Just a Great Burger

So, have you ever gone to a great restaurant and asked yourself why their burger's taste so much better than the charbroiled hockey pucks you cook at home?

It's honestly not that difficult. There are only a few basic rules to abide by and the rest will fall into place.

RULE # 1

-Fresh Beef (buy it the same day, don't freeze it if you can help it)
Always buy your meat from a reputable source. If the cornerstore butcher is sketchy, don't even bother. It's cheap enough that you can get it from a reputable vendor and still pay pennies on the dollar compared to other cuts of meat. Also, to be honest, you can still make a great burger with frozen ground beef that you defrost.

RULE # 2

-Season the Meat Well
The standard seasoning I use is 2 parts Salt, 1 part fresh ground pepper, 1 part garlic powder and 1 part onion powder. This is commonly known as "house seasoning." You can typically use about 1 tsp of seasoning per pound of beef, but obviously it adjust the amount to your tastes. Also, I always put worcestershire sauce in my hamburgers. At least a couple tablespoons adds a little depth of flavor.

RULE #3
-Be aware of texture
Probably the biggest killer of a burger is bad texture. If you have stale bread and you like your hamburger cooked well, taking a bite will be like eating two pieces of cardboard filled with sawdust. Instead, maybe add something smooth and creamy (avocado) and something crunchy (well rendered bacon). Or, get creative, crisp up some canadian bacon and top the burger with hollandaise sauce, call it hamburgers benedict. (I didn't say burgers were healthy) At the same time, if you are using very soft brioche buns, consider something crunchy on the inside to balance the soft outside. TEXTURE, TEXTURE, TEXTURE.

That's my only three rules. Other than that, the sky is the absolute limit. The picture above is (delicious yes)

A Grilled Pancetta, Avocado, Crispy Onion and Swiss Cheese Burger on a Brioche Roll. (with a side of homemade sweet potato chips) also known as, the amazing burger.

Recipe: Homemade Sweet Potato Chips

This recipe is quite difficult without a mandolin. You can try to cut the potatoes by hand, however, it's not recommended. You can also use a good cheese grater if you have one with the right depth blade or you can try to use a vegetable peeler to shave the pieces down. They may look funny, but they will taste just as good.

Ingredients:
Sweet Potato (2 Large sweet potatoes are easily enough for 4 people)
House Seasoning
Oil for Frying (Canola or vegetable is fine but "frying peanut oil" is preffered)
A large bowl or baking sheet
a spider (a tool to use when deep frying)
Paper Towels

Heat the oil to 300 degrees in at least a 1 quart Saucepan filled to about 1 inch below the top. The bigger the pot you can afford to use the better, but don't overfill it. When you add the food the oil level will rise which is especially terrible on a gas stove if it decides to overflow.

Slice the potatoes as thin as possible using any method you can.

Line the bowl or sheet pan with paper towels.

once the oil comes to temperature, drop in each slice of potato one at a time. They will sink and then quickly rise to the surface. Cook them until the bubbling slowly begins to dissipate. If they begin to turn grey or dark brown they are over done. Once finished, using either a slotted spoon or the spider, remove the chips and place onto the flat sheet pan or the bowl and immediately season with house seasoning. Continue this process until all the chips are cooked. Season each layer as you go on. If you begin stacking chips on top of chips you may want to put another layer of paper towels in order to whick away the extra oil so none of the chips get soggy.

Thats it! Toss and enjoy. Amazing, simple, and once you eat them you will ask yourself, 'seriously, that's it? Why doesn't anyone make fresh potato chips anymore'

P.S. Don't forget to shut your oil when you're done frying.

Cooking Tip of the Day - Herbs

There's a few differences between dried and fresh herbs as far as flavor and ways to use them. A few small tips are as follows:

-If you are substituting fresh herbs for dried herbs you generally need 3 times what the recipe would call for. E.G. 3 tbsp of fresh parsley will have the same impact as 1 tbsp of dried.

-If you are adding dried herbs to a dish you can get more punch from their flavor by adding them directly to the warm oil. E.G. Making tomato sauce, for instance, you can add the herbs at the end of the cooking process and season to taste, or you can add them directly to the oil at the beginning of the process. It will create two completely different flavor profiles.

-Fresh herbs are very fragile as are their oils. Treat them carefuly and always add fresh herbs towards the end of cooking. Their oils can breakdown under high heat and some can turn bitter. If you add them too early in the cooking process you will literally just cook out the flavor.

Fresh herbs are an inexpensive way to bring meals to another level. They add freshness and flavor to a dish that can otherwise be bland. Plus, you can grow most of them indoors in the right conditions and have them for the cost of a little water and some seedlings.

Wendy's New 2.99 Value Meal???

How is it fiscally possible to ....

grow a chicken, Feed a chicken kill a chicken, cut up a chicken, bread said chicken, fry said chicken...

Grow wheat, cut wheat, mix wheat with yeast, water, oil and salt, rise dough, cook dough, pack dough.

Continue process for french fries and beverage

THEN

Ship all of these ingredients 250 or so miles from the manufacturing facility to your local Wendy's.

Pay for gas

Pay for utilities

Pay for employees, insurance, disability, healthcare coverage. etc etc etc etc

and still deliver it straight to your wonderful tray (covered in paper that needs to be paid for with artwork that needs to be designed) all for Two Dollars and Ninety-Nine Cents.

In the end, you have to ask yourself one question. At such a ridiculous price, how much quality really goes into the ingredients you are eating. The answer is little to none. The thing that perplexes me is that we all go blindingly forward thinking it's okay to eat food that is poor quality simply because it is cheap and accessible. Now I'm not saying I eat tofu and boiled sardines and I won't eat a cheeseburger. What I am saying is when I eat a cheeseburger I would like it to be made of pieces of steer and the ingredients in my french fries should be potatoes and salt, not mono sodium glutamate, sodium nitrate and the like. Is that too much to ask of our food?

After all, Wendy's wouldn't create the $2.99 value meal if we, as consumers, didn't consume it.

Food, Inc. Said it best:

"You have to understand that we farmers, we're gonna deliver to the marketplace what the marketplace demands. If you want to buy $2 milk, you're gonna get a feedlot in the backyard. It's that simple. People have got to start demanding good, wholesome food of us. And we'll deliver. I promise you. We're very ingenious people. We'll deliver."

-Roush

but they sure do have some catchy jingles don't they.
Give me that filet-o'-fish, Give me that fish!

The Food Therapist

Welcome to the Food Therapist Blog - A self proclaimed Culinary Connoisseur.

I've been cooking for the last few years extensively. I would say within the past two or so years I have really tried to push my culinary limits experimenting in many different areas of the cooking world and attempting to create flavor profiles and dishes I have never been able to obtain. Within the past year I have become very comfortable with many of the basic cooking techniques and am continuing to grow as a cook. I have developed an evolving look on food and the way it interacts with my world and plan on sharing these views with you through out the following blogs. My girlfriend and I have also started a blog together, Couple's Food Therapy, where we will both look at our food experiences and comment on them.