Tasty “Trash” Un-Burger Burger

It’s amazing what can sometimes be created from leftovers found lying in the fridge. On occasion, simply throwing together a hodge-podge of bits and pieces of food remnants can produce a stunning epicurean experience that may even rival the most well-planned and holistically designed recipe.

That was the case when I made myself a hastily put-together burger lunch. It turned out to be one of the tastiest burgers I’ve had in a long while!

Rummaging around the fridge, I found several pieces of braised beef shin left over from dinner several nights ago, together with the last remaining portion of sautéed, lightly caramelized onions. Then, on the kitchen table, I saw the last two buns from my Hong Kong-style “bolo” bun experiment-gone-wrong the day before. All were food that were waiting to be made useful.

The beef was cooked in the style of the lamb shanks which I have posted about previously. I used almost the exact same recipe to braise whole pieces of beef shin. Only after the beef was cooked to fork tender perfection was it cut into slices of medium thickness, and then served with lots of sautéed onions and delicious gravy.

I usually cook beef shin (ideally, from the fore-limbs, as it is more tender) stew-style, with the meat cut into small chunks before cooking. But once in a while, I like to slow-braise the beef shins whole. This gives a completely different textural result which is wonderful.

The buns were the evidence of my latest kitchen sortie to try and achieve super fluffy and soft buns without the use of bread improver. These buns were nicely soft and very aromatic (the whole family commented on the delicious smells that emanated from the bread box each time it was opened, even one day after the breads were made), but they were not of the Japanese-style cottony soft texture that Asians seemed to adore with a vengeance and which I was trying desperately to achieve. While these buns weren’t what I had intended them to be, they nevertheless made for superb burger buns.

And so, all it took was a few minutes, and these leftover food “trash” became the most delicious “un-burger” burger. I don’t think I could have done much better if I had intentionally set out to make a good burger.

I popped the beef slices into the leftover gravy, and heated them up together on low heat on the stove, until everything was nicely warmed through. In a separate pan, I quickly “freshened up” the onions. Meantime, the buns were halved and popped into the oven toaster for a couple of minutes.

Buns ready. Beef ready. Gravy ready. Onions ready.

A slice of beef went on the bottom half of the bun, and was topped generously with the onions.

Next, a drizzle of the richly flavorful gravy. And it was good to go.

As with most braised meat dishes, the time spent sitting in the fridge meant that the flavors of the beef had intensified and deepened considerably, and were a delight on the palate. I would never have thought that a whole slice of meat would make for a good burger “patty”, but it worked stupendously well. I admit : it was rather un-burger-like, but I really enjoyed having a non-minced-meat burger. I adored the texture - meltingly tender with just enough meaty bite. And the soft, cooked down tendons that were marbled through the meat made everything all the more interesting and tasty, in my opinion.

The onions provided a richly flavorful, slightly sweet counterpoint to the savory beef and gravy.

The marriage of all the different flavors and textures was almost heaven-made; they truly worked well together. It was a most enjoyable burger lunch! So who says you can’t have a gastronomic experience with leftovers?

Copyright © 2004 Renee Kho. All Rights Reserved.
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