Burger Pix!
...And now, a "Hot From The Kettle" report on Pals' Cabin burgers! (More than you probably need to know...)
-s.
-s.
May 14, 2011 at 11:07am Edited
Do you like Big Macs? I do... so here's a big tip o' the hat to "A Hamburger Today", my favorite burger site, for deconstructing & then reconstructing one of my fave fast-food sammiches. (They've even provided a recipe!!!):
http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/05/the-burger-lab-building-a-better-big-mac.html
Enjoy.
-s.
http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/05/the-burger-lab-building-a-better-big-mac.html
Enjoy.
-s.
Jun 7, 2011 at 2:09pm Edited
I'm sort of a fan of the star-chefs (Grant Achatz, et al) who have injected cool chemical and esoteric physical transformations into gastronomy. But reinvent the **burger**??? Overthink, IMHO...
Oh well, here's an article from today's NYT:
"June 6, 2011
Could Liquid Nitrogen Help Build Tasty Burgers?
By JOHN TIERNEY
The World Science Festival this past week was another triumph of cultural cross-pollination, but Im afraid there was one missed opportunity to bring art and science together. If only someone had thought to put Daniel Boulud and Nathan Myhrvold on the same stage, we could have considered the ultimate interdisciplinary question: Can science create a better burger?
While scientists were convening at festival events all over New York City, Mr. Boulud, the famed French chef, and fellow foodies were participating in a separate symposium on Friday with a wonderfully grandiose title, The State of the Hamburger. The symposium, sponsored by Esquire magazine, was held to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the introduction of Mr. Bouluds hamburger, which the food experts dated as the beginning of the international burger renaissance.
That delicacy, oddly enough, was the indirect result of the anti-burger movement a decade ago in France, where protesters became national heroes by ransacking a McDonalds. During that controversy, when I asked French chefs in New York what they thought of hamburgers, Mr. Boulud called them the worlds most successful snack and said the French were just jealous.
The French wish they could have invented McDonalds, he said, and added, as an afterthought, that hed always wanted to invent an adult burger himself. Then he invited me and my wife to his kitchen to watch him create one combining Wyoming beef, black truffles and Colorado short ribs braised in red wine.
Ill call it the D B Burger, Mr. Boulud told me as we scarfed the first ones in his kitchen. Maybe well open a drive-in window and sell it in a bag. He was kidding about the bag but not, as it turned out, about the burger, which has become the $32 signature dish of his DB bistros and inspired haute-priced rivals around the world.
So far, though, restaurant chefs havent embraced the scientific techniques developed by Dr. Myhrvold. He is the former chief technology officer for Microsoft and the author, with a team of collaborators, of Modernist Cuisine, the new six-volume tome on technologically enhanced cooking. To build a better burger, he told me, you must understand its fundamental appeal.
First, you have to consider the basic physics of sandwiches, Dr. Myhrvold said. When you bite down into it and pull it away from your mouth, you cant have the center pull out from the sandwich. The meat has to be really tender. Youve got to do violence to it, either by slicing it really thin, like a roast beef sandwich, or grinding it to make a sausage.
The hamburger makes an ideal sausage, he said, because the meat flavor isnt diluted by the curing salts used in hot dogs, and beef is more tender than pork because it has lower levels of myosin, the protein found in muscles. But theres still enough myosin so that when the proteins are heated, they bond to create a gel that holds the patty together without the need for a casing.
The result is a cooked meat thats less rubbery than other sausages and has a fresh-cooked taste that cant be matched by cold cuts or reheated meats. It succulently exploits the Maillard reaction, named after a 20th-century Frenchman who explained the chemistry of browning meat and other foods.
When the beef patty hits the hot grill, the water at the lower surface quickly boils away, producing a very thin, dry crust, actually a transparent gel, called the desiccation zone. Immediately above is the Maillard zone, where heat causes reactions among sugars and proteins that turn the meat brown, yielding molecules with an intrinsically appealing flavor at least to most humans.
Most animals are afraid of fire, but we love to stare into it and smell cooking meat, Dr. Myhrvold said. The Maillard reactions are especially intense in hamburgers because a flat patty has a high ratio of surface area to volume.
Our affection for those Maillard flavors near the surface may be a cultural heritage from our cattle-herding ancestors, and also perhaps an inheritance from hunter-gatherers. The anthropologist Richard Wrangham has hypothesized that cooking was essential to the brains evolution, because cooked food required less energy to digest, thereby providing our ancestors with a fuel-efficient way to power a large brain.
The burgers immediate evolutionary antecedents were the 18th-century Hamburg steaks of the German port city whose name was applied to various ground-beef sandwiches sold in the United States at restaurants and fairs in the 19th century. Although these sandwiches were called hamburgers, they didnt have all the quintessential elements, according to Josh Ozersky, the author of The Hamburger: A History.
He credits Walter Anderson with creating the hamburger at a restaurant in Wichita, Kan., in 1916, which turned into the first White Castle eatery five years later. Mr. Andersons crucial innovations were to use a specialized bun (instead of bread slices), to cook the meat on a very hot grill (500 degrees Fahrenheit), and to press down on the patty with a customized spatula made of high-strength steel.
Those breakthroughs assured global domination, in Mr. Ozerskys view. There is an inevitability to the hamburger, he said. It is the most concentrated and convenient way a person can cheaply eat everything that people like about beef. Dr. Myhrvold agrees that the technological breakthroughs at White Castle were crucial.
Pressing down with the spatula counteracts the tendency of the burger to lift off the grill due to the steam escaping from the bottom, Dr. Myhrvold said. When you press it against a very hot surface, you maximize the Maillard reaction. The great challenge in a burger is to create the Maillard flavors on the outside while keeping the inside fairly pink. Gray meat is tasteless and tough because youve broken down the proteins without breaking down the collagen.
Dr. Myhrvolds solution to this challenge is a twofold process developed by the Modernist Cuisine laboratory team. First, put the beef patty in a plastic bag and cook it sous vide immersed in warm water for about half an hour until the core temperature reaches about 130 degrees. Next, dip the patty in liquid nitrogen for 30 seconds to freeze the outer millimeter of the meat, and then deep-fry in 450-degree oil for one minute.
The freezing followed by the burst of high heat lets you brown the outside without overcooking the inside, Dr. Myhrvold said. And the deep-frying is supposed to be a technological improvement over the classic White Castle spatula-on-a-griddle technique.
On a griddle, he explained, even when you press a burger with a spatula, you cant make all of it contact the surface because the edge of the burger is crenellated, with all these nooks and crannies formed by the cylinders of raw meat. But if you put it in hot fat, that fat penetrates and you get a super-thin layer of crispy Maillard browning all the way around those meat fibers.
This laboratory innovation elicited a tactfully noncommittal response from Mr. Boulud on Friday at the State of the Hamburger symposium. Its very interesting, the nitrogen freezing, the chef said, but he wondered if it would be either practical or tasty.
Well, thats just the kind of experiment to try at the next World Science Festival: a cook-off between Mr. Boulud and Dr. Myhrvold. The DB Burger versus Nathans Nitrogen Burger. May the better Maillard win!"
Do you think the Nitro-Burger's got a future?
-s.
Oh well, here's an article from today's NYT:
"June 6, 2011
Could Liquid Nitrogen Help Build Tasty Burgers?
By JOHN TIERNEY
The World Science Festival this past week was another triumph of cultural cross-pollination, but Im afraid there was one missed opportunity to bring art and science together. If only someone had thought to put Daniel Boulud and Nathan Myhrvold on the same stage, we could have considered the ultimate interdisciplinary question: Can science create a better burger?
While scientists were convening at festival events all over New York City, Mr. Boulud, the famed French chef, and fellow foodies were participating in a separate symposium on Friday with a wonderfully grandiose title, The State of the Hamburger. The symposium, sponsored by Esquire magazine, was held to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the introduction of Mr. Bouluds hamburger, which the food experts dated as the beginning of the international burger renaissance.
That delicacy, oddly enough, was the indirect result of the anti-burger movement a decade ago in France, where protesters became national heroes by ransacking a McDonalds. During that controversy, when I asked French chefs in New York what they thought of hamburgers, Mr. Boulud called them the worlds most successful snack and said the French were just jealous.
The French wish they could have invented McDonalds, he said, and added, as an afterthought, that hed always wanted to invent an adult burger himself. Then he invited me and my wife to his kitchen to watch him create one combining Wyoming beef, black truffles and Colorado short ribs braised in red wine.
Ill call it the D B Burger, Mr. Boulud told me as we scarfed the first ones in his kitchen. Maybe well open a drive-in window and sell it in a bag. He was kidding about the bag but not, as it turned out, about the burger, which has become the $32 signature dish of his DB bistros and inspired haute-priced rivals around the world.
So far, though, restaurant chefs havent embraced the scientific techniques developed by Dr. Myhrvold. He is the former chief technology officer for Microsoft and the author, with a team of collaborators, of Modernist Cuisine, the new six-volume tome on technologically enhanced cooking. To build a better burger, he told me, you must understand its fundamental appeal.
First, you have to consider the basic physics of sandwiches, Dr. Myhrvold said. When you bite down into it and pull it away from your mouth, you cant have the center pull out from the sandwich. The meat has to be really tender. Youve got to do violence to it, either by slicing it really thin, like a roast beef sandwich, or grinding it to make a sausage.
The hamburger makes an ideal sausage, he said, because the meat flavor isnt diluted by the curing salts used in hot dogs, and beef is more tender than pork because it has lower levels of myosin, the protein found in muscles. But theres still enough myosin so that when the proteins are heated, they bond to create a gel that holds the patty together without the need for a casing.
The result is a cooked meat thats less rubbery than other sausages and has a fresh-cooked taste that cant be matched by cold cuts or reheated meats. It succulently exploits the Maillard reaction, named after a 20th-century Frenchman who explained the chemistry of browning meat and other foods.
When the beef patty hits the hot grill, the water at the lower surface quickly boils away, producing a very thin, dry crust, actually a transparent gel, called the desiccation zone. Immediately above is the Maillard zone, where heat causes reactions among sugars and proteins that turn the meat brown, yielding molecules with an intrinsically appealing flavor at least to most humans.
Most animals are afraid of fire, but we love to stare into it and smell cooking meat, Dr. Myhrvold said. The Maillard reactions are especially intense in hamburgers because a flat patty has a high ratio of surface area to volume.
Our affection for those Maillard flavors near the surface may be a cultural heritage from our cattle-herding ancestors, and also perhaps an inheritance from hunter-gatherers. The anthropologist Richard Wrangham has hypothesized that cooking was essential to the brains evolution, because cooked food required less energy to digest, thereby providing our ancestors with a fuel-efficient way to power a large brain.
The burgers immediate evolutionary antecedents were the 18th-century Hamburg steaks of the German port city whose name was applied to various ground-beef sandwiches sold in the United States at restaurants and fairs in the 19th century. Although these sandwiches were called hamburgers, they didnt have all the quintessential elements, according to Josh Ozersky, the author of The Hamburger: A History.
He credits Walter Anderson with creating the hamburger at a restaurant in Wichita, Kan., in 1916, which turned into the first White Castle eatery five years later. Mr. Andersons crucial innovations were to use a specialized bun (instead of bread slices), to cook the meat on a very hot grill (500 degrees Fahrenheit), and to press down on the patty with a customized spatula made of high-strength steel.
Those breakthroughs assured global domination, in Mr. Ozerskys view. There is an inevitability to the hamburger, he said. It is the most concentrated and convenient way a person can cheaply eat everything that people like about beef. Dr. Myhrvold agrees that the technological breakthroughs at White Castle were crucial.
Pressing down with the spatula counteracts the tendency of the burger to lift off the grill due to the steam escaping from the bottom, Dr. Myhrvold said. When you press it against a very hot surface, you maximize the Maillard reaction. The great challenge in a burger is to create the Maillard flavors on the outside while keeping the inside fairly pink. Gray meat is tasteless and tough because youve broken down the proteins without breaking down the collagen.
Dr. Myhrvolds solution to this challenge is a twofold process developed by the Modernist Cuisine laboratory team. First, put the beef patty in a plastic bag and cook it sous vide immersed in warm water for about half an hour until the core temperature reaches about 130 degrees. Next, dip the patty in liquid nitrogen for 30 seconds to freeze the outer millimeter of the meat, and then deep-fry in 450-degree oil for one minute.
The freezing followed by the burst of high heat lets you brown the outside without overcooking the inside, Dr. Myhrvold said. And the deep-frying is supposed to be a technological improvement over the classic White Castle spatula-on-a-griddle technique.
On a griddle, he explained, even when you press a burger with a spatula, you cant make all of it contact the surface because the edge of the burger is crenellated, with all these nooks and crannies formed by the cylinders of raw meat. But if you put it in hot fat, that fat penetrates and you get a super-thin layer of crispy Maillard browning all the way around those meat fibers.
This laboratory innovation elicited a tactfully noncommittal response from Mr. Boulud on Friday at the State of the Hamburger symposium. Its very interesting, the nitrogen freezing, the chef said, but he wondered if it would be either practical or tasty.
Well, thats just the kind of experiment to try at the next World Science Festival: a cook-off between Mr. Boulud and Dr. Myhrvold. The DB Burger versus Nathans Nitrogen Burger. May the better Maillard win!"
Do you think the Nitro-Burger's got a future?
-s.
Jan 16, 2012 at 5:57pm Edited
Those who care may have heard about a semi-recreation of Don's Drive-In (of South Orange Avenue in Livingston) in Morristown. Here's the latest update from the new management:
"Hi Everyone, I'm sorry it has taken so long to give everybody an update as well as get this restaurant open!! But here goes: We have been working steadfastly to get this restaurant open in as expeditiously as possible since we started in March. The initial party supervising the construction did not share our sense of urgency and we subsequently lost some time there. The majority of the delay has just been by trying to do it right. To begin with I knew Don for thirty years and out of respect to him as a person, what he gave of himself and all of your passion for Don's I felt an immense responsibility (and a little pressure
to do as good a job as possible. When Don and I began discussing this project we both shared the same vision which was to bring Don's back in simplified manner (similar to what it was when it first opened) but an updated version. We have worked hard at marrying this updated interpretation while integrating a lot of nostalgia. The restaurant is going to be a fast casual in concept. You will walk in order, take a table and the food will be brought to you. This has may advantages. First the service is much quicker and you receive basically the same service as full service without the obligation of additional cost off a tip. The menu is straight forward. All of the burgers are off of Don's original menu except the Double Cheeseburger Surprise (Don said it took to long to cook) which has been replaced by a double patty triple cheese burger. The burger will also be slightly larger than Don's (6oz). Don wanted it that way. We will also have Don's original hot dog and such favorites as the Broadway and the Orange Freeze. Oh not to forget the onion rings, we have them down to a T. We have also made some enhancements to the original Don's. Don actually was never happy with his french fries. He thought that McDonalds had the best fries and especially liked their size. He actually wanted to do fresh cut fries but couldn't get it right. We did and that's what we will be serving. Thin fresh cut fries. We have also upgraded the Veggie burger. The veggie burger is freshly made in house and I promise you will love it. A couple of other fun additions are our fry dipping sauces, Wasabi Mayo, Mango Chutney, Parmesan Peppercorn, Roasted Garlic and Chipotle Lime Mayo. We have also added a couple of killer shakes a Blueberry Cheesecake and a S'mores. The meat is dry aged certified angus which is freshly ground with Don's exact recipe. We have been very fortunate to have the assistance of Mario DeCaldas (a former Chef of Don's) and Jeff Vandermiren (A former manager) in recreating Don's recipes. Oh yea the pizza burger is dead on also In closing a large part of Don's was Don himself. As we all know Don is no longer with us and putting the restaurant aside the world has lost a wonderful human being who I have never heard so many nice things about. We hope everyone will be able to come to understand that this is not an attempt to recreate the original Don's. That would already be impossible without Don announcing "Schwartz party of 4" Our goal (both Don's and mine) was to bring back the great food and spirit of Don's. We have worked hard at achieving that and hope that you feel we reached our goal. In terms of opening, we received the majority of our approvals from the town and our first food order Saturday. We will be training our staff over the next couple of weeks. As soon as we have a date that we can confidently commit to we I let you know. Once again thank you all for your patience and enthusiasm.
Mike Chutko"
You're welcome.
-s.
"Hi Everyone, I'm sorry it has taken so long to give everybody an update as well as get this restaurant open!! But here goes: We have been working steadfastly to get this restaurant open in as expeditiously as possible since we started in March. The initial party supervising the construction did not share our sense of urgency and we subsequently lost some time there. The majority of the delay has just been by trying to do it right. To begin with I knew Don for thirty years and out of respect to him as a person, what he gave of himself and all of your passion for Don's I felt an immense responsibility (and a little pressure
to do as good a job as possible. When Don and I began discussing this project we both shared the same vision which was to bring Don's back in simplified manner (similar to what it was when it first opened) but an updated version. We have worked hard at marrying this updated interpretation while integrating a lot of nostalgia. The restaurant is going to be a fast casual in concept. You will walk in order, take a table and the food will be brought to you. This has may advantages. First the service is much quicker and you receive basically the same service as full service without the obligation of additional cost off a tip. The menu is straight forward. All of the burgers are off of Don's original menu except the Double Cheeseburger Surprise (Don said it took to long to cook) which has been replaced by a double patty triple cheese burger. The burger will also be slightly larger than Don's (6oz). Don wanted it that way. We will also have Don's original hot dog and such favorites as the Broadway and the Orange Freeze. Oh not to forget the onion rings, we have them down to a T. We have also made some enhancements to the original Don's. Don actually was never happy with his french fries. He thought that McDonalds had the best fries and especially liked their size. He actually wanted to do fresh cut fries but couldn't get it right. We did and that's what we will be serving. Thin fresh cut fries. We have also upgraded the Veggie burger. The veggie burger is freshly made in house and I promise you will love it. A couple of other fun additions are our fry dipping sauces, Wasabi Mayo, Mango Chutney, Parmesan Peppercorn, Roasted Garlic and Chipotle Lime Mayo. We have also added a couple of killer shakes a Blueberry Cheesecake and a S'mores. The meat is dry aged certified angus which is freshly ground with Don's exact recipe. We have been very fortunate to have the assistance of Mario DeCaldas (a former Chef of Don's) and Jeff Vandermiren (A former manager) in recreating Don's recipes. Oh yea the pizza burger is dead on also In closing a large part of Don's was Don himself. As we all know Don is no longer with us and putting the restaurant aside the world has lost a wonderful human being who I have never heard so many nice things about. We hope everyone will be able to come to understand that this is not an attempt to recreate the original Don's. That would already be impossible without Don announcing "Schwartz party of 4" Our goal (both Don's and mine) was to bring back the great food and spirit of Don's. We have worked hard at achieving that and hope that you feel we reached our goal. In terms of opening, we received the majority of our approvals from the town and our first food order Saturday. We will be training our staff over the next couple of weeks. As soon as we have a date that we can confidently commit to we I let you know. Once again thank you all for your patience and enthusiasm. Mike Chutko"
You're welcome.
-s.
I hope your not planning on imitating Don's too a tee. They used to reconstitute the coleslaw and other condiments for the next customer. Eww :0&
....and now I know there's such a thing as National Hamburger Month.
RF O'Sullivan's - Somerville, MA
RF O'Sullivan's - Somerville, MA
May 14, 2012 at 7:40am Edited
The Laurel has a $14 burger, but I'm waiting to try it until somebody with deeper pockets than mine posts a pic of it here.
-s.
BTW: Pal's has a big anniversary coming up this weekend, with cheapo prices on mushroom soup & such... Here's their burger:
-s.
BTW: Pal's has a big anniversary coming up this weekend, with cheapo prices on mushroom soup & such... Here's their burger:
For Nat'l Hamburger Month, The Palm is offering a Monday lunch special - $8.37 for a burger and fries (yes, the regular menu burger selections). Just go to a location that doesn't post the calorie counts and you'll be fine.
FWIW, I have heard that Pal's is closing, to be replaced by a large CVS.soda said:
Pal's has a big anniversary coming up this weekend, with cheapo prices on mushroom soup & such... Here's their burger:
May 16, 2012 at 4:34pm Edited
Really?! So this big anniversary hoopla is just a sentimental last hurrah/swan song? If true, wow.
OTOH, the only thing I'd really miss if Pal's closed would be the Grilled Redwood sandwiches, which I consider a far bigger contribution to local cuisine than their much-vaunted mushroom soup...
THEREFOR: I insist that Laura, or Sean, or Steve, or (better yet) Tony immediately start working on adding this most excellent menu item to your bill-o'-fare. I promise to offer my services as taste consultant in order to assure that you get it "right".
-s.
OTOH, the only thing I'd really miss if Pal's closed would be the Grilled Redwood sandwiches, which I consider a far bigger contribution to local cuisine than their much-vaunted mushroom soup...
THEREFOR: I insist that Laura, or Sean, or Steve, or (better yet) Tony immediately start working on adding this most excellent menu item to your bill-o'-fare. I promise to offer my services as taste consultant in order to assure that you get it "right".
-s.
Jun 4, 2012 at 3:06pm Edited
Tom, don't do it, don't you dare do it.......can't....help......myself.....
NOW THAT'S PRETENTIOUS
NOW THAT'S PRETENTIOUS
Here's Julia's take on a burger, assisted by David Letterman. Enjoy...
-s.
-s.
Aug 17, 2012 at 3:13pm Edited
Here's the burger platter served at The Laurel in Maplewood. (Thanks to a benificent patron, I've tried it...) The photo is lifted from a glowing NYT review published 8/19.
-s.
-s.
I am still dreaming about the burgers from the long closed 'Olivers' on 57th Street. Amongst their specialties:
AMERICAN with Cheddar Cheese
FRENCH with Sauce Bernaise
AUSSIE with soft fried onions and a fried egg
RUSSIAN with sour cream and 'caviar' (sounds odd, but it was a really cool combination)
French & Russian were the best.
AMERICAN with Cheddar Cheese
FRENCH with Sauce Bernaise
AUSSIE with soft fried onions and a fried egg
RUSSIAN with sour cream and 'caviar' (sounds odd, but it was a really cool combination)
French & Russian were the best.
Oct 5, 2012 at 10:52am Edited
For the record, some of the best in the business have weighed in on "cheese on burgers"...
And concluded that American Cheese is their unanimous favorite.
Anyone disagree?
-s.
And concluded that American Cheese is their unanimous favorite.
Anyone disagree?
-s.
soda said:
For the record, some of the best in the business have weighed in on "cheese on burgers"...
And concluded that American Cheese is their unanimous favorite.
Anyone disagree?
-s.
You mean American "Cheese" aka "Pasteurized Processed Cheese Food?" I'll take Cheddar or Bleu, thankey.
White Mana, double cheeseburger, fried onions, on a hard roll, extra pickles today on Rt 1 & 9. Straight from the 1939 Worlds Fair.
Dec 19, 2012 at 4:03am Edited
How do you feel about (A) is it ketchup or catsup?, and (2) yea or nay: Is ketchup a required addition for you to enjoy a hamburger or would you rather save it for the fries?
-s.
BTW: http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/01/the-case-against-ketchup.html?ref=obinsite
-s.
BTW: http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/01/the-case-against-ketchup.html?ref=obinsite
I prefer a sharp cheddar as my cheese of choice.
I thought the Laurel burger had an egg on it?
I thought the Laurel burger had an egg on it?
1) Ketchup - it's closer to the original source word - kê-chiap (鮭汁, Mandarin guī zhī)
B) Yes - a required ingredient for a proper boigah and for the frites too.
B) Yes - a required ingredient for a proper boigah and for the frites too.
In order to add a comment – you must Join this community – Click here to do so.
librarylady