At my home, there is a clear divide between boy’s food and girl’s food and burger indisputably belongs to the boys. It’s not that I don’t like burger. I rarely crave juicy beef patty between soft sesame bun fully dressed with melted cheese and the works. So I would only make burgers at home if requested by the boys. Therefore, it was totally out of character that I made Café Salle Pleyel Hamburger from Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table for my own supper.
Fortunately, this burger has plenty of character that kept my culinary interest. The juicy bison patty was studded with capers, cornichons, oil-packed sundried tomatoes, parsley, and dill for a uniquely Gallic take on an American classic. It was piled high with shavings of Parmesan cheese and served with homemade bread & butter pickles and red onion marmalade in a Kaiser bun. I knew my bread & butter pickles would come in handy one of these days!
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I am far from being a burger connoisseur but I do like the taste of Café Salle Pleyel Hamburger very much. However, some of the cooking direction left much to be desired. Let’s start with the red onion marmalade. The idea is to simmer red onion in water until it turns jammy. In reality, there was so much moisture to boil down that the once purple onion turned an unappetizing grey with barely any flavour left. Why not make caramelized onion the traditional way? As for the patty, it barely held together by my willpower. The addition of all those flavourful bits and pieces certainly boost the taste and set this burger apart. However, doesn’t it need some kind of binder like a bit of egg white? Shavings of Parmesan cheese looks pretty but would it not taste better if it is just on the verge of melting?
One unexpected gift I got from this recipe is realizing the potential of capers, cornichons, sundried tomatoes, parsley, and dill. For an easy side dish, I tossed warm fresh corn kernels with this mixture, a dab of herb cream cheese, and some grape tomato halves. I could not believe how good it was for something that I threw together in under five minutes! This will be my new go-to summer side dish before the corn harvest comes to an end.
The recipe was published at New York Times a few years ago. Don’t forget to check out other bloggers’ interpretation of this burger at French Fridays with Dorie. Here are my picks of the week:
- Cookbook Immersion Project discussed the merits of cookbook written by home baker. It’s an interesting observation that I agree with.
- Miss Kris Kitchen really packed them with fresh vegetables.
- dulceshome beat me to it. She paired Homesick Texan’s Spicy Red Onion Jam with the sliders.
- Patty’s Food served the patties on top of black bean and corn salad.
- Frankly Entertaining posted my favourite photo of the week among all the burgers in the group!
- Foodiva used a very unusual combination of add-ins. I may just have to try it myself.
