The Lamb Burger Experiment
That’s what happen when you spend a little too much time on twitter. I recently read a tweet by @FrankBruni touting the merits of the lamb burger at The Breslin. For you non-New-Yorkers, that’s the New York Times ex-restaurant critic tweeting about a favourite of his at a new popular hang-out. With an instant craving to manage i found myself confronted with two choices:
- Go to the Breslin, order the lamb burger and eat it (after shelling out 17 bucks for it)
- Make it myself and share the results (which would earn me karmic points for service rendered to humanity)
Needless to say, the cheap-ass humanitarian side of me opted for option #2. So i did some googling and found a few pictures of the object of my craving as well as a pretty thorough description. The Breslin lamb burger reportedly has feta cheese, red onion, cumin mayonnaise and a nice bun (giggle) and gets a side of the crispiest fries on the north hemisphere, and it’s served on a cutting board with a very ugly knife.
It sounded even better than i originally thought and perfectly achievable even in a short notice, except i couldn’t find a knife that was THAT ugly to complete the experience. Oh well! Appetite can sneak up on you so i had to act fast.
After calling my butcher i got an emergency delivery of ground lamb, and a little bit of ground veal. What ground veal has to do with a lamb burger you may ask? I’ve cooked quite a few lamb burgers in the past and while they’re delicious they can be a little too intense for a lot of people. I like to cut it with a third of ground veal as well as some finely chopped onions and parsley for the perfect balance, but that’s just me. Feel free to adjust to your liking.
The result? Perfection! The lamb, cumin mayo and feta cheese are the perfect mates in a weird ménage a trois kind of way, combine them in a nice bun and you’re bound to have an extraordinary burger experience.
Again, thanks Mr Bruni for inspiring my lunch. Keep tweeting.
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Lamb Burger Recipe
- Inspired by the lamb burger served by April Bloomfield at The Breslin
- serves 2
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Lamb burger recipe:
- 8 ounces ground lamb (or 3/4 lamb 1/4 veal)
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 Tbs parsley, finely chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
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For the burger:
- 2 sourdough buns
- 3 Tbs mayonnaise
- 1 tsp freshly ground cumin seeds, or to taste
- 1 squeeze of lemon
- 2 slices feta cheese
- 2 slices red onion
- baby arugula
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For the lamb burger:
- Combine the ground lamb (or the ground lamb & ground veal) with the chopped onion, parsley and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Form patties and reserve in the refrigerator until ready to cook.
- Preheat the broiler or the grill. Brush the lamb burgers with olive oil and broil (or grill) to medium. (I believe lamb burgers are best enjoyed medium)
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For the fixins:
- Toast the sourdough bun or place it on the grill, cut side down, for a few minutes.
- Combine the mayonnaise with the cumin and a squeeze of lemon juice.
- Assemble the burger with cumin mayo, baby arugula, red onion and feta cheese and serve immediately with thrice-cooked potatoes.
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