), make the bacon, and grate the cheese)

Preheat your over for 300.

Put the oil in the pan and kick the heat up to high. Season both sides of the burger with healthy amounts of salt and pepper while you wait for the oil to be just smoking.

Cook the burgers for 2 minutes without moving it. Flip and then cook on the other side for another 2 minutes.

Now, take the burger and put it on a baking sheet. Add the cheese and stick it in the oven for 5 minutes.

Take it out and let it rest for 5 minutes*. 

Add the sauce and bacon to the bun while you wait. 

Dish it up.

Sadly I trusted my shitty thermometer and not the recipe... I left it in the oven for a little longer and it ended up a bit, but not badly, overcooked. 

I have one more shot at making it medium rare and will post another picture if I do.

Still, so juicy and full of flavor. A true champ of a burger.

* After being very precise with 5 minutes of baking the second time around, the burger come out slightly pink and closer to the upper side of medium than medium rare... those seeking a medium rare burger should put it in for only 3 minutes. 6 will get you medium well. 

Mango Habanero Chicken Burgers

Computers were dying and memory cards were disappearing, but delicious things were certainly being cooked. Specifically, fiery and fruity yet healthy chicken burgers.

The recipe was pulled from here, but changed in one notable way... adding habaneros to really add the kick it needs.

1 lb (99% lean) ground chicken
1/4 cup greek yogurt
1 freshly chopped mango, chopped
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
1/3 cup red onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped
2 tsp jerk seasoning
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 habaneros, chopped
Zest of 1 lime

It's all quite simple. Mix everything except the chicken together.

Now fold the chicken in with the mixture being careful to not over mix it (thus making the chicken tough). Form into 4 normal sized burgers or 3 gigantic burgers (not the best idea).

Additionally, cooking them is quite easy. Do it in a pan. Do it with butter or vegetable oil.

Serve it with some normal burger toppings. It is phenomenal with an excellent kick. Freeze extras if you please. I haven't dethawed my extra, but the original recipe says they are fantastic on the reheat.

Van's Burgers Returns

There is not a lot on my calendar these days. The one thing that had been there for quite a long time, however, was the reopening of Van's Burgers. Van's Burgers is a number of things that I will describe below.

1. Open for only half the year. They open in April and close in October. 

2. Only open 3 days a week (Thursday-Saturday). They recently expanded their hours to be open from 11-7. It used to be 2.5 hours for lunch and 2.5 for dinner.

3.  A box shaped cart that's no bigger than my parents' tool shed in the middle of nowhere (in between a farm and a golf course).

4. A drive through in which you can expect to spend a significant amount of time in line.

5. Without question, the best fast food style burger in the Olympia area. Probably the best in all of Washington. 

I arrived on opening day at a few minutes after 2 P.M. While I wasn't naive enough to believe that there would be no line, I thought the lunch rush would have died down a bit. I pulled in and there were 11 cars in front of me. I stopped at the relatively new Vans Sweet Spot (another cart that you pass by in line on your way up to the burger cart - they've been open since last year, Van's itself has been open for 12 years) and got a peanut butter and hot fudge milkshake. Thick, chocolaty, an filled with real peanut chunks. It was divine. 

40 minutes from my arrival I finally made it up the line and ordered. Their signature Big Pete Double is fantastic and I've had it multiple times. With that in mind I decided to go for the everything... Big Pete with grilled onions, bacon, and a fried egg. The total cost was about $10 and it lived up to all my expectations. I also didn't need dinner. A truly fantastic experience. 

My Life in Burgers: 1st Quarter 2011

I would like to present the roster of all the burgers I ate in the first quarter of this year. They are in no particular order and include the establishment, location, and one sentence description. Click on the link to check out the yelp review or blog post associated with it. You can also check out my burger list on Yelp that just hit the 50 burger mark.

Dexter's Drive In - Gig Harbor, WA

Over-sauced and under-seasoned.

Water Street Cafe - Olympia, WA

Wonderfully flavorful and juicy with too much bun.

Tugboat Annies - Olympia, WA

Overcooked beef with a plethora of other good things.

Six Olives Lounge - Tacoma, WA

Expensive and upside down.

Cascadia Grill - Olympia, WA

Strange soggy veggies and unmelted cheese.

Ranch House BBQ - Olympia, WA

Dried out and bland.

Hop Jacks - Lacey, WA

Strangely constructed and in need of better beef.

The Burger Express - Federal Way, WA

A large boring patty surrounded by a wealth of other quality items.

Crown Bar - Tacoma, WA

Excellent ingredients, just needs more of them.

Asado - Tacoma, WA

Best of the quarter. Chorizo and Beef blend that's perfectly seasoned and juicy.

Ed's Sunset Grill - Tenino, WA

Worst of the Quarter. Cash and Carry Burger.

The Spar - Tacoma, WA

Excellent burger in need of more veggies.

McDonalds - Olympia, WA

It was 10:35... Why not?

Gilt Club - Portland, OR

Twenty Six Dollar Burger.

Pick Quick - Fife, WA

Thin juicy patties packed with flavor.

The Mc10:35

Behold: The Mc10:35!

A combo of a McDouble and an Egg McMuffin. As the two items come from regular and breakfast menu there are only a few minutes in every day that they overlap and this beast can be created (one cannot simply order a Mc10:35... you have to build it).

A miracle of timing?

Completely unnecessary? 

Pretty good considering it's McDonalds we're talking about? 

I would say it's all of the above... 

I ate a $27 burger

Yes, I ate a $27 burger. Having a $30 groupon made it a little easier to accept, but it was still outrageous. The price was appropriately equally as absurd as the burger and its list of toppings.

The Neil Everett (kitchen sink) Burger from Gilt Club in Portland, OR.

This burger contains: Sesame Seed bun, fries, onion ring, bacon, foie gras, gouda, fried egg, delicious medium patty of painted hills beef, lettuce, a mystery spiced meat, and sauce. 

I attempted, rather unsuccessfully, to cut it in half to see it from the inside. 

Would I order it again? No.

Was it absolutely worth having once? Hell yes.

Washington's Best Burger?

Last week I made my first trip to Pick Quick in Fife for the 2011 season. It was phenomenal as expected.

Last year they were declared by USA today to be the best burger in Washington.

I wrote about it here.

Superbowl Cheeseburger Dip

It was superbowl. Is there a better day for consuming a dip meant to emulate the taste of a cheeseburger? I was so confident the answer was "no" that I made this dip twice... at two different parties. 

The original recipe came from Burger Lab awesome guy J. Kenji Lopez-Alt and can be found here. Unless it's a real large gathering, I would suggest halving the recipe. 

1 poblano chile (I used an anaheim as the store was out of poblanos)

1/2 lb block of American Cheese from the deli

1/2 lb sharp cheddar cheese

2 tsp cornstarch

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 lb fresh ground beef

Salt

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 cup canned diced tomatoes, drained

5 oz evaporated milk

1 tbsp Franks Hot Sauce

2 tbsp shredded cilantro

To kick it off, take the chile and roast it over the flame of your gas burner. Use an oven on broil if you don't have a gas stove. Totally blacken it and then let it chill out for 5 minutes. Run some cold water over it and get rid of all the blackened skin, the stem, and the seeds. Chop it up finely.

Cut both the cheeses into 1/2 inch cubes. Combine them with the cornstarch in a bowl / bag until they are evenly coated.

Heat up the oil in a saucepan on med-high. Make sure it's good and hot, then add the ground beef and cook it until the pink is gone. Add the cumin and red pepper, stir it together for 30 seconds or so. 

Add the tomatoes, chiles, and milk now. Stir it up and bring it to a boil. 

Turn the heat down to low and add the cornstarchy cheese. Stir constantly until it's melted. Add the hot sauce and cilantro. Serve it up immediately. 

Sofrito So-failure

Sofrito Burger from Cascadia Grill.

Overcooked burger loaded with strangely sauteed toppings.

Bacon Cheeseburger from The Spar (Tacoma, WA)

Juicy, saucy, cheesy, tasty.

One very choice burger.