All this U.K. fascination with fast food cries for a return to high
quality American food, so here is James Beard's take on a good
hamburger. Adapted from "Beard on Food" (1974).

Preparation

Spread out 2 lb. of top quality chopped round or chuck and grate about
2 tablespoons of onion onto it, using a fairly fine grater. Mix in
about a tablespoon of heavy cream and some freshly ground black
pepper. Form into 6 or 8-ounce patties.

Cooking

Use a heavy skillet over high heat. Melt a combination of oil and
butter and cook patties 4 or 5 minutes per side, depending on the
doneness you like. Beard preferred a crusty outside and a rare
interior, hence the high heat. If you like it more cooked, you'll
need to moderate the heat a little. Salt the patties when finished
cooking.

Serving

Serve on buttered buns, onion or tomato slices optional. Beard felt
that the grated onion and cream prodced such a juicy, tasty burger
that ketchup or other condiments weren't necessary. -aem

"aem" > wrote in message
...
> All this U.K. fascination with fast food cries for a return to high
> quality American food, so here is James Beard's take on a good
> hamburger. Adapted from "Beard on Food" (1974).
>
> Preparation
>
> Spread out 2 lb. of top quality chopped round or chuck and grate about
> 2 tablespoons of onion onto it, using a fairly fine grater. Mix in
> about a tablespoon of heavy cream and some freshly ground black
> pepper. Form into 6 or 8-ounce patties.
>
> Cooking
>
> Use a heavy skillet over high heat. Melt a combination of oil and
> butter and cook patties 4 or 5 minutes per side, depending on the
> doneness you like. Beard preferred a crusty outside and a rare
> interior, hence the high heat. If you like it more cooked, you'll
> need to moderate the heat a little. Salt the patties when finished
> cooking.
>
> Serving
>
> Serve on buttered buns, onion or tomato slices optional. Beard felt
> that the grated onion and cream prodced such a juicy, tasty burger
> that ketchup or other condiments weren't necessary. -aem

Does the cream incorporate into the meat and the fat and not ooze out during
cooking? It sounds interesting.

On Aug 11, 7:31*pm, "Cheryl" > wrote:
>
> Does the cream incorporate into the meat and the fat and not ooze out during
> cooking? *It sounds interesting

It merges in with the meat and doesn't separate during cooking. It
does have an effect on the color, though, in that the inside will be
less red or pink for the degree of doneness. That is, rare will still
be rare and juicy but it won't look as red. -aem

On Tue, 12 Aug 2008 08:33:55 -0700 (PDT), aem >
wrote:

>On Aug 11, 7:31*pm, "Cheryl" > wrote:
>>
>> Does the cream incorporate into the meat and the fat and not ooze out during
>> cooking? *It sounds interesting
>
>It merges in with the meat and doesn't separate during cooking. It
>does have an effect on the color, though, in that the inside will be
>less red or pink for the degree of doneness. That is, rare will still
>be rare and juicy but it won't look as red. -aem

1T of cream to 2lbs of meat affects color?


--
I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number of carats in a diamond.

Mae West