AEB classics #87: the AEB Burger

We've been pretty serious about our burgers for a while now, but when we got a meat grinder attachment for our standing mixer, things got even more serious. In fact, the burgers that have resulted have been seriously outstanding, taking our deluxe home burger to new heights.

What are the keys to a full-on AEB Burger? The quality of the meat, the fat content, salting the meat 24 hours in advance, grinding the meat fresh, and forming the patties just so, without overworking them. Then there's the buns--always crucial. And while this burger is so good it doesn't require a whole lot of fixings, we really don't make burgers that often, so we'll be damned if we're not going put out a nice spread so that we can turn that burger into a gloriously overstuffed mess.

The AEB Burger

2 lbs beef chuck from a reputable butcher, roughly 20% fat content
kosher salt

If you're grinding your own beef, 24 hours before you make your burgers, salt your beef generously, and keep it in the refrigerator overnight.

fig. a: chuck

special equipment: a meat grinder
freshly ground black pepper
4 tbsp unsalted butter, portioned into four pats of butter

The next day, grind your meat twice through your meat grinder (we have two attachments for our grinder, and we use the coarser of the two). Season the meat with black pepper (remember, you've already salted the meat--no need to do it again).

fig. b: freshly ground chuck

Obviously, if you don't have a meat grinder, just start the recipe here. Try and get the best, freshest ground chuck you can find. You'll be missing out on the added value of salting the meat 24 hours in advance, but you'll still wind up with a great burger (just remember to salt each patty a bit when you season them).

Separate the beef into four portions. Gently form each portion of beef into a patty, making sure to place a pat of butter inside each of your patties. [The butter will baste the meat from the inside as it cooks.] Use just enough pressure to form the ground beef into a patty, and no more. Avoid overworking the meat. Set aside.

fig. c: freshly fried smoky bacon

4 strips of good, smoky bacon

Fry up your bacon in a large cast-iron pan until your strips are crispy. Set aside.

4 quality hamburger buns

Slice your buns and plate them.

fig. d: pickled onions

Now, lay out your hamburger fixings.

We recommend:
Boston lettuce
sliced beefsteak tomatoes (if in season, which they absolutely were not last, when we made the latest batch of these burgers, so we excluded tomatoes altogether)
sliced pickled cucumbers
pickled onions
pickled green tomato chow chow
mayonnaise
quality mustard
ketchup, preferably homemade

Whatever you settle on, your fixings tables should convey plenitude. It should look something like this:

fig. e: hamburger fixings

Fresh French fries are awfully nice, but a good potato chip can do the trick too. We're particularly fond of Covered Bridge (Hartland, NB) brand at the moment.

fig. f: real potato chips

special equipment: large pan, preferably cast-iron
a large lid that fits the pan
4 slices of cheese, preferably something interesting but not overwhelming, like an aged cheddar or a caraway gouda (yes!)

Now it's time to cook up your burgers. Choose the largest cast-iron pan you have on hand. If it's the one you cooked the bacon in, set it a notch above medium heat. If it's not the one you cooked the bacon in, transfer the bacon fat to the pan and turn the heat to a notch above medium heat. When the pan is good and hot, place all four of your patties in at once. The pan should be hot enough to make the patties sizzle on contact. Let the patties sizzle for 3 minutes without moving them or flattening them. Flip the patties over and cook for another 3 minutes. The patties should have a nice deep crust on them, but they shouldn't be overly blackened. When the second 3 minutes are up, flip the patties again, turn the heat down to low, cover the pan and cook for 2 minutes. Make sure your cheese slices are ready. When the 2 minutes are up, flip the patties again, cover them with cheese, cover with the lid again, and cook for a final 2 minutes. The patties should be perfectly medium-rare after this final 2 minutes.

Place each patty on a bun, adorn with a slice of bacon, and serve, allowing your dining companions to dress their burgers according to their own whims. (Mine: lettuce, pickled onions, chow chow, mayonnaise, strong Belgian mustard, and an occasional dab of homemade ketchup.)

The finished product should look something like this, and it should look and smell so crazy-good that you just start chomping, possibly without even remembering to put your lettuce inside your burger first.

fig. g: burger time

Your burger should taste so crazy-good, that just thinking about it, days later, drives you, well, crazy. Seriously crazy.

Fully satisfies 4.

Got your own burger dos and don'ts? By all means, send 'em in.

aj

ps--Thanks to Judy Rodgers' Zuni Cafe Cookbook for the tips on purchasing, salting, and grinding our beef, and to Saveur's "The Burger Bible" issue (our fave issue of 2009) for the "pat of butter" tip and a whole lot of inspiration.

AEB classics #65: Bánh Mì

March madness--all-Asian, all-month--continues...

Inspired by Andrea Nguyen's Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, and disappointed by the last several bánh mì (Vietnamese baguettes) we've paid money for here in Montreal, we've started making our own.

AEB Bánh Mì

one small baguette, one 7-inch section from a baguette, or one small torpedo-shaped roll*
mayonnaise, preferably homemade or Japanese
Maggi seasoning sauce and/or light soy sauce
2 Thai green chilies
boldly flavored meat, such as Char Siu pork (recipe follows), thinly sliced
4 thin, seeded cucumber strips, preferably Kirby, English, or Lebanese
2 or 3 sprigs cilantro, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup Vietnamese daikon and carrot pickle (recipe follows)

Slice the bread lengthwise, leaving it attached on the back side. Hollow out the inside of the bread, making a trough in each half. If the bread is soft, crisp it briefly in a 325º F oven, then let it cool before proceeding.

Muddle the green chilies in the Maggi seasoning and/or the light soy sauce.**

Spread a generous amount of mayonnaise on both halves of bread. Layer the pork, the cucumber, the pickle, the cilantro, and the chilies on the bottom half. Drizzle the Maggi seasoning and/or light soy sauce over top. Close the sandwich and enjoy thoroughly.

Vegetarians: replace the pork with some kind of boldly seasoned baked tofu.

Vegans: replace the pork with tofu (see above) and replace the mayonnaise with your favorite soy-based mock mayonnaise.

Char Siu Pork

2 1/3 pounds boneless pork shoulder, well trimmed (you should be left with about 2 pounds afterwards)

2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
3 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp honey
1 1/2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
2 tbsp light (regular) soy sauce
1 tbsp dark (black) soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil

Quarter the pork lengthwise into strips about 6 inches long and 1 1/2 inches thick. If there are odd-size pieces, make sure they're of the same thickness.

To make the marinade, whisk together the garlic, sugar, five-spice powder, hoisin sauce, honey, wine, light and dark soy sauces, and sesame oil. Add the pork and use a spatula or tongs to coat evenly. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 6 to 8 hours, turning the pork 2 or 3 times.

Remove the pork from the refrigerator 45 minutes before cooking. Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 475º F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a flat roasting rack on the pan. Put the pork on the rack, spacing the pieces 1 inch apart. Reserve the marinade.

Roast the pork for 30-35 minutes, basting with the marinade every 10 minutes or so. To baste, use tongs to pick up each piece and roll it in the marinade before returning it to the rack, turning the pork over after each go. The pork is done when it looks glazed, is slightly charred, and most important, registers about 145º F on an instant-read thermometer. Remove from the oven.

Let the meat rest for 10 minutes to finish cooking and seal in the juices. Thinly slice the pork across the grain and serve warm or at room temperature. Or, let it cool completely, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze it for up to 3 months. Andrea Nguyen claims that this pork reheats well in a microwave oven, but we wouldn't know.

Daikon and Carrot Pickle

1 large carrot, peeled and cut into thick matchsticks
1 pound daikons, each no larger than 2 inches in diameter, peeled and cut into matching thick matchsticks
1 tsp salt
2 tsp plus 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups distilled white vinegar
1 cup lukewarm water

Place the carrot and daikons in a bowl and sprinkle with the salt and 2 teaspoons of the sugar. Use your hands to knead the vegetables for about 3 minutes, expelling as much water from them as possible. They will soften and liquid will pool at the bottom of the bowl. Stop kneading when you can bend a piece of daikon so that the ends touch but the daikon does not break. The vegetables should have lost about 1/4 of their volume. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold running water, then press gently to expel extra water. Return the vegetables to the bowl if you plan to eat them soon, or transfer them to a 1-quart jar for longer storage.

To make the brine, in a bowl, combine the 1/2 cup sugar, the vinegar, and the water and stir to dissolve the sugar. Pour over the vegetables. The brine should cover the vegetables. Let the vegetables marinate in the brine for at least 1 hour before eating. They will keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks.

Note: sometimes the daikon develops a strong odor as it sits in the jar, one that could be safely described as "funky." This doesn't mean that the pickle has spoiled. Before serving it, open the jar and let it breathe for about 15 minutes to allow the odor to dissipate.

Perfect for almost any occasion: lunch, dinner, picnics, late-afternoon snacks--you name it. The char siu pork and the daikon and carrot pickle are phenomenal in the bánh mì, but they're also extremely versatile, and ideal as part of a simple rice bowl meal.

aj

* If you live here in Montreal, we recommend a Portuguese torpedo-shaped roll, and we recommend toasting it as per the directions above.

** We've made them with Maggi, with soy sauce, and with a combination of the two.

AEB classics #75: Perfect Pumpkin Pie

fig. a: One-Pie Pumpkin

This is the best pumpkin pie recipe either of us have ever come across.

When my Dad developed a sudden and rather unexpected passion for pumpkin pie late in life, this pumpkin pie leapfrogged right into his dessert Pantheon. Michelle surprised him with a freshly baked Perfect Pumpkin Pie once and you'd have thought he'd just tasted ambrosia. He never stopped talking about it.

Anyway, it's quick and easy too. Perfect for any last-minute Thanksgiving Day plans.

Perfect Pumpkin Pie

part 1: sweet crust

1/2 cup butter, cut into small cubes
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1 3/4 cups flour
1 egg

Place the sugar, salt and flour in a bowl and stir together. Add the butter and work it into the dry ingredients until the mixture is homogeneous. Add the egg and mix well, rubbing the dough between your hands until no egg streaks remain. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 min. Roll out on a lightly floured surface and place in a 9" pie shell. Trim edge and chill again, wrapped. To partially bake, line it with parchment paper and fill with dry rice or beans and bake for 10-15 min. at 375°F until golden. Let cool.

part 2: filling & completion

2 cups pumpkin puree *
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 cup heavy cream
3 Tbsp. brandy
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/8 tsp. grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Mix all of the ingredients together until smooth and pour into a partially baked 9" pie shell. Bake until the filling sets, about 1 hour. Let cool and serve with lightly whipped cream.

[based on a recipe from Tartine by Elizabeth Pruitt and Chad Robertson]

Happy Thanksgiving.

am/km

* By the way, as much as we love the Warholesque charms of One-Pie brand pumpkin pie filling, we recommend using an unsweetened, pure pumpkin pie filling such as E.D. Smith brand for this particular recipe.

AEB Classics #47: Pickled Hot Peppers, or How to pickle a peck of freshly picked peppers

fig. a: three bushels of tomatoes from Jean-Talon

The days around Labour Day are pretty much the peak of our canning season. They're the days when our Tomato Canning Division in particular is in overdrive, producing the next year's supply of tomato sauce. Of course, those of you who've been reading us for a while know all about this, but we can't emphasize it enough: homemade tomato sauce made with summer's ripest tomatoes and a healthy does of the freshest local hardneck garlic is always something to behold. In Montreal, come January-February, it's an absolute godsend. Forget about your flu shots and your supplements and all that other malarkey, homemade tomato sauce is all you really need.

This year our Jean-Talon tomatoes came in chop suey boxes (?), but with days and days of straight sunshine leading up to the time we bought them, they were among the sweetest we'd gotten from the market over the last few years. Obviously this means that they result in a better tasting sauce, but it also means that they're easier to process, which is always a good thing. Not that it would have mattered much this year because a) we were very eager the produce our 2007 batch and b), just as we were about to roll up our sleeves to start cranking our trusty, rusty spremipomodori velocissima (hence the newsprint-covered table you see in the photo below), our doorbell rang and we received a care package

fig. b: mysterious Australian care package

(?) all the way from Australia (?!?) that really gave us a lift. [More on the contents of this fantastic parcel from Down Under later. TY, Z.!]

Anyway, in addition to canning tomatoes, we've also been taking advantage of Jean-Talon Market's absurd variety of peppers to do a little pepper pickling this year. You can use any one of a number of peppers (from sweet to hot) for this recipe, but the classics are cherry peppers and Hungarian banana peppers (I'm particularly fond of the latter, both yellow and red).

fig. c: pickled Hungarian banana peppers

Here's the method we followed:

Pickled Peppers

1 1/2 lbs banana peppers or cherry peppers
3 cups white vinegar
1 cup water
3 cloves garlic, crushed
6 scallions, white parts only, cut into 1 1/2 - 2" lengths

Wash the peppers. If you're using cherry peppers, leave them whole; if you're using banana peppers, chop them in half. Pierce the peppers 2-3 times with a fork.

Combine the vinegar, water, and garlic in a large stainless steel saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Can as you would normally (you can find some basic instructions here), using either the dry or wet method, packing each jar full of peppers/pepper pieces and making sure to add a few pieces of the scallions too, then adding the hot pickling liquid + garlic pieces.

Yield: about 4 x 500 ml jars

[adapted from the Bernardin Guide to Home Preserving]

aj