Today was burger day. Devastatingly, I wsd advised by my butcher that the health inspector made him toss the grass-fed Chuck he had been dry aging for me for 60 days, cut from the oldest steer on their own farm, not two hours before I was to pick it up. But we made lemonaid from these regulatory lemons and I ground a mix of 6 lbs grass-fed short ribs, 4 lbs grass fed sirloin, 2 lbs of the fattest piece of brisket with full fat cap and the fat-cap from a 70 day dry aged, prime-grade prime rib so that I had a 60/40 blend (yup 60/40).
Burgers were cooked sous-vide to medium rare and then seared in a pan on my new portable induction cooktop, a hot plate and with a Searzall torch. They were served on homemade brioche buns (CS recipie) with choice of topings: melty smoked gouda and smoked cheddar blend, pickles, Heston's mushroom ketchup, my own smoked tomato ketchup, Pommery Meaux Mustard, MC Special Sauce, Raw Onions, Tomato slices, Butter Lettuce, and my adaption of CS mayo. The burgers were seasoned with salt, pepper, MSG and dried porchini, shittake and truffles ground into a fine powder and lightly dusted on the burger.
The burgers were served with french fries that I pickled with cabbage and then triple cooked, first sous-vide and then a blanche at home and flash fry at work in a mixture of duck fat, goose fat, leaf lard and grass-fed beef tallow. This was my first time pickling fries and they were amazingly crisp and has a nice, mild funky tang that cut through all the richness. They were a big hit with everyone.
And this was all done in my office. Well prep and pre-cook at home.
