Cooking

Inspiration!

Inspiration strikes in funny ways. Maybe you see something and it triggers a new thought in a different direction. Or maybe it just comes out of the blue. No matter where it comes from, it's usually worth pursuing. At the very least, it will force you to explore a new path, and sometimes you produce something marvelous.

Take the other night. I thought I'd make hamburgers for Melissa and me. To my mind, you start making burgers by grinding the meat. There are lots of reasons I do this, but that's not the point of the story, so I won't digress. I made a little mental checklist by remembering other meat-grinding episodes in the kitchen: chill the grinder, season, etc. Often, I have to add my own fat to the meat I'm grinding, though chuck comes in the right proportion for burgers.

That's when inspiration struck: I could still swap in new fat for the fat in the chuck. I could use the fat I scraped off the foie gras terrine I made two months ago. Yes, you heard me right: I saved the fat I used to seal the terrine. Foie gras is pretty pricey, and I share Thomas Keller's philosophy that you have a sort of karmic reponsibility to any animal you eat, especially a foie gras duck, to not waste any part. It didn't make any sense to toss the fat when I could just melt it, strain it, and keep it in the refrigerator.

It's easy to make these burgers, assuming you have the right ingredients and equipment. Most recipes I saw for burgers suggested a ratio of 80% to 20% fat. Chuck roast has nice big sheets of fat that you can trim off with some patient knife work. Weigh your de-fatted chuck, and then add in 1/4 of that weight in foie gras fat. If your scale can give you readings in grams, the math is easier.

Cut the meat into cubes of a size you might put in a stew. Set up the chilled meat grinder, and grind the meat and fat together by putting in some meat, then some fat, and then continuing to alternate. Run that mixture through again to make sure the fat and lean are thoroughly integrated and that you have a consistent texture.

Season as you like. I used leftover "green salt"— a flavorful mixture of salt and fresh herbs—from the duck confit recipe I'm making from Thomas Keller's new cookbook, Bouchon. More on that in a month or so.

Chill the meat and form into patties. Cook as you would a normal burger, but keep in mind the foie gras fat will render out sooner than beef fat would, so you really want to serve these seared and rare if possible. Serve with home made fries. I topped the patties with caramelized onions and spinach leaves. Melissa and I drank Moinette, a saison style beer from Brasserie Dupont in Belgium. The hamburger meat was delicious, with a rich, succulent taste and a smooth feel. Inspiration wins.

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Cooking