food Burgers? Hell Yeah!!

Burger pics are coming shortly CJ. I slept in today and just now having my coffee.

Speaking of burger chains...I think 5 Vato's is lame. I only go to 2 chain joints. Whataburger, which is king here in Texas, and In-N-Out. Both chains are heavily hyped. Texan's love their WB and I do too but they've gotten away from being a basic burger and fries joint to doing tacquito's, brekkie stuff, and specialty burgers, etc. that I find aren't quite as good consistently as when I was younger. INO on the other hand, I think is what other burger joints should try to be. They only have 4 thing's on their menu. A hamburger/ cheeseburger, a double hamburger/cheese burger, fries, and shakes. That's it! The cool thang is that you can order your single or double as say a double double animal style. i.e. a double meat double cheese with the patty cooked on the griddle on onions and mustard, onto a toasted bun with L,T, P, and animal sauce, which is their 1000 island style proprietary.
Here me now, believe me later, it ROCKS! Order a side of fries well done animal style and you'll get crispy but airy fresh cut fries topped with grilled onions, american cheese and animal sauce. Have mercy! I'm a texican to the bone but trust me, Cali based
INO Burger is the schizzle! I've eaten more than my share of burgers at Dick's Drive-In in Seattle. Love them too but Dick's and even my beloved Whataburger can't touch INO.
 
A'ight chidren's...my PA compadre JayT sent me a nice care package which I received yesterday.
2 packs of Martin's Famous Potato Rolls, a jar of Jay's homemade Fatalli Peach Vidalia Onion Puree, and a dime bag of his all purpose grilling rub.

The Martin's ~ We'd been having a conversation a while back about some of the buns used on some of the better burgers on the east coast. A couple of the more well known joints are White Manna in Hackensack, NJ, famous for their sliders, and Shake Shack in NYC with the latter being very similar in hype and quality to Cali's In-N-Out and arguably better, at least to east coasters. Both joints use fresh Pat LaFrieda beef as do many high end steak and burger joints in the NYC area do.

Now I've never had opportunity to try either burger, I have attempted to clone them at home somewhat and while I used what was available for buns, i.e Pepperidge Farm Slider Buns, which btw are great, I always wanted to sample the real deal. Leave it to my good friend Jay to hook me up and he did.....WELL!

The Fatalli Puree ~ I love the heat of superhots but have never been a fan of the what to me is a milky, chalky, aftertaste that even now I can taste from last nights sampling. This sauce had it in spade's. As soon as I got the package I opened the jar up and did a big tablespoon of it. Milky/chalky aside, the heat, which I would rate about a 3-4 on a 1-10 was very nicely balanced by the sweetness of peach and vidalia onion. The peach was obviously more up front than the onion in this stuff. Not too thick or thin, dipping a spoon into it coats the spoon nicely without running off.
Tasty stuff and I reckoned I had to try this on a burger.

Jay's Rub ~ What can I say? I've had this rub before when Jay visited me in the big dry ditch. It's a flavorful rub that is less about salt and more about complimenting meats with spice. I dig it.

Here's a shot of the goods.

IMG_3575.jpg



I got some 80/20 rolling up in Black Betty with some thin sliced texas sweets and Lawry's. Don't molest the meat too much and just make some round balls about 2-3 ounces each, no more.

IMG_3578.jpg


While that was goin' on I got a small ci pan going on low heat with just a pat of butter to toast up the Martin's.

IMG_3577.jpg


When the meat starts to sizzle a bit, smash down with a spatula to form the patty but just one smash. More than that and yer playin' with it and ruining the grind by making it too tight. In a medium heat skillet, should take only a minute and then flip with the now browning onions on top. As you can see here, I added some maytag blue cheese right after flipping. I thought that would be a complex and flavorful compliment to the burger with the addition of the fatalli puree.

IMG_3579.jpg


Slid the burger onto the nicely toasted Martin's and topped it with a heavy splooge of Jay's Fatalli puree...

IMG_3583.jpg



To be continued....
 
Just some quick burgers on the grill last night, topped with havarti, roasted onion and avocado all on top of roasted pone’s sandwiched between multigrain ciabatta. They got a little over done trying to multi task, had cheese sauce and tators going in the kitchen for Irish nachos.
IMG_0037.jpg

IMG_0044.jpg

IMG_0047.jpg
 
Here's a money shot. Notice the not too tight grind. The bun, sweet and airy, moist and spongey, yet it held up to this juicy burger perfectly. I was aiming for medium on the temp but overdid it slightly as hosky's were heavily involved. Notice the sheen of juice running on the plate...

IMG_3584.jpg


The 2nd burger I did the same but instead of the fatalli puree, I generously splooged it with my homemade 57. 57 is one of the very few commercial meat sauces that I like (can't stand A-1) but its so pricey per bottle I decided to try and make my own. This version was too heavy on the tomato paste and came out more ketchupy but still good, although not close enough to a real 57.

IMG_3585.jpg



In summation, Jay's Fatalli Peach Vidalia Onion Puree is honest to Gawd' hot blue and righteous. It would be at home as a topping on ice cream, on a burger, on chicken, taco's, and anything else you could think of.

The Martin's Famous Potato Rolls are indeed ALL THAT! They had a texas toast like quality to them, and as previously described, had a very nice but not overly so sweetness to them, light and spongey and complimented the meat perfectly. Believe the hype y'all!

These two burgers, especially the puree topped burger, were some of the best I have eaten in a very long time. Was it the bun? The Fatalli Puree? The meat and blues cheese? I dunno' but it all came together in a cacophony of flavors that kicked ass! But don't take my word for it. Git' 'yer own blues kitchen rockin' and find out for yer' 'sef. And by all means, post it here!

POOF!
 
PK I would like to be liking you burger more if was a bit looser and cooked less. I'm digging the toppings though and a hippy seed ciabatta ain't a bad 'thang.

The Irish Nacho's on the other hand....look dadgum outstanding! Hitch me up a feed bag full of that stuff. Queso will turn you into a sexual tyrannosaurus!
 
TB -Try the Martin Rolls with pulled pork or brisket if they last - they trully are king of rolls around the East Coast and stand up to sauces, slaws and BBQ ... oh my...:drooling:
 
That's an excellent idea LD 'cept I ain't doin' no que'n this weekend. Reluctantly, I put one of the bags of Martin's in the freezer as I can't eat them all quickly enough. mrs. blues didn't try them as she's a little burnt out on burgers this week and she's traveling for the next 2 weeks and won't be home. Just too much dang food flyin' around my casa this weekend. I reckon I better go fishing this afternoon to work off some calories.
 
texas blues said:
PK I would like to be liking you burger more if was a bit looser ...
Click to expand...
Funny you said that I was check’n your awesomeness, and was admiring that nice loose burger, and truly couldn’t believe that it held together, and IMO the potato bun is always the best way to go with a burger.
 
Pretty, pretty burgers boyz!!!! I'm not even gonna cook anymore. When I get hungry, I'm just coming to this thread and imagine tasting all that greatness!

Irish Nachos.....gagenius!!!! hahahahaha
 
Thanks, but I can’t take credit for the Irish nachos, I got it from the travel channel, I think it twas the Bar Food special.
 
TB, you are the man! I told some friends I was sending you those buns and they were confused. Seems we take them for granted around here. They line every store's shelves. I am very happy to have shared them with you, and I must say you rocked it!

If I can give you one more suggested use for those buns, bbq would be it. Pulled pork is awesome, brisket, even sloppy joes. My absolute favorite though is what I call bbq'd ham. I actually fry chipped ham in the cast iron until nearly all the water is cooked out of it and it begins to brown slightly. Then I add some sort of spicy bbq sauce and cook it down a little to thicken. Pile those Martin's high and melt some pepperjack over them. Then see how fast you can shove them in your face!
 
texas blues said:
Here's a money shot. Notice the not too tight grind. The bun, sweet and airy, moist and spongey, yet it held up to this juicy burger perfectly. I was aiming for medium on the temp but overdid it slightly as hosky's were heavily involved. Notice the sheen of juice running on the plate...
Click to expand...

Burger 1 looks perfectly medium to me sir. That does not look over. Both look awesome!

Okay question, what did you mean by "tight grind" because I know you like a loose packing which lets the juices flow, as do I.

Case in point:

texas blues said:
PK I would like to be liking you burger more if was a bit looser and cooked less. I'm digging the toppings though and a hippy seed ciabatta ain't a bad 'thang.
Click to expand...

I agree that's meat loaf.

JayT said:
TB, you are the man!
Click to expand...

No, you da man for sending burger necessities to TX.
 
Much obliged boss and you are correct, JayT is THE MAN! Who else sends me buns half way across the country? Kinda' kinky if you ask me.

Yessir I do like a loosely packed burger. Over handling of the meat will kill a good burger.
 
Damm strait TB. To much squishy squishy ruins the burger.
Great money shot of that burgerTB.
Ahhhh, those Irish Nachos..... Daaaeeeeeeuuuummmm!
I'll be trying those for sure, love me some potatoes!
 
I agree and prefer a loose burger myself, but I’m cheep and by the meat in bulk and it comes all squished, so the best I can do is fork the patty to loosen it a bit.
Scovi thanks, and a tip for when you make them, cook the bacon first and use the grease for the roux, Mmmmm.
 
P.K. said:
Just some quick burgers on the grill last night, topped with havarti, roasted onion and avocado all on top of roasted pone’s sandwiched between multigrain ciabatta. They got a little over done trying to multi task, had cheese sauce and tators going in the kitchen for Irish nachos.
IMG_0037.jpg

IMG_0044.jpg

IMG_0047.jpg
Click to expand...

I'm not too much of a fan of Havarti, but hell I would eat all that up! Irish Nachos mmmmhmmm yeah :thumbsup:
 
Thanks chewi.

I bought the Havarti for a culinary experiment, and since I had it thought I’d try it on the burger. It was a little mild for red meat, but went well with the avocado, next time I’ll have to use ground turkey, or some hippy faux meat, who am I kidding no faux meat here, unless the girl makes it (then I’ll be feed it to the dogs under the table) :shh: .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top