This week's French Fridays with Dorie dish is not at all what you'd expect to see on a French dining table - a hamburger. However, this is apparently not just any hamburger, but the Cafe Salle Pleyel hamburger, created for the cafe's owner, Helene Samuel, who stated the following about the burger in The New York Times:
“It has the taste of the forbidden, the illicit — the subversive, even. Eating with your hands, it’s pure regression. Naturally, everyone wants it.”
You can find the recipe online here, but in a nutshell, this burger is comprised of beef mince, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, cornichons (for which I substituted gherkins) and fresh herbs (I only used coriander and dried tarragon and skipped the thyme). The burgers are browned to medium rare on each side:
An onion jam is made to go with the burgers:
The burgers are topped with thin slices of parmesan cheese:
and the whole lot is placed on a burger bun, as shown at the top of this post. If you are so inclined, you can decorate the plate with dill pickles, but I also skipped this.
I am not sure that this burger was so good as to be subversive, but it was definitely delicious and beats the pants off the cardboard offering at your local greasy spoon. I served my burger with Outback Spirit wild rosella cranberry relish one night, and with Cooper's Ale barbeque sauce the next - both combinations were good.
Playing catch up, I also made eggplant caviar from last week:
Just like Tricia S's teenagers, I didn't dislike this, but I wouldn't run out to make it again either.
Finally, I am featuring a gratuitous photo (sourced from Yahoo! Seven TV) of Bec's fab 1920's inspired wedding veil by Melbourne designers, J'Aton, featured in Tuesday night's finale of Winners and Losers:
There was a lot of criticism of Bec's hair and dress on Facebook. Personally, the dress was not my style (too much like a doily), but I loved the much-maligned veil and hairdo - anything inspired by the 1920s wins my heart, and I thought Bec looked great.
23 comments:
We liked this burger very much...I could just eat that onion jam by the spoonful actually. I think next time I will use a slightly more moist hamburger meat, the extra lean was a little dry, but still good. Eggplant caviar I passed on because we are not big eggplant fans here but yours looks nice. I'm with you, the wedding photo is lovely...people will always find fault with things, won't they? It's very pretty and very romantic!
The onion jam really made this special (but all those extra ingredients made for a pretty tasty burger too).
I think all of these posts are going to make me mighty hungry this week!
So yummy! Glad you enjoyed them too. Your burger looks quite tasty and that bun looks to die for!
I like the addition of sun dried tomato to the burger! Mmm now I feel like burgers :P
THese sure seemed to be one of the best around and am so craving for it NOW!
These burgers were indeed illicit, and tasted really good with a variation of the herbs in Dorie's recipe. I really like the look of that 1920s style veil, btw!
Hhmmm, I came down exactly opposite of these recipes, loved the eggplant caviar and will definitely make it again, not so much the burger. Though yours certainly look tasty!
Ha! You and I were both tickled by Helene's quote!
I really enjoyed this burger, the flavors were so delicious! Your eggplant caviar looks great...glad you got it done!
Great to see you did a twofer this week. Both dishes look very tasty!
That looks like a dinner I could really sink my teeth into, very delicious and hearty.
*kisses* HH
p.s. i think the veil is absolutely lovely. Some people just dont understand fashion. Not everyone needs to be a cookie cutter bride
Yours hamburgers looks delicious :) Now we don't have to fly off to Paris to taste it ! We can have a bite at home and I know why they are so popular in Paris :)
Mmmmm...looking at all these burgers today makes me want to make another batch. Glad you enjoyed~
Everything in the burger (especially the onion jam!) sounds fabulous--except the cornichons. I really dislike pickles. They're one of the very few things I don't like to eat, so I would leave those out, but I love the idea of sundried tomatoes and an onion jam. Yum!
Too bad you were not excited about the taste. The condiments you included sound like great choices!
Your burgers look yummy I enjoyed them as well.
We really enjoyed these burgers as well! The cranberry relish sounds like it would have been delicious with these. That is such a pretty veil!
I dont know anything about Bec, but her dress is fab and the veil is the best! I wish I had it for my own wedding, although it would have clashed with the dress in the end... these burgers were pretty good werent they? :)
Nice doubleheader. Both the burgers and the eggplant look great. Love your burger condiments.
the onion marmalade was so good. I agree re the veil: lovely and adore the 1920s look.
We loved these burgers very much... to the point where I wonder why I don't make homemade ones more often! They will definitely be part of my rotation from now on. I am afraid I do not know Bec, but I think she looks lovely! The detail in the veil is exquisite.
The onion marmalade was a big hit here and I enjoyed the flavour of the burgers very much. That cranberry relish sounds amazing. Sorry the eggplant caviar didn't wow you.
I love twenties-inspired design, too. I can't see anything to complain about with her hair or the veil.
They both look great! I think I'd like the eggplant caviar a lot - I need to try it!
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