I’ve been spending too much time making the best burger or a perfect roast chicken.  Maybe I should just chill out and not worry about a 450 pixel well lit piece of food porn.  I’ll take a couple of red onions and slice them about an eight of an inch thick.  Let ‘em cool out in a buttermilk bath.  Thirty minutes to remove all those harsh compounds that distract me from how sweet an onion is.

To a big scoop of flour, and a teaspoon of baking powder I’ll add just enough Bud from a can for a loose batter.  And I’ll bring a few cups of peanut oil to 375° on the stove.  With a light thin coating these beauties would crisp up quick.  The onions inside would wilt, then brown in no time.  I’d be left with mild onion and chewy caramel encased in a light crunch — finished simply with a little salt.

I’ll generously top a burger with the results if I haven’t devoured each batch the second they’re cool.  I’ll greedily dip them into homemade ketchup spiked with adobo from a chipotle chili can.  I’ll drink another Bud.

This is how I’ll cook tonight.  This will be fun.

Extreme Funion Close-up

I’m beginning to wonder if burger joints are like condominiums percolating upwards in what will amount to a great burger bubble.  Five guys and Elevation burger were early adapters as Hell burger in Arlington and others continue to join an increasingly competitive environment.  I’m all for open markets and capitalism but the growth of the burger movement doesn’t come without opportunity cost.  While I can’t deny the utility derived from devouring well crafted bliss on a bun,  burger joints rob me of the subtle carnal pleasures I realize when grilling my own.

Home aficionados and the food  literature that fuels them devote serious effort debating the best sources for meat and other ingredients.  But for me the best burger is an act in simplicity and anyone can conjure burger perfection with  little effort.   Fresh ground beef, salt and pepper, a good bun, and proper technique are all you need to achieve a state of burger perfection I like to call Bovinity.

Read on for tips that will help you achieve your own burger Zen

Burgers on the Grill

Tips

1. Use 80/20 Beef. I know a few people think it’s excessively fatty, but fat assures juicy results.
2. Stay Cool. Keep your beef in the fridge until you’re ready to work. Subtle heat will cause fat in the meat to soften. If the slightly warmed meat is then overworked or mixed, you’ll end up with a dense, homogeneous texture.  Work on a sheet pan you can easily return to the fridge and chill your hands in ice water before you begin. If you’ve formed your patties but aren’t yet ready to grill, promptly return them to the fridge.
3. Aggressively season. 2 teaspoons kosher salt per pound of beef may look like a lot, but it will help draw out all that beefy flavor.  Go heavy on the pepper too.
4. Keep it loose. Gingerly break the meat apart onto your sheet pan to expose as much surface area as possible. With the meat spread out, you’ll be able to season liberally without having to mash or mix the ground beef. Applying as little force as possible, gently form the patties. A loose pack gives the burger a light airy texture and allows fat to drain from the meat as it cooks.
5. Don’t go too big.  Just big enough to allow a good crust to build on the exterior while the center stays pink.  6 ounces is a perfect size for me.    Each patty should be 3/4 inch thick and slightly larger than the diameter of your bun.
6. Use a scale.  Or any method you can come up with to assure consistency.  If all your burgers are the same size they’ll cook uniformly.  No more dry burger for Timmy, bloody burger for Tod.
7. Use a timer. Every grill is unique so devote an afternoon and a few burgers to getting to know yours. Your friends certainly won’t mind being test subjects, and they’ll appreciate your dedication to perfection. For example on my grill over high heat, 6.5 minutes gives me a perfect medium rare.
8. Bloody isn’t better. I used to think I wanted my burgers black on the outside and red on the inside but cold meat wont release fat.  The juiciest burger is just shy of medium.
9. Don’t lose the juice. It takes one squish of the spatula to destroy all the hard work you put into the perfect, loosely packed patty. That one squish will also send all the juice and flavor into the fiery depths below. Treat your burgers to a light touch and turn them only once (halfway through the cooking time). And always keep your grill lid closed.

Sheet Pan Production

a scale assures consistency

Hollandaise is getting a bad rap with some home cooks.  Tales of broken sauces and ruined brunch menus have kept some of us at home from attempting what is really a simple technique.  Some printed recipes complicate things with unnecessary steps like clarified butter.  Clarifying butter will yeild a cleaner finished product, but it’s a pain in the ass.   And it actually can make the emulsion less stable.

Give hollandaise a shot using cold whole butter.  By adding butter cold you’ll help prevent over-heating and the resultant scrambled eggs.  The small amount of water that’s present in whole butter also helps protect the emulsion.  After the jump, I’ve compiled additional tips that will help ensure a smooth rich sauce.   If you’ve never made hollandaise grab your whisk and give this a shot.

Artichokes with Simple Hollandaise

Tips

1. Low heat is essential.  Use a double boiler.  Once you’ve got the hang of things you can work (carefully) right in a sauce pan.
2. Use whole butter.  Using cold whole butter will help keep the temperature low and prevent the emulsion from breaking down.
3. Have extra water handy.  Water is also essential to the emulsion.  If the sauce becomes too thick add a drizzle of water.  Go slowly becuase you can’t take the water back out.
4. Never turn your back.  I broke two sauces in a row while fiddling with my camera for this post.   Hollandaise is needy.  Pay attention to it.
5. If it breaks fear not.  There are two ways you can save the day, but first you have to set down your camera.
   • Create an ice bath and use it to cool the bottom of your bowl while furiously whisking in a tablespoon of the ice water.
   • Start a second egg yolk mixture in a new bowl, and slowly whisk in the broken sauce.
6. Keeping things warm.  If you can’t serve immediately hollandaise can be stored in a thermos for about an hour.  That’s how many restaurants deal with 97 Eggs Benedict orders every brunch service.   It will also keep reasonably in any bowl if the surface of the sauce is covered in plastic wrap.

Simple Hollandaise

Ingredients:

2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 stick butter, cut into chunks
water (as needed)
salt and pepper to taste

Instruction:

Combine the egg yolks and lemon juice in a large bowl or double boiler.  Whisk over low heat until pale  and thick.  The  mixture should double in volume.

Whisk in butter one chunk at a time, additional chunks only after each one is completely incorporated.  If sauce is too thick, or about to break drizzle a teaspoon of water at a time and whisk vigorously until desired consistency

Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve immediately

Ingredients for Hollandaise

Zweigles

Everyone’s got a favorite hot dog, and in my recent Post article I touch on some good ones around the beltway.  To be honest though it’s hard to beat Zweigles.  Natural casings are nothing new, but there’s just something about the way these things swell when cooked, and snap when bitten.  If you’re ever out at Wegmens I suggest you pick up a few packages.  I’ve always got a pack in my freezer.

While researching the piece I got to hang out with Nate Anda, Butcher and Executive Chef for the Neighborhood Restaurant Group.  After some elaborate hot dog dissertation I became keenly aware that I wasn’t going to be making my own tube steaks any time soon, but I could make his mustard.

Store bought mustards are great but there’s something about making your own condiment from scratch.  Maybe it’s the fact that you an create a mustard with any flavors you want.  But It’s because the second you hydrate mustard flour with liquid its flavors  start to degrade.  Bottom line the fresher the mustard, the hotter the fire.  Just give it a little time to chill in the fridge.

Spicy Beer Mustard

Making Mustard

Asparagus Raw................................and Blanched

It’s spring time, and I want my asparagus to be as green as the grass in my front yard.  The trick to a nice bright green finished product is to partly cook the asparagus in heavily salted water before shocking it in ice water.  This frigid bath sets the color as well as stops the cooking process.  You’ll be left with a clean bright product that will stand out in your finished dish instead of dulling, and fading into the background.

Here are some tips for blanching veg.  I use this process almost any time I have a really fresh firm vegetable that I want to shine.

1. First start with a lot of water. Large quantities will hold a better temperature when a cold ingredient is added cooking the product quickly.  Speed is everything with this technique.  For a small batch of asparagus I heat up a gallon.
2. When the water is boiling add a boatload of salt. Remember when you were 7, boogie boarding, and caught a mouthful of the ocean? Re-create that experience on your stove. For my gallon of water I use a ten count pour from a box of kosher salt, and taste before adding more.
3. Toss a small batch of your product in the boiling water and watch it closely.  Medium sized stalkes can cook in a minute, smaller stalks even quicker.  If you’re serving them stand alone cook till tender.  If you’re going to continue to cook in another dish, pull them a little sooner.
4. Have a big bowl filled with ice and water ready to go in your sink and immediately shock the asparagus in the ice bath till it’s ice cold.
5. Repeat with remaining batches.

Now you’ve got some mostly cooked asparagus that will stay vivid green no-matter how you finish them. Try this soup, or a quick stir fry.  Or use your super salty water to cook some potatoes for potato salad.  They’ll soak up a ton of salt and be full of flavor.  Just be sure to taste the salad before you do any extra seasoning.

Asparagus and Potato Salad

Ingredients:

One pound Asparagus

3 pounds Yukon gold potatoes

1/3 cup vinaigrette (banyuls maybe?)

4 slices bacon cooked crisp and crumbled (optional)

Instructions:

Blanch the asparagus in well salted water and shock in an ice bath.  Cut into 1 inch piece and reserve

Cut potatoes into large dice (skins on) and blanch till soft.  Drain and while still warm toss with asparagus and vinaigrette.  Taste and adjust for seasoning.  Finish with a crumble of bacon (optional)

Repetition and experimentation.  You can follow one great recipe after another and  consistently turn out great food.  But when you make the same things again and again and you pay close attention, something else starts to happen.  Subtle variations perceived throughout the process lead to subtle variations in the end product.  When you make a recipe for 16 biscuits 5 times in a row, you’ll undoubtedly have some variation.

That was my task two Sundays ago, when armed with the Lee Brothers cookbook I set out to make biscuits for a crowd.  The first batch was wet sticky and hard to work with, but the biscuits baked well and sampled with some jelly tasted great; A true victory… or was it?

The dough for batch two was drier and more crumbly.  Not because I was thoughtfully experimenting but because I was using measuring cups, and flour measured this way will always vary to some degree.  After the same amount of time in the oven batch two graced my cooling racks.  They tasted exactly the same, but were noticeably more lofty flaky tender and more pleasant to eat.

And so I proceeded through batches 3, 4, and 5, each one progressing a bit faster than the one before it.  I was becoming a biscuit machine, and envisioned the ability to turn out biscuits on the fly.  Biscuits from scratch in thirty minutes flat!  I also noticed the variation settle down, as each batch became more consistent.

None of this would have occurred had I taken the original recipe and multiplied by 5.   I’d have made lots of biscuits quickly, but learned nothing.  Repetition is a great teacher and not only did I learn how variations in liquids and fats effect leavening, I also committed a recipe to memory.  2 cups flour, 1 T baking powder, 4t sugar, 1t salt, 4 T butter, 2 T lard, 3/4 cup buttermilk.  Mix, roll, cut, bake, and of course… Repeat.

Ham Biscuits with Sunchoke Relish

Buttermilk Biscuits

2 cups flour

1 T baking powder

4t sugar

1t salt

4 T butter

2 T lard

3/4 cup buttermilk.

Mix the dry ingredients in a food processor

Add the butter and lard and pulse till combined but chunks of butter still remain

Transfer to a mixing bowl and add buttermilk and stir to combine

Roll the dough to 1 inch thick, fold in half, and roll again.  Repeat for a total of three times

Cut with a knife or biscuit cutter, and bake at 400° till golden brown and delicious.

The last of my ramps have faded, and now I’m looking for a source for more. A recent comment alluded to bags for a buck in West Virginia. Though there was no indication of size, I’d wager they trump the small bunches available at markets around the District. Maybe this Saturday I’ll hit pay dirt. Or perhaps it’s soon time for a motorcycle ride out to the mountains John Denver called home.

For now though, I’ll ruminate on the dish that made use of the last of my precious ramps. A quick blanch technique keeps these beauties clean and bright with a freshness that’s accented with a generous amount of lemon zest. The resultant pesto is then folded into the pasta over heat, with cheese and pasta water to form a light sauce.

Spaghetti and Ramps

Spaghetti with Ramps

Perfect Pie

This picture is the perfect pie.  The dough’s construction  didn’t rely on a recipe, and was made with a stand mixer.  I oscillated between adding flour and water till the consistency was right, and then topped my perfect pie with provolone mozzarella spinach and roasted garlic.  I think I finished it with parm and some Spanish olive oil I’d received as a gift.  I made it in the Summer of 2005; and then I never made it again.

It wasn’t for lack of effort.  I was so smitten with that pie I went on a pizza rampage, turning them out two at a time every week or so.  I made them at my condo in the Heights, and I made them at my Mother’s.  I made them every time the question “what should we eat?” was asked.  Most of those pies were great if not inconsistent, but try as I might I never replicated the original white pizza that was so good I still think about it 4 years later.

Eventually I decided that I, the humble Pizzailolo was due for a lesson.   So after googling a bit I stumbled upon a great video demonstration you can still find here.  I like that this recipe is simple and uses weights for measures, making for a consistent product every time.  The measures stuck in my head and I’ve never looked back.  Over the years I’ve made subtle changes; upping the yeast to get a quicker rise, and taking advantage of my ovens’ warming function.  But otherwise the dough remains unchanged.

I use it for pizzas mostly, but its good enough for the occasional calzone.  I’ll also dimple a round and top it with olives, onions and rosemary for a faux foccacia.  Sure it’s not true focaccia, but any time you make fresh baked bread for guests you know they’ll be impressed.

Makes two 12-inch pizzas, 4 calzones, or 2 focaccia breads

Winter’s got a man down.   The cold is keeping me inside, I’m gettin’ no sun, and I’m borderline depressed.  February is always the toughest even though Spring is only weeks away.  The only way I know to get though the trough of winter is by filling my entire house with the smell of robust comfort food.  And nothing exemplifies comfort food better than roast chicken.

If I have the time, I like to break down a bird into quarters, and pan sear it skin side down to achieve a deeply browned  skin.  Finishing skin side up in a convection oven keeps things crisp and frees up burners, while cooking my bird with an even and dry heat.   While the chicken rests (uncovered — tenting with foil will wilt that delightfully crunchy skin)  I’ll whip up a pan sauce using a quick stock and whatever aromatics I have on hand.  Pan sauces capture everything that was left in the bottom of a pan and create a luxurious blanket that keeps my bird bird warm, and my stomach content.

That said I don’t always have hours to spend on a fussy preparation.   Sometimes I want to throw a chicken in the oven after work and forget about it, or serve more than four guests without managing multiple pans.  That’s when I turn to Michel Richard’s roast chicken with lemon and garlic.  It’s simple, requires little work, and uses a two temperature approach to produce a bird bird with a crispy exterior, that’s still moist inside.   And then there’s the onion sauce, and roasted garlic that require no additional work…  It’s perfect.

Three Little Birds

Lemon Garlic Roasted Chicken

Serves 2-4

Ingredients:

1 4-lbs free range chicken

2 lemons cut in half

1 branch fresh thyme

2 onions, sliced

20 cloves garlic, unpeeled

4 tablespoons olive oil

½ lemon, additional

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Remove the inside package from the chicken. Wash the chicken and dry it with a paper towel. Place the lemon halves and thyme inside the cavity and season the chicken with salt & pepper.

Cover the bottom of a Pyrex dish or oven roaster the onion slices, and garlic cloves. Place the chicken in the dish, and sprinkle the chicken with the olive oil.

Cook in the oven for 1 hour. After an hour, remove the chicken from the oven. Turn up the temperature in the oven to 450⁰. When the oven has reached temperature, return the chicken to the oven and cook until it has become golden and crispy.

Before serving, remove the lemon halves from the cavity, and add the juice of the additional ½ lemon over the chicken. Sprinkle with the parsley.

To serve. Transfer the onion, garlic, and liquid from the chicken, to a frying pan, and bring to a boil. Add ½ cup of water to the pan, mix well, and bring to a boil. Serve as a sauce with the chicken. Bon appétit!

Metrocurean’s post about tortilla soup, reminded me of the version I watched Morou Ouattara prepare as a staff meal before a Friday night dinner service. What was most interesting was not the soup itself (even though it was awesome), but the method used to bring it to life. Other than the two onions that started the dish, and the 6 chicken breasts, every ingredient was added without much regard to quantity. It made capturing a recipe difficult, but I at least jotted down everything that went into the pot.

Onions, cumin, coriander and whole dried chilies formed the base of this soup, along with sage, and marjoram. Morou didn’t use traditional herbs, he used what was on hand, and the results were no less stunning; But not at first.

After the soup cooked for a while, the chilies removed, and tortillas added, Morou had achieved a rather flat boring soup that was so intensely spicy it was inedible. And then the real cooking began.

To tone down the spice he added more stock, and to give it more body more tortillas followed. The boat motor whirred, and still things were lifeless. Lemon juice was added from a few lemon halves and the soup jumped to life, but with almost too much vigor. No matter Morou downplayed the acid with a bit of sugar, and everything fell into place.

“Cooking isn’t rocket science” Morou told me as he added some chopped cilantro to the mix. “You make something, you taste it and if you don’t like it you add and taste again. You keep going until you get things where you want them to be.” And sure enough Morou got exactly where he intended. The soup was devoured so quickly by his staff, he had to rescue the last few quarts to save for his wife.

The recipe below is just as open to your interpretation as it is to mine. I’ve not added quantities, or detailed instructions because a finished recipe isn’t the point. The goal is to cook and taste, and cook and taste, and note how each addition changes the overall character of the dish. Give it a try and see where you end up. At worst it could make you a better cook. At best you’ll end up with one hell of a soup.

Tortilla Soup

Tortilla Soup

This is by no means a tested recipe.  It’s just a road map that will (if you cook half as good as Morou) lead you to one hell of a tortilla soup.

2 dried New Mexican Chilies

Assorted herbs, whole

1 medium onion diced

3 cloves garlic minced

Cumin

Coriander

Cilantro

1/4 cup tomato paste

2 cups diced tomatoes

Chicken stock

2 bone on skin on chicken breasts

Lemon juice

Cilantro

Garnishes

In a big stockpot bring a lot of oil to temp, and toss in chilies, and fresh whole sage, and marjoram. They’ll cough and sputter and the smell is awesome. To cool the pan, and stop the chilies from burning toss in the 2 finely chopped onions and some garlic. This is cooked, and then tomato paste is added and toasted, and then diced tomatoes. Chicken stock is added.

Hit chicken breasts in a searing hot pan, skin side down only. Once well browned the pieces are thrown in the soup. Use some of the soup is to deglaze the chicken pan, and then return it back to the soup pot.

Remove chicken from soup, put into a pan skin side up, tossed into the oven to re-crisp the skin.

Toss in tons of tortilla chips and cook till soggy, then the remove chilies, and blend the whole thing with an immersion blender.

Season with lemon juice, salt, cilantro, and sugar if necessary, tasting all along the way. When finished add the diced chicken, and serve with fried tortilla strips, sour cream, extra cilantro, and cheese.