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Recipes
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| Slide over here, my little lamb. |
| Photo l Felicia D'Ambrosio |
I'm a whore for good buns, which I'll say now before some other smart-ass does. Here in Philly, where we will get in to fistfights over the best cheesesteak house, sandwich bread is Serious Business. Old school South Philly bakeries Sarcone's, Cacia's and Faragalli's turn out the choicest chewy torpedo-shaped rolls for hoagie and cheesesteak purposes, but the noble burger requires a gentler hand.
Wild Flour Bakery in the the Northeast bakes the eggy rolls that ensconce the city's best burgers: the Good Dog's stuffed patty oozing lavalike cheese, the oft-lauded Rouge Burger; none would be where they are without the delicate, smashable bun that blends so magically with medium-rare juices.
Though Wild Flour is primarily a wholesale bakery, they accomodate Philadelphians' insatiable need for bitchin' bread at their retail stand in the Headhouse Farmer's Market. Gruyere-proscuitto croissants, free-form loaves of rye with cracked caraway, and snowflake dinner rolls flirt, demanding that every hungry locavore stop and slaver.
As if this heap of carbs and happiness wasn't tempting enough, Wild Flour has added six-count bags of wee challah slider rolls, which are so off the cuteness charts they cannot be denied.
Inspired by two bags of the petite pains, I attacked the Sunday morning market on a mission to make a slider worthy of such a fine bun. Hillacres farm yielded up a package of lovely ground heritage lamb; Margerum's a crop of fresh mint, oregano and shallots. Thus armed, I dragged my cast iron skillet to dad's house and converted everyone into a lamb lover. Recipe for Carried Away by Cuteness Lamb Sliders after the jump.
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| Wee little challah rolls: so shiny, so eggy. |
| Photo l Felicia D'Ambrosio |
(serves 4-6 people as an appetizer or fat-kid snack)
GO GET:
12 Wild Flour challah slider rolls
1 lb. Hillacres Farm ground lamb
3 big sprigs mint, rinsed and dried
2 big sprigs oregano, rinsed and dried
2 not so big shallots
1 tablespoon of butter
salt, pepper, dash of cumin
THEN DO THIS:
1. Peel the shallots, dice small. They are already small so this shouldn't be hard.
2. Pick the herbs off their stems. Reserve one sprig each mint and oregano for topping the sliders.
3. Chiffonade the herbs, excepting the ones you reserved for topping. Chiffonade is just stacking the leaves together, rolling them up like a tiny cigar, and then slicing across thinly to create a pile of skinny strips. You can do it!
4. In a small saute pan over medium heat, melt a tablespoon of butter, and gently sweat half of your pile of shallots for about 2 minutes. Don't char the little things, just let them soften up.
5. In a bowl, combine the raw ground lamb, the sauteed shallots with their butter, the raw shallots, the chiffonade herbs and a dash o' salt, pepper, and cumin. Combine well until the various elements are homogenized.
6. Heat a pan-preferably a heavy cast iron skillet- over a medium flame. While the pan heats, shape the lamb mixture into 12 small balls. Press them down lightly to make a mini burger shape.
7. Cook the sliders 6 at a time in the hot pan. Once placed on the pan, don't move the burgers for the first three minutes of cooking, so they can sear and not stick to the pan. Do not squash them with your utensil. It mashes all of the tasty tasty juices out of the burger.
8. Flip after three minutes, and cook for just another minute on the second side. These are meant to be eaten mid-rare to medium, and they are small, so please, no well-done sadness.
9. Slice the wee little challah buns and insert your baby lamb sliders. Top with 2 whole mint leaves and 2 whole oregano leaves.
10. Eat. You're welcome.
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| The indispensable and deadly cast-iron skillet. |
| Photo l Felicia D'Ambrosio |
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| Bacon, meet bourbon. You two are perfect for each other! |
Kurt Wunder has been pouring drinks for a long time. He's heard it all.
But when a rumor of a cocktail so wrong it's right � The Bacon
Old-Fashioned � crossed his bar, the owner of the 700 Club didn't waste
any time worrying about spiritual morals. He just knew that he loved bourbon and he knew that he loved bacon. And now the twain should meet.
All
good rumors can be investigated on the Internet, and that is where
Wunder found a simple method for infusing bourbon with bacon fat. The
pig-enhanced potion became the basis of a modified Old-Fashioned that
included maple syrup in the role of sugar cube. Wunder admitted to
enjoying the resultant cocktail, but doesn't plan on serving it at 700. "This is a little heavyhanded for me," he says. "I'm
more into classic cocktails. Besides, I can only assume it's legal."
Bacon
is a short infusion � you can render it with your breakfast and and
be drinking bacon bourbon by happy hour. Make your own with a bottle of
cheap booze and a package of the nicest bacon you can afford. Bacon can
also be infused into vodka for a much stronger smoked-pig flavor,
though "nothing about bacon is subtle", commented Wunder, "but the bourbon
did take on a subtle bacony flavor, which dissipated in just a few
days."
Step by step instructions after the jump.
Getting a Pig Inside a Bottle, or, Bacon-Infused Bourbon
adapted from PDT, as published in New York Magazine on April 7, 2008
Step
One: Cook five strips of good bacon over low heat to render out all of
the fat. Keep the heat low; you are looking for maximum melt without
burning anything.
Step Two: Pour the bottle of bourbon (Kurt
used Heaven Hill) into a large, freezer-safe container with a lid.
Set aside the bacon strips; pour the hot fat into the container with
the bourbon.
Step Three: Lid the container tightly, and then
give it a vigorous shake. Allow to infuse on the counter for at least
two (and up to six) hours.
Step Four: Place the container in
the freezer. After half an hour, the bacon fat will have hardened on the
surface of the liquid and can be scooped off. Store the fat in a jar
in the fridge to saut� onions, mushrooms, croutons or mirepoix in
(assuming your cholesterol levels will tolerate it).
Step Five: Strain the baconized bourbon through a cheesecloth- or paper towel-lined funnel back into the bottle.
Check out PDT's recipe for the Bacon Old-Fashioned here. Drink, marvel, oink, repeat.
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