The Guy's Kitchen

Yesterday a group of us from work went to Hero Burgers for lunch.  I have been a fan of Hero for a while.  And it’s a good thing it’s a bit of a trek to get to the nearest one to my work, because I would most likely eat there way too often if it was as close as say, Craft.  We had a “buy a combo get a free burger” coupon, so we were motivated to go for the walk.

Hero makes their burgers from 100% Canadian range fed, hormone and antibiotic free beef.  I think they are in the top two of burgers in Toronto.  Lick’s being the other on that short list.

The burgers come in 4, 6 and 8 ounces.  You can get just the plain burger, the signature burger or a peameal bacon burger, the signature is cheddar cheese and a really yummy mayo like sauce, and the peameal is cheddar and peameal with the signature sauce.  Then you can add from a very wide assortment of toppings, both gourmet and the regular burger fare.  Everything from sauteed mushrooms, brie, and goat cheese to chipotle bar-b-q sauce, creole mustard and red onions.  Personally I find you don’t want to overdo the toppings, it makes for a really messy meal if you do.  The “gourmet” toppins cost extra, either 59 or 99 cents each.  The “regular” type burger toppings are free.

One of the best things about a Hero burger, is that the hamburger patty does not get lost in the bun.  In fact it tends to overhand the edges just a bit.  The meat is juicy and tastes like a burger is supposed to.  You don’t get that kind of cardboardy taste of a frozen patty, and it’s beefy, no filler in these burgers.  If you do add one or more of the gourmet toppings you can actually taste it on the burger.  I have been to places that charge extra for “special” toppings and then when you get the burger you cannot even tell if it is on there or not.  Of course with these big beefy patties you don’t have to worry about overpower the burger taste.  Even if you pile on the brie, sauteed mushrooms and chipotle bar-b-q sauce you still know you are biting into a hamburger.

The fries are really good, bringing back my memories of really good English fish and chips.  Though I will say that Craft Burger quite possibly has very slightly better fries.

I had a signature burger and fries for lunch and then took my free burger home and had it for dinner.  Even cold it is still a really good burger!

Hero Certified Burgers is still in the top two burgers places that I have been to in Toronto.

I have been roasting my own coffee at home for the last couple of weeks.  This has a few benefits:

1. Cost, a pound of green beans, free trade single origin, Costa Rican Tarrazu beans cost me $6 pound.  Gourmet roasted coffee is at least $12 a pound, and quite often much more.  Starbucks special release beans are usually over $15.

2. Taste, coffee made from freshly coffee beans is so much better than the stuff you get from the local coffee shop.

When I first started drinking the coffee I was roasting at home I found there was something really different.  At first I even thought that maybe I wasn’t roasting the beans long enough.  The difference was that there was no stale bitterness to the coffee.  The coffee is smooth and rich, I can actually drink this coffee with nothing added.  And I have always been a cream and sugar guy when it comes to coffee.

I have been using a hot air pop corn popper to roast my beans.  For $19.99 it is a very good investment.  The cheapest counter top roaster I have seen is over $100.  The only drawbacks are that I can only roast 1/2 cup of beans at a time, and that the cover seems to be starting to melt since roasting the beans takes longer than popping some popcorn.

It takes approx 8 minutes to roast a batch of beans.  I have been letting the beans cool for 10 to 15 minutes before grinding some up and brewing in my french press.  French press is my favourite way to make coffee.  Some people do find that the coffee from the french press is a little strong.  I have started just adding a little bit of hot water for anyone who is having coffee to lessen the strength a bit.

This is a trick I learned from a food and wine show that had a Merchants of Green Coffee booth.  And from watching the Good Eats “True Brew“coffee episode.  Something like 7/10ths of coffee are water soluable and there are a lot of bitter compounds.  Overextraction is what causes bitter coffee.  I use 2-3 tablespoons of coffee for a 12 oz mug of coffee.  This is perfect for me though you may find you prefer more or less.  Remembering of course that you can always add some hot water if you find it too strong.

I have gone through all my beans and now I need to head back to the coffee store.  The Green Beanery is close to where I work and is where I got the Costa Rican beans.  I will be making a trip this week, and trying some other beans.

This past weekend I was at a friend’s family place in Muskoka.  They have a wood pellet bar-b-q, like this one .  I am dying to get one of these.  It is the best of both the gas and charcoal bar-b-q’ing worlds.  Fast and easy to start and maintain a set temperature like a propane or natural gas grill, and all the amazing smokey taste of a charcoal bar-b-q.

I smoked some back ribs for 6 and a half hours.  This was after they had spent about 12 hours in my own custom dry rub.  I don’t have specific measurements, not being in my own kitchen, I kind of had to work with what was around.  I just threw some things together, there was brown sugar, kosher salt, freshly cracked pepper, chipotle chili powder, granulated garlic, dry mustard, cumin and something else I am forgetting right now.  This mixture was liberally spread over the ribs after they were cut into smaller 2 and 3 bone segments.

While the ribs were smoking it was time to create a bar-b-q sauce.  The sauce is still a work in progress and could end up making my millions so I am not going to say much, but there was stout in the pot.

After 6ish hours, I started brushing on the glaze.  At this point care must be taken, the sauce can very quickly burn.

The wood pellet bar-b-q stayed between 225 and 240 degrees the entire time and I didn’t have to add more charcoal or play around with air holes at all.  One dial and a thermometre is all I needed.

Friday night I did Flank steak on the same bar-b-q.  The flank steak marinated over night and then a quick high temp searing on the grill.  Since Friday was my first time on the wood pellet stove I actually cooked the steaks to medium/medium well, which is more than I like to do flank steak.  But it had really great flavour.  And made great steak sandwiches when reheated for lunch on Sunday.

I can’t think of a Bar-b-q that would be more useful to have in my backyard.  If I have to get a part time job I am getting one of these.