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Being always open to innovations when it came to eat, these new, modernist, but mostly ridiculous and absurd hamburgers feed the hater inside of mine. Last heavy diarrhea I've gotten in the last 20 years or so was in a hamburger food-truck contest. Sorry, I must say I want a classic hamburger upper range of quality meat (forget about wagyu, dry aged ox porterhouse meat or similar "exotic" stuff), some veggies and maybe bacon (it needs to have some crunchy stuff), melted cheddar and that would make me happy.

I used to make hummus regularly until it became too much work for my ravaged health, especially as I had to make the tahini from scratch as it isn't easily found here. Otherwise, I kept it simple. Chickpeas, sesame seeds, garlic, lemon, salt and olive oil. Now, I buy this brand imported from Lebanon. Usually, I get one of each - classic and za'atar flavoured.

This is kind of TJ's adjacent. I was quite enamored with the TJ's Yuzu hot sauce. It was citrusy, vinegary and a bit spicy. Perfect to mix with a little mayo to make a quick dressing for a slaw, a dipping sauce for calamari or a sandwich spread. Alas, as is the case with many TJ's products, it vanished 😢 and I’m told is no longer available. I’ve been hoarding my last bottle for tasting purposes in an attempt to engineer a DIY dupe when, lo and behold, I found something very close (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) on Amazon. It’s a little more than twice the price of the TJ's stuff but looks, smells and tastes the same so I’m pretty happy and figured I’d share in case anyone else misses the stuff.

What ratio of honey to doenjang did you use?

Pan-seared ahi tuna, marinated with tamarind and salt and seared in a cast iron pan. Benefit of hindsight I should have cut the pieces thicker. Had farmer's market green beans so I adapted a Korean recipe for kale: Stir-fry garlic and sliced onion, add parboiled green beans, and finish with doenjang (fermented soybean paste) and honey. Turned out well. We also had crumble-topped cherry pie, also from the farm stand, but I failed to snap a pic.

It's seeping in over here (UK) a bit with hot dog and burger buns - the fast food chains are becoming ever sweeter and yet more inedible. I tend to try and find sourdough rolls for a burger these days. We've stricter rules on bread than the US as far as I'm aware. And if memory serves, Subway lost a court case over their VAT (sales) tax bill in Ireland because their bread was deemed to be closer to cake due to the amount of sugar in it

Tangentially, why are commercial breads so SWEET today? Sweet hamburger and hot dog buns? Sweet multi-grain seeded loaves? Has America lost its savory tooth? Echoing @weinoo, I have started using dark rye as my daily bread. Or sometimes dill-rye. Either make decent toast and sandwich bases.

Even Guy Fieri has to cut them in half.

Zahav hummus, particularly the hot Turkish hummus at the restaurant is remarkable. Blue Dolphin, you food always looks delicious. I had missed this thread, but they all look incredible.

I think they’re common on TikTok, Instagram, etc

I think those monstrosities are disgusting.

Exactly. As a matter of fact, at one of our favorite places where they make a good burger, it's on a brioche bun; if I order one, I ask for it on toasted rye instead.

Yeah knife and fork jobs can do one. Oh, and I've had enough of brioche buns. They're too sweet and rich.

Theres a local place that makes such monstrosities (from their FB page on a recent burger "Topped with delicious sliced brisket, garlic aioli, American cheese, onion jam, arugula, tomato and bbq sauce." ) Thats on top of a burger. And the photo.... yeah its a mess. And it too is a food truck!! Its not like there are tables, real silverware to tackle the beast. I like a good gut bomb as much as the next guy but I draw the line at a burger requiring a fork, knife, bib and wet wipes.

I had a lot of these concoctions when I lived in London, some great, some abominable, almost all of them impossible to eat after the first three or so bites as they collapsed into a clothes destroying mess. Personally, if someone's going to make a burger like this I want it wider, not taller.

This morning, I received this image as part of an email promoting the burger joint's upcoming popup this weekend. I've seen plenty of pics of similar burgers, stacked high and loaded with topping, and I'm sure you've seen such images as well. Are burgers such as these common in restaurants and food trucks, or are they produced maily as enticements and for promotions? Would you order and eat such a creation? Speaking for myself, burgers such as these are excessive, and I'd neither order one nor want to try eating one. I prefer my burgers simple: meat, cheese (usually), pickle, tomato slice, maybe lettuce. The only sauce would be ketchup or perhaps a hot sauce, and then applied lightly. I'd like to be able to get my mouth around the sandwich and fully taste the meat.

Cheesy polenta with curried onions from Mezcla by Ixta Belfrage with grilled asparagus. Per the recipe, the habanero went into the pan along with the onions as they caramelized and was to be discarded. I didn’t eat it. Yet.

Sweet Italian sausage, heirloom tomato, and scrambled egg, with long red chiles, shallot, and garlic. The tomato was not yet ripe but cooked down nicely.

I bought Zahav hummus for the first time, it was on sale (they stock it at a local WF, since it is in the Philadelphia area). I'm sure it's better when you get it fresh at the restaurant, it wasn't "exceptional" as a prepared product, but certainly better than the mass produced brands. I'm able to get some excellent ones that are made in Brooklyn (Sonny & Joe's is one good brand), and homemade (with good ingredients) is best when you can do it!

More clean out the fridge. Stir fry with zucchini, summer squash, chicken and shiitake mushrooms. My CSA dropped 8 pounds of zucchini on my doorstep yesterday. I put as much as I could fit into this dish and then blanched and froze the rest. Hopefully I will be able to cook it down into some kind of flavorful puree when we come back.

Made another batch of the Homestyle White bread and this time as requested by Matt, I made eight crusty rolls with the dough, and a pan of Ball Park Hot dog buns. Moe loves the hot dog buns served in some Ball parks where they are split down the top of the bun, rather than the side. And for dinner, Moe had a grilled Bratwurst in one of the small crusty rolls.

@liuzhou thank you very much! Your explanation and website link about Bobo Chicken (钵钵鸡) are very helpful. As for the Four Sisters jar of tasty and edible ingredients, I’ll just sample that and decide how I want to use it.

Corvina with oil cured olives, fresh artichokes', slow roasted tomatoes, capers and feta. Finished with a nice splash of very aromatic EVOO. Served with mashed potatoes and green salad. The conspicuous product placement is because Olive Oil Lovers has a loyalty program where they award credit for a review of certain products that include a photo or video. I'll be submitting these photos for my $5.00 credit! We've had company several times this week so I've prepared a variation of this mezze selection as a starter.

I certainly agree with the changing taste observation. I'm making an old school sweet pickles from a recipe that my Mom used so it goes back 90+ years. It's been the benchmark for generations and is immediately identifiable in potato salad or coleslaw. The cucumbers have to be really fresh and smallish so this batch turned out really well.

OK. The first product This is a sauce mix for a famous Sichuan dish, Bobo Chicken (钵钵鸡) as written in the larger white characters. “BoBo” refers to a type of pottery or clay pot in which the dish is traditionally made. It is served cold, either as part of a meal or often as a street snack food in Chengdu. Sichuan’s capital. Underneath, also in large white, it says “Convenient Seasoning (方便调料). So, it’s a seasoning mix. Top left in the yellow box we have 四妹 Si Mei, which is the brand name. It means Four Sisters. Everything else is just irrelevant marketing nonsense apart from a warning that it is spicy. Here, obviously, we have the preparation instructions Top left – Step 1 Prepare vegetables for 3-5 people. Boil in a pan, drain and set aside. Top right – Step 2 Prepare 1 litre of cold water (mineral water or boiled tap water). Bottom Left – Step 3 Pour the water into a pan and stir in the seasoning mix. Bottom Right – Step 4 Place cooked chicken and the vegetables into the pan and leave to soak for 15 minutes. The information to the right of the sticker in English with the ingredients etc. just gives a table of nutrients. Whether that is referring to the dish or the package contents, I’m not sure. I have to say that that “recipe” must be for the worst Bobo Chicken in the dish’s long history. Not something I’d use. The dish really consists of cold chicken and vegetable skewers served in a spicy chicken broth with chilli oil and Sichuan peppercorns. There is a reasonable looking recipe here with a decent image of the dish. It also contains a link to an extremely irritating YouTube video. The second product. This one is strange. The front label tells me nothing. The strip down the left just says “Four Sisters Foreign Ingredients”. Where they are foreign to, I have no idea. The rest is more fatuous marketing BS, including “The secret to good taste is good ingredients”. I agree but doubt this is one. The reverse label lists suggested usages. These are that it’s for ”all spicy and fragrant dishes, fried rice, noodles and other dishes that need Four Sisters’ ingredients for creativity” Hmmmm. It goes on with “When cooking add a moderate amount to make it delicious in seconds. They do add that “it tastes good and is edible”! Glad to hear it! I don’t really know what it is. I see a white label to the left that appears to be in English. Is that the ingredients. If so, it may be covering the same info in Chinese. I hope that helps.