May 28, Happy Hamburger Day!
"Burger Truth," from James Villas' "American Taste":
"He reaches in the refrigerator, pulls out a handful of fresh red meat, shapes it into a fat patty, and throws it on a flat grill. After a few minutes he flips it over, and, since I want a cheeseburger with all the trimmings, lays a slice of American cheddar (nothing more fancy, mind you) on top to melt all down the sides. In the meantime, he takes a hot, soft, sesame-seed bun out of a bread warmer, smears both sides with globs of mayonnaise plus a little catsup, and neatly arranges, on the bottom half, one fat cut of Bermuda onion, two slices of real tomato, and two or three leaves of crisp iceberg lettuce. On top of all this he spatulas the burger, adds the top half of the bun, and then, with the palm of his hand, pushes slightly down on his creation so that the meat juices begin saturating the other ingredients. Finally, he tongs a mess of piping hot French fries on the plate, an unspecified number of sliced sour pickles, and casually plops the miracle on the counter.
"Of course, there was, and still is, a set approach to the ceremony of downing a great hamburger. First you salt and pepper the meat, next you salt and catsup the fries and gobble down a few to get things rolling; then, naturally, you guzzle a big slug of Coke. Now comes the inimitable moment to take the first compelling, mouth-watering, sensuous bite of the burger. You grasp the corpulent creature in both hands, squeeze hard, and begin gradually, ever so carefully, trying to edge it into your salivating mouth. You close your eyes, chomp down... . The meat, cheese, onion, tomato, lettuce, mayonnaise, catsup: each makes its own special contribution to the whole, yet the flavors and textures harmonize almost synthetically.
"When your teeth finally meet, all hell breaks loose as the juices start to explode and bits and pieces of garnishment try to go their own way. It's dripping ... all down your chin and through your fingers and across your wrists and onto the plate; red, green, white particles bombarding the countertop and the single, innocent, worthless paper napkin resting in your lap. Trying not to lose grip on the bun, you slowly, respectfully return matter to rest on your plate, rearrange the components, grab frantically for a handful of napkins, tidy up fingers, chin, lips, clothing, counter, and prepare for the next assault."
Comfort food-wise, I almost prefer the Japanese Hamburg steak. Thick oily soft meat bomb (melted cheese inside or avalanche outside), hot rich savory demi-glace sauce. Not a lot of chewing required, can use spoon.
Scenes from a restaurant (secret ingredient in the meat mixture is miso):
= new reply since forum marked as read
How the hell do they even make a profit? That was one dish that took hours! Look how long it took him to clean the rice.
If you lived a little closer, I would join you for a burger. 