Ode to Ohh La La

There is a burger joint out here in the desert serving what might possibly be the best burger I have ever had.  Tonight when I started thinking about dinner and the burgers we were going to have, I decided I was going to do my "version" of them in hopes that it would fight the craving for a little while until we go there again.  I will spoil the ending and say it didn't.

The Ohh la la burger is an all beef burger with bacon, boursin, and wine infused sauteed onions with a chipotle mayo.  It is perfection!  I love it but the man who takes my order hates me because I change their burger every time.  If you read the above list of ingredients you would think that would be enough, but all their burgers include pickles, lettuce, mustard, and tomato.   Why, I ask, would you ruin the first list of ingredients with the second list?  One of life's mysteries. 

So tonight...Drew got a burger seasoning kit from Target that he really wanted to try (he is all about seasonings) and so he made the patties for the burgers.  I fried some bacon and put the burgers on the George Foreman.  I did not do a chipotle mayo because honestly, I would not use it in any other circumstances and struggle with the amount of condiments already in my refrigerator.  I also did not do the onions (which I did not remember until after we started eating).  The burgers looked great...so excited to get my mouth around one. 

They were not that great...bummer.  Drew did not like the seasoning blend and only ate half of his burger.  I did not really enjoy it either and only ate about half of my burger.  I guess that's what amounts to a diet in this house. 

Guest Post: Steaclectic

Here is my first guest post by my favorite blogger:
I guess it takes sickness to get me to write on my blog. I wouldn't say that it's because I haven't been wanting to write.... well, I've just found other normal stuff to do with my time. Most of it not important, but that's what happens. But today I am doing a guest cooking blog appearance! My wife has not been feeling well this week, and today wasn't any better. This afternoon I went to Target and picked up some filets and decided that I would do dinner rather than picking something up.

I wouldn't say that it's pretty, but I decided to do a steak trio. Each steak was rubbed with a different spice. Starting on the left: Williams Sonoma Coffee Rub(I know), Cracker Barrel "Mud" rub(w/ Brown Sugar), and a pepper blend w/ smoked sea salt(my creation - the rub, not the salt which is from Williams Sonoma). Two new and one tried and true.

I rubbed down the steaks and let them sit for about 10-15 minutes prior to putting them into a cast-iron skillet. Make sure to put a little olive oil in the skillet while heating up just to give it a nice surface so you don't really burn off the rub. I like a medium-rare steak - I'll have you know that my wife didn't know the greatness of the medium-rare until she met me. She has tasted the light. - which is about 4 minutes per side. You don't want to turn more than once. Take the steaks off the skillet, and cover with tin foil for 10 minutes to allow the meat to rest. It'll still cook a small bit while resting.

Now for the fun part, EATING! Leah and I were in agreement on steak order. In third place was the Mud Rub from Cracker Barrel. The crust created by the brown sugar in the rub was the best crust that I've seen on a homemade steak in a long while. It caramelizes down to a nice brown color. While that was nice the taste was not the best. Leah didn't like one of the spices in the rub. I believe that there was a fennel taste in the background. For me, if I had added salt I believe the taste would have been ten times as good.

In second place was the Coffee Rub. We've done this one before so we knew what we were getting into. The rub creates a good crust, but doesn't have the same texture as the Mud Rub. You don't taste the coffee that's in the rub, but it does add a flavor to the meat. If you know me, I absolutely HATE coffee! I've been through the account of Genesis more times than I can count and there is not a mention of coffee anywhere to be found. BUT, if you read closely in Revelation you'll find that coffee was thrown into the lake of fire along with the demons. It's in the original Greek, trust me.

In first place....... uh..... well by deduction, the pepper blend and smoked sea salt won out. Those simple ingredients create one of the best tastes. It also allows the meat to shine through. The pepper blend includes white, black, red, and red pepper flakes. Williams Sonoma has hit a home run with their sea salt selection. The smoked just melts into the meat and adds a hint of sophistication. I can't explain it, but it gives it almost a sweet flavor when you taste the salt. They also have a few other salts that look excellent!!! I would recommend this one to anyone wanting to try something new.

So there it is! It's not as good as my wife's food blog, but you'll have to make due until she starts cooking again.

Enjoy! -D

Resolved

New Years always brings the resolutions on so I started thinking of mine for this year rather early.  Drew and I decided at least a couple months ago that we were going to try to read a book a week for the new year.  This resolution has resulted in the creation of a new blog by the both of us.  Check it out.

Other New Year's resolutions for me this year are food related - what a surprise!

1. Learn how to make bread
2. Learn how to can/preserve.

I do feel somewhat home on the range with these two resolutions.  I did not grow up in a household where either of these two things took place.  Thus, they are quite foreign to me.  I sat down this past Monday and started to read on how to make bread - this made me a little more fearsome of my resolved choice, but by Wednesday, I was feeling better.  So, here goes the adventure.  I will try to include pictures of my successes and failures.