Burgers

I love burgers... if you didn't already know. Especially a good wholesome fresh and juicy burger. Yummy...

Sadly, there are only 2 places in the whole of Dungun where you can get such a burger... at Hola West or at Tanjong Jara Resort.  If there is another place, I have not heard of it yet. Hola West has not opened for quite a while. Apparently it is operated by one of the lecturers at UITM who uses students to operate the cafe. I think due to the new intake it will not be opened for a while... and Tanjong Jara Resort will not be opened till mid January.

So, if I want a decent burger I will have to make my own... and that's just what I did.

You start off with the beef... obviously. I bought some beef from Mesra Mall. Imported Australian beef costs RM25.99 a kilo. Local beef at the market costs RM26.00 a kilo.  I prefer Australian beef for burgers as the local beef has a stronger gamey flavour. Local beef is okay for curries, stews and braises.

There are many recipes for burgers. I like my burger simple. I just season with garlic salt, pepper, paprika and tabasco.  How much seasoning do you put? For me, I season the meat before I mince it. I season each piece of beef as though I was going to pan fry it. This way it is less likely to put too much seasoning. Pop it into the food processor and pulse it for a short while. It's also important not to mince the beef too fine or it will end up being dry. After mincing, I let it rest for about 15 minutes. 

The second important part to a good burger is obviously the condiments. Here I used caramelised onions and tomatoes. What I would have liked to add would be lettuce, gerkhins and some mustard. Next time lah... the onions and tomatoes will do as these are essential to me.

I cooked my burger for 2 minutes on each side on medium heat and it was medium. My wife's burger on the left without cheese and mine on the right with cheese. I finished mine in 2 minutes. Yummy...

I will have to find bigger buns as these were the standard Ramly burger buns which are a bit too small for my 200gm beef patty.

Definitely cheaper than a Big Mac or a Whopper and yummier too... more burgers on the way. :)

Slow-cooker Pot Roast

As promised... it's Pot Roast today.

Went to the market early this morning to buy the beef. There are only two stalls in the whole market selling beef and I was looking for Chuck Roast which of course they did not understand being in Dungun. I then tapped on my shoulder to show him the part I wanted but he didn't understand. He then showed me a piece of tenderloin roast and recommended that I use that instead as it was suitable for steaks. I told him I was not making steaks. To make a long story short, I didn't get the part I wanted and took the tenderloin roast. I was not very happy but there wasn't a choice.

Anyway, the original recipe for this pot roast is HERE. Mine is modified to what I have...

Click on pictures for larger view.

Here are the main ingredients. You'll need seasoning... salt and pepper, paprika, thyme, bay leave and I used my leftover chicken jus from the other day.

I seasoned the beef generously with salt, pepper, paprika and thyme. I then sliced the onions, garlic and mushrooms. I used fresh Shiitake as I couldn't find fresh button mushrooms here.

Next I seared the beef all over and also sautéed the onions followed by the mushroom and garlic together.

Then pop the beef into the slow-cooker followed by the onion, mushroom and garlic with a bay leaf. Next was the mushroom soup, my leftover chicken jus and just a little bit of water as there will be more moisture from the onions, mushroom and beef. I then decided to put some carrots in on the top as I planned to remove them after a couple of hours. Set the pot to LOW and cooked it for 6 hours. I stopped at 6 hours as the smaller pieces were starting to break apart.

From top left, clockwise; mushrooms dished out into a bowl, bread to go with the meal, carrots, the beef and finally the gravy.

I am very happy with this recipe in terms of flavours but definitely not happy with the beef as it was dry.  If only I got my chuck roast... : (

Slow-Cooking

My wife is away in her hometown visting her ailing grandfather. I couldn't go as there was uncertainty with the duration of the visit and since we are running 90% here, I couldn't take the risk.  As the resort was busy I reckoned I'd cook my own dinner. Breakfast, lunch and tea was oats.

I rummaged through the refrigerator to see what I had. I had a big chunk of beef. I wouldn't have time to watch over the cooking of the beef so I decided to use the slow-cooker that I had borrowed from my mom last year and never did use yet. 

Slow-cooking is very convenient. It is simple yet not so simple. It is simple coz you put everything in the pot and let it braise away. It is not so simple coz you must have some 'imagination'. When slow cooking, there is no evaporation. Therefore, seasoning has to be pretty spot on. And when you add vegetables to it, the vegetables will release moisture hence adding liquid to the dish. So, you need to be able to imagine the end result. Add too much liquid and it will end up being more a of light soup. The key is to add sufficient seasoning but never over season. You can always add more seasoning later. The only downside is that your meat will be bland if there is too little seasoning.

Anyway, I decided to do a stew based on the ingredients that I had at home. I halved the beef chuck and kept the other half for the next day. I then seasoned the meat and quickly seared it all over to retain the moisture.

Everything in the pot. I then added a tablespoon of oyster sauce, some sugar to balance out the sourness from the tomatoes, salt, black pepper, a clove and half a star anise. Didn't have any cinnamon or maybe I couldn't find it.

I then topped it up with a can of whole tomatoes. Set the cooker to High and left it to cook for 6 hours. There is an Auto function but I have not figured out how to use that yet.

The end product after 6 hours.

Yummy-yummy... Tomorrow I'll do 'masak kicap' instead.