The burger ground-up
The hamburger, a patty of meat served in a bun, is one of the world’s most accessible and iconic of foods. Its history as a popular fast food item, served quick and cheaply, runs deep, and its wide ranging appeal has inspired many iterations on the concept of two-all-beef-patties-special-sauce-lettuce-cheese-pickles-onionson-a-sesame-seed-bun.
French chef Daniel Boulud, for example, took it from casual to fine dining heights with his Original DB Burger. Riffing on classic French techniques, his is a thick meatball of ground sirloin wrapped around red wine-braised short rib meat and stuffed with foie gras. It sits on a bed of crispy lettuce, concentrated tomato confit on a brioche-like potato bun topped with parmesan, cracked pepper and poppy seeds.
This well-to-do version is served while sitting at a table with nice linens, fine cutlery and a bottle of Burgundy. Any add-ons would only be shaved truffles, in season, of course.
As restaurants around the globe begin to reopen to a new normal, menus are being retooled, a turn away from fine dining. Many are sticking to a take-out model for the time being, others are trying both sit-down and take-out to appease physical distancing rules, and many are completely changing their concepts to a fastcasual model.
In Denmark, famed Michelin-starred chef Rene Redzepi has taken a bold step and transformed Noma, his four-time world’s best restaurant, into a wine, beer and burger bar. Gone are the $500 tasting menus making way for $25 burgers. The menus will offer two burgers only: one meat and one vegan. To quote the chef, “We need to heal, so let’s have a glass and a burger.”
There is something so deeply comforting associated with the burger. It seems to hit the spot, especially right now. And with National Burger Day celebrated on Thursday, May 28, there’s no better time to get out and support our local independent restaurants with a two-fisted burger — because sliders are just not going to cut it.
At Slackwater Brewing, the Taproom Burger balances juicy, crunchy with the right bit of sloppy, starting with B.C.’s Two Rivers chuck, ground and seasoned in-house. It’s nestled into a Wouda’s Bakery kaiser bun with a molten cheddar cheese blend, iceberg lettuce, Roma tomato and a generous anointing of house barbecue sauce and creamy aioli.
Patio Burger on the Lakeshore does a great job of beach-friendly burgers. Their entry level Classic cheeseburger sees two patties, double cheese, lettuce, tomato and signature ‘smiley sauce’. Easy to hold and eat, much like a hand pie, the plain white bun perfectly contains all ingredients without the need for too many napkins or threat of dropping in the sand. Other variations include the amped-up Smoky Bacon Cheddar or Triple Bacon Classic along with plantbased and glutenfree options.
New kids on the block, Loki’s Garage (in the former
Burger 55 space), is killing it with their Crafty Burger. A 100-percent BC beef patty with secret house seasonings is cooked on the flat top before being sandwiched between a COBS ciabatta with signature Loki's sauce — I detected smoked paprika — housemade garlic dill pickles, lettuce and tomato. Bacon or choice of three types of cheese, are the classic add-ons.
Taking cues from traditional Turkish street food, Elma cooks up a luscious lamb burger, with a 1/4-pound patty enhanced with sweet Aleppo pepper, cumin and garlic. Thick yogurt and house aioli enhances the meat in tandem with a tangy sumac-spiked roasted tomato sauce, and house pickled red onions on a brioche bun.
Chef AK Campbell, at Time Winery & Kitchen, is somewhat of a burgermeister. His TIME Burger is the result of having tinkered with the right combination of ingredients for most of his career. A harmony of contrasting and complementary flavours, textures and temperatures, it starts with a house-ground patty of chuck and brisket — with no fillers or binders — and seasoning. A custom sesame seed Vienna bun from Petrasek Bakery is grilled for a nice char. Next comes a layering of aged cheddar, bacon jam, breaded and crispyfried onions for crunch, wine-brined pickles, baby arugula, house-smoked Fresno pepper aioli, and boom!
His newest creation, the BIG McWatters, is in homage to the late Harry McWatters, a man who loved a good burger. Its anatomy is Herculean in proportion and is destined to become as iconic as the man himself. The same Petrasek bun is cut into three for a double-decker look and toasted for more structure. Two 1/3-pound patties of ground brisket and chuck, flat top grilled, are heaped with layers of winebrined dill pickles, shaved red onions, mild cheddar, baby arugula, special sauce and housemade TIME cabernetmerlot catsup.
Teetering at around five to six inches high, it holds together quite miraculously and travels well for take-out. You may want to enjoy it hunkered down somewhere semi-private, napkins at the ready!
If you’re making burgers at home, our artisan cheesemakers are ready to fix it up properly. The Tiger Blue from Poplar Grove Cheese is a superb choice with its salty, creamy note, and from Upper Bench Creamery, cheesemaker Shana Miller suggests her King Cole blue, especially with bacon and onion on a burger. And for the vegan set, Stephano Liapis of Pulse Kitchen turns to his Kind of Blue vegan cheese when he’s cooking up a Beyond Burger, his Smoky Cashew cheddar on lentil burgers, or for a simple grilled Portobello mushroom, he suggests Pulse’s Almond Gruyere with a sundried tomato-garlic-thyme mayo.
With fork and pen in hand, and a passion for culinary adventure, Shelora Sheldan, a Penticton writer, cook and traveller, goes in search of the delectable.