Burgers

Its really easy to make a bad hamburger.

I've finally perfected a really good one. Its much easier than you'd think.

Step One: Don't buy ground beef. Instead get a couple in expensive steaks and grind them at home. This is the only important step in the whole process. I like a pound of chuck for fat and texture and a pound of sirloin for flavor. If you have a meat grinder use it. Otherwise the food processor does a great job. I actually prefer the slight imperfection you get from using a food processor. Cut the meat in to 1 inch cubes and pulse 8 - 10 times. Careful not to overdue it.

Step Two: Add salt and pepper and a little cooking oil. You can also throw in some minced garlic and onion at this point if you want to. Form in to 5-6 ounce patties.

Step Three: Cook it inside. I'm a big fan of the grill but in this case a skillet or cast iron pan gives you a better result. This increases the surface area that comes in direct contact and you get the caramelized exterior you want. I just tried the Steak and Shake technique of placing a ball of ground beef on the skillet and smashing it down with a press and it turned out great. This is probably how I'll do it from now on.

Step Four: After 4 minutes per side on a medium high skillet you're done. Pull the burgers off and let them sit for a few minutes.

Dress them however you like. Here are two combinations I'm quite fond of...

Bacon and Horseradish Sauce: Make a dressing of mayonnaise, sour cream and horseradish and add a couple strips of peppered bacon
The Harbor Burger: This is a burger that is on almost every menu in the Harbor Country of southwest lower Michigan. Its simply mayo and sliced green olives. I don't know the origin but it works really well.

Thanks to Alton Brown, Emeril Lagasse and probably a few others that I've observed over the years.

BLT Sandwiches and Sweet Corn Soup

Today was a perfect day for some comfort food. There is nothing better than a BLT. In my opinion, it's the perfect sandwich. There are many ways to make a BLT, and we have tried more intricate ways to do so, but there is something about the simplicity of a traditional BLT. Now, I needed to make something to go along with this wonderful sandwich, however, we have had so much corn on the cob lately, I wanted to switch it up a bit. I found a recipe for sweet corn soup. Perfect rainy day comfort food. The soup turned out delicious. The only thing I added at the end of the cooking process was a pat of butter that melted into the soup. You can't have corn without butter. Here is the recipe courtesy of Williams Sonoma.

This recipe calls for scraping the corncobs to extract the juices, then adding the juices to the soup, which enhances the flavor.

Ingredients:

6 ears of corn, kernels cut off the cobs, kernels and cobs reserved

6 oz. bacon, cut into 1/2-inch dice

2 large yellow onions, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/4 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Using a butter knife, scrape the corncobs over a bowl to extract the juices; set the juices aside.

In a 5-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat, cook the bacon until crisp, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Finely chop the bacon; set aside.

Discard all but 2 Tbs. of the fat from the pot. Set the pot over medium heat, add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and translucent, 6 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring constantly, about 30 seconds. Add the corn kernels and cook, stirring occasionally, until the corn is softened, about 10 minutes. Add the reserved corn juices and 7 cups water, and season with salt and black pepper. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes.

Using a food processor, blend the soup in batches until smooth. Return the soup to the pot and stir in the cream. Adjust the seasonings with salt and black pepper. Ladle the soup into warmed bowls and garnish with the bacon. Serve immediately. Serves 8 to 10.

Williams-Sonoma Kitchen.

Lobster Rolls

We love living on the shores of beautiful Lake Michigan but we don't always have access to fresh seafood, especially lobster, unless we want to pay $18.00 a pound. When Chris' parents in Connecticut were planning their trip out to visit in July, we took advantage of the opportunity and requested lobster. We were skeptical about how fresh seafood would fare on a 900 mile car ride but we were both impressed with the results. Chris' mother cooked the lobster at home and then stored it in a freezer bag with water and salt. It remained frozen in a cooler for the two day trip and upon arrival went straight into the freezer.

About a week later we took our first shot at Michigan lobster rolls. We left the lobster in a colander for about four hours until it was thawed. Then we warmed it up in a a sauce pan on low with some melted butter. Once it was warm we divided the lobster meat and served on grilled hot dog buns. We're both purists and tend to skip the mayonnaise, celery and other needless accompaniments that people sadly pile on lobster.

These were delicious! The freezing and transport process worked perfectly. They tasted like they were fresh out of the ocean. We had some left over ribeye from the night before which we cut up for a classic surf and turf.