Text 27366, 133 rader
Skriven 2012-07-21 12:59:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av JANIS KRACHT
Ärende: NY prohibition returns 1
================================
-=> Quoting Janis Kracht to Jim Weller <=-

 >> McDonald's / nuggets turned to a pile of
 >> liquid slime.. eek.
 
 > The answer is simple: never ever go there.

 JK> be honest. 

Between the 60's and the 90's I visited them a total of four times,
about once a decade. It was always a disappointment. The last two
times were at the invitation of the franchisee for his grand opening
and later his major re-modeling, just because he was a real estate
client and I didn't want to hurt his feelings but not going.

Since the grandchildren arrived on the scene I have been there
perhaps six more times, but only had the nuggests once. That was
enough. Even they don't like going there anymore either.

I also returned once for a breakfast sandwich after the glowing
report of Dave S. and was reasonably pleased with it.

MMMMM-----Meal-Master - formatted by MMCONV  2.10

     Title: The Pastrami Burger Bomb By J. Kenji Lopez-Alt Pt 1
Categories: Sandwiches, Groundmeat, Beef, Cheese
  Servings: 4

     20 oz fresh ground beef, about 20%
           fat
    1/4 c  mayonnaise
      2 TB ketchup
      2 ts white vinegar
      1 ts sugar
      2 ts sweet pickle relish
    1/2 lb pastrami, sliced very thin
      4    hearty burger buns, toasted
           Kosher salt and freshly
           ground black pepper
      4 sl swiss cheese
  1 1/2 c  creamy cole slaw

Background:

I first heard of pastrami burgers from a pastry chef I knew from
Utah, where apparently the meat-on-meat combo is something of a
state dish. A "product of honest American fusion," as John T. Edge
describes it in a piece on the subject last year in the New York
Times, they are apparently seriously delicious, particularly after a
long night on the town. The flagship chain is Crown Burger, with
multiple locations in Salt Lake City, though apparently, every
burger joint in town features them on the menu.

As a child of New York I'm inherently snobby about pastrasmi.The
concept was created in New York by Romanian Jewish immigrants in the
late 19th century when they decided to adapt their own meat curing
techniques and apply them to what was then a very cheap cut of meat:
beef brisket. The meat is first pickled in salt before being heavily
seasoned with a blend of spices (most notably coriander and black
pepper), then smoked. By the turn of the century, delicatessens
across New York (including world-famous Katz's) were serving the
meat, steamed until tender and juicy, sliced thick, and stacked high
between slices of rye bread.

That's the pastrami I know. The real deal.Thick sliced, satly,
fatty, juicy, and seriously delicious.

It didn't make sense to me—I couldn't reconcile how two of my
favorite meat products could fit together and result in anything
other than an overblown mess. Indeed, I even tried the only
home-town version of the dish I could find, the Pastrami Burger from
Artie's Deli on the Upper West Side. As I expected, the flavor of
the rich, juicy pastrami completely overwhelmed that of the burger,
despite the fact that it was char-grilled. Not to mention the fact
that as Ed concurs, lettuce has no business being anywhere near a
pastrami sandwich.

To get a better idea of the concept, I appealed to Alison Herzog, a
resident of Salt lake City.  I was interested in the quality of the
pastrami itself. Was it true juicy New York style, or was it some
sort of ersatz "pastrami," the orangey-pink, thinly-pre-sliced,
griddled stuff, pastrami in name only? I'd had this style a few
times before—most notably at unreasonably popular S&S deli in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, and while it's tasty stuff in its own
right, it's not something a New Yorker would ever consider to be
pastrami.

According to Allison, it consists of a sesame seed bun, thinly
sliced pastrami, tomato, charbroiled burger patty (1/4 lb. I
believe), American cheese, lettuce, and fry sauce. The pastrami
isn't grilled from what I can tell, but is a drier pastrami.No doubt
about it: that stuff is pastrami-in-quotes.

This left me with one option: create my own version of a pastrami
burger. One that's true to both my New York City upbringing and
simultaneously allows the flavor of the burger itself to shine
through?

First things first. The pastrami has to be old school New York, so I
headed to the Zabar's deli counter. I knew that simply steaming
thick slices and piling them on top of the burger wouldn't work from
my experience with the Artie's offering, but what if I were to
simply reduce the amount? I asked the deli man for two different
cuts: one thick sliced as for a traditional sandwich, and the other
slice paper thin.

To be honest, I wasn't quite happy with how either one of them
tasted on the burger. It was a textural thing: soft on soft. Perhaps
there is something to the Utah-style pastrami, which if anything,
seems to be at least a bit more textured than ultra-tender New York
pastrami. A bit of crispness might be just the ticket.

Looking over at the well-marbled pastrami slices, I was struck by
how bacon-like they were in appearance, not surprising, considering
how similar the process of making the two cured meats is. Both are
cut from the belly, both are cured, both are seasoned, and both are
smoked. In fact, the only real difference is the flavorings, and the
animal it's cut from. 
                         
  From: Serious Eats                    
 
MMMMM-------------------------------------------------

Cheers

YK Jim


... I don't want industrial burgers assembled by wage slaves.

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