Burger Night

My turn to bring dessert.  This is a tweak of Becca Dilley’s Pumpkin Pie that was featured on Heavy Table about a week ago.  The spices are mainly what’s changed- one egg was added too.  Added were allspice, ginger and galangal.

Not as pretty as hers.

Same Pillsbury crust- Whole Foods only had whole wheat crusts… sorry… no.

Smells pretty good.  We’ll see.  A spiced whipped cream will finish it off- inspired by the fantastic Spiced Irish Coffees at last weekend’s Food Film Fest in Chicago.

Happy Thanksgiving ya’ll.  Open those windows.

Off to the…

 …in Chicago this weekend.

My hotel is one block away from the original Billy Goat Tavern.

Turtle Burgers on Sunday.

Enter:  therev11  for 20% off your tickets.

Burger Night

Mpls, MN

November 12th, 2011

Temp: 63ºF

Clear skies

Naturally, an outdoor burger celebration was in order.  Likely the last of the season.

Made a chili paste with soaked cascabel and ancho peppers and toasted garlic.

How about on a burger?

Well, let’s just say it pretty much rounded out a beautiful afternoon.

My heart may be Minnesotan, but my tongue is Texan.  

Scandinavians drink coffee as transparent as tea, and eat gjetost and lutefisk… I’ll pass.  But garlic, onions, peppers, meat, smoked stuff, salt and simple carbohydrates.  That’s good stuff.

I set out to learn about the origins of chili con carne, but the stories of traditional Texan cuisine(I don’t like the term Tex-Mex) has me exploring and experimenting with the why’s and how’s.

Beside chili con carne, another traditional food during the settling of Texas was the pecan.  Pecans were abundant in the wild, so all it took to sell pecans and pecan related goods was to pick and shell them.

(Yep, pecans up in there.)

One of the most common uses for pecans was with pralines.  One would take the wild pecans, add them to a pot of water and sugar and have candy to sell on the sidewalks.  Such a simple idea.

(Water, a common ingredient in things.)

It seemed too simple.  Sugar, water and pecans?  How could that be anything special?  Well, the process is more delicate that I had thought.  The past couple of weeks I’ve made batch after batch.  One was too watery, another was too hard.  I’ve had trouble keeping the sugar from crystalizing while keeping the mixture thick.  I tried different sugars- brown, evaporated cane juice, Demerara and combinations too. 

The ones that were decent couldn’t be handled.  The others just tasted like you were just chewing on sugar and pecans.  I had to have been missing something- even a desperate cowboy wouldn’t drop a nickel for this crap.

I had to call in the big guns.  I asked Dave Arnold over at Cooking Issues.  His suggestion for eliminating the sugar crystals: minimize agitation.  Every damn recipe I read said to mix in the crystals or “beat until opaque”.  Apparently some folks prefer the sugar crystals in their pralines.  Anyway, Dave was right.  My recent batches I quite literally didn’t touch.  The pot simmers for an hour or so, the candy cools hard and without too many crystals.  

You might think that they’d be painfully sweet, but they don’t come off that way.  But the richer the flavor of the sugar you use, the better off you’ll be with these.  And don’t add the pecans until right before spooning them out- they’ll get soggy and weird.

Up next:  French Fried Potatoes

Sweet ass side note:  

Another moment of simple Texan culinary genius- if you boil this:

(2 bucks at Rainbow)

…for three hours and let cool completely; you get this:

It tastes just like the caramel on caramel apples, but also works remarkably well on a spoon.

There’s a new burger on the Minneapolis scene.  Sort of.  

In actuality, My Burger has been serving downtown folk for 7 years now.  But with a brand new modern look slowly devised with the help of Fame, also of downtown… fame…, it’s easy to mistake the neighborhood newcomer as a big chain or a rookie.

Owner(with his father- who also owns Nicollet Island Inn), John Abdo told me yesterday, their quietly announced opening day, that they’re still using the same recipe that his father, the “serial entrepreneur”, devised nearly seven years ago.  They use an 80/20 lean/fat Angus beef, quarter pound patty, griddled with their special seasoning and pressed thin.  Buttered, toasted buns and sweet pickles are standard- but they offer dill pickles too.  John says that the sweet pickles were his mom’s idea.  

To get a good idea of a burger, I like to try it plain first.  Here’s their plain hamburger on a buttered, toasted bun served with fries for $5.45.  Solid.

Overall, it was dry- needed condiments.  However, when I mentioned this to John, I didn’t get the impression it was a common complaint and he assured me they will cook a burger medium rare upon request.  A good caramelized crust on the patty, but the patty was too thin for my taste.  

The fries were solid- for 3/8”.  I’ve always been a 1/4” fry man myself.  Thicker fries tend to distract with too much potato flavor and texture in the middle.  This was the case here, but they managed to find a way to keep the fries relatively crispy once they are cold- not a simple feat.

I asked John why they chose 3100 Excelsior Blvd. for their first venture out of downtown.  He says they shopped around the Twin Cities- NE Mpls., St. Paul and S. Mpls., but settled here because they liked the neighborhood and, of course, the traffic.  NE Mpls. and St. Paul are likely future prospects, as I was assured they want to continue to grow.  Are they concerned about being within throwing distance of Burger Jones?  No, “…it’s a totally different market”.  Agreed.

What is John’s favorite local burger(besides his own)?  

“…for a little fancier burger, I love 112(Eatery)… when it’s on and it’s charred on the outside… it’s awesome”.  For “simple” burgers he mentioned of The Nook and Blue Door- making the assertion that Blue Door has the best Ju(i)cy Lucy’s in town.  John said he’s been wanting to make to a Burger Night event, but hasn’t had the chance.

John Abdo on opening day.

My Burger is a simple, family run burger joint that is a definite boon for the local burger landscape.  Check them out if you haven’t already.

As with hamburgers, the exact origin of chili is widely debated.  The most frequent and seemingly most reputable claims say San Antonio, TX is where it began.  In March of 1731, Spaniards held the settlement, then known as Bexar, with the French vying for control.  The Spaniards sent word to their king to send more settlers for support.  The king sent sixteen families, accustomed to spicy foods and garlic, from the Canary Islands.  Their adaptation to the culinary environment found the first recipes for chile con carne.  What exactly those recipes were… no one knows.  

Of course, cowboys greatly popularized chili- and this is where my favorite recipes come from- the chuckwagons.  The recipes of necessity and optimization.  The best method of preserving meats at that time was by salting and drying.  There are accounts of trail men carrying simply dried, salted beef pressed into bricks with chilipiquines(wild peppers).  Alone insufficient for a meal, and to keep their load light, along the frequented trails the travelers would plant onions, garlic and oregano near the rugged mesquite trees- to dissuade animals from stealing their harvest.

(man camped in the mesquite brush near Uvalde, TX)

Sounds good.  Some adjustments seemed prudent.  Here’s 1.7 lbs. of chuck- cut into pieces “the size of pecans”- a descriptive phrase used commonly in old chili recipes:  

To technically cure meats, one needs to add at least 20% of the weight in salt.  Being that I have the luxury of refrigeration and sanity, I opted to tone that down.  Three tablespoons of salt were tossed with the beef bits and set to dry for 3 days:

Commercially produced chilipiquines are spicy as hell(wild, old growth plants produce sweeter fruit), so to make a brew based on that would be suicide.  Subbed in were ancho and dundicut peppers.  First, the beef, onions and garlic were browned, then the rest was added- peppers, cumin, black pepper, Mexican oregano, bay leaves, 6 cups of water and a little corn flour:

After another hour and a half of simmering the meat was tender and the stew thick:

Still a little salty- just from the beef- and it would benefit from a touch of sweetness, but a very unique and intensely rich bowl all the same.  The beans can stay gone forever, but adding tomatoes might be a good idea.  The texture and flavor of the half cured beef was like moist, tender jerky- quite awesome.

Yes, Burger Night will have chili.

Onward and upward.

I heard about Nick’s Hamburger Shop from a hamburger authority who suggested that they may have the best hamburger buns in the country.  This was over a year ago, and I was in the market for a weekend road trip, so it was time I check it out.  

About four hours from the Twin Cities and just over the state line is the well equipped college town of Brookings, SD.  Nick’s was pretty easy to spot once you got to the main drag.  

I asked the girl who was serving a perpetually full horseshoe counter, if the buns come from a local bakery.  She stood strong and replied that the buns are a secret recipe and that the bakery where they’re made is also a secret.  Fair enough.  Mystery is alluring, I get it.  

I don’t want to rant on about my thoughts on what a hamburger bun should be, but I will say that the distinguishing trait about Nick’s buns, that is rarely found in others, is that they have a slightly dense chewiness to them- still fluffy, plain and unobtrusive but carrying a character all their own.

The hamburgers themselves are pretty unremarkable.  I’m guessing the patties are about 2.5 oz. of obviously lean ground beef.  They’re cooked in a similar fashion to the poached burgers at Pete’s in Prarie du Chein, WI; on a closed griddle in about half an inch of water/grease. 

Nick’s

Pete’s

Both Pete’s and Nick’s use fresh beef and cook the patties through, but Pete’s hamburgers are wet and juicy, and Nick’s are dry and uninspiring.  

But I would definitely go back to Nick’s.  Why?  Because of the distinct character.  The lack of any background music.  The fact that Nick’s Hamburger Shop is just one big horseshoe counter seating 30-35 people with the burger show right in the middle.  The classic paper tissue instead of a plate, a la Matt’s Bar.  And of course, to break the record of 34 hamburgers in 90 minutes.  Child’s play.  

Only an hour and a half from Nick’s is the also famed Hamburger Inn in Sioux Falls, SD.  An even smaller space than Nick’s, it was empty when we arrived on Saturday, just after noon.  A single strip of maybe eight stools facing the griddle, fryer and two white, craigslist looking residential refrigerators. 

Opening the front door interupted an intimate and solemn viewing party of the 1997 Tom Selleck/Kevin Kline (not so)hit, In and Out.  A considerate, young counter girl and a seasoned griddleman tore themselves away from the 10” TV/VCR combo- adjusted with a protruding piece of cardboard taped to the top to eliminate glare from the flourescent lights.  They kindly hopped into action as the quirks began showing themselves- a stack of VHS tapes, mostly semi-modern romances(She’s All That, Save the Last Dance, etc.)under the counter.  A sign above the refrigerator with a handwritten amendment that ensures, “Soup of the Day: Chili… always”.  It felt like The Weinery without the spacious kitchen, seating area or the urban self awareness. 

The burgers were beyond solid- Eggburgers are their signature(just a fried egg on top).  A high heat griddle gave the burgers, and well toasted buns, a great crunch.  I wish this place was down the street.

After I walked out I noticed this sign in the window:

So if you know a hamburger lover/restauranteur with Sioux Falls connections, a great opportunity awaits.  

It was about a year ago that I went on a midwest burger adventure.  One of the true highlights was the Butter Burger at Solly’s Grille in Milwaukee, WI.  

On the road, six hours after leaving the laminate horseshoe counter, I could still feel the smoothness, and taste the richness of the real Wisconsin butter on my lips.  This is after stopping for a Coke and some candy.

Not currently possessing the wherewithal to repeat a trip to Milwaukee, and since I’ve been considering offering a butter burger, I thought I’d work it out on the griddle.

I started with the standard fried onion hamburger and American cheese.  I used Hope Butter from Hope, MN.  If I remember correctly, onions aren’t on the standard at Solly’s… nuts to that.

…and flip.

Goodness.

Solly’s adds the butter to the top of the burger just before serving.  Legend has it, the trick to enjoying a Solly’s Butter Burger is to eat it before all the butter melts.  I concur.  The slightly cool contrast of a dab of butter in a bite of burger is total mouth dynamite.  So adding butter at the end of the cooking process seems a given.  However, the steamed bun/slider technique poses difficulties in removing the top bun after the cheese has melted.  So initially I tried the butter on bottom.  I used about a tablespoon of butter.

The flavor of the onions mixed with the flavor of the butter.  They lost their distinct appealing natures.  Also, most of the butter just soaked in the bottom bun, so I didn’t get to taste it.

Then I thought, difficulties be damned.  I’m going to rip the top bun off the melted cheese of the next one and try it right… and with more butter.

Oh, two tablespoons or so.

That’s some nice glistening.  It was much better.  The geography of the butter is coincidentally right where it was on the palette- right on top.  Imagine all the good flavor of a cheeseburger being happily subordinate to rich, creamy butter.  It was almost as if the flavor of the cheese and onions got in the way, or perhaps simply weren’t necessary.

Therefore, Effort #3, a plain hamburger with butter.

Probably about two tablespoons of butter, maybe a little more.

That’s what I’m talking about.  The butter melted on top of the beef fat and they mixed together.  The cheese and onions weren’t missed, and the beef butter dipping sauce on the plate pretty much capped off what was another very pleasant weekend in Minneapolis.

Have you watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory lately?  Is there anything more reliably fun than candy?  Technology+sugar+ingenuity= endless possibilities.  

What’s the first thing you want after a salty meal?  Beside a nap.  

Something sweet, right?  Well then, Burger Night should offer something to satisfy that curmudgeon of a palate of yours.

Cheesecake was, and still is being considered.  But candy is so varied and simple and small and fun.  Having at least some candy on hand as a quick, cheap sweet tooth fix seems, at least, like a good place to start.

In the name of research, I recently took a drive to Jordan to Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store… that’s its name, not a verified fact.  From the cities, head down 169 for about 35 minutes and you can’t miss the vast expanse of yellow everything on your right.

(Friday afternoon.  There were well over a hundred cars there on Saturday.)

I went on a Saturday in September.  Holy crap.  Don’t go there on a Saturday in September.  A sea of crazed, Greater Minnesota children with sugar lust will take you down.

I made it out alive with $33 worth of candy and soda.

I returned this past Friday afternoon for more… in the name of research.  It was a much slower pace inside.  I was able to talk with some folks there and found answers to the some questions pondered in last year’s Heavy Table article.  

(Booty from trip #2, minus the fudge and box of Runts I ate on the way home.  Runts are so good.)

Jim and his wife, with whom I spoke, but didn’t get her name, said that they opened “…oh, I don’t know, about 25, 30 years ago.  When the kids were like this”, she held her 80 year old hand about 3 feet from the ground.  She says her son Robert in the red suspenders handles most things now.  It appears that her and Jim spend most of their time baking pies and other goodies.

MLCS started as just an apple barn, then they added a pumpkin barn, then a whole bunch of other stuff, like salsas, bbq sauces, jellies, pickled goods, baked goods and a selection of odd and obscure sodas that rivals their candy selection.

I asked where all the candy comes from.  I figured most of it came from a big manufacturer, like Nestle.  Wrong.  Apparently, they get “…huge shipments all the time from everywhere.”

Some things are best left a little mysterious.  

About a mile south there was a sign that said “BURGERS”.  It’s just a reflex now.  

If you’re going to MLCS, Clancey’s a good lunch option.  The beef was overcooked, dry and leaner than I prefer, but it’s fresh, griddled and served on a great bun with American cheese.  The fries are typical “damn shame” style dive bar krinkle cuts, but for $7.10 all told, not bad.

What did Burger Night learn from Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store?

That novelty candies are exciting and many, but fleeting.  French strawberry taffy was cool once, but next time, make it a Laffy Taffy.  A Good News bar is interesting and different, but next time, I’ll have a Snickers.  Much like in the realm of hamburgers, innovations and nostalgia excite, but rarely result in quintessence.

It’s still a fun mini road trip from the cities, especially on a fall afternoon when the leaves are turning.  MLCS is open until mid November.