People food for thought Part III: Gourmet Burgers
When I came over to the states, one thing I have noticed is that you can find fast food burger joints everywhere.Burgers in America seemed to be a big part of American culture.
Did you know that burger as meal was invented by Mongol horseman in 1121-1209?
According to whatscokingamerica.net website article written by Linda Stradley,the history of burger goes..
It was Genghis Khan era. Mongols' army were traveling on ponies.They spent long time without dismounting and they needed a quick meals without setting up the fire.The food needed to be something you can hold with one hand and eat easily while they were traveling on ponies.
At that time, ground meat was best choice,and formed into patties under the saddle and eaten raw.
Time passed, and ground meat pattie was brought into Russia via Genghis Khan's grandson Khubilai in 1238, and that is how "steak tartare" was born.
In 1600, German brought the "steak tartare" into their culture, and called it "tartare steak".
Then in 18th-19th century,sailors traveled from Hamburg port in Germany to New York port,and they brought the dish into the American culture and called "Hamburg steak". This Hamburg steak was eventually enjoyed among people as cooked hamburg steak.Then eventually served as burgers as we know today.
First burger as we know today, was invented in the states.Whether the first burger should be pattie between 2 slice of bread or burger pattie between 2 burger buns seems to be controversial points, but either way,burger as we know today was invented in 18th century in the states although idea of pattie all the way back to Genghis Khan era.
To read the full article on history of burger at What's Cooking America website,please click here .
In Japan, you can find fast food burger joints such as McDonald Japan , Burger King Japan , Lotteria ,Mos Burger but you would find more sit in restaurants.
McDonald in Japan offer similar menu to American McDonald stores, but other than regular beef burger, they offer Teriyaki burger,Deep fried chicken thigh sandwich with lemon salt flavor,shrimp burger,fish burger,pork cutlet burger and usually they runs seasonal limited time only burgers.I am not sure if you still see this in the menu list at Japanese McDonald but their menu used to have "Smile" under the menu with price 0 yen.
Burger King in Japan offer their signature whoppers, but they also offer Teriyaki whopper.It seems menu is not much difference between Burger King in Japan and here in the states. I have never tasted Burger King whoppers in Japan yet.
My favorite burger joint in Japan is called Lotteria.Other than regular beef burger,they offer Teriyaki burger,shrimp burger,pork cutlet burger,fish fillet burger and recently,it seems they now offer Tandoor chicken burger,Teriyaki beef burger with sunny side up, and Ham Katsu burger.Ham katsu is thick ham is dipped in flour,dredged in beaten egg, and rolled on panko bread crumb, and deep fried.
Mos Burger is sort of exotic burger joint.They offer chicken or beef Teriyaki burger,shrimp burger,fish burger,pork cutlet burger like other burger joint but they also offer interesting burger menu such as Naan sandwich (Tacos version or Curry sauce with Chorizo version) and Rice burger.
I have never seen rice burger at their store when I was in Japan and not exactly sure what it is like but I am guessing the burger bun is rice ball formed into round shape and cooked on griddle and use it as burger bun and add whatever filling on the menu on top.
Onigiri (Rice ball) is very popular lunch/picnic menu and it must have inspired them to try out their invented rice burger menu.
As you can see, Japanese burger joints' basic menu is shrimp burger,teriyaki burger,fish burger,and pork cutlet burger. They have more choice when it comes to what toppings will be. America is burger culture country and if they could make authentic tasty teriyaki sauce to coat the burger patties, and if they could make shrimp burger like burger joints in Japan, those two menu would be a huge hit.Many people in the states seemed to adore Teriyaki sauce and when I made shrimp burger for my in-law family at Christmas time,it was a huge hit.
Interested in cooking out the Teriyaki burger,Shrimp burger yourself? You can see recipe at our previous entry titled "Japanese cooking:Ebi Katsu Burger (shrimp burger),Katsu burger (Pork burger), and Teriyaki burger ".
In the states, I have tried many burgers at many burger joints; McDonald, Burger King, Wendy's, White Castle's,Five Guy's etc.. but my favorite burger joint is Five Guy's . You might have heard of the name because President Obama visited Washington DC store before.Their burgers runs at about $4-$6, and rather higher price than other burger joints' burgers, but their burgers are piled high and very juicy,very tasty and worth the cost.One thing you may notice is that their menu is simple and all they offer is basic beef burgers,hot dogs, and fries.You would not see chicken burger,fish burger on their menu.
What makes Five Guy's so unique and special?
According to usatoday website article..
1. Five Guy's does not advertise.
** When I think about it,I recognize now that I do not find their commercials on TV. On the other hand, other burger joints seem to do advertise on TV quite often.
2. Their beef patties are 80% fat- free patties made from sirloin and chuck cut blend.
3. Their potatoes are cut daily and fried to your orders in no trans fat peanut oil
** You can find where their potatoes are coming from on their board and,I think it is very interesting to see where their ingredients are coming from.
4. They hire local bakery to provide their burger buns daily,and it has no fillers, no artificial preservatives.
5. You can build your own burger by selecting your toppings from menu board
6. While you are waiting for your burgers, you can taste their peanuts free
You can read full article on Five Guy's burger at usatoday website here.
I found more on Five Guy's at onelakewoodohio website..
7. Their burger is hand formed daily,and their patties are fresh, and never been frozen and preservatives free
** When I make burgers, I tend to buy steaks rather than ground beef. Then,grand the meat as you need. The ground beef is more exposed to air,compared to regular steak cut ground to your needs and, in my sense, freshly ground meat tastes much better than burgers made out from store-bought ground meat.
8.They have no freezers,no microwaves,no timers.
You can read full article on Five Guy's burgers more at onelakewoodohio site here.
Recently I came across the newspaper article on burger joints.
You can read the article I was reading recently at Washington Post here .
I too agree with the writer "Matthew Barakat" saying we have started seeing more of gourmet style burgers with higher quality ingredients.He list up a few Gourmet style burger joints.
Celebrity chef "Bobby Flay" has opened up his burger joint called "Bobby's Burger Palace ". Since there is no "Bobby's Burger Palace" in our location, I never get to taste his creative burger menu but, his burger joint seem to focus on gourmet burger with better ingredients and they serve chicken,turkey,and Angus beef burger at about $6.5-$7.5.
Second gourmet burger joint he list up was Elevation burger . I have never heard of them but when I looked up at their website, they say they use grass-fed beef for burger patties and they grind the beef daily to insure the freshness and fries are cooked in Olive oil.
What I thought it unique about them other than quality of the ingredients is that, they have veggie burgers. I do not know what are in the veggie burger patties but I thought it unique. However, their Vertigo burger on the menu says,it can have 3 to 10 patties on the bun. I do not think it necessary means better if you stack them up more than other burger joints.
In Japan, I have seen double patties on the bun but not more. For me, no matter how good the ingredients are, 10 patties are way too much.
Another burger joint he list up is BGR the burger joint. I have never heard of them but,website says they offer burgers made from aged beef (grain fed beef), and their bun is brioche. I think this burger joint menu looks more like Japanese burger joint "Moss burger" version because they serve exotic gourmet kind of burgers.
Their menu says,they offer other than basic beef burger, they offer freshly ground turkey burger, veggie burger,roasted pork burger,lamb burger, Ahi Tuna burger etc and their fries come with Parmesan cheese,rosemary or roasted garlic. Just reading the menu makes me want to check them out! What a shame.. to taste their burgers, it takes 90 minutes car ride..
Lastly, since I like Five Guy's burger so much as much as I love cooking, I have tried recreating their burger. Here is how you can make my version of simple basic beef burger.
<Simple beef burger>
1. Ground the Angus steak to the amount you want.
** I just personally like Angus Beef. You can use regular beef steaks to ground.
2. Add pinch of Kosher salt,pinch of black pepper, and add some grated onion to the beef, mix well and form the patties.
** Adding grated onion makes burger juicy. To grate the onion, use the microplane. It grate things very easily.
**Don't try to mix too much because it makes tough burgers
** I usually make a small well/dimple in the center of the patties with one finger so that the burger is not going to swell up when cooked
3. Put skillet on stove,add a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and wait till you see the steam coming out.
4. When skillet got hot enough, put the burger onto the skillet,no pressing,no messing,just leave it alone a while and turn it over and it is done when thermometer read 160F.
** My mother used to teach me how to know the burger is cooked through without meat thermometer.She uses toothpicks. Poke the burger with toothpicks and if the juice running out from burger is clear,it is done. If the juice coming out from the burger had red in color,middle is still pink/red.
** My favorite meat thermometer is called Thermapen.It reads the temperature very fast,accurate and I like them a lot.
5. I usually prepare vegetable,bacon before I start working on the patties. That way,they are there when I need them when beef patties are cooked through.
I usually prepare following vegetables for simple beef burger
-Tomato;slice to about 1/4" thickness
-Lettuce leaves;Green leaf lettuce hand cut to about size of burger bun
-Red onion; slice very very thin and put them into tupperware and pour water, rinse them,pour water out and add water again and seal the tupperware and put them in fridge.Red onion in chilled icy cold water is less potent and does not give you too much zing
- Sauteed mushroom; I get whole white mushroom,slice thin and cook in extra olive oil and sprinkle Morton's Natures season and pour a little bit of Worcester sauce
- Center cut bacon; I usually use one strip of Bacon per burger (when I build my burger,I cut one strip to half, and use the 2 broken bacon per burger) and use Center cut bacon because it is less fatty, but still tasty.
** I find that crispiest bacon you can get is to deep fry the bacon. It cook quicker and less greasy feeling on bacon itself yet very crispy bacon.Second best is to cook in the skillet. When bacon got crispier,I put them over paper towel to drain the grease off while waiting on the burger patties are done.
Only downside I found with deep frying bacon is that, if you deep fry as you would,it crinkle up a bit and I need to figure out how to deep fry the bacon perfectly flat. My husband has suggested that maybe if we had the deep fryer,we could place the bacon on bottom of the fryer basket and place the another fryer basket to keep its shape. I thought it clever idea.
6. When patties are done, place the burger bun cut side down on skillet which burger was cooked,and toast a little.
** If your burger patties produced huge amount of fat, pat the fat with paper towel a little and then toast the burger bun on the skillet
7. Now,build your burger.
I usually build my burger with all the toppings above;tomato,lettuce,red onion, sauteed mushroom, bacon and smear the burger bun top with ketchup,yellow mustard, and mayonnaise just like I get my burger from Five Guy's.
<Simple Cajun potato chips>
With Cajun Fries, I make it like potato chips;super thin,crispy with spice. I cut one Russet potato paper thin,and put them into water to take excess starch out from the potato. Then, when you are ready to fry the potato, place them onto paper towel to take moisture out and pat them dry and deep fry them till crisp.
When it is done, I sprinkle Emeril's essence (Bayou Blast) with a bit of sprinkle of paprika over the chips. Then adjust the level of saltiness with kosher salt.
Enjoy!
Did you know that burger as meal was invented by Mongol horseman in 1121-1209?
According to whatscokingamerica.net website article written by Linda Stradley,the history of burger goes..
It was Genghis Khan era. Mongols' army were traveling on ponies.They spent long time without dismounting and they needed a quick meals without setting up the fire.The food needed to be something you can hold with one hand and eat easily while they were traveling on ponies.
At that time, ground meat was best choice,and formed into patties under the saddle and eaten raw.
Time passed, and ground meat pattie was brought into Russia via Genghis Khan's grandson Khubilai in 1238, and that is how "steak tartare" was born.
In 1600, German brought the "steak tartare" into their culture, and called it "tartare steak".
Then in 18th-19th century,sailors traveled from Hamburg port in Germany to New York port,and they brought the dish into the American culture and called "Hamburg steak". This Hamburg steak was eventually enjoyed among people as cooked hamburg steak.Then eventually served as burgers as we know today.
First burger as we know today, was invented in the states.Whether the first burger should be pattie between 2 slice of bread or burger pattie between 2 burger buns seems to be controversial points, but either way,burger as we know today was invented in 18th century in the states although idea of pattie all the way back to Genghis Khan era.
To read the full article on history of burger at What's Cooking America website,please click here .
In Japan, you can find fast food burger joints such as McDonald Japan , Burger King Japan , Lotteria ,Mos Burger but you would find more sit in restaurants.
McDonald in Japan offer similar menu to American McDonald stores, but other than regular beef burger, they offer Teriyaki burger,Deep fried chicken thigh sandwich with lemon salt flavor,shrimp burger,fish burger,pork cutlet burger and usually they runs seasonal limited time only burgers.I am not sure if you still see this in the menu list at Japanese McDonald but their menu used to have "Smile" under the menu with price 0 yen.
Burger King in Japan offer their signature whoppers, but they also offer Teriyaki whopper.It seems menu is not much difference between Burger King in Japan and here in the states. I have never tasted Burger King whoppers in Japan yet.
My favorite burger joint in Japan is called Lotteria.Other than regular beef burger,they offer Teriyaki burger,shrimp burger,pork cutlet burger,fish fillet burger and recently,it seems they now offer Tandoor chicken burger,Teriyaki beef burger with sunny side up, and Ham Katsu burger.Ham katsu is thick ham is dipped in flour,dredged in beaten egg, and rolled on panko bread crumb, and deep fried.
Mos Burger is sort of exotic burger joint.They offer chicken or beef Teriyaki burger,shrimp burger,fish burger,pork cutlet burger like other burger joint but they also offer interesting burger menu such as Naan sandwich (Tacos version or Curry sauce with Chorizo version) and Rice burger.
I have never seen rice burger at their store when I was in Japan and not exactly sure what it is like but I am guessing the burger bun is rice ball formed into round shape and cooked on griddle and use it as burger bun and add whatever filling on the menu on top.
Onigiri (Rice ball) is very popular lunch/picnic menu and it must have inspired them to try out their invented rice burger menu.
As you can see, Japanese burger joints' basic menu is shrimp burger,teriyaki burger,fish burger,and pork cutlet burger. They have more choice when it comes to what toppings will be. America is burger culture country and if they could make authentic tasty teriyaki sauce to coat the burger patties, and if they could make shrimp burger like burger joints in Japan, those two menu would be a huge hit.Many people in the states seemed to adore Teriyaki sauce and when I made shrimp burger for my in-law family at Christmas time,it was a huge hit.
Interested in cooking out the Teriyaki burger,Shrimp burger yourself? You can see recipe at our previous entry titled "Japanese cooking:Ebi Katsu Burger (shrimp burger),Katsu burger (Pork burger), and Teriyaki burger ".
In the states, I have tried many burgers at many burger joints; McDonald, Burger King, Wendy's, White Castle's,Five Guy's etc.. but my favorite burger joint is Five Guy's . You might have heard of the name because President Obama visited Washington DC store before.Their burgers runs at about $4-$6, and rather higher price than other burger joints' burgers, but their burgers are piled high and very juicy,very tasty and worth the cost.One thing you may notice is that their menu is simple and all they offer is basic beef burgers,hot dogs, and fries.You would not see chicken burger,fish burger on their menu.
What makes Five Guy's so unique and special?
According to usatoday website article..
1. Five Guy's does not advertise.
** When I think about it,I recognize now that I do not find their commercials on TV. On the other hand, other burger joints seem to do advertise on TV quite often.
2. Their beef patties are 80% fat- free patties made from sirloin and chuck cut blend.
3. Their potatoes are cut daily and fried to your orders in no trans fat peanut oil
** You can find where their potatoes are coming from on their board and,I think it is very interesting to see where their ingredients are coming from.
4. They hire local bakery to provide their burger buns daily,and it has no fillers, no artificial preservatives.
5. You can build your own burger by selecting your toppings from menu board
6. While you are waiting for your burgers, you can taste their peanuts free
You can read full article on Five Guy's burger at usatoday website here.
I found more on Five Guy's at onelakewoodohio website..
7. Their burger is hand formed daily,and their patties are fresh, and never been frozen and preservatives free
** When I make burgers, I tend to buy steaks rather than ground beef. Then,grand the meat as you need. The ground beef is more exposed to air,compared to regular steak cut ground to your needs and, in my sense, freshly ground meat tastes much better than burgers made out from store-bought ground meat.
8.They have no freezers,no microwaves,no timers.
You can read full article on Five Guy's burgers more at onelakewoodohio site here.
Recently I came across the newspaper article on burger joints.
You can read the article I was reading recently at Washington Post here .
I too agree with the writer "Matthew Barakat" saying we have started seeing more of gourmet style burgers with higher quality ingredients.He list up a few Gourmet style burger joints.
Celebrity chef "Bobby Flay" has opened up his burger joint called "Bobby's Burger Palace ". Since there is no "Bobby's Burger Palace" in our location, I never get to taste his creative burger menu but, his burger joint seem to focus on gourmet burger with better ingredients and they serve chicken,turkey,and Angus beef burger at about $6.5-$7.5.
Second gourmet burger joint he list up was Elevation burger . I have never heard of them but when I looked up at their website, they say they use grass-fed beef for burger patties and they grind the beef daily to insure the freshness and fries are cooked in Olive oil.
What I thought it unique about them other than quality of the ingredients is that, they have veggie burgers. I do not know what are in the veggie burger patties but I thought it unique. However, their Vertigo burger on the menu says,it can have 3 to 10 patties on the bun. I do not think it necessary means better if you stack them up more than other burger joints.
In Japan, I have seen double patties on the bun but not more. For me, no matter how good the ingredients are, 10 patties are way too much.
Another burger joint he list up is BGR the burger joint. I have never heard of them but,website says they offer burgers made from aged beef (grain fed beef), and their bun is brioche. I think this burger joint menu looks more like Japanese burger joint "Moss burger" version because they serve exotic gourmet kind of burgers.
Their menu says,they offer other than basic beef burger, they offer freshly ground turkey burger, veggie burger,roasted pork burger,lamb burger, Ahi Tuna burger etc and their fries come with Parmesan cheese,rosemary or roasted garlic. Just reading the menu makes me want to check them out! What a shame.. to taste their burgers, it takes 90 minutes car ride..
Lastly, since I like Five Guy's burger so much as much as I love cooking, I have tried recreating their burger. Here is how you can make my version of simple basic beef burger.
<Simple beef burger>
1. Ground the Angus steak to the amount you want.
** I just personally like Angus Beef. You can use regular beef steaks to ground.
2. Add pinch of Kosher salt,pinch of black pepper, and add some grated onion to the beef, mix well and form the patties.
** Adding grated onion makes burger juicy. To grate the onion, use the microplane. It grate things very easily.
**Don't try to mix too much because it makes tough burgers
** I usually make a small well/dimple in the center of the patties with one finger so that the burger is not going to swell up when cooked
3. Put skillet on stove,add a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and wait till you see the steam coming out.
4. When skillet got hot enough, put the burger onto the skillet,no pressing,no messing,just leave it alone a while and turn it over and it is done when thermometer read 160F.
** My mother used to teach me how to know the burger is cooked through without meat thermometer.She uses toothpicks. Poke the burger with toothpicks and if the juice running out from burger is clear,it is done. If the juice coming out from the burger had red in color,middle is still pink/red.
** My favorite meat thermometer is called Thermapen.It reads the temperature very fast,accurate and I like them a lot.
5. I usually prepare vegetable,bacon before I start working on the patties. That way,they are there when I need them when beef patties are cooked through.
I usually prepare following vegetables for simple beef burger
-Tomato;slice to about 1/4" thickness
-Lettuce leaves;Green leaf lettuce hand cut to about size of burger bun
-Red onion; slice very very thin and put them into tupperware and pour water, rinse them,pour water out and add water again and seal the tupperware and put them in fridge.Red onion in chilled icy cold water is less potent and does not give you too much zing
- Sauteed mushroom; I get whole white mushroom,slice thin and cook in extra olive oil and sprinkle Morton's Natures season and pour a little bit of Worcester sauce
- Center cut bacon; I usually use one strip of Bacon per burger (when I build my burger,I cut one strip to half, and use the 2 broken bacon per burger) and use Center cut bacon because it is less fatty, but still tasty.
** I find that crispiest bacon you can get is to deep fry the bacon. It cook quicker and less greasy feeling on bacon itself yet very crispy bacon.Second best is to cook in the skillet. When bacon got crispier,I put them over paper towel to drain the grease off while waiting on the burger patties are done.
Only downside I found with deep frying bacon is that, if you deep fry as you would,it crinkle up a bit and I need to figure out how to deep fry the bacon perfectly flat. My husband has suggested that maybe if we had the deep fryer,we could place the bacon on bottom of the fryer basket and place the another fryer basket to keep its shape. I thought it clever idea.
6. When patties are done, place the burger bun cut side down on skillet which burger was cooked,and toast a little.
** If your burger patties produced huge amount of fat, pat the fat with paper towel a little and then toast the burger bun on the skillet
7. Now,build your burger.
I usually build my burger with all the toppings above;tomato,lettuce,red onion, sauteed mushroom, bacon and smear the burger bun top with ketchup,yellow mustard, and mayonnaise just like I get my burger from Five Guy's.
<Simple Cajun potato chips>
With Cajun Fries, I make it like potato chips;super thin,crispy with spice. I cut one Russet potato paper thin,and put them into water to take excess starch out from the potato. Then, when you are ready to fry the potato, place them onto paper towel to take moisture out and pat them dry and deep fry them till crisp.
When it is done, I sprinkle Emeril's essence (Bayou Blast) with a bit of sprinkle of paprika over the chips. Then adjust the level of saltiness with kosher salt.
Enjoy!
Posted by yassy at 7/13/2010 8:25 AM 
Categories: People Health
Tags: burgers french fries gourmet burgers
Categories: People Health
Tags: burgers french fries gourmet burgers
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