A French hamburger? Did you think hamburgers are German? That would only be if you are a person living in Hamburg, Germany. The hamburger sandwich, that we Americans are so fond of, has several historical rumors regarding its origin but the most widely accepted is that it actually originated in the Buffalo, New York, area. Wow, first the hamburger and then Buffalo wings? All these great food creations -- I wonder if it has anything to do with Niagra Falls being just down the road. Julia Childs apparently wasn't aware of hamburgers being an American dish and instead has provided several French versions of our iconic ground meat patty. I decided to try my hand at making Bitokes a la Russe (Hamburgers with Cream Sauce) to see how the French manage to work cream into a hamburger recipe.
I didn't know quite what to expect but this ended up being a fairly pleasant surprise. I used about 1 1/4 pounds of hamburger which ended up making five patties about 3/4" thick. To start off, I sauteed about a half cup of minced onions with some butter and then added them to the hamburger in a mixing bowl. Some pinches of salt, pepper, and thyme also went in together with an egg. Everything was mixed thoroughly together using a wooden spoon.
Question -- what's a wooden spoon have to do with the recipe? Being a faithful student of Julia Childs I dutifully followed her recipe instructions. She specified mixing everything with a wooden spoon. She actually instructs us to "vigorously beat" everything "with a wooden spoon to blend thoroughly." I don't know about you but "beating" isn't exactly a verb I've previously associated with meat. What exactly was the purpose of using a wooden spoon? Was that supposed to add flavor? Did it prevent the grating sound a metal spoon could make on a metal bowl? Was that all she had in her kitchen when she made it? I'll never know -- but I did use a wooden spoon and it was amazing. **sheesh**
Once everything was evenly smushed together, it was formed into individual patties about 3/4" thick and then "rolled" in flour to give the patties an even coating. Now that's not a traditional American hamburger step but it certainly made them less sticky to handle! The patties were then cooked for 2-3 minutes on each side, depending on how well done you like yours to be, over moderately high heat. I did 3 minutes on each side but the inside was still a little pink. I think I'll turn the heat a bit lower next time because the outside would have been burnt if I'd left them in the pan any longer. Oh, that and the fact that I had to open some windows and doors because it got a bit hazy in the kitchen. For the record, I did not set off the smoke alarm so it wasn't that bad.
After they patties were cooked it was time to make the sauce. Julia said I should pour out any grease in the pan -- I'd used a very lean ground beef and actually did not have any to drain. The sauce was a very simple and quick sauce to make -- a quarter cup of beef bouillon was added to the pan and boiled down over fairly high heat until it became almost syrupy. Then 2/3 cup of whipped cream when in with a teaspoon or so of lemon juice plus a pinch of nutmeg and a little salt and pepper. This was boiled down until it reached the thickness I like for a sauce -- essentially thick enough to leave a coating on a spoon.
This was another one of those sauces that amazed me. What is it about adding bouillon and cream to the stuff stuck in the bottom of the pan that converts it into a tasty sauce? I started out thinking that this was going to be a sauce that tasted horrible and would be dumped out (sort of like my garlic soup disaster) but it wasn't. It had a bunch of tiny black specks because I'd kind of burnt the drippings from using a bit too high of a heat, but other than that it actually was pretty tasty and made a nice sauce on top of the meat. We both had seconds and used up all of the sauce so it did end up being better than ketchup after all!
There you have it! This is a great alternative to two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. Next time you're in the mood for hamburger, why don't you try Bitokes instead?
Bon Appetit!
Kommentare