Day 13: Bison burgers and oven fries
I don’t make burgers at home often. They belong to a class of food that tastes better when someone else makes them – like Pad Thai or Butter Chicken. (Butter Chicken in particular, because when you haven’t made it you can’t be held accountable for the entire carton of whipping cream that went into it, right?)
When I need a big, beefy burger I usually go to Rocky’s Burger Bus for hand-made burgers about as thick as they are wide, and almost baseball-shaped, and hand-cut fries. (No, cutting them by hand doesn’t make them much more nutritious, but at least they aren’t par-fried in trans fatty oil, and they still have their skins on.) Mike and I share one, burger and fries – we never go and order two burgers and two fries, or two meals. That practice left with the 90s.
If the option is there, I’ll have a bison burger, and it’s the kind I most often make at home, because bison contains half the fat of beef, and is even leaner than skinless chicken, turkey, and even halibut. The important thing to remember when cooking with bison is that because it’s so lean, it requires about a third less cooking time than beef. People are used to cooking with beef, and because it looks (and tastes) the same, people tend to treat it the same way in the kitchen, often drying it out. So if you think you don’t like bison because it’s too dry – try it again.
Oven fries are something everyone should be able to make – particularly if you have offspring – they are truly the easiest thing in the world, once you get the hang of it. Cut your potatoes (yams will cook more quickly) into fairly even wedges, and while you’re chopping, drizzle some canola oil on a rimmed cookie sheet and pop it into a 450 oven to heat up, just like you would if you were making Yorkshire puddings. The combination of hot oil, hot pan, will keep the wedges from sticking. If you use one of your old cookie sheets that’s so beaten up it’s black, the darker color will brown anything you cook on it even better. Great for roasting veg or making crostini – not so much for cookies.
Some like to soak the potatoes in a bowl of cold water first, to draw out some extra starch: this isn’t necessary, but if you do, make sure you dry them well on paper or dishtowels so that they will brown well. Either way, lay the wedges on the sheet and flip them around to coat with oil (tongs work well for this) and then pop them back into the oven. Bake for 15 minutes or so, flipping them once, until golden. Sprinkle with coarse salt.
January 14 2008 | bison and veg | No Comments »
