Burger Madness Casual Division Round 2: Smoke and Fire

Contenders:

Buck's Fishing and Camping: Buck's wood-grilled burger with cheddar and applewood smoked bacon. $17

Matchbox: Bistro burger with melted gorgonzola, cremini mushrooms and applewood smoked bacon. $13

Analysis:

When it comes to giving you a burger that's close to an outdoor grill experience, both of these restaurants excel at delivering on their names. Buck's in particular, serves up an appropriately smoky burger with a meaty, grill-flavored patty and smoky bacon. If that's not enough smoke, you can even get a side of smoky mayo. It's a substantial sandwich, with a hearty bun served with fresh lettuce and onion.

Matchbox bistro burger

Matchbox's burger (shown above) is also thick and meaty. The toppings are numerous, but they play well together, especially the combination of the sautéed mushrooms with gorgonzola and bacon (blue cheese and bacon are always a nice combo). This is a good burger, but its downfall is the bun. Matchbox uses a buttery role (brioche). When combined with what is already a greasy meat, it's a lot of grease for one sandwich.

Verdict:

Buck's Fishing and Camping. Although I really like the Matchbox burger, it's greasy bun sinks it against the perfectly composed burger at Buck's.

Cocktail: Happy Endings' Whore's Bath

Surely if you watch ABC's Happy Endings you'll agree with me that it's currently the funniest show on network television. I've come to really love the increasingly ridiculous antics of the Chicago-based sixsome of Brad, Jane, Alex, Penny, Max and Dave.

In a recent episode, Dave, a food truck entrepreneur, decided to open an evening speakeasy, serving creative cocktails out of his Steak Me Home Tonight truck. He served his friends a drink he called a Whore's Bath (which Penny immediately thought was a comment about her).

What could the drink be? The only clues offered in the show were that it was a gin-based drink and judging from the looks of the drinks the gang was sipping from Dave's mason jars, it was colorless but cloudy and on the rocks. So gin, of course, went in first. To live up to its name, I wanted something tart but refreshing, which steered me toward citrus flavors. For some extra character--as well as a bit of deviousness--I included some Benedictine liqueur, the sweet, herbal liqueur produced by Benedictine monks with a super secret recipe. This also substitutes for the turpentine Dave said was in the drink which, in real life, is a poison.

Whore's Bath
Inspired by Happy Endings

1 oz. gin (Bombay Sapphire)
1/2 oz. Benedictine liqueur
1/2 oz. Cointreau
1 oz. grapefruit juice
2 oz. club soda

Shake gin, Benedictine, Cointreau and grapefruit juice with ice. Pour into rocks glass with ice and top with club soda.

Food (Section) Fight!: Week 9

Food (Section) Fight! is my weekly look at The Washington Post's Food section and The New York Times' Dining section with my verdict on which section had the better content for the week.


Washington Post
It's time for Beer Madness! The Washington Post's annual beer contest. This year, beer columnist Greg Kitsock introduced the panel of 32 beers (with another really great graphic), which have been divided into four divisions: hop, roast, fruit & spice and crisp, which replaced last year's malt category. Beer Madness was introduced in 2006, the year Delaware's Dogfish took top honor with its 90-Minute Imperial IPA. With links the brackets, the winners from others years were: Brooklyn Lager (2007), Hook & Ladder Backdraft Brown Ale (2008), our "house" beer, Tröegs Hopback Amber Ale (2009), Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout (2010) and last year's insane 64-beer bracket winner, Flying Fish Exit 4. Here's the story, description of each beer and graphic.


So yay for Beer Madness! But after that, this week's Food section is kinda slim. Tim Carman has a column on the city's plans to start taxing mobile food trucks, which is interesting, but I've already read about that on Food Truck Fiesta, so it wasn't really news to me (also this week's biggest news in D.C. food trucks was really that Jose Andres, a.k.a. D.C.'s most famous chef, launched his own food truck Pepe yesterday, and there's sadly no mention of that in the Food section). I enjoyed Tom Sietsema's First Bite on Top Chef alum and Volt proprietor Bryan Voltaggio's new casual Frederick, Md., restaurant, Lunchbox. Volt is an amazing restaurant and it sounds like Lunchbox mostly lives up to Voltaggio's reputation for excellence. I'm very much looking forward to the opening of Bryan's first D.C. restaurant, Range, later this year.


None of this week's recipes really blew me away. I was most interested by Stephanie Witt Sedgwick's Nourish recipe, Lemon Oregano Pork Tenderloin with Lemon Jus, but the New York Times' also had a pork recipe this week, which sounds more interesting.


New York Times
This week's Dining section led with two very well written front-page stories. Jeff Gordinier's piece about the retirement of Philadelphia restaurant Le Bec-Fin's longtime chef Georges Perrier was a moving tribute to the end of an era for what was once one of the country's top restaurants. The story gives a flavor of what Perrier is like and puts the recent decline of his restaurant in context with the changing landscape of top-tier culinary interests, particularly the sidelining of formal, traditional French cuisine, which was once the pinnacle of American fine dining (I sense a trend, as this is not unlike Gordinier's great story last week about  the disappearance of Tournedos Rossini).


The other front-page story is Jennifer Steinhauer's attempt to recreate some of her favorite (ahem) junk foods at home. While that's not a particularly original experiment, it's still a fun read. Although not relevant to the subject at hand, I love Steinhauer's description of what it's like for a food reporter to work at a desk near a national security reporter: “Here is what I hear when I eavesdrop on Eric’s phone conversations: 'So, are those lethal or nonlethal?' Here is what he hears listening to me: 'Is that a buttercream or really more of a ganache?'” Personally, I don't have any nostalgia for Hostess Twinkies and Cupcakes (I didn't eat them much as a child), but I find attempts to replicate industrial food products amusing. 


Both of the page 2 recipes sound really good this week: Pork Tenderloin with Shallots and Prunes, a take on the French dish porc aux pruneaux, and Barley, Celery Root and Mushroom Salad With Scallion Vinaigrette. I also enjoyed Eric Asimov's article on wine decanting. 


The Verdict
Beer Madness is great fun, but The New York Times' wonderful front-page stories give the Dining section the win this week.


Score
The New York Times: 5
The Washington Post: 4

Burger Madness Casual Division Round 1: Celebrity Chef Joints

Contenders: 


Bobby's Burger Palace: Palace Classic Burger. Medium-well with American cheese; lettuce, tomato and red onion, and burger sauce. $6.75

Good Stuff Eatery: Farmhouse Bacon Cheeseburger. Applewood bacon and American cheese with  tomatoes, onion, lettuce  and pickles, and Good Stuff Sauce. $6.69

Analysis:

Food Network star Bobby Flay and homegrown star of Bravo's Top Chef Spike Mendelsohn go head-to-head with their fast-casual burger chains. Both restaurants focus on burgers with fries and shakes also available.

Good Stuff has enjoyed palpable buzz since opening four years ago. On a recent Saturday, the place was packed and the line was out the door by noon. With such obvious public good will, I was expecting something really extraordinary. Unfortunately, the results are only average. The burger comes wrapped and squished, destroying any visual appeal it could have enjoyed. The patty is good--flavorful and thick. The bun is pretty good too. It's chewy and holds up against the toppings. Ah, the toppings. They were unremarkable, especially the bacon and the tomato, which the menu claims is "farm-fresh" and "ruby-red," but in reality is rather anemic-looking. The American cheese is pretty flavorless. The Good Stuff sauce is just a little dollop of thousand island. Overall, the toppings are not well-integrated with the rest of the sandwich. With a little more care, this could have been a better burger.

Bobby's, on the other hand, was a nice surprise. The patty is thick and meaty and, although the server recommended I get it medium-well, it is not overcooked. I really like the bun, which is nicely structured, covered in sesame seeds and lightly toasted. It holds the sandwich together well. The toppings mostly work well too. The American cheese is not great, but the lettuce and tomato are fresh and the raw red onion does not overpower the other ingredients. The burger arrives with no sauce, but the restaurant offers five choices at the table. I pick what I assume to be the most standard choice besides ketchup: the burger sauce, a dark brown sauce somewhere between steak sauce and mole. It provides a nice nutty, meaty richness.

Verdict:

Bobby's Burger Palace. While both meat patties scored well, Bobby's better toppings and overall better integration of flavors puts his burger on top.

Split Pea Soup

This is the recent recipe from the New York Times I was eyeing. It's just a nice simple soup recipe: meat, vegetables, peas, herbs and broth.

I gave the vegetables a pretty fine dice since they're being paired with peas. The recipe calls for thinly slicing the garlic, but I just whacked it with the side of a santoku knife instead (actually, I forgot about slicing the garlic and had already washed the cutting board, but really, smashing the garlic worked just fine). Alas, the recipe calls for slab bacon, which I don't know where to get easily at the moment, so I used Whole Foods' sliced bacon, which is pretty thick and meaty.

Cooking this much bacon creates a good amount of rendered bacon fat. More than is really needed for flavor and sautéing the vegetables. This isn't a health food blog, but I'm certainly not averse to removing unnecessary fat. However, pouring hot fat from a heavy hot pot that still has food in it is a daunting, possibly dangerous task. A technique I use is to fold up a paper towel, grasp it with tongs and use it to sop up excess fat.

Pureeing a soup like this is a good idea to make it a little thicker. Although this soup was delicious, it was a little thin. I made a half a recipe, so I used 8 oz. of dried peas, but I think I could have used the whole bag. That way the peas would have played a more prominent role, especially given the half pound of bacon.

Split Pea Soup

Adapted from Hearty Split Pea Soup, The New York Times

Makes 5-6 servings

1/2 lb. bacon, cut into 1/4-inch pieces

1/2 sweet onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

1 celery stalk, diced

4-5 cloves of garlic, smashed

Seasoned salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste

8 oz. dried split peas (for a thicker soup, use more, up to 16 oz.)

2 bay leaves

6 cups chicken broth

Leaves from one sprig of thyme

Sour cream (optional)

1. Heat a 6 qt. dutch oven over medium add. Add the bacon and saute until it renders its fat. Remove excess fat. Add onions, carrot, celery and garlic and saute until soft and translucent. Season with seasoned salt and fresh-ground pepper to taste.

2. Add the split peas and stir to coat with bacon fat. Add bay leaves and stock and increase heat to boil. Reduce heat to simmer and skim off any foam. After 10 minutes, skim off any remaining foam, add thyme and simmer for about an hour (note: the NYT recipe says to do this uncovered, but I covered it, which is perhaps another reason why my soup was a little thin).

3. Remove from heat. Run an immersion blender through the soup, pulsing a few times until it reaches desired thickness. Serve topped with a dollop of sour cream (if desired).

Burger Madness

Is Washington, D.C. the burger capital of the United States? Some have suggested it is, and I can certainly see why. Burgers of all flavors and pedigree can be found in all quarters of the city, ranging from nostalgic burger-n-shake joints to refined gourmet offerings. With all this competition, there's no excuse for a bad burger.

But who's making the best burger? That's what I'm seeking to find this month with Burger Madness, a March Madness-style bracket tournament.

On the basis of my own knowledge and research into what burgers people are talking about, I selected 12 restaurants for this competition. To put some parameters on it (I can only eat so many burgers), I decided to limit it to the city proper. So no Ray's Hell Burger (which I've heard is excellent). I also decided not to include the national mass-market chains (a.k.a. McDonald's and Burger King), since I doubt they would last long in the competition. I'm looking for burgers that excel in delivering flavor and fresh ingredients.

At each restaurant, I ordered the standard burger with cheese. If a cheese option was provided, I generally chose cheddar (but not always). I wasn't so consistent about bacon, but generally if it was available I had that too. If a cooking option was provided, I asked the restaurant for its recommendation. As far as condiments go, I went with whatever was standard, adding sauce at the table only if it wasn't already on the burger.

In judging the burgers, I assessed attributes such as overall flavor and flavor of specific components, especially the patty (is it meaty? well-seasoned? not too salty? grill-flavored?), bacon and cheese. I examined how well the condiments worked to add flavors without overpowering the meat. I assessed the structure and flavor of the bun: does it hold the sandwich together effectively? I took note of anything that made a burger special. Accompaniments such a fries and shakes will not be considered in the judging.

I divided the restaurants, somewhat arbitrarily, into three divisions: upscale restaurants (i.e. fine dining establishments that generally serve many things other than burgers), casual restaurants (a mix of service styles but generally more than just a fast-food place) and chain restaurants (multi-location, fast service restaurants that specialize in burgers). I'm going to start this week with the casual division, proceed next week to upscale and then chain before the finals at the end of the month. Let's go!

Turkey and Butternut Squash Meatloaf

For an alternative take on lasagna, instead of going the traditional beef-tomato-ricotta route, I've developed a dish made with ground turkey, roasted butternut squash, sage and goat cheese. It's a wonderful combination of flavors. I wondered recently if it could also work as a meatloaf.

The answer is "yes definitely," as this turkey-butternut squash meatloaf was tasty, balancing meaty and sweet flavors with a nice crust and moist interior. If the flavors of this dish recall Thanksgiving, then it's appropriate that the bread crumbs I used were some leftover bread cubes from Thanksgiving that I ground up with a food processor.

Although the meatloaf is baked, I first roasted the squash separately so that it would caramelize and add those nice flavors. I used the technique from the parsnip cake of roasting the squash tossed with olive oil and wrapped in foil to reduce moisture loss.

I used two eggs to bind together the loaf and, since the squash contains a good amount of moisture, no additional liquid was needed.

I had thought about putting the glaze on the raw loaf, but it was so moist that I was afraid it would just soak in. So I baked it first to let the crust form and added the glaze about 2/3 of the way through baking. Again, I steered clear of tomatoes, opting for honey and mustard.

Turkey-Roasted Butternut Squash Meatloaf


1 20 oz. package peeled and cut butternut squash
olive oil spray
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 sweet onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
1.25 lb. ground turkey (dark thigh meat)
2/3 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs, lightly beaten


Glaze:


2 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. cider vinegar
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard


1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with olive oil. Cut large pieces of squash so that all pieces are about an inch cubed. Scatter squash across lined baking sheet and spray all pieces with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Cover with a second piece of aluminum foil and roast for 40 minutes. Puree cooked squash in a food processor. Adjust oven temperature to 350 F.


2. Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic until softened, about 10 minutes. Stir in chopped sage, season with salt and pepper, turn off heat and set pan aside.


3. In a large bowl, combine squash puree, cooked onion mixture, ground turkey, bread crumbs and eggs. Spray a 9X13 baking dish with olive oil. Place meatloaf mixture in baking dish and form a loaf with with your hands about 5-6 inches across and 3 inches high.


4. Bake meatloaf in oven for about 40-45 minutes. While baking, combine honey, cider vinegar and mustard to form glaze. When meat loaf has browned a bit on the outside, remove from oven and brush all over with the glaze. Return loaf to oven and continue baking another 20-30 minutes until done (since this is turkey, it cooks a little longer than a beef-based meatloaf. I cooked mine to an internal temperature of 170 F).


5. Remove meatloaf from oven and let rest about 10 minutes. Serve sliced into 1-inch thick pieces (makes about 8-10 slices).

Roasted Cauliflower


1 head cauliflower
3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste


1. Preheat oven to 350 F.


2. Remove core and cut cauliflower into florets. Place in a large bowl and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.


3. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil. Scatter cauliflower florets across lined baking sheet. Cover with a second piece of foil. Roast in oven about 40-45 minutes. Remove top piece of foil. Continue roasting another 10-20 minutes until florets are nicely browned on the edges.

Pan-fried Balsamic Kale


1/2 bunch of kale
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
seasoned salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar


1. Wash and thoroughly dry kale. Remove stems, roll up leaves, and slice across rolled log about 3/4-inch thick pieces.


2. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large frying pan. When oil is hot, add kale to pan. Saute until wilted and browned. Season with seasoned salt, pepper and vinegar.