What are secrets to a high-quality burger at home?
Good morning, Wednesday companions. Today we have a new topic to broach, an old one to revisit and a perennial memory to stir up. Our correspondent for the first two is Faithful Reader (who also calls himself Hungry Husband).
He began, “Because you can buy great hamburgers at local restaurants, I am losing confidence for grilling burgers at home. So please tell me how to grill a great burger. Not a decent burger. Someone said that market-grind beef is best. Where can you buy it besides Publix? What do you add to the meat, and exactly how do you prepare it? What bread is best?”
The repeat request from F.R./H.H. is for an omelet made famous long ago in a basement French omelet restaurant in New York City.
Dixie Grissom, like many of us, remembers the late Town and Country restaurant. She wrote, “I am dying for recipes from Town and Country Restaurant. I would love to have some.” So please share your favorite Town and Country dish.
COOKIES FOR BREAKFAST
Eve Roebuck brought a basket of her special cookies to a recent gathering, and many asked for the recipe. We got in line so we could pass it on to you. Actually, Ms. Roebuck makes a floury version and a gluten-free one, and she also gives you variations on her breakfast theme. This recipe grew from one that came from a good friend, and new ingredients appeared by turns as she stirred up batches for her large family and their friends.
Breakfast Cookies
2 sticks plus 3 tablespoons butter, softened
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or 1 vanilla and 1 almond extract) 2 heaping serving spoons of peanut butter or almond butter (about 1⁄2 cup)
1 cup whole-wheat flour 1 cup White Lily self-rising
flour
1⁄4 cup buckwheat flour 1⁄4 cup millet
1⁄4 cup ground flaxseed 2 tablespoons chia seeds
(optional)
1 teaspoon soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
4 cups rolled oats (oldfashioned oatmeal) 1 cup Heath toffee bits 1 cup chocolate chips (or half butterscotch and half chocolate)
1⁄4 cup unsweetened coconut (optional) Using mixer, add butter, brown sugar, eggs and extract(s); mix well, then add three flours, millet, flax, chia seeds, soda, baking powder, salt and oats.
Then stir in by hand the toffee bits, chocolate chips and coconut. Bake at 350 F 15-20 minutes. Be sure to check cookies after 15 minutes; cookies should be set but not very browned.
Makes 3 dozen very large cookies or about 6 dozen small.
Gluten-Free Breakfast Cookies
For this one, you will not add the buckwheat flour, soda or baking powder as the previous recipe directs.
2 boxes gluten-free chocolate chip cookie mix (Pillsbury and Aldi have good gluten-free versions)
2 sticks plus 3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon water
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon almond
extract
2 heaping serving spoons of peanut or almond butter (about 1⁄2 cup) 1⁄4 cup millet
1⁄4 cup ground flaxseed 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
4 cups rolled oats
1 cup Heath toffee bits
Using mixer, add all ingredients together at once and mix well. Bake cookies at 350 15-20 minutes. Check at 15 minutes; cookies should be set but not very browned.)
Makes 3 dozen very large cookies or about 6 dozen small.
SOUS VIDE
Enter the experts, Mr. and Mrs. Sunday. Here is Part One of their thoughts about the sous vide cooking method. (Sous vide is French for “under vacuum.) You will find the comments that follow are just an appetizer, and they just may send you to do your own research. If you too have tried this technique, we’d be curious to know about your experience.
“This is just an intro as there’s a LOT of misinformation about this cooking technique. First off, it isn’t as exotic as you think. Sous vide is basically poaching with two major differences: the food to be ‘poached’ is in a sealed plastic bag and the temperature of the ‘poaching’ liquid is very tightly controlled.
“The tight temperature control is to be sure that the food you’re cooking can’t EVER go above the ‘done’ temperature. For example, if your idea of a perfect medium-rare steak is 130 degrees F and you poach/sous vide it in 130-degree water, it can’t possibly get any more done than 130 degrees. This means meat at the perfect color or doneness from edge to edge with zero risk of overcooking, even if you leave it in too
long. By an hour. Or more. Horridly dry fish is also a thing of the past.
“The plastic is to be sure you don’t lose any flavor to the ‘poaching’ liquid. In true poaches, relatively little flavor goes from the liquid to the meat; it’s mostly the other way.
“Another myth is that it takes a lot of expensive equipment to get started in sous vide. We got started with a beer cooler, a thermometer and an assortment of zip-top freezer bags. We loved it, and after a year or so bought a sous vide heater for about the price of a pressure cooker. They used to be WAY more expensive.
“Remember the guiding principle of sous vide: Put the meat in a bag and into a water bath that’s the same temperature you want the final product to be. For example, salmon is beautiful at about 125 degrees F so you fill your cooler with 125-degree water, bag the salmon and sump it in the bath. It’ll taste the same whether you take it out in 30 minutes, 45 minutes, or even an hour later. This gets you great flexibility to get the rest of the meal ready.”
“Is sous vide worth it? If you like your meats cooked hard and dry, no. If you like them tender and juicy, then yes, especially if you have a lot of other stuff going on in your life and can’t spare the time and attention to perfectly cook a steak or filet of fish.
Here’s a link to a discussion of (and recipes for) Starbucks-like sous vide egg and cheese bites. It’s a little ambitious if you don’t have a circulator. As little as one degree can make a dramatic difference in some egg dishes. https://anovaculinary. com/easy-homemadesous-vide-egg-bites. The website is that of a particular brand of circulator (and the one we own and are happy with.)
That’s the end of today’s time and space, but the conversations will continue as always, with your help.