Tuesday 29 May 2007

I made a wicked burger

So, for most of you this is probably going to come as absolutely useless information ( I imagine you all know how to whip up a real homemade burger), but only yesterday, after having read an article on the New York Times, did I try my hand at making one, and have decided that never again shall I buy the readymade ones in the meat sector of a supermarket again!
Being half Italian, having lived in Italy all of my life but most of all with a father who was also a great cook and originally from the Abruzzo region, I'm not too bad when it comes to making meatballs, or as we call them here, polpette.
But burgers...that's an entirely different cup of tea. When I think burger I thinks Big Mac; aka a lot of sauce, lettuce bread and a sliver of tastless meat (don't get me wrong, I'll kill for a Big Mac any day!!!!).
But having read said article, I really wanted to see how a real all american burger would suit my taste buds. And let me tell you, suit me it did!
The great thing is there really is so little to it. Whereas when making polpette you need to add eggs, stale bread soaked in milk, maybe even one mashed potato to the meat and then, with infinite patience roll the above into little balls, which have to then be rolled in flour, gently sauteed and afer all this start working on a sauce, tomato, wine, lemon etc, good old burgers need so little preparation and time it's scary!
And so last night I just knocked up a simple fresh potato salad with lots of onion, celery and mayo, and started working on my burgers.
As the article says, the trick is in the meat. So I went to the butcher's, and had him thickly grind me a nice chunk of beef, with it's fair share of fat (I love meat fat!!).
At home I simply added half a clove of pureed garlic (fresh, not from a tube), a little bit of chopped parsley - again fresh, pepper, one fresh chili pepper, malton salt and worchester sauce.
I left the burgers really thick, say one and a half centimetres (don't ask me the equivalent in inches, 'cos I have no idea!!), and cooked on the hot grill for around 8 minutes.
They were still a little pink in the centre, but far from being raw, and certainly not overly cooked.
Slapped 'em inside a fresh rosetta - tipical roman bun - with a couple of leaves of lettuce, sliced tomato, and sauteed onions.

I admit I couldn't do without the ketchup, but hey, nobody's perfect.
Easy dinner, and great success!
Snooping around the net I fould this site, completely dedicated to hamburger recipes. Some are a little OTT for my taste (bacon and banana burger is not for me, but who am I to judge?), but others are certainly worth a try.
http://hamburger-recipes.com/

1 comment:

Holly said...

Yummy! We might have to try this!
Funny how you stumbled across our blog.
Can I link to your blog?? Would you mind?