April 2021

A dense month: a reverse-engineered White Spot burger, an upgraded turkey burger recipe, and a go-to salmon salad sandwich all written down, alongside a steak dinner routine (a nonstick pan works fine, contrary to convention) and a two-way wing/rib rub (smoky herb and Caribbean). Also locked in: a 5-day turkey prep timeline and a quick egg-and-sausage method for lunch ramen.

Undated.

Random links

I want to make: Nihari

Takeout: Jamaican smorg

Food was good, but service was extra slow (we waited well over an hour). Will report back next time we order, if we do.

Turkey burgers

→ Turkey burgers

This weekend we’re making some turkey burgers for salads and proper burgers. They’re based on a recipe we used to make a while back, zhuzhed up a bit with some learnings from Serious Eats’ research on the matter.

Turkey burgers can end up dry and fairly flat without some extra lovin, so our updated recipe includes some additional depth and texture. The trick is to make sure you have both enough savoury and enough starches for browning (adding more savoury, crunch, and additional yum). Breast meat tends to get dry quickly, so at least some thigh meat is ideal and grinding your own will usually be better than buying it pre-ground.

Takeout: Classic BC comfort food

We ordered some White Spot for dinner tonight. White Spot is one of the few OG west coast Canadian burger joints, founded in the 1920s. They have a classic flat top burger with their own special sauces; a red sauce (red relish and chili sauce) and a sweetened mayonnaise, combined with a thin pan or flat top grilled all-beef patty (lightly seasoned on the grill). It’s commonly dressed with lettuce and tomato, with a pickle draped over the bun.

Tonight we ordered a variety of burgers, including an all-veg patty, an impossible patty, and two beef patties. Food was good, though the green salad was disappointing. The fries, despite travelling for takeout, were quite good (waxy potato, double fried, nice and browned).

I have a fairly accurate White Spot burger recipe that gets you close to their basic diner burger. → White Spot burger

Quick proteins for #lunchramen

I try to keep some sort of portion sized sausages in the freezer for quick meals, including adding protein and flavour to quick ramen. And if I have eggs on hand, a boiled egg adds a lot of flavour and texture to a good bowl. This week I tried cooking the two together.

My method:

1 egg
1 link of sausage

Add a cup or two of water to a small pan with the egg (in shell) and sausage. Add a lid, set heat to medium-high, and once boiling drop temp to hit a strong simmer. Set a timer for 5-6 minutes and let frozen sausage and egg heat. The egg should be somewhere around soft at 5 minutes, and the sausage should split at the ends (depending on the casing).

Remove from heat, add egg to a bowl of ice water, and slice sausage. After removing water, add back sausage, and any aromatics and thick veg to pan. Brown sausage and stir veg. Add fresh water and turn to low. Once remainder of ramen dish is ready (broth, noodles, tare), add proteins and veg to the bowl.

Cooking links of the week

Steak, mushrooms, potatoes, and green beans

Once every few months we do up a good old steak dinner. I prefer a strip loin and my partner a tenderloin, paired with whatever greenery is in season. Today it was green beans.

Potatoes (~1 hour):

1-2 kg small yellow (waxy) potatoes
1-2 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste (i.e., a lot)

Wash and slice potatoes into halves or quarters into a large bowl. Toss in oil and add salt and pepper. Bake at 210C (410F) for 45-60 minutes with the fan on, or until soft and fluffy inside and nicely browned on the outside.

Mushrooms (~25 minutes):

1 bag of mushrooms (crimini or button)
3-4 sprigs of thyme or rosemary
1 tablespoon diced garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Butter and olive oil

Wash the mushrooms and let drip dry.

Salt and sauté mushrooms in olive oil until wet. Cook off the liquid, and add butter, herbs, and garlic, and brown, stirring regularly.

Beans (less than 10 minutes):

1 bag (½ kilo or so) of green beans, washed and trimmed
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Olive oil (and optionally butter)

Steaks (10-15 minutes):

Steaks
Herbs (thyme or rosemary work well)
Salt and pepper to taste
MSG (to add some depth)
~~Garlic (I didn’t like the aftertaste of garlic on the steaks)~~

Season the steaks and let sit for 30-60 minutes. Add some oil to a medium-hot pan and cook flipping regularly. Once browned, add butter and herbs, spooning butter over until the desired temperature is reached.

Note that, despite common convention, a nonstick pan works quite well for both getting a good crust and not setting off condo fire alarms. You’ll have to move the steaks around the pan and flip more than normal, but the effect is surprisingly good. If you’re using a stainless pan, flip the steaks less, and add some wine at the end to make a quick pan sauce (finishing with some butter).

My best salmon salad sandwich

I make salmon sandies regularly. My fav mix looks something like:

2 tins good ocean salmon (packed in water)
2 cups greenery (celery leaves, parts, and/or parsley)
2 tablespoon dill (freeze dried is good)
¼ - ½ cup of mayo
¼ cup of yellow mustard (or pickle juice)
1 cup of diced pickles (good ones if ya got ‘em)
Black pepper (to taste)
Salt (only if needed)

The mix shouldn’t be super goupy, so add the mayo a big spoon or two at a time. Mustard or pickle juice round out the flavour with acid and salt. And, I don’t usually use onions in my mix, but occasionally I’ll dice up scallions or green onions. Don’t go too far with onion, or you’ll taste it all day.

Add to some nicely toasted bread (nutty whole wheat), with some more mustard and pickles if you want, and a cup or two of sprouts. Don’t have sprouts? (You should grow them!)

Oven Wings, ribs, and slaw

We don’t normally double down on animal products, but I had a bunch of leftover poultry rub, which is an easy start to a good dry rib and wing rub. Today I took the flavours in two directions:

Smokey herb (smoked paprika, thyme, and fresh rosemary from Ann’s mom)
Caribbean (adding allspice, 5spice, onion powder, and habanero)

For the wings, you lightly coat them and reserve them on a lined pan in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Today it will be about 6 hours, then in the oven for 30 minutes at 230C, flip, and another 15-30 minutes flipping every 5-10.

For the ribs, coat them thoroughly and rest in the refrigerator for about an hour. I use this time to clean up, then they go in the oven at 110C or so for 3-4 hours. The ribs get finished at 230C with the wings, possibly getting some homemade BBQ sauce if I have time.

The slaw uses our standard mayo/cider vinegar/salt/sugar dressing (cut with some extra sour cream this week). The BBQ sauce will be a lazy one, using the remaining rub, ketchup, and anything else that makes it taste good.

Mac & cheese w/mushrooms and rosemary

We’re stretching out some turkey casserole and wanted to make some baked mac. This could equally apply to a gooey stove top mac, but it’s fun to casserole the shit out of it too. And oops, my parsley was bad.

Prep cheese
Cook mushrooms until golden
- Add herbs near the end
- Mostly olive oil, salt/paprika
Cook noodles (1 bag)
Make sauce → Baked mac & cheese
Combine + bake

The mushrooms work well in this recipe in place of a protein; they add a bunch of umami and a

Turkey prep week

The best turkey dinners are easy. With a bit of planning, you can prep a few things ahead of time to both level up the perfect holiday meal, and save you some time the day of. My general plan is similar to AB’s:

5 days ahead:
- Buy your 1-2 frozen turkeys and start the process of defrosting
2 days ahead
- Buy extra turkey parts as needed (like necks, which are often on sale)
1 day ahead
- Break down at least one of your turkeys and dry brine both
  - Don’t brine the stock parts
- Pre-roast extra turkey parts in hotel pans (to save liquids)
- Make soup stock, reduce by 50%
- Dry brine turkey

Note: don’t dry brine for much more than 24 hours, unless you want your turkey to start to taste like ham. This isn’t a bad state for turkey sandwiches, but is less great for the classic dinner!