Hamburger, revisited

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Chief Longwind Of The North

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How many ways can you make a hamburger? I mean, besides stuffing it, or adding herbs and spices, and maybe a raw egg to the ground beef, hasn't everything been tried?

So, as usual, I had to try and tackle a simple meal and make it unique. Here's what I did, and it came out great.

I have a 6 inch Griswold, cast iron fying pan. I also had some grilled burges already made. The trick was in the presentation. I had no really good buns, and no time to make them. It was a couple days from pay-day, and so I was pretty much broke as well. So I thought about this for a bit and came up with the following:

Tater-burger, no fries required:

Peel and grate one russet baking potato per burger (this wa easy because there currently are only two in our household. Take one half of one grated potato and place it into the hot, pan (rendered pork fat was the fat of choice for this dish) and cook over medium heat, until crispy brown on both sides. Place on paper towels to drain off excess grease. Do the same with the other half of the potato. The six inch, diameter disks of crispy hash browns was then lightly covered on one side with catsup (this became the inside) and freshly sliced cucumber. The hot burger was set on top. The second disk was lightly spread with mayo. If I'd had fresh tomato, I would have added those slices as well. I used the hashbrown disks as the bun for the grilled burger. It was a match made in heaven. But to make this work, the hasbrown disks must be cripsy, and seasoned properly with a little salt. Spuds and a burger, who'd of thunk they'd pair so well. Anyone whose ever been at a picknick where burgers were cooked, that's who.:LOL:

You can, of course put any topping you want on your burger.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
Sorry to diverge, but the topic of hamburgers always makes me think of my "hamburger" story.

Back in about 1982, we were in a little restaurant in Nice. If you've been there, you know the kind. Small place of perhaps five tables, cook and waiter the only staff. Right across the road from the harbor, so the seafood was alive the evening before.

We were in not hurry and spent some time talking to the young waiter who wanted to exercise his English. We ordered and got coquille saint jacque, which of course we can never get at home fresh enough to be served with the coral.

Another American came in, the kind, spotable 300 meters away by his dress, that makes you cringe, following the theory that the foreigners that Europe seems to him to always be filled with will understand English, if only it is spoke slowly and loudly enough. This sent the waiter into je n' parle pas anglais mode, in order to at least get some entertaining confusions out of this boor.

Said boor then began trying to order a hamburger. He's sitting in a wonderful little seafood restaurant, in the land of masters of seafood preparation, in sight of the boats unloading the catch, and he wants a hamburger. The waiter, in French with much hand flapping, implies that such a dish is something new to him. But he eventually catches on and agrees that, yes, he now understands, and a hamburger is certainly to be had.

He goes off and returns with what "hamburger" was mostly taken to mean in France at the time, a ground beef patty, plain on a plate. I suspect the waiter had to dash out the back and beg the meat from another restaurant and talk the cook into making it.

After some stammering and sputtering, the boor ate the "hamburger," happily watched over by the smiling waiter who I don't think regretted at all the absence of a gratuity. We, however, got a rare bargain, excellent coquille saint jacque and a floorshow. We more than made up for the gratuity.
 
GLC :LOL:

I have certainly seen that kind of tourist.

Tourist to spouse, "What city are we in?"
Spouse, "It's Tuesday, so it must be Copenhagen."

At the bank:

Teller, "What kind of currency would you like?
Tourist, "Green stuff, real money."

Overheard from 50 feet away, at a flea market in a small village (Heard by a friend. Imagine the Brooklyn accent.) "Harry. Harry! Ya gotta come over here and look at this. Harry!!!"
 
Tax Lady and GLC,

Harry is running in his Nikes and tropical Hawaiian shirt and clashing bermudas, almost out of breath ... The cruise ship is about to pull anchor and depart ...

I can just imagine GLC´s tourist scene ...

GLC: thank you for posting the " realistic " ( I live in Europe )
and humorous story ...

Margi.
 
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Sorry to diverge, but the topic of hamburgers always makes me think of my "hamburger" story.

Back in about 1982, we were in a little restaurant in Nice. If you've been there, you know the kind. Small place of perhaps five tables, cook and waiter the only staff. Right across the road from the harbor, so the seafood was alive the evening before.

We were in not hurry and spent some time talking to the young waiter who wanted to exercise his English. We ordered and got coquille saint jacque, which of course we can never get at home fresh enough to be served with the coral.

Another American came in, the kind, spotable 300 meters away by his dress, that makes you cringe, following the theory that the foreigners that Europe seems to him to always be filled with will understand English, if only it is spoke slowly and loudly enough. This sent the waiter into je n' parle pas anglais mode, in order to at least get some entertaining confusions out of this boor.

Said boor then began trying to order a hamburger. He's sitting in a wonderful little seafood restaurant, in the land of masters of seafood preparation, in sight of the boats unloading the catch, and he wants a hamburger. The waiter, in French with much hand flapping, implies that such a dish is something new to him. But he eventually catches on and agrees that, yes, he now understands, and a hamburger is certainly to be had.

He goes off and returns with what "hamburger" was mostly taken to mean in France at the time, a ground beef patty, plain on a plate. I suspect the waiter had to dash out the back and beg the meat from another restaurant and talk the cook into making it.

After some stammering and sputtering, the boor ate the "hamburger," happily watched over by the smiling waiter who I don't think regretted at all the absence of a gratuity. We, however, got a rare bargain, excellent coquille saint jacque and a floorshow. We more than made up for the gratuity.

Yes I am American. No, I am not a boor. I can't understand people who go to places they've never been, and not experience the wonders of the new land. I was on aricraft carriers and sailed around the Pacific rim, having the chance of a lifetime to meet and be with people from Australia, Korea, Japan, the Phillipines, and Hawaii. Most of my shipmates headed straight for the bar, and female company. I could see no use in that. Instead, I snorkled in the pristine waters of the Phillipino beaches, I swam in Hawaii, I ate the local foods in every country I had the opportunity to visit.

Of the places I got to experience, perhaps the most exotic, and dynamic food was in the Phillipines. I of course ate Pansit (sp), and lumpia. But I ate from a host of street vendors selling barbecued pork, or chicken, or even monkey on a stick (though I suspect themonkey was chicken after all). I had squid with ink on rice, and coconut pie made with slabs of fresh coconut, in a creamy sauce in a pie shell. I ate fambulous meats, cooked to perfection, and sauces with sauces made from the tropical fruit that was so plentiful. The food was amazing.

In Hong Kong, and in the Phillipines, it wasn't uncommon to see a man, or woman, with a great wok, and a huge propane torch on the sidewalk, cooking fresh stir fries. They tasted incredible, and talk about fast food. You watched them cook it right before you, season it, and put it on your plate, all in less than 5 minutes.

Every place I went, or lived, had incredible foods, and activities unique to that area, that enriched my life.

Your story would be like me going to one of San Diego's famous fish restaurants and ordering a burger. How lame is that! You know that when I went to Pike's Place Market in Seattle, I wasn't going there for a hot dog. That's where I was introduced to truffle salt, and some of the best, fresh seafood anywhere. The quality of ingredients I brought to my son's home to cook up made for meals I can't duplicate in my own home. But then again, I can get a host of fish that call the Great Lakes their home, as well as venison, bear, wild rabbit, grouse, squirrel, beaver, and a host of other wild game meats, plush truly free range chickens and turkeys, and beef, pork, and lamb from local growers that puts supermarket meat to shame. Fresh eggs from the small farms, where the chickens roam the fields and yards is at hand as well. And let's not even go into the wild blue berries of the U.P. There are none better on the planet. Come on up and test me on that one.

Every place you will every visit, or live in, has something that makes it special, and wonderful, if you take the time to discover it.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
That would be my DH! Seems like just about every restaurant we go to, the first thing he looks at are the burgers! He'd eat that at every place if I let him!
 
I understand the whole "when in Rome thing" but give the guy a break. Perhaps his taste buds had been overwhelmed by a couple of weeks of foreign food...well... foreign to him. Maybe he just wanted something familiar and comforting for one meal. Travel can be taxing if you aren't used to it and I'm quite sure that the owner of the restaurant found the boor's money just as spendable as anyone else's.
 
Americans aren't said to be the rudest tourists. I think that honor goes to the Germans in surveys I've seen. But Americans often view other countries as a sort of Disneyland, intended for their amusement where the customer is always right. They think nothing wrong, for instance, with wearing shorts into a church, because it happens to be heavily visited by tourists. Europeans are far more accustomed to moving through other cultures.

The effect of this is that American tourists sometime feel no need to learn anything about where they are going. This leads to some unfortunate misperceptions. The American is accustomed to wandering through shops "just looking." They had no idea that "just looking" was not done eerywhere. So they are oblivious to the posting of an ENTRE LIBRE notice when a French shop invites lookers. Nor are they accustomed to greeting the owner or staff in a shop. So the tourist enters a non-ENTRE LIBRE shop, failing to acknowledge the shopkeeper, and when asked, announces, "Just looking." The shopkeeper's nose is now out of joint. The tourist then perceives French shopkeepers as rude. The shopkeeper perceives the American as deliberately rude.

And most Americans see few European tourists and so have little opportunity to see the other side and become aware of how difficulties can arise. Sadly, so few Europeans get beyond the east or west coast. Mostly, I think, our own fault for not promoting our country better.

Sorry for the hijack. This was supposed to be about hamburgers. I kind of feel like that if you're going for a hamburger, it ought to be a good old greasy burger with beef containing a reasonable amount of tasty fat and a bun with the cut side toasted on a buttered grill. The epitome, in my mind, is always Dirty Martin's place across from the University of Texas Campus in Austin, where they've been doing them like that since 1926. I don't eat many hamburgers, maybe two a year, at most.

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When I don't have hamburger buns, which is often since I don't eat bread very often--it is not something I keep on hand any more--and burgers are often a spur of the moment thing, I have resorted to making buttermilk biscuits or roasting portabello mushrooms (the biiiig ones) or slices of egg plant or serving the burgers wrapped in lettuce (making them more torpedo shape than burger shape) or tortillas or swiss chard. Works for me. Don't know how it works for the "bread addict." I like the idea of a bed of hashbrowns...especially with freshly dug potatoes...yum!
 
i'll just say my piece on tourists l, then move on. i work in a city stuffed all year long eith tourists from all over the world. from tiny town u.s.a., to thebiggest, fanciest cities in europe, asia, india, russia, and even africa.

in my extensive experience both working inmany low end jobs inthe hotel/restaurant business as well as being a customer just as much, the most insulting and rudest tourists are from western europe, especially after a few. they have no problem telling anyone who'll listen how beautiful america is, and how it's a shame that it's populated by americans. we're uneducated, slovenly, dirty people who are bullies internationally and don't deserve what we have.

lol, that in itself is remarkable in many paradoxical ways that i won't bother to argue here. but then i let them have it. after a short time of telling them what's wrong with their own country, to which they often agree, they then tell me that i'm not an average american. they couldn't be more wrong.
i'm average height, average build, average looking, have an average education, average job, average talent, average everything. i'm just american. i make mistakes sometimes, especially when i'm out of my element, but that's gonna happen.

but i do know when to be polite, and when to speak up. when go get in line, and when to rebel. when to help with my hands or the strength in my back, and when to just send money to all of tbose "better" countries that need so much help.

i'm not saying this to fish for compliments, or trumpet my own achievements but instead those of my average countrymen. there's nothing worse, imo, than a compatriot who feels embarrassed for another. that's wrong on both moral and realistic levels, in this case. those who feel ashamed are more than welcome to find an airport and go to that better place as far as i'm concerned. (oh, btw, i don't include canada in any of this. canada rocks right along sith the u.s.)

ok, it's a bit scattered because i'm in a hurry, but that's my 2 cents.
 
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ok, for boigshs, what this thread was supposed to be, a good friend and the cubmaster of our cub scout pack taught me a great burger on a recent camping trip that i think could taste great no matter if it were made with beef or an old shoe. it's a bacon, black and blue burger. he was just a chef in an average restaurant in pennsylvania when ge came up with this. no michelin stars, no cookbooks nor tv shows.

that is that the burger gets a coating of blackening spices, is cooked medium rare to medium on dry, high heat, then blue cheese crumbles are put on top while it's hot, and bacon just off the griddle is placed on top of that.

the ubiquitous lettuce, tomato, and onion are added to tje bun.

it wae one of the most savoury, juicy, tasty burgers that i've ever had in my life.

now, let's stay with the chief's burgers, and happy independence day in advance, everyone.
 
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Believe me. Americans are not the worst. I have seen much, much worse behavior from our European friends in various vacation destinations.

Five Guys was pretty good in Mpls!
 
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There was a little shop in Denver, right on a corner of two major streets (no I don't remember which ones) and they served burgers. They also made their own pastrami.

A quarter pound burger med-rare with all the trimmings and if you ordered it with pastrami on top, the guy would drop 3 ounces of their homemade pastrami in the fryer for about 30 seconds , shake off the extra oil and plop that on your burger.

And we are wondering why I had a heart attack...I'd have another for a taste of that burger again.
 
The farmers' market in Copenhagen was where I was most embarrassed to beng an American..."Henry, LOOK!! They are selling RAW fish!" (Henry was a good 50 feet away...)
 
Not having ever done much travelin', I feel like a tourist dang near ever'where we go. I try to be on my best behavior and always greet strangers with a nice Howdy or a nod of the head. I get some strange looks from some folks, especially up north. Mrs Hoot lived in PA for a spell before we hitched up. She has family near Harrisburg, PA. One of the larger cities I have ever set foot in.
Shucks, I feel like a tourist in VA Beach which is only about an hour or so away.
 
Not having ever done much travelin', I feel like a tourist dang near ever'where we go. I try to be on my best behavior and always greet strangers with a nice Howdy or a nod of the head. I get some strange looks from some folks, especially up north. Mrs Hoot lived in PA for a spell before we hitched up. She has family near Harrisburg, PA. One of the larger cities I have ever set foot in.
Shucks, I feel like a tourist in VA Beach which is only about an hour or so away.

Hoot, if you're ever in my neck of the woods, and you make eye contact with me, and give that freindly howdy, chances are that you will find yourself in a conversation. I find that because I try to make eye contact with everyone comming toward me, People I have never seen before often smile as if I was a good freind. And like you, I give a freindly howdy, or how ya doin'. I tend to be able to converse with strangers very easily, and find something common to both of us very quickly. I even go so far as to walk up to strangers who seem to be having a difficult time selecting an item from the grocery stores, teaching them a little about what to look for in good beef, or how to determine how sweet a water mellon is by gently patting it, or how to smell veggies & fruits to determine if they will taste good.

I also give complete strangers the famous pancake recipe, or tips on making a juicy burger that doesn't shrink up on them, or maybe how to make a great meatball, or whatever. I find most people freindly, and open to conversation, both on the U.S. side, and the Canadian side of the border.

The only place I was uncomfortable with strangers was in Southern California. But then, I was young and inexperianced when I lived there.

Back to topic; what are some of the other items you've used to wrap a hamburge in?

Here's one that my MIL (as sweet a lady as you'll ever meet) taught me. This isn't a hamburger patty, but tastes great. Try it and you will agree.

Cheeseburger Taco
Ingredients:
1 pkg. fresh corn tortillas (not the crunchy kind)
1 lb. ground beef
Salt
American Cheese, or Velveeta Cheese product (shredded cheddar works great as well)
Diced, fresh tomato
diced, fresh cucumber
diced onion
Shredded lettuce
Ketchup
Sriracha Sauce
Salsa
other hot sauce that you like
guacamole

Brown the ground beef and drain. Keep warm on back burner.
Heat a half inch of cooking oil in a ten inch frying pan. When the oil is hot enough to be fragrant, place a stick of cheese onto a tortilla, along with about 2 tbs. ground beef. Place the tortilla, with the ingredients on top, into the hot oil for about 10 seconds. Fold the tortilla in half, around the meat and cheese, remove with tongs, Lt the excess oil drip off, and place on papper towels to drain. Cook up enough of these for your crew. Serve with toppings and let everyone build their own taco.

With ketchup, this is a cheeseburger taco, and it's delicious, not as good as carne asada, or shredded beef maybe, but still wonderful.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
Chief, that sounds a lot like me. It always amazes and impresses my shy husband when I do that. During the ice storm we ate almost all our meals out (electric stove, no power for eight days). I would start conversations with the people at the next table. Stirling said it was great to watch me make people smile.

Giving help in grocery stores started by accident. I was watching a woman test avocados by poking them with her thumb. I was thinking "Don't do that!" But, I accidentally said it out loud, much to my embarrassment. She said, "No? How should I do it?" So I explained to put the avocado in the palm of her hand and gently squeeze with her entire hand. I explained that poking makes soft spots and if the avocado has been poked by enough people, it will be soft even if it isn't ripe. She thanked me!
 
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