Fresh in Chinatown

This past Monday Josh and I decided the folks that COULD make it to burger night all lived south of 14th Street so we decided to hold meeting no. 2 at HIS apt in Chinatown. To save time with grinding the meat and prepping the fixins for our burger this week, I went ahead and had the butcher grind the beef for me. Just ask. Any combo of sirloin, chuck & brisket is a good bet.  For the cow I used half chuck, half brisket.  with pesto, roasted fresno peppers, smoked mozzarella and vinegar shallots and a challah roll.

After some research on preparation, and seeing its results, its always good to make the patties a few hours ahead of time and kept chilled and shapely until cook time. The freshest meat obviously, after ground, should be vibrant bright red, almost pink in color. you don't want to muck around with shaping it. Too much patting together can result in too dense a burger.

The only ingredient I used to make the patties is an equal parts worcestershire and water combo. They'll be coated with sea salt and pepper all around the outside when the burgers are ready to cook. Seasoning your beef before cook time will suck all the good moisture out.

mix 1 TBSP each of worcestershire and water, clump the beef into a ball about the size of a handball working back and forth, wetting your hands a few times. put your ring mold on your work surface and press it down making the sides come up just a hair bigger than the middle which will eventually puff out when cooked. keep dabbing your fingers and wetting the burgers flipping it over once so you end up with nice hockey puck discs about 3/4 inch tall and 4 1/2 inches in length. line a baking sheet with parchment and carefully place them and cover them with plastic wrap and toss in the fridge until cook time.

Earlier in the week, I went Chinatown to buy my ingredients for the pesto and fresno peppers.  All Chinatown's are fairly different but all pretty similar in in terms of what you'll find...and can be hard to navigate as a non-Cantonese speaker...BUT a world of difference and variety from Whole Foods.

'Whole Paycheck!'

Off the topic of burgers for one sec. you haven't experienced a coconut bun quite so fresh out of the oven, so soft and yeasty, until you've tried the buns at Sun Sai Gai on Canal Street.

Sun Sai Gai: nyc's best coconut buns hands down

I'm not bun crazy but Julian insisted I pop in for this one. His cousin Adriana discovered these one summer when she interned downtown and...the rest is history. A few bites in and you hit the unassuming coconut center jackpot! Screw coconut bread. If you stick a jamaican patty in the middle of this, its guaranteed goodness.

a few shots walking through Chinatown

Snapper

Two toppings for this week, other than the vinegar shallots we used with fonduta in week one. I made basil pesto, with marcona almonds and straight up roasted some fresno peppers on the stovetop, charred, deskinned, deseeded and sliced thinly before drizzled in olive oil to rest. the pesto was perfectly  rustic and nutty. [Josh has a pine nut allergy].  I meant to grab a can of artichoke hearts. a little trick when making a pesto, artichoke hearts and basil makes pesto a bit more creamy, great for burgers.

Basil pesto and marcona almonds

cook fresno's on low heat, turning a few times. the skin comes right off

Before putting them in olive oil I tried feta over the fresno peppers

Josh & I discussed making simple syrups as a good combo to the burgers and fries.  I tried one version lemongrass and another with ginger, a few peppercorns and dry chili flakes to add a little heat. Once cooled, we added a few teaspoons to a cup of ice and soda water. Bobs your uncle! So easy

Shhh its steeping!

Burger night was a success. 

[semi] Caprese Burger. from top to bottom: Challah, pickled shallots, fresno's, smoked mozzarella, beef, pesto, challah. I instant pickled some baby carrots in a rice vinegar/forest honey to go with 

The challah bottom couldn't handle the weight of the burger but the egg taste goes really well. Overall, flavors really seem to balance each other. the nuttiness in the pesto was key. next time, I'll try blending the artichoke in the pesto for a bit more creaminess. Otherwise flavors were balanced and, aside from the small bun, it held together well. 

Last night I attended the 'It Really Ties The Room Together Burlesque: a Tribute to the Big Lebowski'. The narrator, 'The dude', started it off great. very Jeff Lebowski-esque, a little more Jewish. throwing out 'Lebowski' trivia in his bathrobe, sipping his white russian chatting it up like in his living room. Anita Cookie comes out first and next thing I know she's completely nude, on her back, legs to the audience! I didn't realize the Public Theatre was X-rated :) it ended pretty abruptly with an amateur feel about it all.  Afterward I didn't get that pang of satisfaction from seeing good art. I realized, because its burlesque, more than other art forms, these days for some reason its taken less serious by the performers because of it's content. At least I got to see an old cowboy lassoing 15 ft loops over my head. [he didn't get naked]

Menu for this Monday: homemade Chorizo burger with roasted peaches and pork belly. Big up the PORK!

bike & I