I threatened it, and yesterday it came to pass. I bought a duck breast from the local butcher and some pre-ground bison at my local Metro. I wanted to grind the bison myself but they only had the pre-ground.
I wouldn't want to make a bison burger all by itself because it has not a fleck of fat in it -- it's probably 2% fat as opposed to the 20-odd percent we want. So the duck was a fantastic solution. Even then, I had to cut several ounces of fat off the duck before I saw fit to use it.
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| Ready for the grinder |
You can see those massive bands of fat still on the duck; those would be the mortar to hold the bricks together, so to speak.
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Ground Duckalo! Or is that Buffaluck?
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I formed it into neat patties which unfortunately only yield 5 quarter-pounders.
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| Ready to grill! |
I made a salsa to go with it, but I didn't want to make a Tex-Mex burger; just a nice spicy ketchup-type condiment. I roasted a few yellow cherry tomatoes, a few vine-ripened tomatoes, a few shallots, onions and garlic, then added cilantro and some vinegar.
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| Ready for a 450-degree oven |
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| Done |
Then I puréed it and added salt and pepper.
I bought some smoked Gouda, on the advice of messrs. Chris "Zeke" Hand and his partner E.Coli of the
Montreal Burger Report, and sautéed the burgers in a cast iron pan. They did not need fat, and required but three minutes per side.
I had previously buttered two onion rolls from Quality Kosher with garlic butter and had toasted them in the cast-iron pan. I smeared them with salsa on both sides, added the burgers (a double for my friend Daniel), added three slices of semi-crisp bacon, thin slices of vine-ripened tomatoes, smoked gouda and aged cheddar slices, and finely shredded onions coated in buttermilk and flour and deep fried in duck fat until crispy, topped it all off with hearts of romaine, served crispy oven fries alongside, and voilà.
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| Daniels' double burger! Click to enjoy! |
The Duffaluck Burger. Daniel completely demolished his and I managed three-quarters. I deem it an unqualified success! It tasted smoky, lean, sassy, not at all gamy and I will make it again TONIGHT.
hi! I was next-blogging and landed up on your blog :D this burger looks yummy! I'm going to try it.. I'm no good at cooking though, clumsy me -.-" I hope that practice makes me almost perfect one day. see ya :)
ReplyDeleteNot hard, Dyk, not hard! Perhaps a bit pointless and useless, but not in the least difficult.
ReplyDeleteYou just have to wrap your mind around the fact that you're going to take some duck and some buffalo and attempt to make a burger. It's kinda like deciding to mix phosphoric and nitric acid in the chemistry lab. It's not difficult, but you just never know what's going to happen.
Hmm. Guess I should have just stopped at "useless."
hi!
ReplyDeleteyeah, sometimes I tend to think that I shouldn't have done it at all (especially if the food didn't taste good). Some other time, when I'm feeling more optimistic, I think about my Mum's food and I just want to try again. Like you said, "you just never know what's going to happen." Well, I'm glad you didn't stop at "useless". Thanks for the advice :)
Actually, I was expecting some "Eureka" moment and when it didn't happen I was quite disappointed. But I would never have known if I hadn't tried!
ReplyDeleteWow that looks great! A note: personally, I think a third of a pound is the perfect size for a burger. Quarter pound is just a touch too small, and half a pound is way too big. Just sayin'!
ReplyDeleteBlork's burger note of the day!
I totally agree. A half a pound is a total exaggeration . . . when you include the bun and the condiments, plus whatever side dishes, you're talking a pound of food.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm not that Man vs. Food dude. Even a third of a pound would have me slain . . . I'll take a skinny quarter.