I came across a post on Instagram where some of the most famous chefs in the world were asked what they would eat for their last meal if they ever found themselves on death row. When I asked my husband what he would have as a last meal, it sparked a conversation about our most memorable meals together. After our trip down culinary memory lane, I concluded that I would have a cheeseburger as my last meal. I was in good company because even though some chefs mentioned combinations like champagne and caviar in the Instagram post, a fair amount admitted they would prefer a hamburger. I always felt I must explain why a hamburger is my go-to choice. Most people consider hamburgers boring, especially when dining at an expensive, up-class restaurant. As a teenager, desperately trying to be thin and beautiful, I always felt guilty after eating the occasional hamburger. My Mom would rationalize my indulgence and explain away my guilt by saying that there is nothing to feel guilty about. “It is quite a balanced meal if you think about it”, she would say, “It’s a protein with a bit of carbs and a lot of salad.”
“A hamburger is perfection wrapped up in a bun” – Anthony Bourdain
A hamburger is a safe choice. The result of having a ground beef patty between two pieces of bread is usually predictable. It is very difficult to make a bad hamburger. A chef is considered talented when they can perfectly cook a simple dish, like scrambled eggs. There are no extravagant ingredients or flavours to hide behind when making a simple dish. One of the most challenging dishes to cook is a Japanese omelette, Omurice, which only consists of eggs cooked so that the outside is firm, but the inside is soft and gooey. I think it is the same for a hamburger.
To make a good hamburger without elaborate toppings and trimmings is a true culinary skill. When we dine out, I usually leave the choice of the restaurant up to a pickier fellow diner, betting on the likelihood that any good restaurant will have a hamburger on its menu. When I find myself in a restaurant without the choice of a hamburger to fall back on, I feel lost between the other options, and I then start to ponder the restaurant’s credibility. I realized my obsession with the hamburger when, at dinner in a classy restaurant with about twenty people, the waiter brought a hamburger to the table, and my dad immediately said, “That must be Rentia’s”. When I obsess about something (like hamburgers and Christmas songs), I explore the variations available, but being a purist at heart, I will always return to the best version of the simplest form. For me, the best version is a cheeseburger. A plain cheeseburger not corrupted by added bacon, avocado, camembert or figs. If one can’t make a good plain cheeseburger, one can’t make a burger.
Life is a combination of magic and burgers – Edmond Pure Burger
There is still some controversy over the origin of hamburgers because their two basic ingredients, bread and beef, have been prepared and consumed separately for many years in various countries before their combination. Originally just a ground beef patty, the first hamburger likely originated in Hamburg, hence its name. However, evidence suggests that the United States may have been the first to combine two slices of bread and a ground beef patty into a hamburger sandwich. After various controversies, the hamburger has become a culinary icon in the United States.
When my husband planned our engagement, he wanted me to meet him in New York after his urology congress in Boston. I was busy preparing for my final oral exam, and the last thing I had time for was a visa application at the nearest consulate in a city 400 kilometres from home. My excuses didn’t deter him, so to sweeten the deal, my husband asked what it would take to convince me to join him in New York. Looking up from my textbook and shooting from the hip, I replied: “I want to see Bill Joel perform live at Madison Square Gardens“. I am still not sure if my then-boyfriend-now-husband knows Billy Joel personally, but the next day, he waved two tickets to a Billy Joel concert at Madison Square Gardens during the very week he planned for us to be in New York in front of me. And just like that, my fate was sealed.
And I don’t want to waste more time, I’m in a New York state of mind – Billy Joel, New York State of Mind
Walking around the city that never sleeps, I channelled Fran Lebowitz and pretended it was my city. I fell in step with the New Yorkers hurrying along on the sidewalk. My heartbeat synchronized with the rhythm of the city and its people. I navigated the subway and hailed a cab like I’d been doing it for years. I felt like a character in a sitcom waiting for a theme song to play. In retrospect, I realized that the whole week in New York was planned around me. My then-boyfriend wanted to be sure of the “Yes!” when he pulled the diamond ring from his pocket at the top of Rockefeller Centre. He indulged my hamburger obsession and took me to Manhattan’s best burger eateries. I had my first Shake Shack burger in Madison Square overlooking the Flatiron building. We disappeared behind the curtain at the Le Parker Meridian Hotel to the secret entrance of Burger Joint. We had a burger at the feet of Lady Liberty, at Burger King and Wendy’s. After a few days, my by-then-fiancé asked me, “Which burger was your favourite?” It was an impossible question to answer. It was almost like asking a mother who her favourite child was. There and then, we invented the burger score that consists of 5 categories, each counting 5 points that will round up to a total of 25 points:
Category 1: The burger bun: the bread should be soft enough to soak up the sauce but not so soft that it will get soggy and disintegrate, leaving you clasping a patty between a slice of tomato and lettuce. It needs to be just right. As a bread-lover, my favourite is a brioche bun because the texture is just right.
Category 2: The beef patty: This is influenced by the type of meat and how the beef is cooked—chargrilled is best. It also depends on whether the patty is solid ground beef with a medium-rare middle or a smash-burger with crispy edges. The beef-to-bun ratio is critical. More beef is not necessarily better, and unfortunately, the leanest beef does not make the best patty.
Category 3: The trimmings: sauce, cheese and other additions. Too many toppings or exotic ingredients like nacho chips and pineapple have a confusing taste. A perfect slice of cheese, tomato, and a good sauce are all you need, along with a bit of shredded lettuce.
Category 4: The chips: Who eats a burger without chips? Different chips or fries complement different burgers: shoe-string, crinkle-cut, or thick-cut steakhouse chips. You also must decide if you will dip them into mayonnaise or tomato sauce. I find that the taste the sauce leaves on one’s palate influences the burger’s flavour.
Category 5: The location: A burger tastes better if one enjoys it in a beautiful environment with good company. A burger tastes better when one is having a spectacular view.
As life gets more complicated, I am trying to focus on the little pleasures in life and the perfection of simple things. The small, often overlooked moments and experiences that bring joy, peace and a sense of fulfillment. Things like watching the birds at the bird feeder in my garden (Yes, I am at the age where I have a bird feeder), a good cup of coffee and a perfect cheeseburger. The only way to make a perfect cheeseburger more perfect is when it is eaten in the company of good friends. My dad taught us to eat fish in a fish restaurant and beef at a steakhouse. He believed that if one orders the type of food that a restaurant specializes in, one is guaranteed a great meal. I suppose the same principle applies to the local cuisine of a country. I do indulge in the local cuisine when we travel. However, after a few days of eating foreign food, I tended to crave hamburgers, and thus, I ate hamburgers in Dubai, Melbourne, Shanghai, Tokyo, Paris, Brussels, and Milan. Hamburgers seem to cross the divide between cities, cultures, cuisines and languages, and one can find a good cheeseburger in most cities. The hamburger also speaks the language of love. My husband has perfected the cheeseburger because he knows it’s my favourite food. People might think of me as basic when I order a hamburger in a restaurant if only they understood the complexity behind something as simple as a cheeseburger.
Enjoy the little things in life because one day you will look back and realize they were the big things – Kurt Vonnegut
