Burgers with a secret inside

Hamburgers may seem a might improper to be promoting during Lent. Well, Sundays are for celebration, even during this most penitent of seasons. And if you want to celebrate with a hamburger, you might as well try these. I used local, grass-fed ground beef because I have lost all faith in meat processors' ability to keep E. coli out of their products and I think local farmers deserve our support. And I love the taste.

Lori K's fancy burgers 
Serves 4
© 2012, Lori Korleski Richardson
Ingredients
1 cup shredded Gouda cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
1 pound ground beef or veal
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions
Mix cheese and shallots in a medium bowl. Gently mix meat, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper in another bowl.
Divide veal mixture into 8 equal portions. Form 4 patties 1/8-inch thick. Place 1/4 cup cheese mixture atop each patty; form 4 more patties and top the first ones. Seal at edges to enclose cheese mixture. Grill burgers and cook about 5 minutes per side.
Serve on toasted buns or as part of a meal. We had a half-plate of salad with yellow bell peppers, avocado, grape tomatoes, pistachios and pomegranate seeds, and a scoop of mashed potatoes.

Stuffed burgers

Burger King's new "stuffed" burger

This week, Burger King announced its first "stuffed" hamburger, filled with bits of jalapeño pepper and cheddar cheese. It's about $4 and is available at participating restaurants nationwide through mid-February.

My dad, however, was the king of the stuffed burger back in the 1960s, long before I'd even heard of Burger King. I always felt burger joints were cheating by just putting a slice of wimpy American cheese on top.

Here's how he did it:

First, he mixed up his hamburger, using ground chuck, salt and pepper, and finely chopped fresh onion. If he had to stretch the meat to feed a guest or two, he'd throw in a cup of breadcrumbs. He then patted out about a golfball-size piece of hamburger on a wax-paper-lined cookie sheet until it was about 1/8th inch thick. He made twice as many as there were people to feed. When the cookie sheet was full, it went into the fridge, as did the next one. While the meat was firming up a bit, he'd slice the Cracker Barrel sharp cheddar thinly. When the grill was ready, he'd put cheese on half the thin burgers, then top them with another thin burger and pinch them all around before putting them on the grill. When they were toasty on the outside, he'd pull them off the grill, put them on a toasted bun and serve them with mustard, mayo, ripe tomato slices and crisp iceberg lettuce. One bite and we were in heaven; the crusty outer meat had a juicy interior, with melted cheese oozing all around.

When I grew up, my creations got a bit more gourmet: I liked to use blue cheese, or Colby jack and jalapeño, or capers and goat cheese. But I always used the same technique; it still makes the best burgers I've ever tasted.

American food

I always smile inside when someone mentions "American cuisine." I can't even imagine what that would be, or whether I'd want to eat it 365 days a year.

As a starting point, let's run down the results of a 2007 James Beard Foundation Taste America survey in which 90.8 percent of the respondents said there was an American cuisine.

If there is an American cuisine, how would you define it? Top five answers from the Beard Foundation survey:
1. Region or regional
2. Culture
3. Comfort
4. Melting pot
5. Native

And the iconic American foods, in order of popularity?
1. Hamburgers and cheeseburgers
2. Barbecue
3. Fried chicken
4. Mac 'n' cheese
5. Apple pie

Hello from Dulles

I'm waiting for my flight to San Francisco (Virgin America, which my husband took a few weeks ago and came back raving about the leg room and amenities) and finally have time to post.

So first, an observation: For an airport that seems to be staffed largely by North Africans, why aren't there any African restaurants? Instead, at this end, we've got Five Guys and Auntie Anne's pretzels, a couple of coffee shops and pubs. So much for the romance of travel.

At least the water is free, if you bring your own empty container through security.

Why don't we cook at home more?

The New York Times had an article yesterday headlined "The Commander in Chef," which called on Michelle Obama to set an example by cooking a meal at home occasionally, and went on to cite some statistics about how few Americans cook at home. Yes, the reasons are sound: Cooking can be a chore and many people don't have the energy once they come home from work.

But much of the problem is setting priorities and sharing chores. If you enjoy cooking and eat with someone else, ask them to clean up. If someone else does the cooking, offer to clean for them, or help them with the prep. And make dinner a focal point of your day. Plan a few meals per week (don't plan for every day, because things happen - someone may ask you to join them for dinner, for instance, or there may not be enough time to cook between work and night meetings or entertainment, and you can probably squeeze in another trip to the store later in the week if necessary). If you're tired when you get home, do what the French do; pick up a fresh baguette on your way home, smear it with jelly for the kids (maybe you, too) or maybe just a little bit of good butter. and enjoy it while you relax with a glass of cool water (or something stronger, if that's your pleasure). Once you're relaxed, get on with the dinner prep.

And think of dinners that taste great and don't take all that much time to prepare. 

• For cheaper cuts of meat, start them in the crockpot before you go to work. 
  
• When you're ready to start preparing dinner, fix the rice or fresh potatoes first (they usually take the longest, and stay hot the longest, as well). 
  
• Pound chicken breasts to about a half inch so they cook fast and evenly. 
  
• Roll out hamburger patties between two sheets of wax paper to about 1/4 inch before slapping them on the grill (for the best cheeseburgers around, roll them even thinner, put a slice of cheese, or blue cheese crumbles, top with another thin patty, seal the edges well and grill).
  
• Summer squash halves cook in about 8 minutes, try stir-frying greens, or start corn on the cob in the microwave and finish it on the grill (add butter or a mixture of olive oil and seasonings when it's done).

I'll post about do-head prep tomorrow.