Seemingly impervious to the uptake of knowledge -- Henry Rollins.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Grinders
I like being able to make a decent burger, and I've mentioned in an earlier post that I was pleased to find some basic concepts on how to cook one that really do make a difference.
But this far, I'll never go. Those people are insane.
I am going to stop reading your blog. We are having frozen pizza tonight as I am too lazy to make anything else. Actually I am going to print the link you posted and the only thing I would change is to see if the butcher at the grocery can grind for me the meat I pick out.
And as for the grinding, I told my wife that my hunch is I could buy some of that meat already ground and mix it myself. It wouldn't be as stylistically pure, of course, but heck with that. I just want a decent burger -- and I already know that my idea of that is several shades darker than theirs.
He had me until the "American Cheese" part. Then I just gagged. All that work to make the perfect burger and he takes a slice of process cheese out of its little plastic condom and has the cajones to actually eat it! Eeuuuu! There are SO many great cheeses that work better...Oka and soft cup cheeses are MY fave, of course, but havarti and any of the Jacks (Monteray Jack with or without peppers) are great. Mozzarella, swiss and for the very brave, a Limburger or a blue. (Until this moment, I had not realized that I was a cheese snob! I just figured that all those cheeses in the dairy case were meant to be eaten!) I used to add eggs and corn flakes to my burgers, but I found that far from binding them together, they caused them be crumbly. Since ground meat usually has so much fat in it, I mistakenly thought that the corn flakes would soak it up. Now I know why everything just crumbled. Excellent. This fella really knows how to cook! And the business of not adding salt...Hmmm never thought to add salt and pepper to a perfectly good burger. I figure there is plenty of salt in the barbeque sauce. (nobody makes better barbeque sauce than the Americans, hands down!)
That's an 'advantage' I have. Our dairy case doesn't have very many cheeses. Certainly, not any of the high end ones. I wouldn't mind trying one or two, just to see what the fuss is about.
Brie is nice on a burger, though it is so mild that it gets rather lost in the general flavor. It makes a nice spread though...a nice substitute for mayo on hot toast with a slice of tomato and a few strips of streaky bacon, add lots of pepper and a dash of salt...grin!
The French president once commented "how can I govern a country that is home to two hundred varieties of cheese!!!"
English cheese is really nice. Glochester, double Glouchester, and Cheddar are most palatable, though I prefer Cheshire when I can get it. Try it toasted, on a fork over a wood fire. When it starts to melt, catch it on a slice of toast. Yum!
In Italy, they won't make a pizza out of Mozzarella...they will only make it from "Buffala", which is white cheese, made from young buffalo. They think Mozzarella made from cow's milk is too yellow! (Interesting people the Italians...they take their food REALLY seriously. I mean, serving ice cream and coffee are "uniformed" professions! Gotta like that!)
It is very tasty, though it tends to get away from you...you have heard of cheese so strong it can walk, well, Gloucester cheese is so strong that it not only walks, it runs. In fact, they hold foot races with it, and the cheese often wins!
9 comments:
I am going to stop reading your blog. We are having frozen pizza tonight as I am too lazy to make anything else. Actually I am going to print the link you posted and the only thing I would change is to see if the butcher at the grocery can grind for me the meat I pick out.
What's wrong with frozen pizza? DiGiorno, yum....
And as for the grinding, I told my wife that my hunch is I could buy some of that meat already ground and mix it myself. It wouldn't be as stylistically pure, of course, but heck with that. I just want a decent burger -- and I already know that my idea of that is several shades darker than theirs.
He had me until the "American Cheese" part. Then I just gagged. All that work to make the perfect burger and he takes a slice of process cheese out of its little plastic condom and has the cajones to actually eat it! Eeuuuu! There are SO many great cheeses that work better...Oka and soft cup cheeses are MY fave, of course, but havarti and any of the Jacks (Monteray Jack with or without peppers) are great. Mozzarella, swiss and for the very brave, a Limburger or a blue.
(Until this moment, I had not realized that I was a cheese snob! I just figured that all those cheeses in the dairy case were meant to be eaten!)
I used to add eggs and corn flakes to my burgers, but I found that far from binding them together, they caused them be crumbly. Since ground meat usually has so much fat in it, I mistakenly thought that the corn flakes would soak it up. Now I know why everything just crumbled. Excellent. This fella really knows how to cook! And the business of not adding salt...Hmmm never thought to add salt and pepper to a perfectly good burger. I figure there is plenty of salt in the barbeque sauce. (nobody makes better barbeque sauce than the Americans, hands down!)
That's an 'advantage' I have. Our dairy case doesn't have very many cheeses. Certainly, not any of the high end ones. I wouldn't mind trying one or two, just to see what the fuss is about.
America has many great cheeses. Monteray Jack is right up there with the best!
I was thinking of the panopoly of French cheeses. I know nothing of them -- I've never even had Brie.
Brie is nice on a burger, though it is so mild that it gets rather lost in the general flavor. It makes a nice spread though...a nice substitute for mayo on hot toast with a slice of tomato and a few strips of streaky bacon, add lots of pepper and a dash of salt...grin!
The French president once commented "how can I govern a country that is home to two hundred varieties of cheese!!!"
English cheese is really nice. Glochester, double Glouchester, and Cheddar are most palatable, though I prefer Cheshire when I can get it. Try it toasted, on a fork over a wood fire. When it starts to melt, catch it on a slice of toast. Yum!
In Italy, they won't make a pizza out of Mozzarella...they will only make it from "Buffala", which is white cheese, made from young buffalo. They think Mozzarella made from cow's milk is too yellow! (Interesting people the Italians...they take their food REALLY seriously. I mean, serving ice cream and coffee are "uniformed" professions! Gotta like that!)
Gloucester is a cheese?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloucester_cheese
It is very tasty, though it tends to get away from you...you have heard of cheese so strong it can walk, well, Gloucester cheese is so strong that it not only walks, it runs. In fact, they hold foot races with it, and the cheese often wins!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper%27s_Hill_Cheese-Rolling_and_Wake
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