So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[tonyb]

^^^^^
A couple-three days ago, and at the insistence of the lovely missus, I sprayed two wasps’ nests under the eaves here at Chateau de ’Burb. Now there’s a bunch of dead wasps on the ground directly beneath those nests. I feel kinda guilty about it.

 

[Hercule]

I'd love to compare them to what we get over here again. I know the ingredients are different owing, historically to EU law (which may or may not change in the UK going forward now, of course). I only remember having a McDonalds in the US in NYC, but that was back in 2004. The big thing I remember was how much bigger all the portions and the drinks were compared to the UK, but I don't recall them tasting different. Pretty similar in China too, though the one I've used in Beijing in recent years has a fantastic, spicy chicken burger we can't get in the UK.

I've long been led to understand that McD went to great length to assure that their "products" tasted the same wherever you had them. Maybe so. I have not so fond memories of a Big Mac in Amsterdam some 20 years ago. As I remember it tasted just as nasty (in a good way, of course) as they do here in the US.

 

[Edward]

I've long been led to understand that McD went to great length to assure that their "products" tasted the same wherever you had them. Maybe so. I have not so fond memories of a Big Mac in Amsterdam some 20 years ago. As I remember it tasted just as nasty (in a good way, of course) as they do here in the US.

Certainly been my experience - aside from, obvs, the odd product or two that vary with locality. I think the big difference is with preservatives: whatever goes in the fries elsewhere that make them stay looking fresh for a month and more (per Morgan Spurlock), here they're limited to something like potato, the oil they're fried in, and salt alone. Not that I'm under any illusion they're necessarily "healthier"! The consistency of McDs is definitely a big draw. When I've been in Beijing working for a fortnight and sometimes just want 'comfort food', they're hard to beat.

 

[Fifty150]

 

[Fifty150]

 

[Fifty150]

 

[Fifty150]

What I recall is that years ago, there was a lawsuit over McDonald's not disclosing the ingredients to the french fries. Some customer, who had no reason to believe that meat was in the fries, sued. I don't remember exactly, but it might have had to do with religion. Some religions do not eat meat, some religions believe that cows are sacred. At the end of the day, a reasonable person would not expect a fried potato to contain meat.

Who knew that a cup of McDonald's coffee has the same effect as eating a box of Twinkies?

 

[Zombie_61]

...If you're going to have fast food fries today, your best choice is Wendy's...

Really? Wendy's first opened a restaurant near here in the late-70s, and I've visited a number of them since then trying to find out if they're all equally bad. There was a Wendy's about 20 miles from our house that was quite good back in the 1990s, but I'm not sure they're still there or still as good now.

 

[Fifty150]

I think that there are fast food burgers, and then there are places that sell burgers as gourmet meals. Sometimes you're paying $25+ for a burger, fries, and a drink. Fancy ingredients in the burger. Designer meat in the burger. Gourmet bun. Sweet potato fries. Angus beef, Berkshire pork maple bacon, imported kimchee, brioche bun, garlic aioli, gruyere, sriracha, craft specialty mushrooms.... Would you go $50 for that burger? $75 if it were patties of ostrich? $100 for Kobe beef?

 

[Tiki Tom]

Making burgers at home from scratch is a real treat… and not much work involved. It’s all about mixing chopped onions and minced garlic into the ground beef and adding Worcestershire sauce, etc. So good. Getting the “sides” right is the trick. Sometimes frozen shoestring fries in the oven is good. Other times it’s homemade potato salad and homemade coleslaw. Sometimes ice cold beer is what is needed. Other times we go with a nice light red wine, slightly chilled. Simple pleasures are often the best!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Some years ago, after losing a lot of blood in surgery, I ended up a bit anemic, and found myself wiith a maniacal craving for hamburgers. None of the local offerings satisfied, so I ended up making my own -- big thick gobs of plain ground beef, cooked rare, and served with no condiments whatever on plain white toast. I ate three of these a day for a week, and that was the end of my anemia. And whenever I make a hamburger at home, that's still how I do it.

 

[Hercule]

Some years ago, after losing a lot of blood in surgery, I ended up a bit anemic, and found myself wiith a maniacal craving for hamburgers. None of the local offerings satisfied, so I ended up making my own -- big thick gobs of plain ground beef, cooked rare, and served with no condiments whatever on plain white toast. I ate three of these a day for a week, and that was the end of my anemia. And whenever I make a hamburger at home, that's still how I do it.

Oooo that sounds good! Though any more I prefer my burgers more towards medium. It's a texture thing. And every once in a great while I even like a very well done burger - lots of salt and pepper on well buttered white bread.

As a kid whenever we had burgers, my mom would pour water in the pan afterward and make a very thin water gravy which we had poured over buttered bread. Again with lots of salt and pepper.

 

[Zombie_61]

I think that there are fast food burgers, and then there are places that sell burgers as gourmet meals. Sometimes you're paying $25+ for a burger, fries, and a drink...

A lot of years ago Carl's Jr. started an "attack" campaign they called "The Six Dollar Burger" to make fun of the places you've mentioned here; at Carl's you'd get a burger, fries, and a beverage for a bit less than six bucks. After a few years the prices of their own burgers increased to over six dollars, and suddenly that ad campaign wasn't so funny--it disappeared and they tried to act like it never existed. "'Six dollar burger'? What's that?"

Making burgers at home from scratch is a real treat… and not much work involved.

Long story shortened somewhat, my wife and I used to get together with a friend and her two sons on Sundays for what we called "family day", when we'd all hang out for the sole purpose of having a good time--watch a movie or three, have some food, tell some lies...good times. Whenever we decided burgers were on the menu I'd grill 'em up. Ground beef, a few eggs, crushed soda crackers, just a little chopped onion, soy sauce (for flavor), and, because we all ate cheeseburgers, shredded cheese. Yep, the cheese was thrown right into the mix from the start. The end result was burgers that were juicy and flavorful. Dee-lish!

 

[Hercule]

shredded cheese. Yep, the cheese was thrown right into the mix from the start. The end result was burgers that were juicy and flavorful. Dee-lish!

One of our favorites is a blue cheese burger, though we put the cheese (sometimes gorgonzola and I think we did feta once too) in a pocket inside the burger. Damn! All this talk of burgers is making me hungry. I'll have a Rubin waiting for me when I get home, but that won't be for another 2 hours!

 

[Zombie_61]

One of our favorites is a blue cheese burger, though we put the cheese (sometimes gorgonzola and I think we did feta once too) in a pocket inside the burger. Damn! All this talk of burgers is making me hungry. I'll have a Rubin waiting for me when I get home, but that won't be for another 2 hours!

Blue cheese definitely belongs on a burger in my opinion; now I can't help but wonder why I never thought of mixing it in before. But then, my wife doesn't like blue cheese, so...wait, that means more for me! It's a win/win!

"Rubin"? As in Reuben sandwich??? I haven't had one of those for the last several years 'cause none of the sandwich shops or restaurants near home know how to make them (if they're even on the menu) and the ones that do are just too far to drive for a sandwich. Or they swap out the corned beef for pastrami, which actually isn't bad but it's not a Reuben. Anyway...

 

[Hercule]

Blue cheese definitely belongs on a burger in my opinion; now I can't help but wonder why I never thought of mixing it in before. But then, my wife doesn't like blue cheese, so...wait, that means more for me! It's a win/win!

Our local grocery store used to offer fancy burgers that had cheeses and other things mixed into them. But I think that would just make a mess in the pan. What I do is grab a fist full of ground beef and smash it out on our impeccably clean whoop-di-do quartz counter so that it is a thin elongated rectangle. Then I put a spoon full of blue cheese in the middle of one end then fold the other end over and form the patty. And there you have it, a burger with a pocket of incredibleness in the middle.

"Rubin"? As in Reuben sandwich??? I haven't had one of those for the last several years 'cause none of the sandwich shops or restaurants near home know how to make them (if they're even on the menu) and the ones that do are just too far to drive for a sandwich. Or they swap out the corned beef for pastrami, which actually isn't bad but it's not a Reuben. Anyway...

Yes a Rueben. Sorry for the typo. Sadly it wasn't all that great, rather, I've had far better. I agree about a pastrami Rueben, though I prefer corned beef. I'm not overly fond of Pastrami to begin with. To me it tastes very hotdog like. I usually take half the meat off my Rueben and make hash with it the next day. The Brew pub near wher I work has a Turkey Rueben that's nice. It's made with apple-slaw. That makes it a Rachel doesn't it?

 

[Fifty150]

making my own -- big thick gobs of plain ground beef, cooked rare,

That is the best. Exactly how I like it.

Just beef. No additives. No fillers. No binders. I get it. People have their own preferences. Egg. Breadcrumbs. Cheese. Onion. Garlic. Mushroom. Herbs. Spices. It's like you're making a meatloaf. I've had a lot of variations. Some of them were great. Beautiful how a creative person can pair the ingredients. If you have ground lamb mixed with cumin and coriander, and it's served with yogurt and cucumber, on flat bread.....is it still a hamburger? I do it too. Ground turkey patty, cream cheese, and avocado - but to me it's a turkey sandwich.

 

[Zombie_61]

...If you have ground lamb mixed with cumin and coriander, and it's served with yogurt and cucumber, on flat bread.....is it still a hamburger?

I'd call it a "lamburger", but I'm no Gordon Ramsay so what do I know?

 

[Trenchfriend]

By the way:
Should I know this "Gordon Ramsey"?

 

[Edward]

There was a legal debate in Europe a while back about whether the term "burger" could/should be used for an entirely plant-based patty. Fascinated me, as it really got to the core of language and meaning. One side felt that the word "burger" implied meat, in the same way as "vegan cheese" isn't actually cheese. The other - which is where I realise I fall in terms of how I use the word - contested that a 'burger' is simply a disk-shaped block of food, usually but not always served in a bread roll / bap / bun (language variance again!), and it's what proceeds the burger that defines the content, thus chicken burger, beef burger, veggie burger.... The funny one to me was always the use of the term "hamburger" - I know it has certain origins, but it seems to have largely been supplanted by 'beefburger'. I also very much enjoy a Lorne sausage (a Scottish thing, also known as 'square sausage', otherwise a lot like a burger) in bread. McDs and BK both do something very similar with their breakfast offerings - the sausage is a disc-shaped burger of pork sausagemeat. I wish I could have that in all their burgers, I do like it.

What I recall is that years ago, there was a lawsuit over McDonald's not disclosing the ingredients to the french fries. Some customer, who had no reason to believe that meat was in the fries, sued. I don't remember exactly, but it might have had to do with religion. Some religions do not eat meat, some religions believe that cows are sacred. At the end of the day, a reasonable person would not expect a fried potato to contain meat.

Who knew that a cup of McDonald's coffee has the same effect as eating a box of Twinkies?

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It's interesting stuff. I recall a minor scandal in Belfast when a well known local fish and chip place was discovered to be cooking their chips in the same oil as their burgers. Anathema to a vegetarian, though done innocently enough by a management to whom it never occurred that would matter - there was only potato in the chips themselves, right? Makes sense we should know what's in our food, though I don't know that many of us have the knowledge to really understand a lot of those ingredients lists or their implications (I know I can't claim to).

I think that there are fast food burgers, and then there are places that sell burgers as gourmet meals. Sometimes you're paying $25+ for a burger, fries, and a drink. Fancy ingredients in the burger. Designer meat in the burger. Gourmet bun. Sweet potato fries. Angus beef, Berkshire pork maple bacon, imported kimchee, brioche bun, garlic aioli, gruyere, sriracha, craft specialty mushrooms.... Would you go $50 for that burger? $75 if it were patties of ostrich? $100 for Kobe beef?

It's fascinating, isn't it? To me, not unlike buying a pair of jeans. I'll go so far above the very cheapest for quality and cut, but I just can't get my head around the idea of paying £200 or £300 for a pair of jeans.... yet I'd happily pay £200ish in many cases for the wool-worsted trousers that come as part of a suit... Perceived value, I think... A steak at £25 seems somehow in the ballpark, while a burger seems expensive - even allowing for equivalences of quality.

Oooo that sounds good! Though any more I prefer my burgers more towards medium. It's a texture thing. And every once in a great while I even like a very well done burger - lots of salt and pepper on well buttered white bread.

As a kid whenever we had burgers, my mom would pour water in the pan afterward and make a very thin water gravy which we had poured over buttered bread. Again with lots of salt and pepper.

I like my well done. Brown to the centre! The one place I never have to ask for this is Scotland, interestingly: a few years ago there was a gourmet burger craze in the UK, and it became fashionable in particular to serve those half raw. Multiple cases of food poisoning ensued. Scottish law passed a rule requiring burgers to be served well done only (I don't think it applies to steaks). One of my pet hates is restaurants that refuse to serve beef well done - there's a few I've not gone back to for that reason, and if I have been faced by a place where I get an inevitably condescending response to my request of "Oh, no - the chef won't do it that way, it ruins the meat" I'll always order something else. I'm all for personal preferences on how you have your steak done, but a chef who can't produce one well-done needs to learn how to rather than pull a "no soup for you!", imo!