Text 11019, 114 rader
Skriven 2008-07-23 20:30:00 av Michael Loo
     Kommentar till en text av JIM WELLER
Ärende: fancy burgers 651
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 JW> Steak hache, a pan-seared patty made with lean meat pressed into an
 JW> oval and served without a bun and steak tartare are more
 JW> traditional. But hamburgers and cheeseburgers have invaded the city,

Face it, they're an enormously palatable way of making a meal
out of tougher cuts of meat and using not a whole lot of energy
(stews really do take a lot of cooking). Why should we be
surprised that the French recognize this?

 JW> even in restaurants run by three-star chefs. But as French chefs
 JW> have embraced the quintessentially American food, they have also
 JW> made it their own, incorporating Gallic flourishes like cornichons,
 JW> fleur de sel and fresh thyme.

Cornichons and fleur de sel just stand in for regular pickles and
regular salt, no big deal. Fresh thyme, that's nice but would make
the experience so much less burgerlike.

 JW> Frederick Grasser-Herme, consulting chef at the Champs-Elysees Black
 JW> Calvados, developed a burger made with wagyu beef and seasoned with
 JW> what she calls a black ketchup of blackberries and black currants.

That sounds okay.

 JW> Yannick Alleno, of Le Meurice, serves a thick, succulent hamburger
 JW> at his casual restaurant, Le Dali. With smoked bacon, lettuce, dill
 JW> pickles, mustard, mayonnaise and fries.

That sounds okay, too, but not worth reporting on.

 JW> Romain Corbiere, the chef at Alain Ducasse's restaurant Le Relais du
 JW> Parc, in a Norman-style manor near Trocadero, cooks a seasonal
 JW> burger a la plancha. This summer Mr. Corbiere, a veteran of Mr.
 JW> Ducasse's Louis XV in Monaco, is substituting a shrimp and squid
 JW> patty for the beef burger he served in cooler weather.

That sounds okay, worth reporting on, but not a burger!

 JW> L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon offers Le Burger, actually two small
 JW> burgers topped with slabs of foie gras of almost equal size.

I'm constantly amused by these guys making the world's most
expensive burgers, throwing around truffles and foie gras and
fancy wine and crystal and and and. It's missing the point of
burgers. Though someday I must try a burger with foie gras
standing in for cheese.

 JW> "A hamburger is the architecture of taste par excellence. The meat
 JW> needs to be a mix of fatty and lean. Not raw, not rare. It must be
 JW> medium rare. At the same time the bread needs to be smooth, tepid,
 JW> toasted on the sesame side. I like to brush the soft side with
 JW> butter. There needs to be a crispy chiffonade of iceberg lettuce.
 JW> Everything plays a role."

That's an interesting translation. Probably: "Pas cru, pas bleu.
Il doit etre saignant." Or was it "Pas cru, pas saignant. Il doit
etre a point"? For me, I like burgers up to and including saignant,
which might be considered rare or medium-rare depending on whom
you ask. It's interesting to note the accompanying recipes and
their 2-for-rare and 3-for-medium-rare. I'd say 2 is fine for rare,
but 3 would make medium at least.

 JW> In developing the Salle Pleyel burger, Ms. Samuel and Ms. Ezgulian
 JW> felt the weight of tradition. "We're a little terrified of making a
 JW> mistake," said Ms. Samuel. "We cling to things like the soft buns,
 JW> sweet-and-sour pickles, onions, tomatoes, cheese. We need these
 JW> guideposts because we don't have the history, the context.

Sweet-and-sour pickles? I wonder what French word got garbled
for that.

 JW> Otherwise, for us, it's not a burger. It's a hot sandwich." Yet Ms.
 JW> Ezgulian has taken some liberties. The current version of her burger
 JW> is a riff on steak tartare. She's kneaded a mixture of chopped
 JW> sun-dried tomatoes and tangy cornichons and capers into the ground
 JW> meat. Parmesan shavings stand in for the usual Cheddar.

I'd say that cooking a tartare is kind of a mistake.

 JW> Parisians don't really understand about drinking a milkshake with
 JW> the burger. They order it as dessert.

Silly people, the best dessert after a burger is another
burger.

Shrimp burger
cat: sandwich, shellfish, not a burger
yield: 6

2 oz mayo
2 ts chopped fresh dill
2 ts lemon juice
1/4 ts hot pepper sauce
butter
6 burger buns
1 lb peeled, deveined, cooked large shrimp
- halved horizontally
6 sl tomato
lettuce

Mix first 4 ingredients. Set aside.

Lightly butter cut sides of buns. Toast, cut sides down,
on hot griddle or nonstick skillet until golden.

Spread sauce on buns. Divide ingredients among sandwiches,
in the order listed. Cover with bun tops.

Ebony, 5-2008

___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30

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