Food Blog: On Hamburgers

To kick off my food blog, let me begin with the hamburger. It is one of the most important icons of American cooking. It is a sandwich consisting of a beef patty cooked and served in some form of bread. Let me set a series of terms to make this discussion move along clearly.

The principal species of hamburger:

Simple hamburger: Ground beef on a bun of some kind with a minimum of condiments. Examples include the century old original White Castle burger, the basic McDonalds hamburger. While it may be seasoned with onions --raw or grilled -- and with pickle slices it will have no more additions than mustard and/or catsup.

Dressed hamburger: Taking the term “dressed” from the local jargon in New Orleans for presenting Po’Boy and other sandwiches, this means a hamburger “dressed” with the basic seasonings plus leaf or shredded lettuce, fresh tomato slices, raw onions and mayonnaise or a mayonnaise based dressing like 1000 island and other condiments that fit local taste: in LA a medium heat bean less chili is usual, in the southwest sliced jalapeños or other chili peppers, in Chicago a ferocious “hot gardenera" olive & chili relish, in California and Arizona sliced avocado is common, and in up market establishments various “gourmet” items are sometimes put on burgers -- pate de fois gras, truffles, sauté mushrooms, caviar and so on. In general I disapprove of these costly and esteemed ingredients as clear cut lily gilding.

Double grilled burgers: Here the cooked meat patty is placed between slices of bread and then the sandwich is grilled again to brown the bread and melt the cheese. The Patty melt is the most common example of this. Here the patty is put between slices of rye bread with onions and cheese and then the resulting sandwich is grilled. It combines the classic burger with the grilled ham and cheese or grilled cheese sandwich. Other common examples of the double grilled variety are the common “Sour Dough” or “Frisco” burgers. In this variation on the Patty Melt, sour dough replaces the rye bread and provolone replaces the swiss cheese. The are many other variations on this hybrid sandwich.

Double decker burgers: Two patties are used and the bun is sliced into three layers: top, middle and bottom. The classic example of this is Bob’s “Big Boy.” The “Big Mac” is ubiquitous and is the one example of a hamburger gone very very wrong. (I have always thought it was a gooey mess and a disgrace to the hamburger family. The Tartar Sauce based glob it wallows in has no business in a real burger.)

Exotic Burgers: In this case elements of another cuisine recast the standard hamburger. The textbook classic example is the Hawaiian Burger where the patty is topped with a grilled pineapple slice and the principal condiment is a savory teriyaki sauce. It is interesting, but like its cousin Hawaiian Pizza which uses canadian bacon nd pineapple as an Asian riff on pizza that would horrify even the most hard case pizza eater in Napoli or New York.

The essence of this exotic category is clothing an otherwise standard burger in the style of another cuisine. For example, using lamb or a mix of ground lamb and beef is the basis for a “Greek” or “Armenian” burger. It could be served in Pita bread of lavash or between two Lamtmajune or small Armenian pizza’s. An English spin would serve a patty between english muffin slices with sharp mustard and a cheddar based “Welsh Rabbit.” A French variation would be served with mushrooms in a Madeira Sauce with or without Roquefort cheese.

Other exotic burgers substitute the beef patty with another meat or even a meatless patty such as a breaded fish, pork or chicken or turkey cutlet. Also a Hawaiian “Moko Loko” which is two patties on buns smothered in a brown beef gravy or a “Chili Size” where two patties are served on a open faced bun with chili poured over every thing and seasoned with grated cheese and onions.

Having established the various types of Burgers I will offer a set of categories.

Fast Food Burgers meaning those served by large regional national or international chains such as McDonalds, Burger King, Carl’s Junior/Hardee’s, In’n Out, Sonic, etc., etc.

Local or diner burgers are those adapted to local taste. Here in California this would be burgers from places like The Apple Pan, Tommy’s, Pie ‘n Burger, Oinkster, Astro Burgers and so on and so forth to include local establishments or small chains like Farm Brothers, Hoff’s Hut and you can fill in the blanks.

Up Scale or Yuppie Burgers are relatively new and served by a new breed of “haute” burger joints like The Counter, The Office and many others. These are heavy burgers of half to a full pound of beef and usually range from the ten to twenty dollar in cost with or without fries. Often the extra fuss and pretense of these currently faddish joints misses the mark and delivers something not as good as the best local or diner places at double to triple the price. The deadly serious pretentiousness of these is actually part of their charm.

Restaurant or Steak House Burgers. These are available at middle and up market steak houses, always at lunch and on the Bar menu although rarely on the dinner card. What is important about these very high grade burgers is that they are made from prime and choice meat trimmed from the restaurants showcase steaks. They are usually half a pound or heavier and when cooked medium are very appealing. Most of these places serve them very unadorned with a steak house sauce and usually grilled onions. In the San Francisco Bay area the many “Joe’s” restaurants serve their burgers in a long length of hollowed out sour dough battard loaf, with grilled onion or with the onions embedded in the oblong beef patties.

Regional oddities: In Sacramento there is a well known local joint that more or less drowns its large burgers in cheese that melts over then browns around the burger. In the Twin Cities many local places embed cheese inside the middle of the patty before they cook it resulting in a molten core to the patty.

Cooking methods: Most hamburgers are cooked directly on the steel flat top grill. This results in characteristic greasy taste that most people seem to like. The second most common method it to broil the patty under a gas flame broiler or to actually cook it over live coals. This give you a seared juicy but not greasy burger when done correctly. When don badly you get a very dry and leather burger. When live coals are used a slightly smoky flavor comes with the meat that I personally prefer to flat grilled burgers. Some places in New England cook their patties in special high pressure steam lockers that melt away all the fat. Odd but popular with the locals.

Finally here are some personal biases and prejudices on hamburgers.

1. Even the best flagship burgers of national chains stall out at a C+ and a few make it to a B-.

2. Piling on patty after patty to create the currently faddish gross pig out burgers is decadent if not disgusting. If you want a big burger, then cook one.

3. Fancy breads detract or get in the way of the burger taste. While Kings Hawaiian Sweet Bread buns and little brioche work fine for sliders, they don’t cut it for a real full size burger.

4. At home, I believe the best bun is an onion roll. Second best is a sour dough roll with a crispy crust.

5. The ideal patty size is one third of a pound and no more than one inch thick. Anytime the patty is more than one half pound you are talking about a Hamburg Steak and you should ditch the bun or bread all together. In the anti-German hysteria of 1917 sauerkraut was renamed Liberty Cabbage and Hamburger Steak transformed to Salisbury Steak. Salisbury was chosen for some unknown reason. In the 1920’s Americans returned to the original German names for most food items except for Salisbury Steak. By then Hamburger had come to mean the beef sandwich and the pseudo English name stuck to what had been Hamburger Steak in order to clearly differentiate it from the now ubiquitous burger.

6. As a consumer I urge you to patronize local independent burger joints and local mini chains. For example there is great joint called Burger Central in Glendale that char broils a wonderful one third pound burger. On 6th Street in what is now Korea Town Cassell’s still serves the standard one third of pound flame broiled by which all other burgers are judged. In every neighborhood there are good quirky burger stands and joints like the Guacamole Burger in Culver City and so on around Los Angeles including but not limited to the ancient pool hall in North Long Beach that has long been a favorite with local cops, firemen and CHP’s. If you do not support your worthy local burger joint you’ll be stuck with Mickey D’s or nothing.

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The New York prototype for California

I've been kicking this around for a few days, I think it has some merit
even if it is political poison.

Surfing the web has one major draw back to reading newspapers, magazines and
books, it is not easy go back and find the item that set off your train of
thought. Last week I read a thoughtful article on how New York City dug
itself out a fiscal abyss in the late seventies and early eighties. The
State of New York with assistance from the Fed's and major financial firms
cooked up a temporary board that had total control of the City's finances --
taxes and other cash inflows, expenditures, budgets and it also had the
power to float bonds and otherwise control all the fiscal elements of New
York City's vast municipal operations. It fired and early retired tens of
thousands of city employees and severely limited new hires. It also closed
offices and parts of agencies it felt were obsolete or not vital. It's
most famous victim was the venerable Dept. Of Sanitation Marching Band which was a
favorite attraction at the City's many parades and festivals. This project
took the control board about six years to get the City back on the fiscal
rails and to return most of the control to the elected officials. The board
continue a shadowy half life for another ten years overseeing the
liquidation of its bonds and then dissolved once and for all.

The study pointed out the good and bad sides of the board with an eye for
adapting this concept to take control of California and dig it out of our
current financial abyss. One drawback to this way of doing things is that
it is wildly unpopular if not openly detested by a lot of people, most
especially by public employee unions and elected officials. The Unions
hated it because it falls heavily on their membership's more excessive
perks and by private sector standards their lavish pension packages. Since
they are not allowed to raise or lower taxes without the boards permission
the legislature hated it on a bipartisan basis. Since they would have
little discretion in spending and staffing, executive officeholders hated it
almost as much as the Senators and Assemblymen.

The great advantage of a control board is that can do what politicians find
impossible because it is isolated from normal and constant political
pressures. Even more importantly, it can do it's fiscal reorganization
without putting the State through formal bankruptcy. Also, using it's
ability to float bonds it can "ease" the current crisis at a far lower
interest cost than the State could with normal bonds which are now
considered below investment grade "junk" by the financial markets.

Second, by enforcing "tough love" budget controls the Fiscal Board can get
the State out of trouble more quickly than a bankruptcy court custodian.
Finally, by taking money questions off the political agenda for a number of
years a fiscal control board creates a situation like the late nineties
where Bill Clinton would not let the Republicans cut taxes at the same time
the congressional Republicans would not let him start new programs or
increase spending. After four years of this gridlock Federal revenues were
surging in while spending stayed relatively flat. The unintended Federal
surplus began reducing the National Debt by amazing amounts. Of course
along came 9/11 and the White House and Congress knocked it all into a
cocked hat with Bush's tax cuts and medicare prescription program and all
the huge sums congress authorize for post 9/11 security. The Wars in
Afghanistan and Iraq actually were not that big. If there had been a
fifteen or twenty cent a gallon tax on gasoline to pay for the wars, the
Federal Budget could still have produced a surplus and by now the National
Debt would have been all but wiped out. (It then could have raised money to cover
the serious "off budget" Social Security short falls and even taken a major bite out of
the wildly out of control Medicare budget.)

To my knowledge a fiscal control board for California is not now under
serious consideration, not that it isn't needed and not that would not work.
We don't hear about it because it is so frightening and demeaning to our
legislators and senior office holders. However, as a practical matter the
sooner the State of California, the Federal Treasury and the financial
industry come to terms and insist on it, the better it will be for
everybody. The irresponsibility of the Legislature over the years is the
best argument for this form of receivership. The legislators simply can not be
trusted to face the music without their usual denial of reality and annual
creation of a fiscal Potemkin village out of rhetorical prevarication and
statistical smoke and mirrors.

I see no alternative, but hey what do I know.