My New Toy

I got a new toy the other day.

It took a fair bit of effort to get it working. It is electrical and it works outdoors, so I had to crawl around under the house playing electrician and install a GFI outdoor covered outlet.

Then I got the thing unpacked, washed the components, plugged it in, turned it on, and wouldn't you know it? The thing started billowing smoke.

Fortunately, that is what was supposed to happen, because the new toy is an original Bradley Smoker.



This is a seriously ingenious device and a major upgrade from my little water smoker. The main things that frustrated me about the water smoker were that it was super hard to maintain a consistent temperature and it is impossible to cold smoke. And of course capacity - you can't put very much on the single rack of a water smoker.

The Bradley Smoker uses compressed hardwood piece pellets that it feeds continuously onto a burner, generating smoke. Another electric element controls the temperature of the chamber and it can be turned completely off for cold smoking. So you just set the temperature with a little slider, load up the feeder with pellets, put your food on the four racks, and go away until it is cooked. The cost of the pellets runs about a dollar an hour, which is a lot more expensive than cutting mesquite in your back yard, but not much more than buying hardwood pieces for smoking at Lowe's. And I don't have a lot of mesquite in my back yard.

The Bradley appealed to me because it places maximum emphasis on control, especially temperature control. There are even digital versions, but my research seemed to indicate that this was not really worth it and if I want to get really anal about it later I can always add an external digital controller.

The cold smoking ability was also key for me. What is the point in being able to smoke if you can't make perfect bacon or smoke your lox? And I don't even really need to bring up jerky, do I? Of course not.

The Bradley works spectacularly well. I made some smoked chicken thighs that I pulled and served with a vinegar sauce, some turkey legs, and some heads of garlic. It was really easy to use even though it rained the entire time (I covered the chute to keep the pellets from getting wet, but otherwise didn't worry about the rain). And the food came out quite nice. Quite nice indeed.

Best Soup Ever

I don't really know why I have never made Split Pea Soup With Ham before. I guess I thought it would be hard or something. But I had a big ham bone and a bunch of spiral sliced ham that needed to get used and I wasn't up to doing a ham stock to be used for something else (like Jambalaya).

So when I was at the store I picked up two pounds of green split peas, some onions, celery heart, and carrots to go with my ham bone + an approximately equal volume of ham meat.

I chopped up a big pile of onions (3 medium large), thinly sliced 5 or 6 outer stalks from the celery heart + 3 medium large carrots, and cut the the ham meat small bites.

I sautéed the onions a bit and dumped them in the soup pot. Then I did the same for the ham. Threw in everything else (including the split peas), topped with water, brought to a boil, stirred a couple times, and tossed on the cover for a slow simmer. I checked it and stirred it a few times to make sure it didn't dry out. A couple of hours later when the peas had basically vanished it was done and I fished out the bone.

There are no missing ingredients here. I didn't add any salt, or pepper, or a bay leaf or anything. Just the three aromatic veggies, the ham, and the peas.

It is the best soup I have ever tasted. Far and away the best split pea soup I have ever had. My wife, who claims to hate split pea soup, ate a huge bowl of it for dinner. It is so good that I may never buy a boneless ham again.

David

Sourdough Recipe Conversion

In principle it seems like converting a yeast recipe to sourdough should be very straightforward. But given my limited success with the attempt to convert the basic Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day recipe to sourdough I felt I needed to validate the principle with a more normal recipe.

Let's start with how I think it should work. I think you should be able to convert any recipe by simply calculating the water and flour contribution of the starter and subtract those amounts from your recipe. In my case 238g of the starter always equals 125g of flour and 0.5 cups of water (because that's how I feed it). And of course you need to add time for the slower growing culture to do its thing.

I have been baking a lot of typical sourdough bread and I wanted to try this technique with something very different. On the bread spectrum, not much could be more different from a crusty free form hearth baked bread than an American sandwich bread baked in a bread pan. My favorite sandwich bread recipe is the American Sandwich Bread from The New Best Recipe cookbook, so that is my starting point.

I decided to start with 238g of starter, because this is the amount I normally feed. This is more or less equivalent to a cup of starter. The original recipe calls for 532g of flour: 532-125=407g flour. It calls for 1/3C warm water that I normally dissolve the yeast in, this gets removed. It normally calls for a cup of milk, but we need to decrease the liquid a bit more, call it 7oz of milk.

• 238g fed starter (fed overnight at room temperature just before using)
  
• 407g King Arthur all-purpose flour
• 7oz 2% milk, warmed to tepid
• 3T butter, melted and cooled a bit
• 63g honey
• 1T kosher salt

Put everything in the KitchenAid bowl. Mix with the dough hook until combined, then turn up to medium speed and knead for about 10 minutes until satiny, scraping the dough off the hook a couple of times. Allow to double. Punch down, pat into a rectangle, fold into thirds to make a cylinder and pinch the seam tightly. Place seam down in a greased loaf pan and press the loaf flat and into the corners. Allow to double. Bake with steam at 350 degrees F for 35-45 minutes until the internal temperature is 195 degrees F.

I ended up needing to add a couple tablespoons of flour during kneading to get the right consistency, but this is within normal variability.

One thing that surprised me is how long the rises took. My normal sourdough recipe takes about 2 hours, this took 4 hours. That is for each of two rises, so 8 hours of total rising time. I might try this again with double the starter, but if I do I will probably need to use nonfat dried milk to get any of the milk character into the dough (because that will double the amount of water also and force me to reduce the milk further).

The bread turned out very well. The loaf is just slightly shorter and the crumb slightly denser than the standard recipe, but the difference isn't huge. It doesn't taste like sourdough at all, it just tastes like very nice normal sandwich bread. That was a bit surprising as I would expect 8 hours of rising to generate lots of sour flavor - maybe the honey counters it.

Was it worth it? No, probably not. Eight hours for a result you can get in two is kind of silly. But it validates the conversion principle and I expect I'll try this with other recipes to see what kind of effect I get.

Get out your calculator and try your favorite recipe with sourdough starter. You might like it. But leave yourself plenty of time.

David

Salty Lox (and more)

Also called "regular" or "belly" lox.



I have no idea why people don't make this all the time. Lox is delicious and utterly trivial to make. Plus you can't even find the old New York deli salty lox anywhere outside the city any more (and it can be hard to find it in the city). It has been mostly replaced with the milder Nova lox that has been pre-sliced and pre-packaged at the factory.

Here is the general procedure for making any kind of lox:

• Take a cure, which is a mixture of salt and sugar and optionally some spices or herbs.
• Cover the fully de-boned salmon fillet (including pin bones) and spread the cure over it. You need more cure on the flesh side than the skin side. The objective is to do this in a container that is right sized for the piece of fish, so that you can use less cure. I like heavy weight zip lock bags. On the other hand if you aren't doing production volumes of the stuff, the cure is pretty cheap.
  
• Press the fish with a weight to aid the expression of juices. Some kind of flat plate or pan with some cans or water bottles in it works well. For this last batch I put two pieces of salmon in two plastic zip lock bags on top of each other into one loaf pan, then topped with another loaf pan with weights. Store the whole thing in the fridge. The dry cure will turn into a brine as it cures, but there should always be some undissolved cure so you know that your solution is saturated.
  
• Periodically check the fish for done and redistribute or add cure as necessary. It is done when you press it and it doesn't feel squishy, but feels kind of "cooked". A few days is usually about right.
  
• Rinse off the cure and pat dry with paper towels. Wrap in freezer paper and store in the fridge (or serve immediately).
  
• Slice thinly on the bias to serve. This takes a sharp knife and some practice, but it isn't hard.
  

You can optionally cold smoke this for some styles of lox. The cure can be can be anywhere from 1/3 salt and 2/3 sugar to 2/3 salt and 1/3 sugar (by weight). Use any kind of salt, as long as you measure by weight, but I use kosher salt.

Salty lox is the ultra minimalist version. 2/3 salt and 1/3 sugar, no other spices, no smoking. It is done in about three days. Really easy. It is sort of a gateway to charcuterie (the next thing you should make is duck breast prosciutto, or maybe duck confit). My nephew called it "salmon bacon" - yup, that's about right. Yum.

David

KitchenAids and Volume

I always have exactly twice the amount of sourdough starter that I need when I make bread. This is just a consequence of the need to feed it and the limit of size that my vessels have. It's not a huge deal - I just throw a bit out.

But the other day I decided to try doubling the recipe instead.

I reasoned that although this technically exceeds the "flour power" of my kitchenaid, the dough isn't really all that tough and kneading a double recipe is only fractionally harder than a single recipe. So I wasn't worried about burning out my motor. And the volume of the bowl is large enough to just hold the doubled dough (with maybe a little doming at the top), so I figured I was also OK on volume.

Well all of those assumptions are probably correct. But what I did not consider is that the action of the dough hook is very volume sensitive.

Let me save you the trouble of this experiment. The dough creeps rapidly over the top of the dough hook and you have to stop and unstick everything about every 10 seconds.

Plus it is quite challenging to form 6 pounds of dough into two large loaves (that barely fit onto a large baking stone) and get them into the oven and baked. I managed it, but only just.

The bread turned out well, but I won't be doing this again.

David

50% Whole Wheat Sourdough

This bread turned out really well. I made it the same as my regular sourdough, but used 50% whole wheat flour. The whole wheat didn't detract from the texture or crust at all, but it added nicely to the flavor. This is really great bread.

• Weighed out 238g of active starter (that basically equals 125g flour and half a cup of water).
• Mixed in 1.5 cups warm water.
• Stirred in 375g King Arthur whole wheat flour.
• Let proof for 2 hours.
• Mixed in and kneaded 250g Harvest King high protein white flour and 1T kosher salt.
• Allowed to double (around 2 hours).
• Punched down, formed loaf, allowed to rise (around 2 hours).
• Dusted with flour, slashed, baked at 450 degrees for 20 minutes, then 400 degrees to an internal temperature of 200 degrees (about 5 more minutes).

David

Long Culinary Weekend

We didn't do much over the long weekend. Our plans for Saturday got canceled due to the weather and the rest of the time we chilled. So I spent some time in the kitchen.

The tally:

• White sourdough bread
• American sandwich bread. Twice.
  
• Double-vanilla ice cream (best I've ever had)
  
• Rich chocolate sauce
• Deep caramel sauce
• Terrific baked ziti (supposed to go the party on Saturday, but we ate it instead)
  
• Whole wheat sourdough bread
  
• Fromage fort
• A couple of spatchcocked chickens on the grill
• Cornbread
  
• Scratch buttermilk pancakes
• French toast from the sandwich bread
• A killer sandwich of ham with caramelized onions and fromage fort browned under the broiler.
• Meringue cookies (to use up the egg whites whose yolks went into the ice cream)
  

There might be something wrong with me. If nothing else, I think I should probably go back on my diet...

David

Five Minute Sourdough Bread: An Experiment

Of course any sourdough bread is going to take more than five minutes. But it is an attempt to convert the basic recipe for Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day (ABI5MAD) into sourdough and that is the best title I could come up with. It kicks the butt of "ABI5MAD Sourdough".

I am using this starter. When I feed it, I feed it with 125g King Arthur all purpose flour and 1/2 cup of bottled spring water (or multiples thereof). If for some reason you felt compelled to attempt to repeat this experiment and you use a starter with different ratios of flour to water you may need to adjust the recipe. My starter lives in this crock, because my starter is cool. I need to get my starter some sunglasses.

The flour proportions were easy to calculate, but I had to make some guesses when it came to yeast. I decided that adding yeast was good because the real magic of ABI5MAD is that I can grab a handful of dough out of the fridge and have a fresh loaf in an hour and a half (most of that time unattended). I want that dependability. But I decreased the yeast a little because the sourdough culture already has a bunch. It was a total shot in the dark, really.

I used tepid water for the rise to avoid heat shocking the sourdough culture. I don't care so much if this rise takes longer as long as I don't have to wait years to proof the loaves when it comes time to bake. Plus this will theoretically allow more flavor to develop. Will it be too much flavor?

Took 238g starter from the fridge and added half a cup of water in the bottom of my 6qt plastic container. Stirred to dissolve, then mixed in 125g of all purpose flour. Fermented overnight, about 10 hours. (did the same to my starter and put it back in the fridge in the morning)

In the morning, added 2 cups of tepid water (room temperature plus a tiny bit) that had 1T granulated yeast and 1 1/2T kosher salt dissolved in it. Stirred to mix. Then added 533g of King Arthur bread flour (all purpose is probably fine too). Mixed with a wooden spoon until everything was completely wet and there were no dry spots.

Allowed to proof until the dough started to collapse. Since the water was cooler than normally used for ABI5MAD, this took longer than usual. I let it go around 4 hours.

Then I used the dough as I would the basic boule dough from ABI5MAD.

Day 0 - a mini boule.

I felt the need to test the dough right away. As usual with ABI5MAD doughs the fresh dough was wicked wet and sticky. I managed to form a fairly rustic looking boule. It came out prettier than I deserved. It was a fairly flat loaf, again like most of my ABI5MAD loaves. It tastes great. Lovely crisp crust with a moist chewy/creamy crumb that I associate with sourdough. But it isn't at all sour despite being almost 1/3 starter culture by weight. It doesn't really taste like "sourdough". It is moister and creamier than the standard ABI5MAD boule. It is much less resilient and much less sour than say, a Bodin loaf. And a LOT less round. :-)

Still, a very satisfying result for a first try. It's tasty.




Day 1 - A classic sourdough

Today we are going to take a break from the experiment. Sort of. I decided that I need a more classic sourdough to compare the ABI5MAD loaves to, so I baked one. We also had sourdough pancakes for breakfast. Yum.

By the way, what's the deal with all of the "classic sourdough bread" recipes on the 'net that have baking soda in them? Yikes. This has none of that. Flour. Water. Salt.

The classic bread is pure sourdough (no commercial yeast), about 6 1/2 cups of flour , 2 cups of water (both including the starter contents) and a tablespoon of kosher salt, for a single large round loaf. I took my time with it. Refreshed the starter overnight, then built it up with a couple cups of the flour for 8 hours. Then the usual (mixed ingredients, kneaded, raised, punched, formed loaf, raised, slashed, spritzed (the loaf rising was long enough that I wanted to make sure that the crust had a moist start in the oven), and baked with steam). It took all day. Most of it unattended, but still much more effort than ABI5MAD.

As would be expected, the dough was much more manageable than the ABI5MAD dough. It was easy to knead (thank you Kitchen Aide), easy to form, and shockingly easy to slash well (the sticky dough for ABI5MAD is kind of hard to slash and I have gotten used to it).

The loaf is pretty and almost perfectly formed, despite the fact that Deb almost leaned on it. The crumb is dense and moist and chewy, much more like a Boudin loaf. Sour enough to know for sure that you are eating sourdough, but not overwhelming. A highly pleasing bread.

I would happily munch on either of these loaves, but the classic would be my choice if I wanted to make sandwiches. Or an impression. It is a fine bread. It wins for eating, no doubt.

But the ABI5MAD dough is still in the fridge. I can bake more fresh tomorrow. Or the next day. It wins by a lot in the flexibility category. And being less perfect it has more character, I suppose.

The photos may not do the classic loaf justice. I finished it so late that natural light wasn't an option without a tripod and the flash and angle of the shot make it look a bit flat and misshapen. It was neither.




Day 2

Breakfast was a big slab of sourdough bread with butter. Well, OK, two big slabs. I couldn't help it. And a latte, of course. It occurred to me while munching on this lovely fresh bread that shelf life is something I should consider when evaluating the ABI5MAD dough. Sourdough and poolish made breads tend to keep longer, so will the ABI5MAD sourdough keep well? To test this, I'll have to bake a loaf big enough to last for a couple days. But not until we eat most of the giant classic loaf. So not today.

Day 3

No baking today. Leave me alone.

(Well, OK, I made pizza dough, but that has nothing to do with this experiment. It's not even sourdough. Go away.)

Day 4

I took 2/3 of the remaining dough out to form a largish loaf. Right away I noticed that the dough was even wetter and stickier than usual. I managed to form a relatively attractive loaf. But as the loaf sat waiting to be baked, it started to "melt". It just oozed itself away. I dusted, slashed, and baked the puddle anyway. The slashes completely disappeared, sealed back into the gooey dough.

When I cut into it, it seemed surprisingly like normal bread. A decent cell structure. It smelled nice and "sourdoughy". It tasted OK too - at first. But the aftertaste is a sour that just won't go away. I really like sour sourdough, but this was way too much.

This is what a completely failed experiment looks like:




Even if I could solve the structural problems by adding more flour or something, I think the flavor problem makes this a lost cause. No five minute sourdough, sorry.

But if you have the time, classic sourdough isn't all that hard and it is delicious and the basic ABI5MAD is very good and very flexible. I wanted to demonstrate how flexible by making sourdough pita tonight, but I won't be doing that with this dough.

David

Digital Scales and Accuracy in Baking

If you read my review of Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, then you know I have been baking.

Since I am a bona fide nerd, that means that I have been reading a lot about baking from all kinds of different sources.

And that my friends, means that I have repeatedly run across the completely ridiculous assertion that weighing things in grams is somehow intrinsically more accurate than weighing things in ounces.

So here is a little primer, let's call it "Balance 101".

• A balance is what scientists call a scale.


• Units of weight measure are ways of describing how much of something you are weighing.


• Units of measure for weight are always convertible to any other unit of measure for weight (1g = 0.03527oz). They have nothing to do with either precision or accuracy.


• Precision is the number of significant digits used for the representation (1.000g = 0.03527oz), or the degree to which fractional units of measure in different units can be considered to be the same, within the constraints of accuracy.
  


• Accuracy is the degree to which the displayed precision reflects reality. (My balance reads 1g, but I know that really means 1g, plus or minus 1g, so there is somewhere between 0g and 2g of stuff being weighed).

So where does this annoying assertion come from? Why do so many sources claim it?

Well, let's look at the specific case of my kitchen balance. It has a precision when weighing in grams of 1g (that is, it displays no fractional grams), but a precision of 0.1oz when weighing in ounces. As long as the accuracy of the balance reflects the least precise of these measures (0.1oz is less precise because it is 2.8g), then it doesn't matter which unit of measure you use to weigh. That is, if the accuracy of the scale is plus or minus 3g, then it doesn't matter at all whether you weigh in grams or ounces.

However if the actual accuracy of the balance is plus or minus 2g (or less) then it actually is better (more accurate) to weigh in grams.

Notice that this has nothing to do with the fact that grams are more precise than ounces. It has to do with the fact that the firmware in the balance fails to represent the values in ounces with sufficient precision to reflect the actual accuracy.

David

Book Review: An Edge In The Kitchen

I am a knife enthusiast. Maybe even a knife nut. I have read virtually every book ever published on the topics of knife making, knife smithing, and sharpening. I have made knives from kits and from blade blanks and by stock removal. I own a number of custom and semi-custom knives.

I also love to cook and every knife stuck to the wall in my kitchen is sharp enough to shave the hairs on your arm.

So I was delighted when An Edge In The Kitchen: The Ultimate Guide to Kitchen Knives: how to buy them, keep them razor sharp, and use them like a pro showed up in my Amazon recommended reading list.

I highly recommend this book for any serious cook and also for any serious knife enthusiast. The knife enthusiast will learn a great deal about kitchen cutlery that he/she probably doesn't know (I learned quite a bit about the evolution of styles of kitchen knives - a lot of the knife literature if very heavily weighted towards hunting knives). The cook will learn knife techniques (there is nothing new here - serious cooks may not learn much) and most importantly sharpening and knife care.

The author (Chad Ward) shares many of my biases about sharpening and he does a decent job of describing techniques that should produce excellent results. I strongly believe that people should sharpen their own knives. It is neither rocket science nor voodoo. When Alton Brown told me that I had to send my knives to a professional to get them sharpened, I threw my remote at the TV. I am sure that there are excellent sharpening services out there, but I have never personally experienced a "professional" edge that was even close to being as good as the edge I put on my knives. On the other hand I have overheard some shocking conversations in high end cutlery stores that have convinced me that there are lots of professional knife sharpeners who have no clue at all what they are doing and who likely ruin knives at a fabulous rate.

Here is the book by section.
Part one: Choose Your Weapon

Here the author describes the various knife styles, tells you what you actually need (one big, one small), tells you how to get what you need on various budgets, and tells you what the options are if the sky is the limit. He also does a nice job covering the ins and outs of cutting boards. This section contained the most new material for me - I think I will definitely have to branch out from my "traditional german-made" chef's knife and my plastic cutting boards.

Part two: Cut Loose

This section is devoted to classical kitchen knife techniques. It is well done and the photographs make the subject clear. It is not comprehensive (you won't learn how to butcher a cow), but it has the vegetable and chicken basics.

Part three: Stay Sharp

This section is the better part of a hundred pages and it is pretty comprehensive. It covers everything from metallurgy basics, to edge geometry, to sharpening techniques and systems.

I do have a couple of criticisms, though.

At one point, the author disses round crock sticks in V-system knife sharpeners because, "It is difficult to produce a flat edge with a round stone." That is complete nonsense. The knife edge contacts and is pulled along the top arc of the cylinder. In geometric terms this is a straight line meeting another straight line. In my opinion the round crock sticks are better (for everything except serrations) because you can just turn them a bit to get a clean surface. I have several of these V crock stick sharpeners and they have become my favorite tools for keeping a good edge on my kitchen knives. My only complaint is that they don't offer enough choices in angle, but you can solve that with a drill press. The Idahone system with coarse and fine ceramic rods is hard to beat.

My other criticism is that he doesn't make it plain enough what the difference between a good sharpening job and a bad one are. He does a nice job of describing how to get the planes of the blade to meet (raise a burr) and how to polish off the wire edge, but he fails to warn the reader that a single swipe at too steep an angle can undo half an hour of painstaking work. To sharpen successfully you have to understand the basic physics involved (which he explains well), but you also have to be very mindful and consistent.

David

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

So I picked up this book in Borders the other day. Not because I thought it was likely to be brilliant (this is a no knead, low effort approach to bread baking that breaks every baking rule I have ever heard), but because in the unlikely event it actually did work as advertised it would be revolutionary.

Well, it's revolutionary.

If I had bought it from Amazon as I often do, I would have seen the glowing reviews and I might have been more eager to try the method (notice that the few negative reviews are obviously from people who didn't actually try it). But as it was it sat on my shelf until I found myself with a chunk of time to devote to it. Silly me, I didn't really need much of a chunk of time. You do need a couple of hours to prep the original dough (which goes in the fridge, to be used over and over), but most of the time is rising. Even the initial rising isn't critical, though, 2-5 hours. So just mix it up and go to the mall or something.

I have made just two loaves from the "master recipe", both simple small boules with slashes on the top and they were both great. I made them on both ends of doneness spectrum and they were both very good, although the more well done loaf had more character.

The only trick to this is that handling the very wet dough is quite tricky. I was not nearly liberal enough with the flour on the first loaf and ended up with a near terminal case of cooks club hand before I finally managed to shape a loaf. If you decide to try this method, a little visual aid might be helpful:



I used my kitchenaid with the dough hook, but from the video segment it appears that this was extreme overkill. I also used King Arthur bread flour, regardless of their advice. I will eventually try all purpose flour, I suppose, but my results were terrific, so I'm not really motivated to experiment.

The loaves were a bit misshapen, because I had some trouble releasing them from the peel. I think this was because I didn't use enough flour and the dough was wet enough to seep around the cornmeal. But they had visual character. :-)

I think the only real problem with this method is that it will tend to make flatish loaves because the dough is on the gooey side. But for breads where you can live with that I encourage you to give it a go.

The author who came up with the idea, by the way, is not a baker. He is a doctor who's career has dabbled in things like IT. Go figure.

David

Best. Hamburger. Ever.

I have had hamburgers on the brain lately. I just read Hamburger America, Bobby Flay's hamburger throw down was shown again, Cooks Illustrated had an article on the best hamburger, and Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives has had a bunch of tasty looking burgers on it.

Based on all of these sources (and more) and my own personal preferences, I made a mental list of characteristics an ultimate burger needs to have. Then I cooked it up. It was by far the best burger that I have ever had.

1. The beef needs to be freshly ground. Most sources agree that fresh ground beef makes better burgers and I like my beef rare, so I am not going to trust ground beef from a mega-mart. I ground equal parts chuck steak and well marbled sirloin tips using the fine setting of my Kitchenaid grinder attachment. Some sources suggest grinding multiple times to evenly mix the fat, but I didn't want overly ground mush. Since I was using a mixer anyway, I mixed the beef up using the paddle after grinding.

2. Thick patty that is very pink in the middle. The first time I can remember thinking that hamburgers were really good food was the first time that I ate at Flaky Jake's. As far as I know Flaky Jake's is long dead, but it was a place kind of like Fuddrucker's, only better. You could watch them cut up and grind the meat and bake the buns while you were standing in line. That first Flaky Jake's burger was a nice thick rare patty and I have never had a burger that I thought was exceptional that didn't have that characteristic since.

3. Loosely packed patty. This was my first effort at loose packing, but all of the most reputable sources agree that it makes the burger better because it gives the juices a place to gather. After this burger, I'm sold. I guess my nice aluminum patty mold is junk now.

4. Appropriate meat to bun ratio. I had a burger the other day at Picadilly Pub which should have been decent, but was actually very disappointing. The burger was medium rare and good beef. The bun was nice. But the bun was too big for the patty and there weren't enough tomato slices to get tomato in every bite. My son's kid's meal burger was even worse - same bun, much smaller patty. Things have to be in proportion. I didn't want to bust my diet completely for my ideal burger, so I opted for small classic Pepperidge Farms buns. In an ideal world I would like a bun with a bit of a chew to the exterior crust, but not too much, with a fluffy interior. That's what I remember from Flaky Jake's, actually. But I think I would have to bake that myself. I made the patty about an 3/4ths inch thick and a bit bigger around than the bun.

5. Mustard. Yellow mustard. Lots. I kind of like Dairy Queen hamburgers - I always have. I have decided that the reason I prefer them is their liberal use of yellow mustard. It makes an otherwise ordinary uninteresting burger tangy and delicious.

6. No mayonnaise or ketchup. I have almost always put both on my burgers. But mayonnaise is really a remedy for a dry burger and ketchup is really a remedy for bad (or absent) tomatoes. I resolved not to need either.

7. A good crust on the meat. The Maillard reaction reigns supreme when it comes to developing flavors in food. Especially in meat. I think one of the reasons burgers work so well is that the ground beef exposes more surface area to crisp up. For this reason I eschewed my grill (in 94 degree weather!) in favor of cast iron. I have no regrets. Bobby says that seasoning helps the crust form. I did salt before crusting and fresh ground black pepper after.

8. Crisp iceberg lettuce. From the middle portion of the head (not the outside, not the center). It's all about the texture.

9. Ripe tomatoes. Enough slices to cover the patty.

10. Cheddar cheese. Sharp. American cheese has its place on cheeseburgers (and IMO nowhere else), but I prefer cheddar. The best pre-sliced sharp cheddar I have found comes from Cabot. I will of course repeat this experiment with blue cheese. Stilton burger anyone?

This burger turned out amazing. I was in a completely zen place while eating it. There was just me and the burger and the eating. Yum.

David

Fresh Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Our garden is in a state of extreme neglect. We bought the house partly because it had this wonderful 10'X20' raised bed garden and we had visions of farming wonderful produce. Unfortunately we only had a few real successes. There was the year of 10 varieties of basil (and hence fantastic chicken kaprow) and the year of endless fresh cucumber salad. But mostly the critters ate our veggies. We grew some mighty nice pumpkins, but I don't believe we ever managed to harvest one. It has been neglected for about 4 years now, a situation that isn't likely to change with a toddler in the house. There are trees growing in there with trunks two inches or more in diameter.

But there are still two "crops" that keep coming back. The catnip and the mint. We have a huge bumper crop of both at the moment.

The problem with mint is that I have never been able to figure out what to do with the stuff. I have made the occasional cup of mint tea and used it as a garnish a few times, but generally it just stays there and goes to seed (hence the bumper crop). I love mint, but I consume most of it in the form of Altoids and flavored desserts (generally made from an extract).

When I found this recipe, I was excited to have something to use up some of these weeds. Mint chocolate chip ice cream is my second favorite (after vanilla, of course). I have very fond memories of the Mint Truffle sundaes that I used to get with my dad at the now sadly defunct Bakers on Lake City Way in Seattle, so I expect I will have to try this with some kind of dark chocolate mint truffle in place of the chocolate at some point.

I have modified the recipe, because steeping the leaves in the milk, but removing them before making the custard makes a lot more sense to me. It avoids having to temper the yolks and it makes stirring and watching the custard much easier. It is clear that this method would work for lots of different infusions, so I will have to do some experimenting this summer.

This stuff is seriously good.

David

Fresh Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

6 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups whole milk
2 cups fresh mint leaves, clean, dry (salad spinner), and loosely packed (or more, put as much in as you can get submerged in the milk while helping with a spatula)
1 cup heavy cream
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1. In heavy medium saucepan over moderately low heat, stir together milk, 1/4 cup sugar, and mint. Heat until steaming but not boiling, then remove from heat.

2. Allow the leaves to steep until cool enough to handle and not cook egg yolk. Remove the leaves, wringing them out well.

3. Whisk together egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar and add them to the saucepan.

4. Place over low heat, and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens enough to coat back of spoon (finger drawn across spoon will leave clear path), 5 to 6 minutes total (do not let boil or custard will curdle). Strain through fine-mesh sieve into large bowl. Whisk in heavy cream. Cover and chill until cold, at least 6 hours or overnight.

5. Process custard in ice cream maker, adding chopped chocolate during last minute of churning. Transfer to airtight container and freeze until hard, about 3 hours.

Hamburger America POI

Here are the coordinates for the hamburger places mentioned in Hamburger America. This list is in no way a substitute for the book, which I recommend.

Any errors, especially geocoding errors, are mine. A couple of places required some research to get the coordinates (e.g. Meers Store) and I haven't been able to verify them all. In addition there are a few places that have multiple locations - in these cases the only location listed is the one from the book.

David

-80.117304,26.0184,Le Tub,"1100 North Ocean Drive, Hollywood, FL 33019 : 954-921-9425"
-95.025281,29.561779,Tookie's,"1202 Bayport Blvd., Seabrook, TX 77586 : 281-474-3444"
-95.383413,29.749837,Lankford Grocery,"88 Dennis Street, Houston, TX 77006 : 713-522-9555"
-95.430217,29.778471,Christian's Tailgate Bar and Grill,"7340 Washington Avenue, Houston, TX 77007 : 713-864-9744"
-90.061729,29.96443,Port of Call,"838 Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70116 : 504-523-0120"
-90.153819,30.006054,Bozo's,"3117 21st Street, Metairie, LA 70002 : 504-831-8666"
-97.738046,30.266593,Casino El Camino,"517 East 6th Street, Austin, TX 78701 : 512-469-9330"
-97.750989,30.270245,Hut's Hamburgers,"807 West 6th Street, Austin, TX 78703 : 512-472-0693"
-97.742167,30.293632,Dirty Martin's Place,"2808 Guadalupe Street, Austin, TX 78705 : 512-477-3173"
-97.393206,32.737833,Kincaid's Hamburgers,"4901 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth, TX 76107 : 817-732-2881"
-117.251262,32.747164,Hodad's,"5010 Newport Ave, Ocean Beach, CA 92107 : 619-224-4623"
-117.134465,32.748599,Western Steakburger,"2730 University Ave., San Diego, CA 92104 : 619-296-7058"
-96.787063,32.849527,Burger House,"6913 Hillcrest Avenue, Dallas, TX 75205 : 214-361-0370"
-84.33487,33.747362,Ann's Snack Bar,"1615 Memorial Drive SE, Atlanta, GA 30317 : 404-687-9207"
-88.490908,33.98765,Bill's Hamburgers,"310 North Main Street, Amory, MS 38821 : 662-256-2085"
-118.427721,34.040607,The Apple Pan,"10801 W. Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064 : 310-475-3585"
-118.420528,34.044164,Marty's,"10558 West Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90064 : 310-836-6944"
-118.370141,34.09079,Irv's Burger,"8289 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90046 : 323-650-2456"
-118.131526,34.136008,Pie 'N Burger,"913 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91106 : 626-795-1123"
-89.43399,34.767366,Philip's Grocery,"541 East Van Dorn Ave., Holly Springs, MS 38634 : 662-252-4671"
-96.673749,34.774694,Folger's Drive-Inn,"406 East Main St., Ada, OK 74820 : 580-332-9808"
-82.392948,34.864311,Northgate Soda Shop,"918 North Main Street, Greenville, SC 29609 : 864-235-6770"
-85.304754,35.033842,Zarzour's Cafe,"1627 Rossville Ave, Chattanooga, TN 37408 : 423-266-0424"
-97.93849,35.052286,J&W Grill,"501 West Choctaw Ave., Chickasha, OK 73018 : 405-224-9912"
-90.051677,35.139413,Dyer's Burgers,"205 Beale Street, Memphis, TN 38103 : 901-527-3937"
-80.791883,35.203914,South 21,"3101 East Independence Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28205 : 704-377-4509"
-96.91928,35.327615,Hamburger King,"322 E. Main St., Shawnee, OK 74801 : 405-878-0488"
-97.954975,35.531281,Sid's Diner (Onion Fried Burger),"300 South Choctaw, El Reno, OK 73036 : 405-262-7757"
-97.95256,35.531282,Johnnie's Grill,"301 South Rock Island, El Reno, OK 73036 : 405-262-4721"
-97.953848,35.531282,Robert's Grill (Onion Fried Burger),"300 South Bickford, El Reno, OK 73036 : 405-262-1262"
-105.898277,35.583718,Bobcat Bite (chile burger),"420 Old Las Vegas Highway, Santa Fe, NM 87505 : 505-983-5319"
-78.648083,35.780893,Char-Grill,"618 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, NC 27603 : 919-821-7636"
-86.802406,36.130566,Brown's Diner,"2102 Blair Boulevard, Nashville, TN 37212 : 615-269-5509"
-86.807891,36.148084,Rotier's Restaurant,"2412 Elliston Place, Nashville, TN 37203 : 615-327-9892"
-80.607374,36.499644,Snappy Lunch,"125 North Main Street, Mount Airy, NC 27030 : 336-786-4931"
-79.938875,37.270595,Texas Tavern,"114 W. Church Avenue, Roanoke, VA 24011 : 540-342-4825"
-122.431725,37.728511,Joe's Cable Car Restaurant,"4320 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94112 : 415-334-6699"
-122.465006,38.501663,Taylor's Automatic Refresher,"933 Main Street, St. Helena, CA 94574 : 707-963-3486"
-121.490155,38.581195,Jim-Denny's,"816 12th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 : 916-443-9655"
-97.610145,38.840949,Cozy Inn Hamburgers,"108 North 7th Street, Salina, KS 67401 : 785-825-2699"
-77.028716,38.917079,Ben's Chili Bowl,"1213 U Street NW, Washington, DC 20009 : 202-667-0909"
-94.585526,39.041996,Winstead's,"101 Emanuael Cleaver II Blvd, Kansas City, MO 6411 : 816-753-2244"
-95.706223,39.051415,Bobo's Drive In,"2300 SW 10th Ave, Topeka, KS 66604 : 785-234-4511"
-94.588804,39.088435,Town Topic,"2021 Broadway Street, Kansas City, MO 64108 : 816-842-2610"
-104.962421,39.437279,Bud's Bar,"5453 Manhart Street, Sedalia, CO 80135 : 303-688-9967"
-84.288718,39.641525,Hamburger Wagon,"12 East Central Ave., Miamisburg, OH 45342 : 937-847-2442"
-82.9912,39.939507,Thurman Cafe (Thurman Burger),"183 Thurman Ave., Columbus, OH 43206 : 614-443-1570"
-82.878537,40.018969,Gahana Grill,"82 Granville Street, Gahanna, OH 43230 : 614-476-9017"
-83.762365,40.108587,Crabill's Hamburgers (grease sliders),"727 Miami Street, Urbana, OH 43078 : 937-653-5133"
-74.739426,40.211125,Rossi's Bar & Grill,"501 Morris Ave., Trenton, NJ 08611 : 609-394-9089"
-79.950827,40.462668,Tessaro's,"4601 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15224 : 412-682-6809"
-74.00378,40.738821,Corner Bistro,"331 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10014 : 212-242-9502"
-84.107005,40.740246,Kewpie,"111 North Elizabeth Street, Lima, OH 45801 : 419-228-1778"
-73.642911,40.757216,Hildebrandt's,"84 Hillside Avenue, Williston Park, NY 11596 : 516-741-0608"
-73.968323,40.759,P.J. Clarke's,"915 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022 : 212-317-1616"
-111.899554,40.772049,Crown Burgers,"118 North 300 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84103 : 801-532-5300"
-83.650418,41.035527,Wilson's Sandwich Shop,"600 S. Main St., Findlay, OH 45840 : 419-422-5051"
-95.920771,41.159921,Stella's Hamburgers,"106 Galvin Road South, Bellevue, NE 68005 : 402-291-6088"
-72.931521,41.306944,Louis' Lunch (on toast),"263 Crown St., New Haven, CT 06510 : 203-562-5507"
-72.930283,41.310778,Yankee Doodle Coffee Shop,"258 Elm Street, New Haven, CT 06511 : 203-865-1074"
-72.783276,41.54681,Ted's Restaurant (Steamed),"1044 Broad St., Meriden, CT 06450 : 203-237-6660"
-73.37938,41.65486,Clamp's Hamburger Stand,"Route 202 (Near Marbledale, CT), New Milford, CT 06776 : No Phone"
-91.531414,41.663849,Hamburg Inn No. 2,"214 North Linn Street, Iowa City, IA 52245 : 319-337-5512"
-85.995655,41.66681,Hennies,"1743 West Lusher Ave, Elkhart, IN 46517 : 574-522-9101"
-87.675431,41.721229,Top Notch Beefburger Shop,"2116 West 95th Street, Chicago, IL : 773-445-7218"
-86.737016,41.797118,Redamak's,"616 East Buffalo Street, New Buffalo, MI 49117 : 269-469-4522"
-87.624188,41.890197,Billy Goat Tavern,"430 N. Lower Michigan, Chicago, IL 60611 : 312-222-1525"
-92.907829,42.047712,Taylors Maid-Rite (loosemeats),"106 South 3rd Ave, Marshalltown, IA 50158 : 641-753-9684"
-83.744138,42.27524,Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger,"551 South Division Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 : 734-663-4590"
-83.267391,42.301089,Miller's Bar,"23700 Michigan Ave, Dearborn, MI 48124 : 313-565-2577"
-71.116211,42.372476,Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage,"1246 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02138 : 617-354-6559"
-88.805679,43.005208,Peterson's Hamburger Stand and Ice Cream Parlor,"200 East Racine Street, Jefferson, WI 53549 : 920-674-3637"
-89.395782,43.072306,Dotty Dumpling's Dowry,"317 North Frances St., Madison, WI 53703 : 608-259-0000"
-89.390047,43.075022,The Plaza Tavern,"319 N. Henry Street, Madison, WI 97213 : 608-255-6592"
-70.759378,43.077309,Gilley's PM Lunch,"175 Fleet Street, Portsmouth, NH 03801 : 603-431-6343"
-87.917159,43.100851,Solly's Grille,"4629 North Port Washington Road, Milwaukee, WI 53212 : 414-332-8808"
-96.726134,43.545892,Hamburger Inn,"111 East 10th Street, Sioux Falls, SD 57104 : 605-332-5412"
-70.298066,43.744913,Harmon's Lunch,"144 Gray Road, Falmouth, ME 04105 : 207-797-9857"
-96.798754,44.30947,Nick's Hamburger Shop,"427 Main Avenue, Brookings, SD 57006 : 605-692-4324"
-93.247796,44.897823,The 5-8 Club,"5800 Cedar Ave South, Minneapolis, MN 55417 : 612-823-5858"
-93.247567,44.939343,Matt's Bar,"3500 Cedar Ave South, Minneapolis, MN 55407 : 612-722-7072"
-122.718188,45.41116,Giant Drive-In,"15840 Boones Ferry Road, Lake Oswego, OR 97035 : 503-636-0255"
-122.612326,45.548472,Stanchi's Tavern,"4915 NE Fremont Street, Portland, OR 97213 : 503-281-2322"
-122.916826,45.596321,Helvetia Tavern,"10275 NW Helvetia Rd., Hillsboro, OR 97124 : 503-647-5286"
-112.53808,45.990089,Matt's Place Drive-In,"2339 Placer St., Butte, MT 59701 : 406-782-8049"
-113.995355,46.871236,The Missoula Club,"139 West Main St., Missoula, MT 59802 : 406-728-3740"
-122.328069,47.661245,Dick's Drive-In,"111 N.E. 45th Street, Seattle, WA 98105 : 206-632-5125"
-72.484621,41.786098,Shady Glen (Bernice Original),"840 Middle Turnpike E, Manchester, CT 06040 : 860-649-4245"
-75.547549,39.795675,Charcoal Pit,"2600 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE 19803 : 302-478-2165"
-77.001601,38.886625,Tune Inn,"331 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington, DC 20003 : 202-543-2725"
-116.784095,47.673756,Hudson's Hamburgers,"207 E Sherman Ave, Coeur D'Alene, ID 83814 : 208-664-5444"
-87.892954,39.190699,Moonshine Store,"6017 E 300th Rd, Annapolis, IL 62413 : 618-569-9200"
-72.601572,42.096449,White Hut,"280 Memorial Ave, West Springfield, MA 01089 : 413-736-9390"
-74.038528,40.889334,White Manna Hamburgers (sliders),"358 River St, Hackensack, NJ 07601 : 201-342-0914"
-106.869362,33.917736,Owl Bar & Cafe,"77 US Highway 380, San Antonio, NM 87832 : 505-835-9946"
-73.907224,40.745225,Donovan's Pub,"57-24 Roosevelt Ave., Queens, NY 11377 : 718-429-9339"
-98.581696,34.782228,The Meers Store & Restaurant (long horn beef),"Highway 115, Meers, OK 73501 : 580-429-8051"
-75.315698,39.897004,Charlie's Hamburgers,"336 Kedron Ave, Folsom, PA 19033 : 610-461-4228"
-122.872637,47.04592,Eastside Big Tom,"2023 4th Ave E, Olympia, WA 98506 : 360-357-4852"

Crepes, crepes, crepes

I got a new crepe pan on impulse when I was in the mall the other day and I am extremely pleased with it.

For some background let me start by saying that I have been doing a lot of cast iron cooking lately, making me appreciate the qualities of a properly seasoned iron pan. So when I saw a DeBuyer crepe pan I was predisposed to fall in love with it. It is thin enough to heat fairly fast, small enough to aid in portion control, thick enough and made of the right material to heat evenly, light enough to be easy to manage for swirling batter, and simple and sturdy enough to last generations if properly cared for.

It is an extremely simple affair. A piece of punched out sheet steel with a handle spot welded to it.

I got it home and seasoned the crap out of it on the stove top. Before I ever used it I had it looking like something that has been around for decades. But boy does it ever work!

It outperforms the best non-stick cookware I have ever used. The crepes turn out perfectly time after time. The pan stays hot, so I can easily make crepe after crepe, factory style. I have never cooked a crepe before, but the first one I cooked was perfect, as was every single one since (so far at least).

The more I cook, the more I appreciate the simple tools that our grandparents used to cook with and the less I understand the fancy cookware that is so in vogue these days. You can't even buy a cast iron frying pan in a lot of otherwise well stocked kitchen supply stores. It is sad really.

My favorite crepe shop closed recently (across the street from MGH in Boston), but I think I will miss it a little less now. I will certainly have crepes more often.

David

Cool Coffee Products

It is not that often that new products come out in the coffee world that are truly novel and potentially useful. I mean coffee and the art of drinking it is old.

But here are two.

The first and coolest is an espresso maker that is completely hand operated. It works kind of like a bicycle pump. I would love to see a non-pod option, but even with pods it blows my little camp stove-top espresso machine away.

The second is the "I am not a paper cup..." cup. Yes, it is just another travel mug and it isn't even as well insulated or as spill resistant as most. But I like it because it is a really nice visual design and because it is completely dishwasher safe. The last is important to me because I use a travel mug every single day. I am so tired of hand washing these things that there aren't words.

Tips for other dishwasher safe travel mugs will be appreciated.

David

Scone Recipe

I had a request for my scone recipe. If I had a dollar for every time that I have been asked for this recipe, I would be rich. Well, OK, not rich, but I might have a nice watch or something. I am going to put it here so that I never have to answer the question again. :-)

Originally from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham - one of the best and most used cookbooks that I own. This book is how I fell in love with steel cut oats (via the overnight double-boiler method) among other things.

The original recipe calls for dried fruit, but I omit that at least as often as I add it. These are the best scones that I have ever had. My only regret is that I have not been able to come up with a decent cinnamon chip adaptation (the Hershey's Cinnamon Chips are horrid - I don't want cinnamon flavored chocolate chips, I want something with more of a cinnamon-sugar lump consistency).

Cream Scones

• 2C All purpose flour
• 1T Baking powder
• 1/4C Sugar
• 1/2t Salt
• 1 1/4C (i.e. 1.25) Heavy whipping cream
• (Optional) 3/4C Dried fruit in small bits
• ---------
  
• 1-2T melted butter
• Some extra sugar (I like sugar in the raw for the topping)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Mix all of the dry powdery ingredients together with a fork. Mix in the dried fruit if desired. Add the cream and mix with a fork until the dough starts to come together. Knead the dough 8 or 9 times.

Form the dough into a ball and flatten it out into a rough circle (on a floured board) 8 or 9 inches in diameter (hands are fine, you don't need a rolling pin). Brush some melted butter on the circle and sprinkle on some sugar.

Cut the dough like a pie into 12 slices (cut it in quarters, then each quarter into thirds).

Put the scones onto a baking sheet (separated by an inch) and bake for around 15 minutes. The edges are sensitive to burning, so watch them. I strongly recommend an air insulated baking sheet for this. Or double up on the sheets.

They are done when they are golden brown. Serve naked, or with butter and jam. And coffee of course. Lots of coffee.

These are amazing when fresh, but they don't keep for very long. Of course you won't be able to keep them for very long, so it doesn't really matter. Just don't plan on baking them a day ahead if you can avoid it.

David

Buttercream Frosting

How ironic is it that I am posting about frosting immediately after posting about my weight loss? Every once in a while you have to indulge a tiny bit. This is the very best frosting that I have ever tasted and by far the best that I have ever made. I am putting it in the blog mostly so that I don't lose it. I almost had a heart attack when I couldn't find the recipe.

The diet is still going well. This is day 16 and I have lost 14 pounds.

6 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup butter at room temperature
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup half-and-half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons light corn syrup

Cream butter on medium in Kitchen aid. Gradually add powdered sugar, adding the salt after the first batch of sugar and alternating with the half-and-half and vanilla extract. Scrape the bowl often. At the end stir in the corn syrup (this keeps the frosting from crystallizing).

You can make this chocolate by adding 3 squares of melted cooled baking chocolate, but if you do, reduce the sugar a tad or it will be a bit dry. It would probably also work to add a dash more half-and-half, but I haven't tried that.

I know the chocoholics out there will hate me for saying this, but it is better without the chocolate. My wife vehemently disagrees with that, so your mileage may vary. :-)

David