Quite a few rad little food scenes will be created at !THIS! – because we can & we want to make everybody happy. We’re just a lil’ group who likes to chow, who likes to discover. We want to learn about the new & old places to pop a rib, smack a burger & get all crazy over a pot o’ noodles. We also dig writing & pretending that we don’t care about a vaaaaibe <that’s vibe> but we do. We’re vibe seekers man. We also love the lekker is local scene <see what we did there?> But we have this thing for the New York state, yes we do. Let’s call it another sweet spot.

So we’ll be entertaining you. But we also want you to be involved. Because at the end of the hard working day – !THIS! is your little foodie playground kids. Give us the ingredients & we’ll help you stir the pot. Or we’ll just tell you where the good street chow <or close to> is at. That & beer.

Out.

I’ve listened to Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories a lot. I shan’t spout my own opinions on it, but the general consensus is it’s bloody marvellous.

During those myriad listens, the part of my brain devoted to musicology (located somewhere behind my Pre-Frontal Burger King Cortex) picked up on a couple of interesting patterns that I felt required further exploration.

My suspicions were subsequently fuelled whilst watching one of the Collaborators videos with Chilly Gonzales, where he revealed The Robots hired him to compose a section of music that would comfortably flow between two songs in jarring keys.

That’s all well and good, I thought, but if that level of detail was observed for one miniscule passage on the album, then lord knows what else was happening throughout the other 74 minutes.

In all my reading around the album, I haven’t yet found anyone suggesting what I am about to – or indeed, perhaps it is common knowledge and I am oblivious to the blindingly obvious. Anyway, I feel that the album was structured in such a way to give the listener a mathematically-dictated journey; that the entire duration of the piece was designed beforehand as one harmonic build and release of tension.

To my delight I discovered that this seems to hold true rather convincingly. I shall now endeavour to report my findings in as succinct a manner as I can.

In the track ‘Giorgio By Moroder’, our eponymous narrative hero imparts that “once you free your mind about the concept of harmony and music being correct you can do whatever you want”.

Considering the lengths the Daft Punk appear to have gone to in terms of sequencing Random Access Memories, this statement falls a little flat!

I thoroughly recommend sticking the album on with a guitar or piano handy so you can follow this text a little easier. I realise this may all be a tad indulgent for some readers, so I’ve tried to simplify wherever possible. This also means that some of the more sophisticated musical grammaticism has been left aside, so as to reduce the likelihood of boredom-induced haemorrhaging before the conclusion.

TENSION PART 1: Give Life Back To Music, The Game Of Love, Giorgio By Moroder & Within

From the offset ‘Give Life Back To Music’ introduces harmonic themes of interest when dissecting the remainder of the album.

The overriding tonality here is A minor, although strictly we are in the Aeolian mode of C major, A’s relative major. This seems like a minor point, but trust, blud, it’ll be significant later on.

The opening progression also showcases the DESCENDING MOTIF:

Am, G, F Dm

 Again, this is worth remembering (both harmonically and melodically) as it appears numerous times throughout the album.

The opening and main progressions also introduce chord bundles that should be noted, as you’re going to be seeing a lot of them:

Dm G C Am

Dm /G C Em

That pretty much sets the tone for a while. As the track fades out, we are greeted by the opening bars of ‘The Game Of Love’. We remain in the A minor/C major Aeolian tonality, with just two chords repeated throughout:

Am, G

These are, lest we forget, the first two chords of the DESCENDING MOTIF that opened the album. The endless rising and falling of this chord cycle not only cements the key in our head, but serves as a nice metaphor for the tracks that follow (especially the whole major/minor muddle in the middle).

‘The Game Of Love’ ends firmly on A minor, as ‘Giorgio By Moroder’ takes over…in A minor (well, C major Aeolian, innit – which *is* important, I promise).

Now, the main progression of this track increases our movement.

The first block of chords (Am, Em, Am, Em) can be seen as a mirror of the previous track (Am, G, Am, G), with the Em replacing G as its relative minor (also important).

The second part of the progression (F, G, Dm, Em, F, G, Em) is less repetitive, giving the impression that the music wants to travel somewhere new after being stuck in that Am, G/Em rut for so long, like a spring being coiled up and let go. This track firmly demonstrates Daft Punk’s penchant for cyclical chord progressions: from the swirling Am, G/Em, to that last Em that allows us to swing up a perfect cadence back to Am, they could theoretically go round and round forever.

So to the end of this initial block of tracks: ‘Within’ serves the harmonic purpose of seamlessly allowing a modulation to Bb minor – SEMITONE LIFT #1.

Now, this is an interesting key change as A minor and Bb minor are neighbours separated purely by a semitone step, which makes them quite awkward to segue between naturally. In Western Classical composition, the tendency is to modulate via related keys, usually separated by an interval of a 4^th or 5^th, where only a couple of notes differ between the two scales (*).

However, with a semitone interval between the keys, you end up in a situation whereby you’re left with only a handful of related notes and chords.

So what does Chilly Gonzales do? He identifies a common chord of A minor and Bb minor: F major.

 We are no strangers to F major so far on this album, but look how it’s used in the (simplified) opening progression:

Am, C7, F, F7

The dominant 7^th chords enable the first hints of chromatacism to appear, foreshadowing the shift to Bb with the top note of the C7 chord, and introducing an Eb in the F7 chord. Of course, both of these sound perfectly natural within the context of all that we’ve heard before.

But then the F7 is held, and used as a pivot chord for SEMITONE LIFT #1 as we move on to:

TENSION PART 2: Within, Instant Crush & Lose Yourself To Dance

Bb minor! We made it! Woo!

Although actually, like the first 3 tracks, we’re actually in an Aeolian Mode, that of Db major, but it’s parading around as Bb minor. In fact, the only sense of true minor tonality we’ve had thus far has just passed with the F7 chord, the A-natural acting as the leading note of the melodic Bb minor scale. But that’s gone now. Forget it.

Now, back in the real world, the remainder of ‘Within’ treats us to the following chord progression:

Bbm Gb Ebm Ab

Yes, it’s very pretty. Memorise it.

It’s time for our first minor/major shift, as Db major stops hiding in the shadows of its relative Bb minor and they trade places, Db major becoming the star as we move on to ‘Instant Crush’.

Harmonically the bulk of ‘Within’ and ‘Instant Crush’ are identical, only now the emphasis is on the major, as opposed to minor tonality.

Take a good look at the verse chords: Gb, Ebm, Bbm, Ab.

However, for some reason, the vocals appear to start halfway through the progression: Bbm, Ab, Gb, Ebm.

Why on Earth?

Well, shift them down a semitone and what do you get? Am, G, F, Dm.

No way! That’s the opening of ‘Give Life Back To Music’! It’s the DESCENDING MOTIF!

But that’s not all. Look at the chorus chords: Bbm Gb Ebm Ab

They’re the same as ‘Within’! Try singing one song on top of the other. We’re five tracks in, and it’s already apparent that this ain’t gonna be no walk in the park. The chorus progression also contains many passing chords, which are explored a little bit later, so be patient.

The vocal melodies of ‘Within’ and ‘Instant Crush’ also seem to mirror the DESCENDING MOTIF, but you’ll have to trust me on that. They go downwards, scalically. That’s all you need to know.

Now, for ‘Lose Yourself To Dance’, the exact same trick is pulled. The progression is near identical: Ebm, Gb, Bbm, Ab (note the first two chords are just swapped round), but again we actually begin the track on Bbm, that tonality being further cemented by the fact that the Gb major chord has a sneaky major 7^th on top, making it sound more like a Bbm with a Gb bass.

So, in conclusion, we’re in identical territory to ‘Within’ and ‘Instant Crush’. The first part of the album was centred around A minor, there was a semitone lift, and the second part of the album is in Bb minor.

So what next?

Same again please. ‘Lose Yourself To Dance’ fades out and we are greeted by…

SEMITONE LIFT #2!

TENSION PART 3: Touch, Get Lucky & Beyond

‘Touch’ seems to be the album’s centrepiece, and indeed we are a step up from Bb minor, now based around B minor (via modes blah blah).

Main progression? Bm D F#m E

I can’t be arsed with suspense any more, so I’ll tell you now, that’s also the chord progression for ‘Get Lucky’.

There’s a lovely bit that plays around with our favourite DESCENDING MOTIF in a fairly similar fashion to this:

Bm (F#) Bdim (F) F#m (F#) F#m7 (E) B (D#)

See how that progression ends on a B major chord? When the sequence restarts we go straight from B major back into B minor. Just like that. You can’t really get a more effecting jolt than that. We shall call this…the MAJOR/MINOR MOTIF. This is another of the album’s harmonic themes.

This jolly little cyclical progression – Bm E C#m F#m – morphs into: D (relative major, already seen) E C#m F#sus4 (slight shift, more focus on the note of B)

And we end with the descending thing again:

Bm (F#) Bdim7 (F) F#m (F#) F#m7 (E) B (D#)

Song centred in B minor, ending on B major. If I were posh, I’d refer to this as a Tierce de Picardie, but I’m not, so I won’t.

So…where to now? I know! Time for another MAJOR/MINOR MOTIF!

Just like the main progression in ‘Touch’ we go from a B major, back to a B minor.

This B minor, however, is the opening chord of ‘Get Lucky’, whose chord progression (Bm D F#m E) we just saw in ‘Touch’, as well as transposed in ‘Lose Yourself To Dance’, and pretty much everywhere else…and it’ll be used again, don’t worry, in ‘Doin’ It Right’ mainly.

The bassline here plays around with passing notes, just like I told you about in ‘Instant Crush’. Do you remember? Also worth noting we’re in a slightly different mode here: the overall tonality maybe B minor, but the actual key is a tone down in A major.

So, that was B minor. It’s time for another MAJOR/MINOR MOTIF as ‘Beyond’ starts in B major. There’s a lot of jumping between B major and minor in part three of the album isn’t there? Make up your minds, you dumb robots.

‘Beyond’s opening progression: B C# D E

This is fair enough, using ascending steps to find a middle ground between B minor and B major. Perhaps another metaphor for how the whole album is rising?

Now really, what is that C# major chord doing there? A little out of the blue isn’t it? I mean, yeah, it’s not miles away from that sneaky Bdim7 chord in ‘Touch’, but unless you’re using it to signal a C# major chord coming up later, you shouldn’t have bothered, you dumb robots.

Anyway, the main progression of the song is based around G# minor (our old favourite, the relative minor of B major – one of the record’s themes. Hopefully there’ll be some payoff to all this).

It goes a little bit like this (with some more of those passing notes):

G#m E C#m E F#

Now…for argument’s sake transpose that up a tone:

Bbm Gb Ebm Gb Ab

Well well well, if it isn’t our old friend from ‘Within’. Gosh this is all so exciting. I hope they don’t pull another semitone lift out of the bag, or I might just cack my pants.

RESOLUTION: Motherboard & Fragments Of Time

Bugger me, ‘Motherboard’! It’s SEMITONE LIFT #3! You brilliant robots!

So, we’ve travelled up yet again from G# minor to something that, if I’m not mistaken, is based heavily around A minor. A minor, for the easily distracted among you, was the key the album began in. Could this be indicating that our journey is over, and we’ve come full circle?

The actual key is a tone down in G major, but they’re using one of those pesky modes again (Dorian), in exactly the same way as ‘Get Lucky’. I hope they’re not using that G major to pivot to another key. I’ve only just cleaned my cacky pants.

So, the chord progression? C Am Em D

Were you to transpose that up, you’d arrive at: Gb, Ebm, Bbm, Ab

Surely you recognise that progression by now? Surely?

Now let’s all relax as we move into ‘Fragments Of Time’.

Oh no! They used G major as a pivot chord after all! My pants! (* like this)

And not only that, but there was a payoff to all that relative major/minor nonsense earlier, as we’re now in…C major, the relative of A minor, where Random Access Memories started all that time ago! We’ve definitely come full circle now – from A minor, up, up and up, back to A minor, and finishing triumphantly by modulating to happy –go-lucky C major, so everyone is uplifted at the end of the ride.

Not only that, but there is a lot of emphasis on D minor in the chord progressions of ‘Fragments Of Time’, indicating that we’re in Dorian mode again, like ‘Get Lucky’ and ‘Motherboard’ and many more besides. There’s a very clear resolution on C though, so don’t be upset that it might spoil it all.

The chord progression also features another occurrence of a major 7^th chord, as in ‘Lose Yourself To Dance’, which stops everything being too clean and delicious.

I’m sure by this point you are questioning the legitimacy of my claims. It all fits together nicely, but this whole ‘end of the cycle’ business is a bit far-fetched. Well, let’s take a look at the main chord progression shall we:

Dm /G Cmaj7 Am

Now let’s take a look at the chords from the opening track, ‘Give Life Back To Music’:

Dm G C Am

Ding! You may all bow down to me. I had a hypothesis, and I think you’ll find that’s what we, in the trade, call evidence! The return of those chords seems to indicate very strongly to me that we’ve arrived at an important point, wouldn’t you agree?

So, that’s the end of the build-up of the album (as I see it). We’ve gone from A minor, up to Bb minor, up again to B minor, lifted to B major, and, via a mini-lift from G# minor to A minor, have gone up again to finish at C major.

Surely I can’t be dreaming this? This must have been done on purpose. It’s far too precise.

RELEASE: Doin’ It Right & Contact

So, how to release this tension? Well, by going back down the way we came, I suppose. It’s time for ‘Doin’ It Right’, and boy oh boy are Daft Punk doing it right.

So, we were just in C major? Time enough I think for SEMITONE FALL #1, as we travel back down to B major/G#minor, by way of F# major Dorian (you again?)

Now, do you recall at the start of ‘Beyond’ I made a hoo-hah about that rogue C# chord, and how it better not be there unless it was making an appearance later?

Well take a look at the chord progression: G#m B D#m C# B

There it is! Welcome to the party, C# major. Not only that, but the progression is full of passing chords, like all those other songs before. And not only that, but if you transpose it, it’s the same progression at ‘Touch’ and ‘Get Lucky’, and all the other tracks I’ve been banging on about.

It’s time for the end of the album, so you’d think things would be winding down and simplifying now. But no. Take a step back. Do you notice anything?

Our prominent tonality is G# minor. Two tracks ago, ‘Motherboard’ was based around A minor. Not only does this mark SEMITONE FALL #2, but this also means that far from using a single chord to pivot into a different key, they’ve used a WHOLE BLOODY SONG.

‘Fragments Of Time’, placed in the middle of ‘Motherboard’ and ‘Doin’ It Right’, has allowed this downward semitone step to take place. They’ve gone down by going up via a different song!

Really, everything up until now has been quite simple in terms of moving up and down, but this particular modulation is utterly masterful. That’s why Daft Punk are geniuses. No way in hell can they manage anything smarter than that.

And so to the closing track, ‘Contact’.

Uh oh. They’ve managed something smarter than that.

The opening progression, or a variation thereof: G Em Asus4 A

The main progression: Bm G D A

Here comes the double-whammy. Like a magician with a big-flourish reveal, Daft Punk pull-off not one, but TWO modulations at the same time.

Look at the emphasis on A major at the end of the phrases. The album started in A minor, so they’ve done another MAJOR/MINOR MOTIF. But look…B minor. The track is centred around, and ends on B minor. Wasn’t the previous track based around B major? In fact, wasn’t the last chord a B major?

They’ve done it! A final fall with a MAJOR/MINOR MOTIF! Two in the same song! The crowd goes wild!

And listen to the bassline in the intro. There’s another instance of the DESCENDING MOTIF. You know, like the vocal melodies on ‘Instant Crush’ and ‘Within’, or hell, even the bassline on ‘Around The World’, or those bits on the Tron soundtrack which seemingly copied that very bassline. And doesn’t it sound like a continuation of ‘Giorgio By Moroder’? It’s all come together. Daft Punk have come along, kicked us all in the bollocks and stolen our wives without us even realising.

I have a feeling there’s a heck of a lot more to talk about with this album, and I likely will in future blog posts. I doubt I’ve even scraped the surface, and I’ve probably missed loads. Also I’m probably wrong.

In the end, our French friends cite prog epics such as Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ as inspiration, and, well boys, you got your masterpiece. Touché.

Either that, or they could only come up with 3 ideas and had to make them stretch across an entire album somehow, and this whole thing is all one big coincidence.

While many a Cuban cookbook features a frita recipe, few mention its history, in part because it remains unclear. What is known is most often tied to the wistful memories and anecdotes of exiles long gone, the kinds of stories I grew up hearing in my own family. Fritas, my elders would say, were Cuba’s original street food, sold at propane-fueled carts—a precursor to the food truck!—that lined busy Havana sidewalks or parked in front of sporting events. They were the national snack.

By the 1960s, along with the many Cubans who fled the island’s second revolution, the frita found its way to Miami. Long dominated by a generation of elders, the city’s most popular frita restaurants have been around for some 30 years: There’s El Mago de las Fritas which is not to be confused with El Rey de las Fritas, which is different from Frita Domino, which claims to be Miami’s first frita stand, dating back to 1962.

But now, a new generation of Cuban kids growing up in an ever food-centric America is taking the frita to new places. Case in point: after years of working in great kitchens around the world, and after being named a StarChefs.com Rising Star, local chef Alberto Cabrera opened his own gastropub, Bread + Butter, where interprets the frita with a kimchi flavored chorizo patty. And one of the city’s best known food trucks, Cubancube, recently introduced the “Freakin‘ Frita” made in artisanal spirit with bread they bake themselves.

The recipes, of course, vary everywhere you go and they’re often intensely guarded. (El Mago de las Frita, for example, has never shared his recipe…with anyone!) That said, the frita essence is clear: a small, thin patty of meat or a blend of meat and pork or chorizo is spiced with cumin and paprika. It’s fried, slathered in a ketchup-like sauce then topped with onions—fried or raw—and the trademark mountain of crispy shoestring fries.

The recipe below is an adaptation of several I’ve studied and experimented with through the years. The patty is an amped-up version of the one that comes from a cookbook authored by Nitza Villapol, Cuba’s version of Julia Child. The sauce is an adaptation of Glenn’s Not-So-Secret Frita Sauce featured at the always funny icuban.com.

Cuban Frita (Photo/Betty Cortina)

CLASSIC CUBAN FRITA 

3/4 lb ground beef (preferably ground chuck)
1/4 lb ground pork (or ground Spanish cured chorizo)
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup cream
1 small onion, grated
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg, beaten
1 T ketchup
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tsp Spanish sweet paprika
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
Canola oil, 2 T or more if needed

To serve
Small potato buns, split in half
Spiced ketchup (recipe below)
1 onion, very thinly sliced and fried in canola until golden
Canned shoe string potatoes

1. Combine the two meats in a large bowl. Soak the bread crumbs in the milk to form a paste. Add to the meat and combine, using your hands. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Form into small round balls, about 3 oz each.There should be 10 to 12. Place them in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to allow flavors to blend and the meat to firm.

2. To prepare, flatten into a thin patty, about 1/2 inch thick. Pan fry them in canola oil over medium high heat. Cook until medium well.

3. To serve, slather spiced ketchup (recipe follows) on both sides of the bun. Place cooked patty on bottom half; top with fried onions, plenty of shoe string fries and the top half of the bun. 4 to 6 servings.

SPICED KETCHUP
1 can tomato paste, 6 oz.
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons sweet, smoked Spanish paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup panela
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt

In a small saucepan, whisk all ingredients together and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

“I don’t know how I’m going to cope with [Dutch Boy's] excess at bats,” Mendoza said early in the week. “This thing could all be flipped around by Thursday.”

Apparently he coped quite well.

Now let’s see if the IITVC Belt can get its dreams fulfilled: mentioned in the Commish note and the torrents of legitimacy that comes with that. Somehow, it seems more likely now.

Also likely is a successful defence of the true linear title this week. Mendoza’s first “challenger” is “Champion”, who is playing .294 ball a third of the way through the year. HBO matchmaking at its worst.

Extra Bags: Curacao Littleleague fans will remember that this week is our grudge match with Dutch Boy, but must not forget that when our franchise calls a shot, it generally lands in the third deck 470 feet away. Last week we called Burger “disgustingly overrated” here:

http://gcbl.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/fishy-burger/

We then proceeded to smash him on the grill like a hopeless, hipster veggie patty.   

The bar has been open since late 2012; however, until just a couple of days prior to writing this review, we had no idea that it even existed and it wasn’t until stumbling past it on the way to Bath street, that we noticed it right next door to Nice N Sleazy.

The menu (click to enlarge)

The menu at Broadcast, which has been constructed by ‘Toner’s Kitchen’ as shown above, consists of a large selection of burgers, pizzas, wraps and other pub fare. All burgers and pizzas are part of a 2-4-1 offer every day of the week and there’s a really large selection of food for vegetarians too, which really impressed us. As you can see from the photo above, there’s a full menu page of meat-free burger options.

We really liked the fact that the menu boasts, in detail, exactly how the patties are made and where the meat is sourced from.

The Big Mackie

We went for the Big Mackie and Smokey Jaun burgers and opted for the ‘big fries’ to share for an extra £3.

The Big Mackie (pictured above) consists of 6oz beef patty topped with lettuce, roast garlic aioli, sweet & spicy chilli tomato jam, bacon, Monterey Jack cheese and sticky balsamic onions.

The burger was presented well, with the Jack cheese oozing from the bun and all of the contents fitting nicely within the bread. The burgers weren’t too big and the patty had a nice chargrilled look. Taste-wise, there was nothing really bad about the burger; however, the patty itself was under seasoned and didn’t really stand out from the rest of the flavours that were packed into the bun. The tomato chilli jam was fantastic, as was the garlic aioli and the sticky balsamic onions provided a nice zesty finish. The charred bun was light, didn’t fall apart and was the perfect size for the patties and toppings. This was actually a good, solid burger and if the patty had just been seasoned a little more, it could have very well been a great burger. The patty was; unfortunately, just a bit of a non-entity in terms of flavour.

The Smokey Juan

The Smokey Juan consists of another 6oz patty topped with lettuce, chipotle mayo, sweet and spicy chilli tomato jam, chorizo and Monterey Jack cheese. As most of you know, we’re chipotle-mad here at JVB and fortunately, it seems to feature quite heavily on Broadcast’s menu. This burger was similar to the Big Mackie, in that everything was well prepared and the various toppings worked well together; however, the patty wasn’t seasoned enough. We even cut some of the patty and ate it without any bun or topping just to test if the toppings could have possibly been drowning out the flavour. While the patties were fairly juicy, there was just something missing here. Again, the chilli jam and monterey jack were both generously melted over the Smokey Juan and the chipotle mayo oozed from the sides, which we loved. I’d have preferred a little more chorizo, as it was slightly lost here, but did pair well with the chipotle. The bun, again, was well toasted and served it’s purpose of holding the contents together well.

Inside the Big Mackie

Both burgers were decent, but a little more seasoning in the patties could make them great.

Inside the Smokey Juan

Big Fries (to share)

We also opted for the ‘big fries’ to share. The burgers here are served 2-4-1 and don’t come with sides. The fries were good and for £3 extra, provided more than enough for two people to share. In fact, there was probably enough on the plate for three or four people to dig into. Again, we ordered some chipotle mayo and rather shamefully, ate them all, even after our burgers.

Overall, we quite enjoyed our first visit to Broadcast. Unfortunately, the patties were let down slightly by simply not being very well-seasoned, but we’re keeping in mind that the bar is still in it’s infancy and will obviously continue to improve. The 2-4-1 offer is great if you’re going with friends and we like the idea of big side plates to share. The staff were extremely friendly and we were impressed with the menu and how well it caters to many tastes, including it’s huge veggie burger selection. It may not quite reach the heights of the food at Cocktail & Burger or Nice N Sleazy/MeatHammer Ltd, but Broadcast is a welcome new addition to Sauchiehall street and Glasgow’s already booming burger scene and we are looking forward to seeing what they come up with in the future.

Broadcast

Price: £9.45 (2-4-1), ‘big fries’ to share £3 extra

SUMMARY
+ Good bun.
+ Tomato chilli jam was great.
+ Good selection of burgers and a huge vegetarian selection.
+ Buy one, get one free.
– Not enough chorizo on the Smokey Juan.
– Patty was under seasoned.

Have you tried this burger? Did you love it? If so, vote for it in the ‘Glasgow’s best burger’ award by clicking here.

Talk to James on Twitter and tell us what you thought of this burger! You can also leave your own review and comments below. We want to hear from you! You can also leave a message or join in on the burger chat on our Facebook page.

Broadcast
427 Sauchiehall Street
Glasgow
G2 3LG
Phone: 0141 332 7304
Website: http://www.broadcastglasgow.com

This is the sad story, of the night I reviewed Rocky’s Crown Pub…

Rocky’s Crown Pub has been heralded by many as having the best burger around. All over Yelp, reviews are raving: “OMG MY FAVORITE BURGER”, “THIS IS HANDS DOWN THE BEST BURGER I’VE EVER HAD”, or my personal favorite, “MY OFFICIAL UNOFFICIAL VERDICT IS THAT ROCKY’S BEATS OUT HODADS”.

Ha.

Better than Hodads… Ha, ha, ha… Anyway, ignoring the asinine statement above, let’s move on. Rocky’s Crown Pub is located in Pacific Beach, San Diego where the ——– You know what? Let’s skip the rest of the intro and get straight to it!

“1/2 Cheeseburger” vs. Dom

1/2 lb. Cheeseburger at Rocky’s Crown Pub

Menu Name: 1/2 lb. Cheeseburger ($5.50)

• Sesame-seed Bun
• 1/2 Beef Patty
• Cheddar Cheese
• Red Onions
• Tomatoes
• Lettuce

Calorie Count: 800 approx.

Here. I’ve decided to do something different this time. I’ve decided to give you a little inside look on actual review notes. And instead of making up some bullshit on how each part of this mediocre burger tasted, I’m going to show you guys my writing notes from the actual review… Enjoy!

- I don’t understand what the big deal about this place is

- It’s a normal backyard-grilled burger… Lettuce, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, mayo… The meat was cooked medium-rare w/out even asking for it

- I had to put mustard & mayo to the burger, as well as pepper and salt

- If you wait too long, the burger falls apart

- The meat is from a frozen patty

- If I hadn’t of added mayo and mustard to the burger, it would have severely lacked any real flavor

- A mediocre dive-bar burger

- These flavors go together, like we’ve all known for years, but I still don’t understand how this is rated even in the top 10 for SD

- The Fries: Super basic… Not salted, fried well but precut and frozen

And that’s a little peek into my notes while I’m out reviewing a burger. I was more sad than anything that night. I had been so excited to go to Rocky’s… Had heard such good things from multiple people as well as online, and to get there and have it taste as it did… Well, it was… Severely saddening.

So through this experience, I’ve made a decision:

I will not waste YOUR time, nor mine, by writing some piece of shit review, due to a lackluster burger. So, this burger shant get any grading, nor be put on any list, for it belongs to neither.

————————————–

I tried to publish just what you read above, but I couldn’t. I felt as though I was leaving you empty-handed, so here, take this as a token of gratitude for being a reader… And yo… Rocky’s… OH BONDAGE UP YOURS!

From your friends here at , goodnight.

Really easy burgers that you can enjoy any time of the day!

500g chicken mince
1 egg
1/2 onion finely diced
1/2 zucchini grated
1 tsp seeded mustard
1 tsp minced garlic
Chopped fresh herbs (I used rosemary, thyme, sage, tarragon, marjoram)
Salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
Heat frying pan to med/low and add a little olive oil spray.
Place big dollops of mixture in and cook until golden brown before flipping and doing the same on the other side.
Drain on paper towel.

You could use turkey for this too!

Enjoy with vegies or salad, or with eggs for breakfast!

My first ever time at Graffiti Burger. Love at first bite. Never thought I would be so happy to ditch the margaritas for ladies night!

Anyway, the main reason it was so good was that I laughed like an absolute drain for the whole evening. My birthdays in my twenties have not been as LOL-a-minute, mainly due to STINKY BOYS being MEAN. But turning 27 has been lots of fun.

Day off work on my actual birthday with sausages and cotton buds as pressies, and then a weekend consisting of Light Night, a shopping trip for some questionable trousers, savoury cupcakes, an immense night out (from what I can remember), The Great Gatsby and an absolutely fit burger in Hanover Street Social. I’ve had an absolute ball. Thanks for the good wishes, the gifts, the laughs and the vast quantities of food and drink.

My beautiful friends. Sorry about my dodgy fringe (due to being pure sweaty) and my flesh-flashing.

Outstanding burger. Top marks.

The Anglican cathedral on Light Night. Stunning.

Post-night out pizza, complete with threatening message to the rest of the Crillys.

My wonderful friends.

I salute y’all.

I’ve made these German meatball/ burger concotions (They look like a meatball that was squished flat, but not totally flat and packed together like a burger. They should also be about the size of your cupped palm (3.5-4 oz.) about 100 times, ok probably 10 to 15 times. So enough to know a good recipe from a bad one. not that these are the most traditional or the best in the world, but never have the Frikadellen I’ve made ever turned out this good! Now my way of cooking is very, go with what you feel, but cooking and food has always been a part of my life. I understand some people are just learning to cook, and might not have such a good eye to ‘eyeball’ measurements. So, I will add what I think I used, but I can’t be 100% sure.. Sorry! :/

Recipe:

500g lean ground beef

1 egg (if you use a fatter ground beef, you won’t need the fat of the egg to ‘bind’ everything together)

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

2-3 teaspoons yellow mustard (go with your tastes)

1 teaspoon steak seasoning

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1 teaspoons cumin

1/2 large sweet onion, chopped (I didn’t realize how big the onion was, and after I had chopped half I was like ‘Woah, this looks like an onion burger’ I was gonna take some of them out, but I rolled with it, and because they were sweet onions after they were cooked it was actually really delicious, so in other words go with what you feel)

Kosher Salt

Smoked Sea Salt (I don’t even know, my boyfriend just bought it home one day, no idea from where. Alone it smells and tastes very smokey, but when mixed with all the other ingredients you can’t taste the smokiness. So if you have it sprinkle on top, if not just use normal salt)

Pepper

1 teaspoon butter

1 teaspoon olive oil

-Mix everything together (and actually overmix a little bit, Frikadellen are more like a mashed potatoe version of a burger. I know most culinary experts will say to not over  work your meat, but in this case it makes it better. It should look more like a pate than a burger) except the butter and oil, and mold into patties and place back in fridge (I do this to get a nice crispy crust on the edges).

-Heat the oil and butter (I try to use as little oil in my cooking as possible, but if you don’t have a problem with it, you can use more) and cook the patties. About 2-3 minutes per side.

-Remove from the pan and let them rest on a plate with a paper towl on it to drain some of the extra fat. Let rest for at least 10 minutes before eating. (Can be enjoyed cold with mustard and bread, or warm with potatoes and gravy)

My friend M and I decided to share the burger along with a few appetizers so I wouldn’t get “burgered out” before the week was done. We started off with an order of the Tuna Salad ($16), which consisted of BC Albacore tuna, Poplar Bluff potatoes, a hard-boiled egg, and heirloom tomatoes in a tarragon vinaigrette. The salad was tasty but didn’t have much of a wow factor. I was happy with it nonetheless as it served its purpose. I was looking for lighter fare to balance out my week of burger eating.

For our second appetizer, we shared the Carpaccio ($16), which consisted of thinly-sliced Olson’s High Country bison topped with brioche croutons, wild juniper, and dollops of burnt shallot aioli. This was easily our favourite dish of the evening. I really liked the bold flavours of the tender bison against the contrasting textures and flavours of the accompanying condiments. I would definitely order this dish again on my next visit.

For our main, my friend M and I shared the Dirty Burger, which was Market’s creation for YYC Burger Week. It supposedly consisted of a patty made with a mixture of brisket and short rib and was topped with house-made beer cheese (made from Sylvan Star Gouda), house-cured bacon, veal sweetbreads and a foie gras emulsion atop a house made brioche bun and was finished with a roasted tomato jam and pickled cucumbers to offset the richness of the other components. The burger was served with a side of house made potato chips.

I really liked the texture of the patty in the burger. It was easily one of the best burger patties I’ve had texture-wise. In terms of flavour, I could taste some beefiness but it was not as flavourful as the Wagyu patties in downtownfood’s Double Down Burger and Anju’s BiBim-Burger. I liked the house pickled cucumbers and the tomato jam but found the overall flavour of the burger to be rather one note. I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t taste any of the foie gras emulsion that was supposed to be on the burger and as well, don’t recall tasting the house cured bacon as well.  I was glad that my friend and I decided to share the burger as it was quite rich. .

To go along with the burger, I decided to try one of house made sodas at MARKET. I decided to try the MARKET Rootbeer ($3.25).  I really enjoyed it though I’m normally not a huge fan of rootbeer. It had really interesting flavours and did not that artificial root beer taste that I usually don’t care for.

MARKET Restaurant
718 17 Avenue SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 474-4414
http://www.marketcalgary.ca

The Bi-Bim-Burger ($15 during YYC Burger Week; $18 regular) was created by Chef Roy Oh especially for YYC Burger Week. It consisted of a Brant Lake Waygu short rib patty with a galbi marinade and was topped with gochujang sautéed vegetables, a fried egg, and mozarella on a sesame bun. We asked to substitute the regular fries with Anju’s signature yam fries, which were tossed in truffle oil and served with gochujang aioli. The truffle yam fries were delicious! They were easily some of the best yam fries I’ve had and were extremely addictive, especially with the slightly spicy gochujang aioli.

The BiBim-Burger itself was flavourful and juicy. I loved the combination of Korean-inspired flavours and textures in this burger. The beefy flavour wasn’t as pronounced because  of the galbi marinade but it was still very tasty. My friend Anna and I loved this burger so much that we actually went back to Anju later on  that week hoping to have a second. We were lucky. Due to its overwhelming popularity, Anju has decided to put the BiBim-Burger on their regular menu.

My friend Anna and I also shared an order of the Fried Chicken and Pa-ffles ($18), which consisted of fried chicken tossed in a spicy gochujang sauce, a fried egg, green onion cornmeal waffles, and a side of soy butter maple syrup. This was fusion perfection on a plate! I’m fiend for fried chicken and loved the slightly sweet and spicy gochujang coated crispy chicken. It paired perfectly with the savoury green onion waffles, which were really tasty and had just the right amount of crispiness to them. I loved the soy butter maple syrup, which was served on the side. Because I don’t have a sweet tooth, I was pleased that the syrup was served on the side so that I could drizzle the amount I wanted as I don’t care for my food to be drowning in syrup.

Both of these dishes paired really well together with the Shin Ramen Caesar ($8), which consisted of vodka, shin ramen soup base, and clamato. Since both the BiBim-Burger and the Fried Chicken and Pa-ffles had elements in the dish that were sweet, the spicy and savoury Shin Ramen Caesar was perfect to balance out the sweetness.

Overall, this was a perfect meal at Anju. It was just the right amount of food for the both of us. Both the burger and the chicken & pa-ffles had us dreaming for more. There is no doubt these are my two new favourite dishes at Anju. As for how the BiBim-Burger stacked up against the Double Down at downtownfood, it’s a really tough choice and depends totally on personal preferences. But for me personally, I think the Double Down, edged out the BiBim-Burger slightly with the crispy poached egg and their DTF Bacon.

Anju Restaurant
507 – 10 Street SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 532-9419
http://anjurestaurant.tumblr.com

If you caught my Ultimate Oakland post, you would know that I got the idea to quasi stalk someone based upon a Refinery29 article on Oakland.

When I arrived at Umami Mart, I was told I should totally give Kronner Burger a shot. Jesus I am glad I did that. (btw, they have a burger phone.. brilliant). Located in the Mission inside/adjacent a bar called Bruno’s (actually close by Mission Chinese) is the pop up done by former Bar Tartine chef, Chris Kronner.

The exterior of Kronner Burger kind of looks like one of those places men probably used to go in the middle of the day to see racy movies. Not that I know what those places even look like, I just kind of got that feeling per the outside.

When we arrived we were given the option to sit at the bar which we gladly accepted. I neglected to tell my sordid tale of stalkery immediately, ordering a “Buck Yeah” which I believe was a mezcal based drink. Really tasty.

“Carbonated Motherfucking Margarita” as well as a “Scotcholate” to get things going. I particularly enjoyed the the Scotch and Cocoa combinations, it almost had a malt like consistency.

I wasn’t crazy about seeing the word Motherfucking on a menu. I glanced around the room as we arrived just after 6pm and I saw several older couples at 2 tops. I can’t imagine what my grandfather would’ve thought.  I am starting to get the feeling dining out lately that such an effort is being made to be ‘unpretentious’ that it’s almost backfires, yet then again – this is San Fran – outside I saw several people walking up the steep streets with blunts in their hands, of all ages.

I could tell that the bartenders were slightly annoyed at having to make so much use of the SodaStream machine (literally every five minutes it would get refilled and charged).

Our bartender though was really excited about us experiencing the food, something I think is incredibly important in furthering the guest experience. Even if you’ve seen it 300 times, it’s the first time for the guest, and your excitement elevates their experience.

The house pickles were really well done, nice texture, not overly acidic, crunchy, and piquant. The onion rings however, were superb, as was the accompanying sauce. The crunch was audible, the onion interior warm and thickly sliced. 

Being originally from Indiana, a patty melt is a really serious thing. For me, it is basically the evolution of a hamburger, one that I feel I will execute to it’s fullest potential some day in a restaurant of my own. (by the way, I literally can’t stand when someone calls ground beef, ‘hamburger meat’.. it reduces the quality of the plate with mere misdescription) Basically a grilled cheese sandwich with onions and ground beef.

The bun can get in the way of a great tasting burger. This iteration gets top marks. I read a review that said the patty was thin and dry – well it’s a patty melt so the patty isn’t supposed to be huge, but it certainly wasn’t dry. The term glistening comes to mind -The texture was nice, evidence of a hand ground and most likely hand formed patty, nice fat content gave some significant juice and flavor. The salting was even and adequate.

What really took this meal to the stratosphere though was the bone marrow adorned, beef cheek poutine.

Before.

After.

Just mind numbingly good, greasy, and delicious. I kept thinking that the cheeks were oxtails, because the depth of flavor and background seasoning.

After catching up to Ashley and the explanation of my food stalker tendencies ( I believe this condition is in the new DSM?) we were given a nice dessert.

I’m not a huge dessert person but the ice cream here was really excellent and certainly homemade. I want to say this was a bread pudding, but I was barely able to sit up straight at this point so I could be mistaken. As well, the interior of the restaurant is so dark that I literally could’ve passed out on the countertop if it weren’t for the cool light bulbs protruding out of the bar top. 

A great meal, affordable and filling with some really well done food. The lighting made it difficult to get much photography done, but I was more interested in eating anyway.

Grilling season started this weekend in Chatham. What a beautiful weekend on Cape Cod!

Ingredients

• 1 bag baby spinach (6 ounces)
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 pound 93% lean ground turkey
• 4 ounces crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• black pepper to taste
• 1 -2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice
• 4-6 hamburger buns 
• extra olive oil for oiling the grates and brushing the buns before toasting.

Steps

Pour the teaspoon of olive oil in a heavy skillet with a tight fitting lid over high heat. When it is shimmering and hot add the garlic to the pan and stir for about 10 seconds or until it’s fragrant. Add the spinach all at once and flip it a couple of times with tongs. Turn the heat off, add the lid and let sit for 2 minutes. Remove the lid, flip a couple more times, add the lid and leave for 1 more minute. Use the tongs to gently transfer the spinach and garlic to a colander on a plate. Let it rest until room-temperature. Either chill in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or proceed to the next step.

Roughly chop the wilted spinach and garlic so you can more easily mix it through the ground turkey. Add it to a mixing bowl with the turkey, feta, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Gently but thoroughly mix everything together until all of the ingredients are evenly distributed. Form into 4 to 6 burger patties that are at least 3/4 of an inch thick. Place the formed patties onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and let it rest in the freezer while you preheat your grill.

Preheat your grill to medium-high. Soak a wadded paper towel generously with olive oil and use tongs to rub it over the clean grill grates, heavily oiling them. Ease the burger patties onto the grill and do not move them for 6 minutes, leaving the cover of the grill open. After 6 minutes, flip the burgers just once and let them continue to cook for 8-10 minutes, or until the burgers release from the grill and the interior temperature of the thickest part of the burgers reaches 165°F. Transfer the burgers to a clean plate.

Brush each of the insides of the buns with olive oil and toast them directly on the grill just until they have grill marks. Use tongs or a spatula to transfer the buns to a clean plate or baking sheet.

Serve each burger on a bun topped as desired.

But what about Sydney? Here are my two current favourites -

Mary’s in Newtown has been getting good press lately. Despite the building’s reported history as a former STI clinic, it’s an attractive haunt on Mary Street. CrazyCatLady sees the positive – “you can get treated for chlamydia while you wait” (I assume she’s joking) and even MrNobody, a self-titled burger connoisseur (with a weakness for a quarter pounder – we all have a foil), grudgingly liked the Mary’s burger (although he compared it to a whopper…). Add bacon and the price creeps up ($18), but you get a side of chips, friendly service, and a hearty helping of hipsters.

But is it Sydney’s best burger? For me, that award goes to Chur Burger - making magic from the back of Albion St Kitchen in Surry Hills. It’s a small operation – not much more than a driveway – but cheap and cheerful. Not to mention delicious. Unfortunately, a fire a month ago has put business on hold, but expect them to re-open soon. And these burgers are really worth the wait – juicy, generous, well-seasoned with a lovely brioche bun. MrNobody, put down that quarter-pounder and I’ll see you at Chur Burger soon…

Now that I’ve found a good burger joint, does anyone know a good dentist?

I’ve known about The Red Wagon for quite a while now, but I have not visited primarily because I was weary of the potential wait I would have to endure. Another reason that has prevented me from visiting the restaurant was that it was not located anywhere close to the areas I frequent on a daily/weekly basis.

I took the opportunity of the May long weekend to finally visit the place. The kids both had Friday off as a pro-D day, and I was hoping that visiting the restaurant before 11:00 A.M. on a weekday would mean that my family would not be subject to a 60+ minute wait for a table.

I hoped right. We barely had to wait 7 minutes for our table. We were also lucky enough to arrive at a time when they started serving items from their all-day menu along with their breakfast items. This was convenient for all four members of the family since my son was craving a burger while my wife, daughter, and I wanted to have breakfast/brunch dishes.

The three breakfast dishes we ordered were all based on the eggs/meat/potato/bread setup. My daughter ordered the simplest variation with two eggs, bacon, potatoes, and sourdough toast.

My wife went a step up and ordered the Trucker, which added two pancakes to eggs, sausage links, potatoes, and brown bread toast.

I couldn’t decide between the pulled pork pancakes or the pork belly, so I ordered the super trucker. Along with two eggs, potatoes, and toast, the dish came with pulled pork pancakes and a slab of pork belly. I also substituted regular syrup with the optional Jack Daniel’s syrup.

I’ll relay my daughter’s thoughts on her dish first. She thought the scrambled eggs, the fried potatoes, and the bacon tasted pretty much like eggs, bacon, and potatoes served everywhere else. She liked her sourdough toast and finished all four of her slices before she finished anything else on her plate. She thought that the toast was pretty good, but she thought it was still far from great-tasting.

My wife said that her over-easy eggs were undercooked; the egg whites arrived in a very runny state. She then stated that the potatoes and sausages were generic. She liked the brown toast. She thought that the bite-y bits in the slices of toast gave them an enjoyable mouthfeel. She was less impressed with her two slabs of pancakes. She thought that they were too thick, too dense, but not soft enough.

In contrast to my wife’s dislike of the pancakes, I actually liked the pulled pork pancakes that were on my plate (disclaimer: I do not like pancakes. I almost never order them at breakfast places). I liked their thickness, and I liked that they were dense. I liked that they were not mushy when doused with syrup like most other pancakes. I liked their slight chewiness, and I liked how the pancakes tasted with the sweet, a bit dry, but not too chewy pulled-pork on top. I liked the pulled pork pancakes because they did not taste like pancakes. Take that for what you will.

Like the pulled pork, the crispy pork belly won’t win prizes if served on its own. It probably wouldn’t even be considered a well-executed dish. The skin was not crispy enough, the fat felt unpleasantly fatty, the lean meat was way too dry, and the entire slab of belly looked like it was sunburned.  But when eaten together with the snappy egg whites and runny yolks, the dryness of the meat became more than acceptable and the lack or crispiness of the skin was forgotten. When eaten with the plain-tasting potatoes, the fattiness became a value-added textural element. The fat and the skin also added an unctuousness that made the entire combination of the eggs, potatoes, and pork belly quite tasty. I thought that the flavours and textures I experienced with the combination of these three elements roughly approximated that of a roasted pork hock dish.

Although I only meant to drizzle the Jack Daniel’s syrup on the pulled pork pancakes, they partly contaminated the area of the plate inhabited by the pork belly. The edges of the meat that slightly touched the syrup turned out to be surprisingly tasty. The noticeable alcohol flavours and the subdued sweetness of the watery syrup worked well to bring out some of the porky-ness of the belly that was lost when it was overcooked by the kitchen. The syrup was also a nice, not-too-sweet-and-not-too-thick pairing with the pancakes. I was as impressed with its ability to not mush up the pancakes as I was with the ability of the pancakes to not allow themselves to be mushed up. I was less impressed with the syrup’s $2.50 (or was it $2.75?) price tag.

…I was almost going to end this post without mentioning my son’s burger. Here it is:

I had a bite of the burger courtesy of my son’s generosity. The bread was nicely toasted; the cheese on the patty was barely detectible in terms of flavors; the patty was thick with pleasant beefy flavours, but it was way too dry. The burger tasted like a thicker and slightly more flavourful version of McDonal’s Angus Third Pounder. The fries that came with the dish looked like extra crispy double-fried chips; they tasted like limp and shriveled heat-lamp-nutured fries. My son liked them. I didn’t.

If this post was written by either my wife, my daughter, or my son, the conclusion would be that The Red Wagon served very, very generic diner food. They would probably consider the food on par with a place like Denny’s. But since I am the one writing the post, and since my food tasted pretty good, I would have to conclude that The Red Wagon is superior to Denny’s. It is on par with other local mid-range weekend-brunch-serving restaurants. I’ve definitely had both more refined and much tastier diner fare in other cities I’ve lived in and visited. In terms of the local dining scene, however, I can’t say that I’ve had better (another disclaimer: I have visited less than 10 local diners since I’ve moved here).

Now that Sakshi and I are so involved and working hard to get you the best of recipes from our kitchen, our families too are taking interest in it. We are often referred to as miss foodies now by our families and we love it. We keep getting a lot of appreciation for the recipes that we share. But foodies I was taken by a sweet surprise when my mother in law shared her experience of cooking her favourite dishes and the collection of recipe books that she used to have. She then shared the recipe of a burger which was quite different from what we usually have had. Even though she had lost the book in which she had the recipe for it most of the ingredients were still fresh in her mind. I was little shocked when she told me that the patty of the burger constituted mainly of apple , rice and bell peppers and it was served with no ordinary dip but mango lime salsa.

I shared the same with Sakshi and she was also intrigued. We both could not imagine how the apples could be combined with rice to make the main patty of the burger and how the mangoes could coexist well with ingredients like onions, chillies and lemon. It seemed very weird and so we decided to try it ourselves. We were all prepared to make a horrible face but oh boy!! Aren’t we glad?? You bet we were. Apple rice patty to top with mango lime salsa could definitely coexist in harmony and be really charming too. We loved it so much that it seemed we have finally found a burger worth creating in our kitchen and so were eager to share it with you all. It’s a must on our menu and we bet will remain on yours too

So foodies if you are tired of the usual burger or if you are any sort of a burger fan, this is the one for you. Without a doubt the highlight of this burger for us was the blend of apple patty with mango lime salsa.

We all have heard the old saying that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” and there is likely some truth to that. Apples provide key vitamins and minerals and they keep you healthy. This fruit is low in calories, contains no fat and available year round, making apples simple addition to your diet that also offers a wealth of benefits. Apple keeps the health intact while the brown rice (which your family won’t even know is there unless you tell them) helps to fill you up and add some healthy grains to the plate.

Talking of Mango Lime Salsa, it will show you how versatile a salsa can be. We have found very few jarred salsa that we would ever even consider serving on our table and there really should be no reason for anyone to resort to a jarred salsa when making one is so easy. Mango salsa goes wonderfully with this apple patty burger as well as a unique dip. The sweetness of the mango is not overpowering and the onions and chillies bring out a bright new taste that we hope will be a nice surprise for you all. Serve this sweet and tangy mango salsa with the burger you will love it!

This apple burger along with mango lime salsa is so easy to make and you will be proud to have created such a vegetarian delight. It’s a must try for all the mothers as this burger is packed with goodness, though your kids would never know.

So foodies satisfy your appetite for a great tasting veggie burger that’s easy to make and more healthfully prepared when you use.

Happy Sunday!!!

Cheers!!!

Parul n Sakshi

Related articles

• Mango Crusher & Mango Pudding (missfoodies.wordpress.com)

For those of you that like specific recipes, this is my first attempt to share a recipe of my own and I don’t cook in specifics, sorry! The way I see it cooking is best when you add the flavors and textures you like at a ratio you know you and your family will enjoy. I’d still like to share what I did though, but hopefully you can take this idea and adapt it for your taste buds.

I used:

• About 1.25 pounds of ground beef (we like meat with lower fat, but others like more fat for juicy burgers)
• 1 packet of taco seasoning
• Diced green onions (just a bit to add some flavor)
• Cholula sauce or another kind of hot sauce if you like spice
• 4 slices of pepper jack cheese (or whatever cheese you like)
• Hamburger Buns (I like the whole wheat kind)
• Lettuce
• Tomatoes
• Salsa
• Any other condiments you like to add to your burger – my husband can’t have a burger without ketchup…

First I put the ground beef in a mixing bowl. I added the taco seasoning, diced green onions, and cholua to the ground beef and then mixed it together with my hands. It took a little while to get everything evenly incorporated, but you want to be sure to mix everything really well. Next I separated the meat into 4 equal amounts. Then I pressed them into flat, tight patties. Almost done!

My husband then grilled the burgers, adding pepper jack cheese the last few minutes of grilling. We topped them with our favorite toppings. I used lettuce and some salsa. I know my mom would definitely put some lettuce, tomatoes, and onions on hers! Go crazy, get creative!

A great veggie burger alternative for the quickly approaching bbq season. It is simple to make and tastes delicious! Have fun with the toppings and most importantly be creative!

Ingredients:
1 cup of cooked (or canned) brown lentils
1/2 a shallot
3-5 crimini mushrooms
1 tbsp of olive oil
1/8 cup of water
2-3 bunches of fresh cilantro
1 1/2 tbsp of bread crumbs
1/2 tbsp of dijon mustard
1/4 tsp of spanish paprika
1/4 dried thyme
Salt and peper

Burger Toppings:
Dijon mustard
Veganaise
Mixed greens
Avocado
Tomato
Fennel

How to Prepare:
1. Prepare lentils according to cooking instructions on package. Rinse under cool water and set aside.
2. On medium heat, pour 1/2 tbsp of olive oil into pan. Finely chop onions and put in pan. Sauté until translucent and then add in roughly chopped mushrooms. Cook for about 3 minutes or until mushrooms become tender. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Roughly chop up fresh cilantro. Make sure to include the stems removing only the very ends of the cilantro stem. (Note: the stems of the cilantro contains the most flavour of this delicious herb).
4. In a blender or food processor combine cooked lentils, sautéed mushrooms and onions, fresh cilantro, water, dried thyme, paprika and a pinch of both salt and pepper. Quickly blend until the mixture is almost smooth, you will want to have some whole pieces of mushrooms and lentils still. Taste mixture and adjust salt and pepper to taste.
5. Scrape blended lentil mixture into bowl and now add in bread crumbs and dijon mustard. Mix until all ingredients are combined.
6. On medium heat, pour the remaining 1/2 tbsp of olive oil into pan and heat up. Divide the lentil mixture into half for two separate patties. Wetting your hands, form the mixture into desired shape and place into pan lightly pressing down to flatten them out.
7. Cook for about 2-3 minutes or until the burger has a golden colour. Flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes or until second side has browned.
8. Assemble burger with desired toppings, in a bun, on an open faced sandwich, or on a bed of lettuce.