Last week in German class we were reading through a text about Hamburg, Germany. The text mentioned something about the weather and referred to it as "Hamburger Wetter" (Wetter = weather). One girl -- who is very smart, mind you -- asked the teacher, "What is Hamburger weather?" The teacher looked at her to see if she was serious, then answered, "The weather in Hamburg." Everyone got a big kick out of it.
I wonder if she was imagining hamburgers falling from the sky.
When I hear "hamburger weather" I think about grilling. And I've been thinking about grilling a lot lately. Good hamburgers are really hard to come by in Vienna. We have a T.G.I. Friday's restaurant that has good burgers, but with the current exchange rate, the cheapest burger on the menu is about $15. Yes, you read that correctly. Fifteen dollars for a burger from Friday's.
So I've decided that I'm going to learn how to make excellent burgers. And I'm hoping you'll help me. Do you have any tricks or unusual ingredients you use when making burgers at home? I'm not looking for anything extravagant, just a simple burger that taste great.
What about toppings? Is there anything in particular that you like to add to your burger? I'm dreaming of topping a burger with cheddar, barbecue sauce and some of these. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
Maybe the girl was thinking about the book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs where food really does fall from the sky!
You know, moving to Germany is really what made me start cooking on a regular basis! I remember that I wanted really great blueberry muffins, but I had always made them from a mix in the States. So I did as you are doing and set out to find the best recipe and learned how to make it. After seven years, my cooking skills have improved by light years!!! We also love to grill (ahhh, I can smell it now!) and for burgers I put a little soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, onion powder and garlic powder with the ground beef. And make sure it's beef :0) Thanks for the link to the onions!
That's hilarious about the burger girl :)
I do have a recipe for you that I use. I use ground turkey, but I'm sure you could also use beef. I put a little extra virgin olive oil (EVOO if you watch Rachel Ray) in the bottom of a bowl, then I put in the meat, add worcestershire sauce, grate some onion in, use either garlic powder of some fresh garlic, parmesan cheese and black pepper. What makes them really moist is to cut a small slab of butter (I use light butter w/no trans fat and half the fat of regular butter) and fold it into the middle of the burger before you cook it.
one thing that I've really noticed in Vienna, is that you definitely have to add something to the ground meat to get it to stay together. Definitely add an egg and bread crumbs; or use a mix for Faschiertes (one of those mix packets found in the soup aisle). Personally, I've not had much luck making burgers here.
Friday's is also not the best option to me...although it was really good when I was craving a burger a few months ago. Try out 1516, just down the street from the Haus der Musik; or Indian Dreams at Donauzentrum. I've never had burgers at either of those places, but my husband has, and he likes them. :)
Here is what I like to add to my burgers after seasoning them. Make sort of thin patties use two of them and sandwich a small slab cream cheese between them and grill as usual. The cheese gets pretty hot so be careful when eating them.
Wow, thanks for all of the suggestions.
Candace, I've never read that book, but it sounds funny. It sounds familiar.
Bri, I often end up with a mixture of beef and sausage because sometimes plain beef is hard to come by. But that's as far as I'll go. On a side note, I noticed a sign at an imbiss recently that claimed they had "quality horse meat" in their products. Ugh, just the thought is gross.
Mandy, Butter inside the burger -- I would have never imagined that!
Melissa, Thanks for the cooking tips and restaurant options.
Vanos, Welcome! and thanks for your suggestion. I love cream cheese, but would have never thought of adding it to a burger. And not only can you get Philly cream cheese in Vienna, you can actually get sliced Philly cream cheese -- like for sandwiches.
Any other readers, feel free to add your suggestions.
Alisha--I found your blog through the Haskews, and you probably don't even remember me from MRCC! But, I have a great addition to ground beef when you're making burgers: ranch dressing powder and grated cheddar cheese. It's on the back of the dressing package--and the burgers are DELICIOUS!! I got the idea/recipe from the Hensal's. Do you have ranch dressing packets over there?
Thanks for the tip, Heather. I've made burgers with the ranch dressing mix, but I didn't add the cheddar cheese. You can't get the ranch mix here (or ranch dressing, for that matter), but some people have sent us packets. It's definitely an easy way to add some flavor to a burger.
Post a Comment