the great cheeseburger experiment - part 1

first attempt to replace the cheeseburger: chicken burger.  i gotta say, it was REALLY good.  like so good that i made it Thursday night and i'm gonna make it again tonight.

i'm not sure it totally satisfies the cheeseburger itch but it was very tasty, the texture was right and it was SO flavorful.  the apple was a sort of random addition but it gave a nice sweetness and kept everything moist.  i love an english muffin as the bun, it's light and spongey with a little bit of that tart flavor that english muffins have. 

i don't think this is the answer to my better cheeseburger prayers but it was certainly a step in the right direction!

RECIPE

Chicken Burger
serves: 1
points: 10

ingredients:
4 & 1/2 ounces ground chicken (raw weight)
2 tablespoons diced shallot
1/4 peeled apple, small diced
1 garlic clove, minced
Pam cooking spray
salt
pepper
fresh thyme chopped fine
3/4 oz toussaint cheese *
1 english muffin
1 tablespoon spicy dijon mustard

* any creamy cheese with a little bite can work.  this was an exciting one i came across at my local market that night.

directions:
preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

heat nonstick skillet over medium heat, spray with Pam.  add shallot, apple and garlic, season with salt and pepper and cook until softened.  place in small mixing bowl and cool completely. 

add ground chicken to apple-shallot-garlic mixture.  season with salt, pepper and fresh thyme, mix to combine.  form into a patty and reheat skillet to medium high heat, re-spray with Pam.  place patty in skillet and brown on both sides.  place skillet in oven (or transfer to baking sheet if your skillet isn't oven safe) and cook until patty is cooked through.  in the last couple minutes of cooking top patty with cheese so cheese will melt.

while patty is cooking in oven toast english muffin directly on oven rack. spread mustard on both sides of english muffin while still warm.

place patty on english muffin and enjoy. and believe me, you will.

-V

 

my chicken burger in all its glory

lies Ina Garten told me

i watch a lot of cooking shows, like a LOT of cooking shows.  always have, always will.

one of my favorites is The Barefoot Contessa on the food network.

i don't know if you're familiar with this program but its host is a wonderfully ridiculous woman named Ina Garten.  she is this posh thing who seems to only socialize with beautiful gay men and everything she cooks has about 6 sticks of butter and a cup of heavy cream in it.  she calls everyone darling and everything is fabulous and decadent and- you get the picture.

well just now i was watching her program and she was making a Pastisio (which sounds really delicious actually but probably has about a day's worth of points per serving) and one element of it was a bechamel sauce.  since its a Greek dish she decided to add some Greek yogurt to the sauce and while she claimed she was adding 2/3 of a cup she probably put 2 cups in.

this is not a trait unique to Ms. Garten either.

i was watching some lady i didn't recognize earlier and she was making a cocktail and claimed to be putting 2 tablespoons of simple syrup in it, and then proceeded to add about a 1/2 cup in.

bullshit i cry! bullshit!

they make this stuff on TV and they're all loosey goosey with the "eyeballing" of measurements and yeah, of course it's delicious and looks great!  then i go home and try to make it and it's bland and gross because i put 2/3 of a cup of yogurt in it instead of your 2 cups!!!

anyway, i promise you that the measurements i put on my recipes will be accurate and everything will taste good because i've tried it all before.

with that, look forward to a lot of recipes this week.  the first round of cheeseburger experiments is done and i've perfected my chicken stir-fry recipe to boot!

thanks for sticking with me so far, things are about to get interesting around here!

-V

musings - cheeseburgers

here's something you need to understand right off the bat: i fucking love cheeseburgers.  i've eaten a lot of food in my life, much of it very expensive; and even the tastiest dish from the finest of fine dining establishments doesn't top the best cheeseburger i've had.  i don't know what it is, i just love cheeseburgers.

to me, when i say cheeseburger i mean something very specific. between ¼ and a ½ pound of beef (at least 20% fat content please), american cheese, spongey white-bread bun, raw onion, mayonnaise and more ketchup than you're comfortable with. lettuce and tomato are acceptable additions but only if the tomato is really ripe and flavorful (nothing like a pale mealy tomato to ruin my burger).  now I’m not saying i’m not open to other interpretations of the cheeseburger, but the above description is what i dream about.  yes i dream about cheeseburgers.

to me, the closest i've ever come to perfection in a cheeseburger, the holy grail of cheeseburgers if you will needs only one word to describe:

LUGER'S

if you don't know about Peter Luger cheeseburgers, all i can say is go eat one now.  unless it's after 3pm then go eat one tomorrow.  now if you don't know about Peter Luger's altogether, i have nothing to say to you.

i can only guess that right about now you're asking yourself "what does waxing poetic about  cheeseburgers have to do with losing weight?"  the answer?  not a god damned thing.  but i'm hung up on cheeseburgers right now so i'm going with it.

so here's my new mission: figure out how to make a cheeseburger that won't break the fat-bank.  

in order to do this i must first determine what it is that i love about the cheeseburger so much.  it has to be juicy, it has to be flavorful, the bun can't be too dense and neither can the patty for that matter.  the turkey burger's never done it for me, the patty's too dense and get dried out when you cook them all the way.  veggie burger's have their place but they certainly won't satisfy the cheeseburger itch.  

i'm thinking the answer lies somewhere in a mixture of ground chicken thigh, and lean ground beef.  i'll tell you one thing for certain, i will not rest until i've figured this mystery out.  and when i do, y'all will be the first to know!

-V