Burgers are in my blood

Great-grandmother Wilhemina, ca. 1880.

In a way, you could say that this was the story that I was born to write. Because, you see, hamburgers are in my blood.

Like all things American, the hamburger came from somewhere else, in the case of the all-American burger, with German immigrants in the mid-19th century. Originally, it was a “Hamburg steak,” a patty of seasoned, ground meat and somewhere along the line, a clever soul added a bun and it became a hamburger. Germany was the predominant country of origin for American immigrants for most of the latter half of the nineteenth century. These immigrants included the parents of my great-grandmother, Wilhemina Hamberger, called Minnie. That's right, my great-grandmother was Minnie Hamberger, a name I have always found amusing, bringing to mind images of sliders and Krystals.

My great-grandfather Otto Eggert was born in appropriately enough, Hamburg, Germany, in 1859 and emigrated with his parents as a young child, settling in Saginaw, Michigan. Wilhemina and Otto married in 1884 and they lived in Montrose, Michigan, where he owned a store, later becoming a traveling salesman based in Toledo, Ohio. Mom says they were middle class, but I know they must have had plenty to eat - look at how much they changed in the last picture - the trim young couple in the 1880s, and the stout couple in the 20th century. They died within a year of each other, Minnie first, in 1925.

Otto and his son Edwin, in Toledo, around 1900.

In between, they had three daughters and a son, my grandfather, Edwin Carl Eggert. Granddaddy was a lively personality, a bit of an adventurer and a thrillseeker. He astonished my brothers and me when he rode a rollercoaster with us - he was in his 80s. He worked at his office job the day he died, just before Christmas 1978. That day, he took presents in for “the girls” (the secretaries at his office), came home, sat in his chair to read the mail, and died. He was 89 years old.

When I remember Granddaddy Eggert, I can't help but think of the changes he saw in his lifetime. He grew up riding horses and ice skating on a frozen river to school (or so he claimed). When he died, he drove a 1977 Chevy Malibu and hopped on an airplane to visit his children in Florida and Georgia. He loved to entertain his grandchildren, and I remember especially that he loved cheeseburgers.

Otto & Minnie in later years, ca. 1920.

Well into a second century of food icon status, the all-American hamburger has seen its share of changes, too. When I make burgers, I like to use bison or buffalo meat. I’m not sure if Minnie would approve, but when she grew up, the mighty beasts still roamed the Great Plains. Bison is a lean meat, with significantly less calories and cholesterol than beef or chicken. And while it’s not quite beefy, it does have a satisfying meaty taste and texture. It responds to seasoning well, and that’s why I beef up my bison with kitchen sink ingredients - soy sauce, steak sauce and chopped onion. I love to use the new slider buns available in the supermarket - it's a more favorable bun-to-burger ratio - so for my Great-Grandmother Minnie Hamberger, I present a mini-hamburger.

Buffalo Sliders

Makes six ¼ pound sliders

½ medium onion

1 1/3 pound ground bison or beef

¼ teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 teaspoons steak sauce, such as Heinz 57

6 wheat slider buns

Mayonnaise

3 slices white American cheese, halved

3 bread and butter pickle sandwich slices, halved

1. Finely dice the onion and place in small bowl with water. Microwave for one minute, let cool, then drain.

2. In a bowl, mix together ground bison (or beef), cooled and drained onion, salt, pepper, Worcestershire, soy sauce and steak sauce. Using your hands and a light touch, combine thoroughly. Shape into six ¼- pound patties, round and an even thickness. If making ahead, wrap and refrigerate for up to a day.

3. Set a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Fry burgers in batches, if necessary, until desired degree of doneness, about five minutes on the first side, three minutes on the second for well done. Remove from skillet and drain on paper towels. (If you have a grillmeister in the house, by all means, grill the burgers.)

4. Toast the buns and assemble sandwiches: spread bun with mayonnaise, add patty, then cheese, then pickle.

© 2010, Lucy Mercer.

Little Pies on the Prairie

It's a little sad to think that I've reached this number of years and never eaten Shepherd's Pie until recently. The classic dish features ground meat, usually lamb, in a savory sauce, mixed with peas and carrots and topped with mashed potatoes and melted cheese. This homey dish was simply not on my mother's rotating roster of (always delicious and nutritious) meals. In recent weeks, since tasting it at a local joint (a Georgia version of an Irish pub, I'm assured), I've been obsessed with creating the dish at home. My first notion, to braise a lamb shoulder and proceed with a stew and then the pie, was potentially time-consuming, not to mention fraught with the complication of purchasing lamb. Sheep, in any form, is difficult to come by in Georgia. Ground beef, that old housewifely standby, is the quick version's meat of choice, and if you're an Anglophile or of the Motherland born, you will remind me that this dish is then called Cottage Pie.


Potatoes, peas and carrots are staples in my larder, but ground beef is not. My last few trips to the store, I completely forgot to purchase it. Needing to put supper on the table and unwilling to venture to the store on a bitter cold February night, I decided to use the ground bison meat my husband had purchased intending to make Ta Tonka burgers, one of my meat-crazed daughter's favorite meals (see earlier post). The result was individual pies, each in its own cozy ramekin. My children were delighted to push their spoons into the gooey melted Cheddar, around the vegetable matter underneath, straight to the savory meat at the bottom. Hubby was pleased, too, and this dish will certainly go into the mealtime rotation.


We now have a nomenclature issue. If Shepherd's Pie implies that you used lamb, and Cottage Pie refers to the beef version, what should you call this dish when made with ground bison meat? Why, Prairie Pie, of course. While part of me wonders if "prairie pie" is a cowboy euphemism for (ahem) manure, a quick google reveals that it's unlikely. Let's hope.


Okay, so here's the recipe for a tasty, filling wintertime meal,

Prairie Pie

4 medium Russet potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup milk

salt and pepper to taste

1 onion, finely chopped

5 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1/4 inch dice

1 cup frozen green peas

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 pound ground bison (or ground beef, if you simply must be a rule breaker)

1 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons ketchup

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 cup low-sodium beef broth

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1. Face the cooktop and locate three pots: two saucepans filled with salted water and set to boil. The third pan should be a skillet in which to brown the ground bison. Now is a good time to assemble the baking and serving dish/dishes and place them on a baking sheet. I used two small ramekins for the kidly portions and two gratin dishes for the adult meals. You could use all ramekins, all gratins, or one single casserole dish. My recipe will generously feed two adults and two children with no leftovers. You will need to expand the recipe by 1/2 or more if you need to feed teenage werewolves, fieldhands or stevedores.

2. Boil the peeled, cubed potatoes in one pot of salted water until done, about 10 to 15 minutes. Boiled the peeled, diced carrots in the second pot of salted water about 10 to 15 minutes, until crisp-tender.

3. Heat oil in the skillet. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add the ground bison and cook until browned, about 15 minutes. Bison is lean, and there will not be excess fat to pour off. Sprinkle the flour over the meat and onion mixture and cook for a couple of minutes. Stir in ketchup, soy sauce and beef broth. Pepper is a nice addition at this point, and salt is a possibility. Taste before, during and after the seasoning. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes.

4. Drain the carrots and set aside. Drain the potatoes, add the butter and milk, salt and pepper, and mash until smooth. I'm a fan of rustic potatoes, with a few small chunks in the mash, but feel free to mash to your desired level of consistency.

5. When all the ingredients are ready, but before the assembly, preheat the oven to 350. To assemble: for a ramekin, put about 1/3 cup of the meat mixture in the bottom. Top with a tablespoon or so of diced carrots and a tablespoon of frozen green peas. Cover this with a goodly smear of mashed potatoes, covering the meat and vegetables completely. Sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese on top. For the other dishes, you really should be able to figure it out on your own.

6. Place the individual dishes or the single casserole, on a baking sheet and into the 350 oven for about 20 minutes, until the cheesy is ooey-gooey and the potatoes are a light golden brown.

You can make this dish ahead of time, in fact, it's perfect for mommies who may have an hour in the morning to cook the ingredients and an hour in the afternoon to assemble the dishes and bake.

Labor Day Grill

Menu

Ta Tonka Fromage Burgers

Grilled Sweet Corn

Creamy American Potato Salad

Glazed Carrots

Fudgy Brownies

The Ta Tonka Fromage is a family joke -- it's bison burgers with cheese. On a vacation in New Mexico, we learned that the Native American word for buffalo is Ta Tonka, so we celebrate that little nugget of knowledge each time I make the burgers. I mix a pound of bison meat with 1/2 of an onion, finely chopped, and splashes of ketchup, soy sauce and whatever steak sauce is kicking in the fridge. This mixture is shaped into patties, grilled and served with American cheese slices, because I'm the kind of food snob who only buys Kraft Singles, not the store brands. You'll find very few convenience foods and "cheese food" type ingredients in my home, but I like Kraft singles for superior meltability and kid-friendly packaging.

The potato salad is from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook and it uses a technique that I wrote about for Greek potato salad - tossing the warm potato chunks in seasoned red wine vinegar. This was a very good potato salad, with the expected dollop of Dijon in the mayo, sliced, boiled eggs and chopped sweet pickles, not pickle relish. It was quite tasty and the recipe page shall be bookmarked.