Where's the Beef?

I'm browsing through a magazine, their yearly BBQ issue, and almost gagged when I read about some fast food burger joints in various cities: Minnesota has one called, 'The Heart Attack Burger' slathered with spinach-artichoke dip, Thai chile sauce and cheddar cheese. Another in Ohio, 'The Fat Doug' piled with slaw, melted swiss and pastrami.. Others were packed with bacon, mixed in with the meat, slathered with ranch sauce, or various other sauces, such as mayo mixed with blue cheese, and so many ingredients on the burger, it would be impossible to keep the whole mess from sliding out of the two buns. I admit to adding some Worcestershire sauce to my meat or putting a chipotle in adobo chopped up into some mayo. However, it is rare that I put mayo on a burger anymore, preferring various mustards and a good ketchup. Last week, I went against my better judgment and made my meat eating husband, a former meat cutter and owner of meat locker storage and butcher shop, a lovely steak, which he grilled and served with a chunky blue cheese sauce. A friend who was in Paris a few years ago told me of a great fillet steak with a blue cheese sauce and I had been wanting to try it. All I can say that while the steak was great and the sauce excellent, I hated them together. Gene has always told me he likes to taste his beef, no sauces to hid the flavors whatsoever. I agree. I just can't find a better combo than a great piece of ground beef, a garden fresh tomato, and a leaf of fresh lettuce. The salt and pepper is important too!

I know what you mean, Karen. I love a good burger, made with a fresh hand-formed patty, with very little to compete with the flavor of it. I've gotten kind of "stuck" in what I like on it and don't like to vary it at all other than sometimes I feel like grilled onions and other times, a thick slice of raw onion. It also must have mayonnaise, tomato and extra salt on the patty itself. I've never gotten the appeal of all the other stuff.

Well, it may be a blessing that you can't taste the beef that some of these fast food burger joints serve.

It's like they say in barbecue circles--if the cook is bragging too much about his barbecue sauce, you have to wonder about the quality of the actual 'cue.....

-Paul W.