A stellar burger and great walleye

I just got back from a week at our place on Lake Kabetogama for a little vacation catching big walleyes and eating some excellent food with good friends. Teresa and I were there with our friends Steve and Kathy Rudh and Denny and Gail Cletcher from Indiana. The fishing started out very slow but we caught enough "keepers" to have a fish fry and it was marvelous. Fresh walleye straight out of the lake and into a fry pan is an amazing thing. We seasoned all-purpose flour with Lawry's seasoned salt, Penzey's Fox Point seasoning and Course Ground  Black Pepper, then made an egg wash using two eggs and a little Half & Half and seasoned some Panko bread crumbs with the same seasonings as the flour. We dipped the fish fillets in the flour first and then into the egg wash and finally the Panko mixture. Peanut oil was our fry medium heated to 350 degrees in a cast iron fry pan to a depth of about 1 inch. It was fried for about 2 minutes on each side or until nice and golden and then placed on a plate lined with paper towel to hold them in the oven until all the fillets were cooked. We served the fish with Tartar Sauce and cole slaw and that was enough. Absolutely fabulous! We could hardly stop eating that stuff.
We had planned to do some burgers during the week and Steve brought some preformed patties that he cooked with cheese and bacon that were excellent and because we had used his patties I had some 80/20 ground chuck leftover. After we got home I decided to make burgers again to use up the beef so here's how it went:
1 Lb 80/20 ground chuck
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 package of Cream cheese softened
8 to 10 Manzanilla Green Olives sliced
1 Claussen Kosher Dill Sandwich Slice, Minced
3T Bacon Jam (see my blog post for the recipe)
3 or 4 Hamburger buns
Mix the sliced olives and minced pickles into the softened cream cheese until thoroughly combined and set aside. Spread out the beef in a large bowl and then season it with Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, then form it into approximately 1/3 lb patties 1/2" thick. Make a small depression in the center of each patty so that as it cooks and begins to sear, the burger will swell in the center and end up nicely shaped in an even thickness. Grill the patties for about 4 minutes per side until medium well.
Meanwhile, split the buns and grill them until well toasted. Spread 1 Tablespoon of the Bacon Jam onto the bottom half of each bun and then place a burger patty on top. Spread a generous 1 to 2 Tablespoons of the Cream Cheese mixture over the patty and top it with the rest of the bun. Serve with whatever sides you normally like alongside a tasty hamburger.
The bacon Jam gives you a nice salty balsamic smoky flavor as you bite into it because that's the first thing that hits your tongue. Next comes the great beef flavor and the finish is the creamy, salty , pickly smooth and melty cream cheese layer. Now that's what I call a burger!
Happy Grilling!
Tim

The Lighthouse Restaurant

Teresa and I stopped at the Lighthouse on Homestead restaurant near Duluth, Minnesota on Saturday as we were driving up to Silver Bay to visit my father at the Veteran's Home there. It was our first time at the restaurant and it was around lunchtime. One of my deer camp buddies' son is a cook there and he told me a bit about the food so we thought we might give it a try. It was excellent! The decor is based on a lighthouse in Michigan and is very well done. It is a comfortable atmosphere with no pretension and a nice feel of comfort and cheeriness. The server's name was Sheryl, a great example of what a server should be at a restaurant. She greeted us and asked if we would like a beverage. She then proceeded to tell us about their Bloody Mary and how good it was and that she made them personally. I told her I liked Bloody Marys and that would be nice.
I am here to tell you it was a work of art! We began a conversation about the ingredients as I am wont to do with the wait staff and owners of restaurants. I began to guess the ingredients and started with, of course a good mix, adding pickle juice, olive juice, and hot sauce. Sheryl added that they use Worcestershire Sauce and salt the rim of the glass with what seemed to me to be Lawry's Seasoned Salt with celery salt added. She then added a skewer of Green Olives and Pepperoni as well as a celery stick and a pickle pear to the deal and then topped it off with a "snick"of beer besides. What a way to start off our first experience at a new restaurant!
The menu seemed to be a good collection of comfort food items, burgers, sandwiches and some specialties. What caught my eye was a burger with a Cream Cheese/Green Olive topping.
I was not asked how I liked it cooked so I assumed they were cooking them medium to well and it was done very nicely. It was not over-cooked and the cream cheese/olive topping was great. The buns appeared to be made there at the site and were nicely grilled. The burger was served with some krinkle-cut french fries that were very crispy and well cooked.
Teresa ordered a French Dip sandwich that was labeled as "pulled beef" on the menu. It was served with their house made potato chips and those were very good. The sandwich was a pleasant surprise in that it was not the typical deli thin-sliced beef. It truly was pulled beef; large chunks of great roast beef on a good French roll, served with aus jus and those marvelous chips.
This was a very pleasant experience for our first time at the restaurant and both Teresa and I agreed we will return soon and often to this place. Check them out at www.lighthouseonhomestead.com and visit soon. They also feature live music on Monday evenings and some good happy hour specials as well.
Eat well and often,
Tim

Great burgers

My daughter Stacy called me the other day and told me she had been to a relatively new restaurant in Duluth and had enjoyed what she said was the best hamburger she had ever eaten. Well, that got my attention because I am always on-the-hunt for a great burger. Today I had the opportunity to try that place, which is the Clyde Iron restaurant that just opened this year back in May. The head chef is Robert Giuliani who I will have the privilege of working with on a dessert event in February. Teresa and I went there today for lunch and I ordered his Steak Burger, which can be cooked to a medium-rare if you like, and I do, so I ordered it with the Smoked Cheddar cheese, Tomato, Lettuce, Mayo and Caramelized Onions. To be fair, the cook forgot to put the onions on it but it was so good that I didn't notice. The bun was nicely grilled and the burger is cooked over an oak-fired grill. The cheese lent a very nice smoky note to the dish and to me the classic burger is dressed with tomato and lettuce with mayonnaise. They offered several choices of cheese and toppings, like a spicy sauce so I asked the server what the sauce was and she said it was a spicy ketchup. I am not a ketchup guy so I went with the mayo and it was excellent. Up until this burger my "gold standard" had been between two burgers; the first is the Kobe Beef burger at the Crooked Spoon in Grand Marais, MN and the second,believe-it-or-not is a chain restaurant burger from Outback Steakhouse in Duluth. Both of those can be ordered medium rare and they were my favorites to date. Robert's version is just as good as either of those, as they each have their individual high points, so I would say we have three equal winners in my estimation.
I tried another one a couple of weeks ago after watching an episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives which featured the Duluth Grill. They offer a Roasted Garlic burger and it sounded intriguing to me so I ordered it. Major disappointment. The burger was way overcooked, it was served on a whole wheat bun, which is just wrong and there were no garnishes at all. I won't be back.
The hunt continues for excellent food!
Good eating,
Tim

Slider experiment

Tonight I am getting ready for our dinner group's August event which is "burger night" and I am working on some sliders toward that end. I downloaded some recipes for various versions of sliders and burgers and they all looked very interesting but I thought I would do a little experimenting of my own.
I took a pound of 85/15 ground beef and cut it into 8 sections , 1/4 pound each and made them into patties about 2 1/2" in diameter and about 3/4" thick. Next, I rubbed them with a mixture of Spanish smoked Paprika ( available at Penzey's Spices www.Penzey's.com), Instant Espresso Powder, Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. I heated the gas grill to high and cooked them about 3 minutes per side until just cooked through. To finish them I made a mixture of Shredded Mozzarella, Shredded Parmesan and Gorgonzola crumbles and topped each slider with about a Tablespoon of the mixture, then closed the grill cover to allow the cheese to melt nicely.
Next, I grilled the buns after spraying them with olive oil cooking spray and served them with a dollop of mayonnaise and a spoonful of my Smoked Tomato, Pepper and Onion Ragu.
Frankly, these were amazing! I ate three of them! The smoked Paprika and coffee flavors blended very nicely and the Smoked Ragu really made them "pop". I am definitely going to use this recipe at our Burger Night this month. On to the next experiment with sliders!