Is a meat patty just a piece of ground meat ? Is a slice of blue cheese just cheese ? Is a condiment just a sauce ? Are dressings just extras ? Is a bun just bread ? Is a burger just a hot sandwich ? They all could be just that of course … unless you make a special effort for each separate element and assemble them creatively !

If you just take a moment (and this applies to everything in life) and reflect on the “essence” of things, giving those things the opportunity for their intrinsic “truth & honesty” to shine through, and reflect on the “what, when, how, where & why” of things and what they could be and become, you’ll get a “flash” but most often a “spark” or maybe just a ”glimmer” and this will be the “enlightenment” that will guide you on what you could do with all these separate elements and make them better together. That’s what we call a “RECIPE”.

Take a moment to think about these following ingredients : beef, butter, salt, anchovies, seaweed, blue cheese, mushrooms, walnuts, black olives, capers, pickling juice and toasted flour ... and their respective meatiness, saltiness, smokiness, fattiness, nuttiness and overall individual depth and combined complexity.

These ingredients may not all seem like FRIENDS (in day-to-day life and in your mind’s eye) but they can be ALLIES because they can make each other better, they can support their individualities by contributing a small part of themselves, adding it all up to become “ONE BIG SOMETHING ELSE” and create something “NEW”.

FRIENDS are a good thing to have but ALLIES may be even better, because they contribute to making things work together, no matter what.

This is a BEEFY & BLUE CHEESE BURGER (and not just a cheeseburger). The different ingredients and condiments become allies, working together to intensify all participating (and perhaps not willingly at the beginning) flavors.

p.s.: I’ve got a lot of work to start and finish up this weekend so I won’t develop the subject further because I’m super busy but it’s extremely tasty and the ingredients intensify one another and even though the combinations seem bizarre, in the end they all work to create a very deep & profound “BEEFY” delight and most of the elements can be prepared separately and in advance !

Every recipe combination is more than the mere sum of its parts, so just make everything . . . :)

the “beefiest & bluest & beautifullest” all-beef & blue cheese burger

30.03.2019

6 ingredients

meat :

750 grams coarsely ground beef (I used 20% fat content beef belly cuts from the AUBRAC bovine race and ground it myself)

flavored butter mix for the ground beef (a total weight of 75 grams or 10% of the meat weight) :

58 grams (¼ cup) soft butter
7,5 grams (2 tsp) hickory smoked sea salt (or use 1 ½ tsp regular sea salt)
5 grams (1 tsp) anchovy paste
2,5 grams (1 ½ tsp) ground mixed peppercorns
optional : 2,5 grams (1 tsp) dried seaweed flakes
15 grams (3 tbsp) toasted flour (for coating/dredging)

for frying :

15 grams (1 tbsp) butter + (15 ml) 1 tbsp olive oil (just to coat the pan)

whole-wheat & kefir irish soda bread buns :

(see recipe here)

simmered mushrooms & walnuts :

250 grams (2 cups) sliced mushrooms
50 grams (¼ cup) diced shallots
50 grams (½ cup) chopped walnuts
10 grams (1 tbsp) crushed garlic
45 ml (3 tbsp) olive oil
45 ml (3 tbsp) white wine
5 grams (2 tsp) powdered veal or beef stock
2 grams (1 tsp) dried thyme leaves
2,5 grams (1 tbsp) chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2,5 grams (½ tsp) fine sea salt
0,5 gram (¼ tsp) ground pepper

pickled & deep-fried onion rings :

150 grams (1 cup) thickly sliced fresh onion rings
360 ml (1 ½ cups) pickling juice
10 grams (2 tbsp) toasted flour (for coating/dredging)
vegetable oil for frying

black olive & capers mayonnaise :

80 grams (6 tbsp) mayonnaise
40 grams (4 tbsp) pitted and finely chopped black olives (packed in brine)
20 grams (2 tbsp) finely chopped pickled capers
5 grams (1 tsp) grainy mustard

blue cheese :

200 grams (6 slices x 33 grams or 1 ½ cups) blue cheese (Bleu de Bresse is good because it is cylinder shaped but crumbly Roquefort is excellent too, etc.)

salad leaves :

30 grams (6 x 5 grams or 1 ½ cups) arugula/roquette salad leaves

optional garnish :

30 grams (6 halves or ¼ cup) drained sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil

instructions

if making your own hamburger buns, see my recipe here for whole-wheat & kefir irish soda buns here (which only take 1 hour to make & bake)
prepare the flavored butter mixture by combining all the elements together, then freeze until hard and grate and reserve on a plate in the freezer again
combine the very cold ground beef with the grated flavored butter, roll and shape into 6 round balls and reserve in the refrigerator (so that the butter mixture in the meat patties/balls does not melt)
to make the simmered mushrooms and walnuts, fry up the shallots and garlic in olive oil until tender and translucent for about 4-5 minutes at medium-high heat, then add the sliced mushrooms, chopped walnuts, herbs and spices and fry at medium heat for 2 minutes and then add the white wine that you mixed with the beef stock, lower heat to low and let simmer gently and stir occasionally for 15-20 minutes (or until most of the liquid has evaporated), set aside and let cool
for the pickled & fried onions, soak the sliced onions in pickle juice for at least 1 hour, then strain & pat dry, coat in toasted flour and fry until crispy
prepare the flavored mayonnaise by combining all the ingredients together and reserve in the refrigerator
prepare the salad leaves and drained sun-dried tomatoes and set aside
when ready to fry the meat, lightly coat the meat balls with toasted flour and set aside
melt some butter with some olive oil in a very hot pan (cast-iron is best) and sear the meat for 2 minutes on one side, slightly smash to flatten and then sear on the other side until cooked to your preference
to assemble, (begin with the bottom half of the warm bun, add the cold mayonnaise and then the cold salad leaves, than the warm simmered mushrooms and walnuts, then the hot meat, the slice of blue cheese on top, then the warm onions, the top half of the warm bun and finally a toothpick with the slice of sun-dried tomato.
note : you can keep the buns, the fried onions, the simmered mushrooms and walnuts in a warm oven until the meat is ready and when the meat is almost ready and still in the frying pan, you can place the slices of blue cheese on top and cover the pan with a lid to melt the cheese even more …

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the “beefiest & bluest & beautifullest” all-beef & blue cheese burger

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