Today let us turn our eyes to something more, shall we say, appealing then the Cheeto president. Halifax is in the midst of it's annual frenzy around the humble but beautiful burger. A week long manic obsession with all things surrounded by a bun. This is the fourth or fifth year now for this spring festival in honour of dead cow and it has grown to 95 restaurants this year. Untold thousands of burgers will be sold, and a great side story as well, a lot of money will be raised for Feed Nova Scotia, a food bank charity here in the city that does great work.
On the first day of burger week last year I was interviewed by the CBC on why the burger is such a much loved source of calories. I stammered through a response that thankfully made me sound somewhat coherent and waxed poetic about the almost primal combination of meat and fire. Many of us crave that combination of fat and flesh...we have been conditioned to enjoy it but we have also, as a species, evolved to search it out. The burger, being the simplest and most economical way of enjoying our beef fix has become the quintessential hand food. Along with pizza, the burger is near perfection.
I remember Big Mac's being 99 cents the first time we grabbed a MacDonald's fix, in those styrofoam containers with that sugary orange drink and those great salty fries. Of course it was bad for you and still is, but when you're hungover...there is not much better. But let us leave behind the fast food crappola for some better memories....
Grilling fresh made burgers on the BBQ and enjoying them outside as opposed to bringing them in to the house in that glass Pyrex dish allowing the juices to collect around them and getting cold quickly. No...take the burger right from the grill and build your own homage to Wimpy...and eat away. Those memories that are brought forth with the combination of grilling meat, fresh grass, trees in bloom...really just the combination of nature and fire roasted meat make for one of those childhood memories that will make you smile each time you dredge it up.
When in the former Yugoslavia when I was 16 or 17 with my family I didn't have an appreciation for ethnic diversity through food. Nor was I as adventurous as I am now. So I was bored of eating the same stuff everyday as we travelled....stop in at a new family for a visit, kill a chicken and eat...I got fat that summer because you couldn't say no to people that just killed for you. And I didn't care for some of the, errrr, specialities of the region. So you can imagine my fervent excitement at a train station that served something akin to a burger and fries. Pljeskavica is a burger like meal that we ate while waiting for the train....tender shoe string frites with this incredibly delicious burger a la Balkans....I remember the flavour today. Whether because we were getting something close to a burger from home or because we really appreciated the flavour I do not know...all I know is that it was delicious.
Later in life I discovered the magic of the cast iron pan in my burger ways. Being single and cooking for one some days I came to appreciate my cast iron pan for all sorts of preparations. None more mouthwatering than a properly seared homemade burger. The cast iron distributing the heat evenly and seemingly with more intensity from those clad flimsy pans. I like a pan that you can do some serious damage with if you feel the need to smack someone upside the head for being stupid or something like that. The fact that it gives me a better finished product on my burger quest means I'm more than slightly enamoured with the black weathered pan.
And what is it about another persons burger that makes it so irresistible. My ex would spend a few minutes building her version of the perfect burger with her choice of condiments and I couldn't resist taking a bite when she turned her back to put something away. I had the same burger but hers was better....hmmmmmmmmmm
And now back to burger week. The picture above is my concoction at work for this years offering. A locally grown ground beef patty with crispy jalapeno mac ' cheese, homemade bacon jam, which is really sex in your mouth, sandwiched between a cheddar bun from a local bakery. When it's all said and done we will do somewhere between 1400 and 2000 burgers for the week. That's a lot of cow roadkill...just saying. I must admit I do like seeing how well received our burger is and I'm already thinking ahead to next year.
So if you're in the area...stop in and bring your appetite. Make sure to say hi before you slip into your burger coma.
Ciao
D
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