Homemade goodness?

I must thank my dear friend RN who actually made the effort to attempt one of the most difficult recipes of all time…

That is… ta da!!… the Hamburger. 

Seriously… its not easy to make good burgers. Why? Cos there are so many variables that can turn a hamburger into sh*tburger. Here’s how I look at a burger. The essence of burgers is the meat that goes in between the buns. That itself poses a challenge for a place that’s made burgers since the day of Mcdonalds… no wait a minute… oh sorry I’m being oxymoronic and forgot they made hamburgers… no wait… they don’t. They make… ok I might get sued if I say that.

For me, the meat that goes in between the buns needs to be fresh. If its minced beef, its definitely got to retain some redness and juice, which really isn’t easy. Unlike chicken patties, Beef patties are extremely tricky. You got to ensure that the minced beef binds itself together after its marinated with the other stuff and doesn’t fall apart. And you can’t add too much ingredients/garnish cos it will kill that sweet beefy taste. Thin beef patties are a sin (ahem), and tend to get overcooked. Results in dryness and doesn’t taste like real beef. Thick is the way to go, because there’s less risk in overcooking and the juices and full flavor is retained in the core of the patty. But there’s a risk of under-cooking which can be just gross. Its really not easy people.

Chicken patties are a lot simpler. NEVER EVER use minced chicken… its like the 2nd most idiotic thing to do in life (1st would be using minced fish, practically fish cake!). Seriously… frozen patties contain stuff like spittle in there. Sure the packages look incredibly scrumptious… but nothing beats a fresh block of breast/thigh meat. In fact, despite being an avid beef fanatic, I very much prefer chicken burgers. Reason for that is because the meat is original. Its not ruthlessly smashed into little bits, and the texture of chicken can be seriously underestimated.  

Anyway, here’s what RN made for me.

You gotta admit the pic looks pretty darn good. I told RN that I was gonna review her burger on my blog and she agreed so… I’ll try my best not to hurt people’s feelings here.

I liked the buns, and I liked the fact that she was bold enough to include raw onions (they can really sting at times but the kick gives character), and mayonnaise is always a safe bet on a burger. Coming to the essence, which is the beef, I ate it sort of at room temperature because I came really late after cell group meeting. I must say, no matter what, if the patty is hot, its gonna be good, anyway her way of seasoning the patty reminded my mum’s recipe for fried minced pork, not really American but tasted more oriental. I prefer American. And she innocently made a terrible mistake of not removing peppercorns that were meant to flavor the oil before pan frying. Really nice touch with the flavored oil… but can you imagine the horror of biting into that? Anyway she sincerely apologized and you know its just really mean to irk at someone’s effort at something that difficult. On the whole I’ll give what I ate a 5 out of 10, and a possible 7 out of 10 if the meat was hot and without the booby trap peppercorns. Oh… sorry… kudos to the mushrooms though… Nicely sauteed, just that it was cold too, which was my fault cos I was late. Should try a chicken thigh patty next time with similar seasoning… it’ll be a lot nicer.