Friday, August 26, 2011

Cafe Salle Pleyel Hamburger


I am a Montana native with a cattleman grandfather, so I have pretty strong opinions when it comes to beef. Quality beef should be prepared simply, without too much fuss or window dressing, so the flavor of the meat can shine through. In my view, this approach should be applied to hamburgers as well filet mignon and rib-eye steaks. 


This week’s selection is "Cafe Salle Pleyel Hamburger."  This recipe has garnered much favorable attention, and reputedly makes the best hamburger in Paris. The reviews and commentary made us cautiously eager to see what a sinfully delicious hamburger would be like.  I say “cautious” because both my companion and I like the “simple is better” approach.  In fact, he valiantly lobbied against the cornichons and capers, but we eventually settled for the recipe as presented in Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.


A good hamburger needs good meat, so we got good ground sirloin--as specified in the recipe-- but also a mixture of equal parts ground sirloin, chuck and brisket.  This allowed us to see how Dorie’s ingredients worked with a traditional and somewhat untraditional beef base.



The foundation for this recipe is the onion marmalade that provides a ketchup/mustard substitute and subtle, caramelized onion flavor and texture. But, in general, the recipe reminds me of a meatloaf preparation.  Oil-soaked sun dried tomatoes are drained and chopped and added to a mini-food processor with capers, fresh parsley, tarragon and cornichons. It is the equivalent of putting all your condiments and garnishes together, mixing them up and adding them to the meat. This combination creatively eliminates the need for the traditional egg and bread crumb mixture used to bind the patties (or the meatloaf).  Because capers and cornichons are participants, I was a little light on the salt and pepper and this was reflected in the final result. If you try this at home, don't be as cautious as I was when seasoning with salt and pepper.



The meat patties held up well when cooked in the cast iron pan.  No breakage! Three minutes per side is probably enough for medium-rare sirloin burgers, but we cooked the sirloin/chuck/brisket meat patties about thirty seconds longer on each side for the same doneness.  The hamburger is adorned with shaved parmesan cheese curls that add an element of sophistication in appearance and are a nice departure from the standard slabs of American or cheddar cheese.  We used sesame seed buns, and they worked just fine.  But we really wanted something more interesting, like a tasty brioche bun, to compliment this fashionable recipe.  




The result was a moist, well cooked and visually attractive hamburger whose homogeneous textures and flavors made us long for an In-and-Out hamburger.  There was no crunch of crisp lettuce, no explosion of juice and flavor from a tomato slice, and no firmness of meat in which to sink your teeth.  The flavors of the various ingredients were unassertive and the onion marmalade blended with the texture of the meat patty to the point we could not tell where one stopped and the other began.  Such was the overall homogeneity of the dish that we could not tell the sirloin hamburger from the sirloin/chuck/brisket hamburger.


Considering the rave reviews this hamburger recipe has garnered, I am willing to try again.  Perhaps the fault lies with the chef.  But next time I am going to try also a few alterations that meet my personal tastes and see how that compares with the original recipe.  Stay tuned for the results. 


15 comments:

  1. This looks AMAZING. We are supposed to grill for the football game Sunday ... I have a feeling something like this will be added to the menu ;) Thanks for sharing!!

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  2. you did a great job on the burgers :) I made mine without the tarragon and parsley, i used fresh dill and basil :)

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  3. looks great! I really enjoyed it , but I like stuffings inside.

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  4. I thought these were pretty good too, I can't wait for you to give it another go and see what you think! At least its not a super work intensive recipe! It's something I could totally serve to my husband's family (ranchers and farmers) and they would most likely love it as much as me! lol! its hard to get them to change their ways with beef too!

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  5. These hamburgers can be made ahead of time and ready to go for either
    a working parent or just to grill outside. I loved the filling mix, thought
    it quite tasty. Since Tricia was away this week, I had her family for
    dinner so they could enjoy this too. Yours looks scrumptious with
    those fries and pickles.

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  6. I don't think its the chef! The burgers are good but I didn't think they're any better than a regular hamburger and I agree the ingredients didn't produce the intensity of flavor one would expect. And I'm glad to know you didn't care for the onion marmalade either. Seemed like a waste of ingredients and effort..

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  7. I don't think its the chef either - and I went with out regualr seasoning levels and am glad I did. Next time, this will be meatloaf, possibly with a few more tomatoes, fewer capers. Confession: I let my onion marmalade cook down more than called for and carmelized slightly. It had better color and was more flavorful.

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  8. Interesting observation that the homogenous nature of this burger made little difference to the type of meat used. You're right that the contrast of texture is what made a traditional burger memorable. Perhaps we can think of this as a beef patty sandwich? :)

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  9. It was definitely a departure from what I would normally expect out of a burger - but since we change up burgers all the time, I enjoyed the different flavors.
    Definitely change it up next time to your tastes though!

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  10. It's not the chef, and honestly it's not the recipe either. I think it's just a personal taste thing. We thought the burgers tasted good, but there simply were not a burger, if that makes any sense. My thought was that this recipe belongs in Paris, but I will be sticking with the more traditional burger and fixings in the future.

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  11. I absolutely LOVE that this is not the traditional burger. We have traditional burgers for that. lol. Both are easy to make. For what it is worth, I think your burger looks fantastic!

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  12. I added tomatoes, arugula, and mayo in addition to the suggested Parmesan cheese and the onion marmalade. I agree - it's not a burger without all the fixings! We really enjoyed this one at home. As for the seasoning, I did not include any salt and pepper when I added the tomatoes/cornichons/etc. but seasoned them 'as usual' before grilling them. Congrats on such perfect looking patties!

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  13. I really liked this burger, but then I'm not much of a fan of traditional ones. Yours look beautiful and I love the fact that you did a little experiment with cuts of meat - that's going the distance for French Fridays!

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  14. Great looking hamburgers: it's about time I introduced them to my French husband! He'd also go for your lovely looking frites.

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  15. Oh my goodness, these look SO GOOD! I am a burger girl. As much as I try to eat less meat as time goes on, the smell of a burger grilling draws me like a siren. Great post!!

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