Juicy Pub-Style Burgers plus Skillet Roasted Potatoes

Hello loyal follower(s)

      Yesterday Mr Nut again put on his Sous Chef hat and made dinner.  Two recipes from Cook's Illustrated website were used, modified of course. Juicy Pub-Style Burgers (published May 1, 2011) looked good except is was written for a young person with a big appetite.   A few changes were made to fit our eating capacity.  the recipe called for two pounds sirloin steak tips for four burgers.  32 ounces divided by four was eight ounce burgers.  Mr Nut started with one pound of meat which was ground in our food pressor and separated into four patties.  All the ingredients where halved yielding the included recipe for two old $%#$%, as Mr Nuts mother (Angie) would say.

      The second recipe was for Skillet Roasted Potatoes (published May 1, 2005) lacked taste, it was very bland.  Cyndy has a recipe from allrecipes.com that was by far better than the one used yesterday.  Next time the potato recipe for allrecipes.com will be used and the recipe  will  be evaluated.

       Doing three things at a time was all the Mr Nut could handle, therefore no pictures were taken of the cooking efforts. All went well and were done within a minute of each other.
   But take a look at our outside growing areas:

This is our strawberry patch about 30 square feet in size and loaded with tasty berries

This is our desert plant area.  The plant at the bottom will bloom during the summer and fall with white flowers.

This area is completely closed in, including the ceiling, to prevent the birds from attacking the tomato plants. The dark lines are the shadows from the ceiling framing

The pea pod plants are full of blossoms, should have pea pods within a couple weeks.

And lastly our beet and carrot garden with a sun roof to protect the plants from the HOT sun.  The beets should be ready to harvest at the end of May.


Now back to the burger recipe.  Mr Nut liked the concept of skillet and baking to get the burgers just right by using the meat thermometer.

Recipe follows:


À bientôt,
Mr Nut

JUICY PUB-STYLE BURGERS

May 4, 2011: revised November 1, 2011

 Modified from Cook's Illustrated.  Published May 1, 2011.  

Serves  four; (six ounces burgers)

     Cook’s illustrated believes grinding the beef must be done “in house”.  Sirloin steak tips were preferred.  Mt Nut bets that 93% commercial hamburger would work as well, but he has yet to try the commercial hamburger.  When mixing the butter and pepper into the ground meat and shaping the patties, take care not to overwork the meat or the burgers will become dense.

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 pounds sirloin steak tips or 93% hamburger. Carbs 0 g; Calories 1020

2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly.     Carbs 0 g; Calories 200

1/8 teaspoon Sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon Canola oil.                                      Carbs 0 g; Calories 227

4 whole wheat hamburger buns.(  42.5 g each       Carbs 88 g; Calories 480

4(sandwich thins do not work well the tend to break up) Carbs 88 g;Calories 360

For complete recipe, with whole wheat buns: Carbohydrates 88 g;Calories 2139

INSTRUCTION if grinding meat “in house”.

1. Trim of excess fat off of sirloin steak tips and cut into 1/2-inch chunks. Place beef chunks on rimmed baking sheet in a single layer. Freeze meat until very firm and starting to harden around edges but still pliable, about 35 minutes.
2. Place one-half of meat in food processor and pulse until finely ground into 1/16-inch pieces, about 35 one-second pulses, stopping and redistributing meat around bowl as necessary to ensure beef is evenly ground. Transfer meat to second rimmed baking sheet. Repeat grinding with remaining meat.   Spread meat over sheet and inspect carefully, discarding any long strands of gristle or large chunks of hard meat or fat.

If choosing the easy route: Commercial hamburger

1.  Loosely spread out the 93% fat free hamburger on a rimmed  cooking sheet.  Drizzle melted butter over ground meat and add 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Coating the raw ground beef with melted butter not only ensures that the burgers cook up super-juicy, but also encourages flavorful browning.

ONLY IF you are going to cook these burgers right away, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. 

1. Gently toss with fork to combine the butter and the ground meat. Divide meat into 4 lightly packed balls. Gently flatten into patties 3/4 inch thick and about 3 inches in diameter. Refrigerate patties until ready to cook. (Patties can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 1 day. 
2. Season 1 side of patties  with salt and pepper. Using spatula, flip patties and season other side. 
3. Heat oil in 12-inch oven proof skillet over high heat until just smoking. Using spatula, transfer burgers to the skillet and cook without moving them for 1 1/ 2 minutes. Using spatula, flip burgers and cook for 1 1/2 minutes longer. Transfer the oven proof skillet with the patties to a 300℉ oven, bake until instant-read thermometer inserted into burger registers 125 degrees for medium-rare or 130 degrees for medium, 3 to 4 minutes.  Searing on the stove and then finishing in a low-heat oven trades the usual overcooked exterior for a well-browned crust and juicy center.
4. Transfer burgers to plate and let rest for 2 minutes. Transfer to buns, carbs and calories can be reduced by cutting the buns horizontally or serve them on a plate without buns. Add desired toppings, and serve.