TylerK

Glad you liked the bone marrow. I made another batch a couple days ago grinding up bacon as the extra fat. It was certainly good, but was lacking in the great beefy flavour of the previous batch. Something else I've been noticing... When I cook from completely frozen the burgers end up feeling denser and tougher than when I thaw to room temperature first. Thawed to room temp they didn't hold together quite as well, but were almost as good as fresh from the grinder. Do I need to moderate my temperature if cooking from frozen? So far I've just been passing the meat once through the coarse die of my grinder and it ends up coming out almost like small chunks of steak. Good, but not what I'm used to in a burger and I haven't decided yet if I prefer it like this. Some people pass through the coarse die once and then through the medium die. What would the difference be between this and just going with the medium die on the first (and only) pass?

lol...well it was certainly tasty and made for a nice juicy burger. Gummed up my grinder when I didn't freeze them first though. The marrow came out looking more like Dairy Queen soft serve and I had to mix it into the meat a little more than I would have liked.

I was starting to get worried that I won't have enough burgers for my bbq this weekend, especially if my fear about the sausages not turning out comes true, so I made some more hamburger patties. Half of them got stuffed with St. Agur blue, and the other half with a 5yr cheddar. With the really beefy flavour of these burgers, the ones stuffed with the blue cheese are especially tasty.

Interesting idea. Could this cause any bacterial problems for anyone used to eating their burgers medium, or is this just analogous to eating a piece of aged meat?

Thanks to everyone who helped me out with advice. I made the burgers last night and fried one up for a test. Best burger I've ever had. Coarsest grind my Cuisinart mixer could produce using chuck and flank steak, with bone marrow for some extra fat. 0.75% salt, 0.25% pepper. They barely held together while cooking, but the coarse grind gave them a nice bite, and the meat developed a really nice crust. I just wish the sausages I made had turned out as well.

Anyone know the optimum size (raw weight) of a burger such that it can get a good char on the outside while staying super juicy on the inside?

Thanks for your reply. This is what I was hoping to hear. Ambitious plans (for me) for the BBQ this year and I was hoping I could do things far enough in advance so as not to get rushed and panicked at the end.

How badly will freezing the burgers post grinding/forming degrade the flavour and texture of the final product? I'm hosting a BBQ at my parents' place out of town next weekend, and I don't really want to lug my meat grinder along with me. Assuming that I go ahead and freeze the raw burgers are there any tips when it comes to grinding and seasoning that would help minimize the damage? Also, I'm considering making soft pretzel buns for the burgers. Good or bad idea? Thanks, Tyler

No actual prepared curry pastes, but I was at St. Lawrence market this weekend looking for Thai ingredients and managed to find some of the harder to find items like shrimp paste, pickled radish (freaky looking things) and lime leaves. I also found Thai chillis, lemon grass, Thai basil, and palm sugar. There was a large selection of soy sauces, but I'm not sure what constitutes a Thai soy sauce. The only thing on my list that I wasn't able to find was galangal.

I wish I'd seen this before frustrating myself close to tears over the weekend trying to make gluten free dumplings for a dinner party. No matter what the composition of my dough, I could not keep it from cracking. Thanks for the great idea.

For what it's worth, I'm managing to get it fairly black with minimal smoke. It is producing some, but not the billowing clouds that I was afraid would set off the building fire alarm. And in terms of heating the oil when actually cooking, should the oil smoke not subside when I start adding food to the wok? My concern isn't the short amount of time between when the oil starts smoking and I add food. It was the much longer period of time that I'd be producing oil smoke during the seasoning process.

So I tried both duck fat and vegetable oil, and they both seemed to work equally well, though the veg oil took a lot less time. I'm not sure if I've done it completely right though. The bottom parts of the wok that were closer to the heat are a nice smooth satin black, but the upper parts are brown and mottled, kind of like the cooked on grease that is so difficult to scrub off stainless pans. Do I need to get these parts hotter to turn them black like the base?

Do you have access to flax seed and a spice grinder, or some psyllium fibre powder? I find they don't work quite as well as xanthan/guar gums, but they're a decent substitute. Boil the water in the recipe and add about 3/4 tbsp of either flax meal or psyllium fibre/cup of water. You'll end up with a mucilaginous mixture that somewhat approximates the effect of the gums. Wait for it to cool before using it in recipe.

That's exactly backwards, I believe: the polymerization works best with unsaturated fats, something like grapeseed oil being the best. Because of the chemical structure of unsaturated fat it is more reactive and will form the non-stick coating at a lower temperature. In that respect it would certainly work best, but I was more wondering about the "sticky film" the author below mentioned. I didn't read much into where he got his info, and it seems like a minor difference at most, but it just got me curious. This is where I was reading about saturated vs. unsaturated: http://ironchefman.b...el-skillet.html The applicable paragraph: "For the oil, I used canola, because it's what I had. In retrospect, some of the comments said that unsaturated oils can leave a sticky film that needs to be brushed off, and I had a little of this, but it was manageable. Cooks Illustrated recommends linseed oil, but I couldn't find that. I used lard on my cast iron many years ago, but I haven't found a good source for unhydrogenated lard around here, so canola oil it was."

lol...I'm on the 30th floor without a balcony. There is a rooftop patio with gas BBQs for use, but no open flames allowed outside of that. No one I know owns a charcoal grill either unfortunately. I'll give the oven approach a try first with minimal fat...I don't mind having to do it a few extra times to get a good seasoning. If it creates too much smoke though I'll see what else I can find. Maybe a friend with a house won't mind me smoking up their kitchen Thanks again for the suggestions.

Unfortunately no outdoor area where I can do this...that's why I'm trying to keep the smoke to a minimum It looks like a great book, and excellent reviews on Amazon. I'll either try to find it in the library or order it myself. Thanks for the suggestion. Is the type of fat important? I've read elsewhere that using a saturated fat (ie: lard) will produce a better finish than an unsaturated vegetable oil. On the other hand, it looks like the process here is chemically altering the fat which would require a much higher temperature for a saturated fat over an unsaturated one. I have a fair bit of duck fat sitting in my fridge right now, so I was thinking of using that.

Thanks. What would you recommend to protect the handle? A wet dish towel? Foil? Is it safe to season any outside surface that will be in direct contact with the stovetop element?

I recently bought a new carbon steel wok (wooden handle) and now I have to season it. I know the standard practice would be to heat it till smoking hot and then apply oil until the surface turns black. I live in a condo with less than ideal kitchen ventilation though. Is there any way I can do this without triggering the building fire alarm and pissing off my neighbours and local fire department?

I bought this book along with Thai Food about a week ago. I think I'm going to start experimenting with this one though given the somewhat less intimidating recipes. Has anybody cooked extensively enough with it to suggest a good recipe to start with?

They are quite different in aspect and taste : Fourme d'ambert has an almost black mold and white "flesh" with a taste on the roquefort side, whereas fourme de montbrison is dryer and saltier, with blue mold, yellowish flesh and orange crust. Thanks for the correction. I'll make sure I mention both to the cheesemonger. I don't want to end up with another kilo of cheese in my fridge, but if it's possible I'll make sure I at least get a taste of both in the store. In one of his 'perfection' shows, Heston Blumenthal slices up blue cheese and butter and stacks the slices alternatively, leaving them in the fridge for some time. The butter absorbs the flavour of the blue cheese. Then he separates the cheese from the butter and uses the butter with the steak, but not the cheese directly. So presumably you get hints of blue cheese flavour without it dominating. (Just checked on YouTube - you can jump to 7:25 on this video to see him demonstrate.) I can't check it out here at work, but I'll be sure to take a look when I get home. Thanks for the link. Any idea what flavours/aspects of the blue cheese are transferred to the butter? lol...blame it on my father. Growing up, if I didn't finish everything on my plate, even if I thought it was absolutely disgusting it got put in the refrigerator until the next meal. I wasn't allowed to eat anything else until I finished the food on the plate. I really wish my parents didn't like sawdust dry liver so much. It would have saved me much anguish as a child.

Most of the kilo of blue cheese that I bought is finally gone, with only a few scraps of the Gorgonzola remaining. My favourite by far for just eating plain or with some bread/crackers is still the Stilton. It was very low in the musty flavour and had a very nice nuttiness to it. My favourite for accompanying other foods was the St. Agur. These two I will definitely be buying again. Overall, the least liked was probably the Shropshire blue, if only because it had the strongest mustiness of all of them. Maybe that was a bad sampling though, as Simon_S above seemed to indicate that it would have less of the musty flavour. On advice from a friend, I tried some of the Gorgonzola with steak the other night, but I was not pleased. The Gorgonzola has a spicy flavour to it, almost like a very intense parmesan with blue flavouring, and it overwhelmed the steak. Did I use the wrong cheese, or did I use it in the wrong way? It was just a piece of the Gorgonzola crumbled on top of the steak. The rest of the Roquefort went into a dip. I didn't quite follow the recipe above, but it turned out very nice anyway. I didn't do any measurements, but the ingredients are as follows: Roquefort Greek Yoghurt Parsley Scallions Black pepper The herbs and black pepper added a great flavour to the blue cheese, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Served with (non-homemade) chips. I'm putting together a second list of blues to try - the ones suggested that didn't make it into my first list that were either suggested here or by some friends: Maytag Roaring 40's Fourme de Montbrison or Fourme d'Ambert (I'm told these two are very similar) Point Reyes Did I miss anything? Is there anything else that hasn't been mentioned yet that I should try? Thanks again for all the help and advice that everyone has given. It is very much appreciated.

Certainly looks like it could be tasty. I'll have to give it a try. Any recipes would be good at this point. I only bought 150g of each cheese, but there were seven of them, so I ended up with over a kilo of blue cheese, about only half of which is gone now.

Has anyone tried melting blue cheese with butter for a popcorn topping?

lol. I get it. Maytag will be next on my list of cheeses to buy Tonight I had the rest of the St. Agur with Serrano ham and an apple/fig/walnut chutney, served on sliced ciabatta. Washed it down with a Magners cider. The St. Agur has a nice salty, not-too-musty taste to it and has gone well with everything I've tried so far. I think I'm agreeing with everyone who's said that this is a really good entry level blue.

lol. I get it. Maytag will be next on my list of cheeses to buy Tonight I had the rest of the St. Agur with Serrano ham and an apple/fig/walnut chutney, served on sliced ciabatta. Washed it down with a Magners cider. The St. Agur has a nice salty, not-too-musty taste to it and has gone well with everything I've tried so far. I think I'm agreeing with everyone who's said that this is a really good entry level blue.