Uberchef directed me to this article on CNN.com today, which is a story that seems to be getting picked up in the news sources today. It’s all about camel burgers and their popularity in Dubai.
That’s right, burgers made of camel meat.
Where can I get one? Any tips would be much appreciated.
Me? A burger?!
The UK is way ahead of the US when it comes to being mindful of sustainable food sourcing and all that jazz. Maybe it’s their European sensibilities or funny accents that makes them so. In any case, the UK’s government has put together a manifesto of sorts, called Food 2030 complete with sofly-lit images of food and farms, which makes me think of a corporate presentation than an official government report.
The report is aggressive in the country’s goals for food production by the year 2030. They specifically talk about increasing domestic UK food production and lowering greenhouse emissions, and all of the major themes that come to mind when talking about food production.
However, not wanting to let this slip by without a little jabbing, the USDA released the following “report” on the UK document, saying that:
“In general, Food 2030 is considered to be ambitious in its vision, but short in detail about how to achieve that vision. Its strategy very much relies on all stakeholders working together to deliver its aim of a secure and sustainable food supply, and on consumer demand rewarding that investment. That has been the UK government‟s favored approach to food policy of late, and is unlikely to change as competition for ever smaller public funds increases across government departments.” – USDA GAIN Report, 1/21/2020
Now, it is not an official response or communication from the USDA. It is merely an assessment of a document that may have effects on US trade. Even still, this type of reaction seems a little harsh, especially coming from the USDA, which has engaged in some equally vague rhetoric about sustainable food production.
Let’s take a little journey back in time, to September of 2009. The USDA launches the “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” initiative, which has a lot of great ideas, but not too many suggestions on how to get there. Rather than sweat the details, the USDA posted videos of Willie Nelson talking about farms on YouTube, and set up a whole channel dedicated to sustainable food. There are certainly a lot of good ideas out there, but there’s been little action on any of these fronts, with the exception of maybe the White House Garden, which is more of a PR play than anything. The most tangible piece of legislature on the subject could be the Farm Bill, which is still the foundation for most of these programs, and that was passed two years ago (NB, Obama did not vote, but voiced his support). That bill is surely flawed, but it is basically the only source of any actual funding to help support local farming practices without only using images of little kids picking beets in the country.
But who knows what will happen, since many of the subsidies (including those marked for local farmers) are likely to be cut as part of the 2011 budget. While I applaud the larger farm subsidies going away (which seems unlikely given the strength of the lobby), it does seem a little misdirected in light of what the government is saying it wants to do. That makes the “Know Your Farmer” project seem, well, ambitious and short in detail. Until there is some concrete action, let’s take it easy on the criticism of other countries’ proposed policies. Sounds a little unfair to me.
On a positive note, the FDA is suggesting some serious changes to packaging and portion size, to help curb the rise in obesity. Read here.
It was announced earlier this week that Food, Inc, has been nominated for an Oscar for best documentary! For all of you who have not seen it, the film is a documentary focusing on modern food production and an in-depth look at what it takes to bring food to our tables every day. It is a sobering look at the realities of industrialized food production that makes one think about moving to a farm and eating sprouts all year-round. It also has a relatively long featured about the Polyface farm, with which I had been fascinated while reading Omnivore’s Dilemma. It’s near Charlottesville, where I will be headed next weekend. Perhaps I will get to indulge in some of their wares.
Contrary to some people, the film did not make me want to give up meat nor did it make me nauseous (similar to how reading The Jungle actually made me have a craving for Chicago hot dogs). But, it does make you think about changing your ways and what you value as being important. In my honest opinion, it vilifies big business a bit too much (but you all know my position on that), but directionally I am totally in alignment with what the filmmakers are saying.
In a related note, the midtown farmer’s market is not a sad representation of what it once was. Apples and potatoes are about all that you get, with the odd head of cabbage here or there. It makes me feel sad inside.
Ronnybrook still shows up, at least, so that makes me happy.
So it was burgergal’s birthday this past weekend, and of course this required eating out.
A few times. And last week, too.
It kicked off with Wednesday night at Locanda Verde, for a double celebration with burgergal’s dad, (burgerman?) who also celebrated being another year older. I didn’t take any shots of that meal, since, as you may recall, Locanda is so dark that none of the pics come out.
But I can certainly write a lot about the meal. In the absence of pics, I’ll keep it brief.
The meal rocked.
I had been to LV twice but had never experienced the pleasure of eating anything off of their regular menu. BG had and thought it was great, so I was pumped. I was finally going to experience something from LV that was not fried or coated in truffles.
On second thought, that doesn’t sound like a good thing, after all.
We started out with some crostini to enjoy with a few glasses of wine. Some fresh ricotta with roasted garlic bread, another with sausage and pickled ramps (hello!), and a chicken liver mousse. The chicken liver was the only one that was just “ok”– the liver was too smooth for my liking. The sausage was exceptional, and everyone loves fresh ricotta.
For actual food, we decided to get a few things and share. We started out with the lamb sliders, which I had seen recently in a photo and thought they looked eerily similar to the Little Owl sliders. The taste, however, was compeltely different. The delicate lamb had only a hint of gaminess, which I love about lamb, and the addition of a thin slice of cucumber and caprino cheese (a soft goat’s milk cheese) brings the slider to a whole new level.
We then had a couple of pastas: the gigante with Sunday ragu, and a ravioli with meat filling (veal, pork, and beef, I believe). Both pastas were hearty and satisfying, the perfect interlude before the main event: the garlic roasted chicken. It was garlicky and succulent, roasted to perfection, with some parsnips and other veg on the side. It was a pretty perfect roast chicken.
Since it was a double birthday celebration, we had to indulge in a few desserts as well. The maple budino was excellent, topped with roasted walnuts; the toffee date cake was fine, but nothing to write home about, nor was the “chocolate fantasy,” which was billed as something magical but was really just a brownie with two or three gelati on top. All in, however, it was a great meal.
Part two of the BG birthday extravaganza was Friday night’s dinner at Big Nick’s. This place was more on my turf than on burgergal’s, but after spending a bit more cheddar on her christmas present than originally planned, it was all that was in the cards for her bday (except for the present and brunch at A Voce– more to come on that in the next post). Feisty Foodie had done a writeup about the Bistro Burger (I know, don’t get excited for a throwback to the old days in the West Village), and I knew that it was going to be mine.
And it was.
It was an enjoyable burger. Although not the best one I have ever had, it was a solid representation of Big Nick’s, and I was glad to share it with my main squeeze in celebration of her day of birth. But, if we keep eating like that, it might be a shorter list of future birthdays.
So what did we do? We kept eating like that. Fast-forward to Saturday night. 11.45pm. Momofuku Noodle is the place. Fried chicken in my face.
I had high hopes for the fried chicken at Momofuku. Every blogger in the city knows about the $100 fried chicken dinner, with two types (one Southern style with Old Bay and one triple-fried Korean style with bibim sauce), so I won’t belabor that point. The point I will belabor is that it really wasn’t anything special.
Yeah, I said it.
Everyone in this town has a hard-on for the Momofuku empire, including, to a degree, myself. I can’t say enough good things about the bo ssam, and I’ve even given the guy second chances after a dinner at Noodle Bar ended up with me “giving back” the entire meal within 20 minutes of eating. But the fried chicken was just not anything special. When it comes to the southern style, I honestly prefer the colonel’s original recipe. The old bay was not a great addition, and the chicken was so salty I’m still thirsty three days later. Some of the meat was brutally undercooked (I’ve read about that happening on other posts about this, too), but I didn’t even care to send it back, because it was too salty to eat anyway. Set me up with some bon chon or KFC any day.
The Korean version was a different story, and it was actually quite tasty, but again, not really worth the hype that surrounds it. I enjoyed it. I’ll leave it at that. The sauce was good, the chicken was (thankfully) cooked.
That’s my plate. Clearly I still ate my fair portion, and then some. I gave the chicken the old college try. I ate a lot of it. I wanted to love it. I really did. But I just couldn’t. I fell victim to the David Chang-hysteria that has swept this city.
But who am I? Try it yourselves and let me know how it goes.
In today’s Tasting Table email, I was alerted to a book/blog called Lucid Food. Louisa Shafia is a local NYC chef/caterer/author/blogger trying to change the way we think about and eat food. Her site is a great resource for people (like myself) looking to make some changes in how we approach food and how we can help others do the same. Check out her blog whenever you get a chance.
I would also like to direct your attention to one of the best blog posts I have seen in my research on the elusive silkie chicken. Using a bo bo chicken and some advice from a bo bo “insider,” she has a great step-by-step analysis with photos on how to make the soup stock. Now I’ve just got to get my hands on another one…
Check it out here.
So, I’m a pretty awesome burgerboyfriend. So, come Christmastime, I got burgergal Hubert Keller’s cookbook, among other awesome super-thoughtful gifts. The book has a lot of recipes that I will probably never make, but it’s got some interesting ones, too. And it has pretty pictures.
One of the more intriguing recipes is called “burger and fries.” It’s a pretty innocent title for what is actually nothing like burger and fries. Burger IN fries, maybe, but nothing like burger and fries. It’s more like a nest of fries, with a burger inside of it. It looks very difficult to make Since burgergal and I are on a healthy kick (or something… I mean, we are getting Momofuku bo ssam on Saturday, so…), we decided to try this one, since it seems to be less terrible for you than a burger on a squishy potato bun. Never mind the fact that it is pan-fried. That is but a trivial detail.
With a Monday off, lunch time seemed to be the best time to finally make it happen. I defrosted the pound of ground Sun Fed beef that I had picked up at the market back when I used to brave it on Wednesday afternoons at the office. For having been frozen, the meat was surprisingly good looking. It was in one of those hermetically-sealed vacuum bags, so that seemed to keep everything in good shape. After making the patties and letting them chill for a bit, it was time to get it going.
I first took care of the julienning the potato. Since our mandoline doesn’t have a fancy julienne attachment, I had to do a little knife work by hand, but that was ok with me. I seasoned up the potatoes in a bowl, and let some of the moisture seep out. Right before making the nest, I gave the potatoes a quick squeeze in a kitchen towel and got to work.
First, I brushed the hamburger patties on one side with a beaten egg white, and laid the patties on heaps of the potato strips, hoping that the potatoes would stick.
Then, I delicately placed another heap of potatoes on top of each patty, and again, hoped they would stick. Right off the bat, I found that my julienned potatoes were nothing like Hubert’s. His were so much finer, so much more… French. But no matter, all of this was going to get fried in olive oil, so who cared what it looked like?
First pass.
Second pass. Much better.
Then, with my clumsy American hands and fatly julienned potatoes, I went to work “pressing firmly yet gently” to get the cocoon of potatoes just right. After a few minutes of sheer frustration, I just decided to go with what I had. I was getting hungry, anyway.
Now, the fun part. It was time to fry up the burgers. We pre-heated the oven to 450 and got a pan going with a good amount of olive oil. As I stared at these potato-strip-covered patties, I wondered how I was going to transfer these things from my jelly board into the oil. The whipped egg-white “glue” was not exactly the most reassuring of bonding agents. I was worried.
I carefully placed the potato burgers into the pan. As you can see, I had some collateral damage going, and lost most of wrapping on the sides. I took a mental note for next time (rather, burgergal watched and told me): get more potatoes going, so that they are veritably smothered in potato… enough has got to stick. I also thought that using the egg white as part of a dredging process could work, too. I’ll have to let everyone know how that goes.
After a few minutes on one side, it was time to flip. Again, this wasn’t so easy since the “fries” weren’t exactly stuck to the patties like a starchy-tuber-wallpaper. I got my widest spatulas and did my best. I lost some potatoes again, but it turned out better than expected. And, special bonus: the fries had actually crisped up!
They are kinda like meat latkes, aren’t they? Despite all of my concerns, the smell that was filling the apartment was delightful. I wish I could send it along to you all, because it smelled like a mix of burgers on a griddle, fries in a frier, and the smell of a garlicky vinaigrette that burgergal was making for the healthy component of the dish, the salad on the side. From the stovetop, the burgers went into the oven to finish cooking through. About ten minutes later, we had some perfect medium-cooked hamburgers. I let them rest on a rack for a few minutes, then plated them up.
The burger-fry cocoon was delicious, I must say. It had all of the satisfying traits of a hamburger and fries, just without the squishy bun, which I did not miss (too much). Through some of the errors of my ways, I think that I will be able to hit this one out of the park next time.
