When I go to restaurants it's because:

a) they make something I don't, and want to figure out how

b) they make something I do, but better, and I want to figure out how

c) I'm out of town, and am too lazy to prepare dinner in my hotel room (though I have on many occasion)

Tom

You know, I was in Lyon in my teen-years. Going to a restaurant there is normal, even as students we went often. In my years in other countries then, I've learned to be very very suspicious with chefs. On top of that, there is a cultural element: rare duck is normal in France, totally out in Chinese cooking. In that thread, we saw that cooking temperature recommendations for porc differ depending on where and when and from whom one learns it.
It's like cloths: Every single Englishman learned that brown shoes on blue suit is bad taste... I've you seen fashion (even from London) in the last three years?

I am not telling I am better than chefs. I am saying that a chef can not cook with a christal ball and guess other people's taste all the time, even if he can make people discover new tastes clients had no idea they liked. Keeping the guy informed is the least a client can do.

Yes, rare duck (or most anything, including most non-domesticated fowl) for me, please (foie gras, liver in general, kidneys, game, etc.)

Tom

Well a South African Hamburger mainly consists of Marinade with some meat And nice and crispy on the outside, thats how we like it

I make burgers from time to time, no problems really...Only thing I would like to track down is really good cheddar cheese

If you want that Macdonalds flavor you need to add some beef marrow, ask the butcher for some bones.

I think there's a certain someone on the forums who can help you out with that! (His cheddar is awesome; if anything, it's too good to squander on a burger!)


You can get decent English cheddar at larger grocery stores and cheese shops; I am not aware of any sources for American cheddar, regardless of quality.

YES YOU CAN (or at least the CH version).

Look for Maggi (Nestle) Zwiebelsuppe (german) or Soupe à l'oignon (french).

Tried the spicy frozen burger patties at Migros...Wow, excellent

I'm just gonna whack my recipe in here without regard to further posts, since somebody's resurrected a slightly stale thread ...

For a pound of mince add one egg, a tablespoon of soy sauce, crushed (or ground) garlic & ginger to taste, and some pepper ... I usually put in finely-diced onion as well, but one of my sons doesn't like onion and will waste his time picking it out (sacrilege!). If cooking for myself or other spice-loving people, I add some extra-hot chili sauce as well - my favourites come from Chilli Willies in Australia.
I use the same recipe for meatloaf and meatballs ...

Oh, and as for 'wasting' GG's cheddar on a burger - cheese is like wine, if it's not good enough to consume separately, it's not good enough for cooking!

It's in the bbq technique.
I always consult the grill bible:

I am convinced that McDonalds use beef marrow, the soft fatty part inside the big leg bones which make beef very tasty.

You can buy them at butchers and supermarkets here, ask for Knochenmark in high German. I ask for one bone per 200 gram minced (ground) beef. The bones are sawn across, about 2 cm thick, sometimes frozen, and usually free of charge. I push the soft fatty flesh out of the bone, chop it finely and mix in with the beef.

My 22 year old son doesn't know I use these bones, if he did he wouldn't eat the beef. Amusingly he sometimes comes into the kitchen and says "That smells good, just like McDonalds" hee hee!

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Yes but using McDonald's as your gold standard for a burger is like buying ramen noodles and using those as the standard against which you judge fresh handmade pasta at an Italian artisan. It's so far off the mark that I can't even laugh about it.

So tempted to neg rep you for this comment...!

The poster was asking how to get that "gamier" flavour, and my answer is to use beef marrow.

What can you suggest my friend? Old meat? Fresh squirrel? Road kill?

Anyway, I don't make burgers, nor do I buy them. I put the beef marrow in my Bolognese sauce. But I have been told there are MILLIONS of Americans that actually buy McDonalds at least once per week!

You know, I never eat frozen patties in the first place...My wife insisted I was going to like them...Perhaps I went not expecting much and it exceeded my expectations...I'll have to try them again but they were a lot better than I expected

She's smart though, she always knows what I'm going to like

I'm not opposed to marrow. I'm just opposed to comparing to McD's.

Sure, but an American understands that a fast-food burger and a "real" burger aren't really the same thing. We don't compare between the two groups, only within! Here in Switzerland, nobody's ever HAD a real burger, only fast food, which is why even the grocery store burger patties are god-awful.