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From Serious Eats

Ten Steps to the Perfect Cheeseburger

That business about 'ignoring the common advice about not "overworking" the meat' is a serious oversight. Burgers should be packed as little as possible.

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From Talk

Smoky Kitchen, Need Some Exhaust

From Talk

Sesame pancake sandwiches @ Dumpling House, Chinatown

From Talk

I bought some salted pig jowl.

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Recent Comments | Response to Comments

From Serious Eats

Ten Steps to the Perfect Cheeseburger

That business about 'ignoring the common advice about not "overworking" the meat' is a serious oversight. Burgers should be packed as little as possible.

From A Hamburger Today

All Sizzle at Spark Woodfire Grill in Studio City, California

I think a better idea might be to stop reviewing crummy burgers. These writeups are majorly tiresome. Maybe try some research ?

From Slice

What's the Longest Wait You've Had at Di Fara?

Me and a friend waited for 3 hours for a square pie once, but it was prime-time on a very nice spring day on a Saturday (ordered at 3, got it around 6)

From Serious Eats

Ketchup Macarons, a Savory French/American Snack

Am I seriously the only one who thinks this is a clever and potentially delicious idea

From Serious Eats

Win a Free Organic D'Artagnan Turkey Here!

Some great recipes in there for baked goods (biscuits, cornbread) !

From Talk

Eating out in Fort Greene / Williamsburg

This thread is about Williamsburg, Brooklyn

From Slice

Here's a Tip: Mediocre Pizza Is Better When You Order It 'Well-Done'

I do this all the time; the slices at Rosario's on Orchard in the LES are quite good when ordered well-done.

From Talk

Eating out in Fort Greene / Williamsburg

Fanny is a quite a secret, they've been massively ignored by press and blogs. They have a great and really cheap bowl of mussels that I love.

From Slice

Do You Put Ranch Dressing on Pizza?

I really miss dipping Gatti's pepperoni pizza into ranch, and I'm kind of embarrassed of it. (Grew up in Austin, recently moved to Brooklyn: I'd never admit that fact around here.)

From Serious Eats

Budweiser's New American Ale

I love Budweiser, in the same way I love burgers and fried chicken

From A Hamburger Today

In Fort Worth, Kincaid's Lets Us Down While Fearing's Picks Us Back Up

Burger House in Dallas (the original one, on Hillcrest next to SMU campus) is excellent, and a perfect exemplar of Texas burgers.

http://www.burgerhouse.com/index.htm

From Recipes

Dinner Tonight: Chipotle Smashed Sweet Potatoes

I've been making these for quite a while, from the Good Eats recipe. It's one of the winningest combinations.

From Talk

Recommendations for knife sharpeners

Don't do it yourself, you'll end up doing more harm than good. Take them to a professional.

From Talk

Ketchup On Burgers...

I grew up in Austin. Mustard is the standard condiment in Texas, as far as I know. I prefer mayo however, which isn't out of the norm either. If you want ketchup, you generally have to that yourself.

Regardless, I despise ketchup on burgers.

From Talk

What foods seriously put you off your feed?

With the exception of frog legs, I enjoy everything that has been mentioned here.

From Talk

Advice for beef marrow bones?

I feel like I read something recently that bones of younger animals have more marrow than those of older ones (so in this case — and in that Fergus Henderson recipe — it would be better to use veal bones)

From Slice

Do You Put Ranch Dressing on Pizza?

How do you get a white trash girl to suck your d**k?

Dip it in ranch dressing.

From Serious Eats

How Do You Eat Your Bagel?

I come from Brooklyn, where one of my fondest childhood memories is the daily walk I took with my father and uncle to the neighborhood bagel bakery (in Boro Park).

I now live in California, after living 20 years in Massachusetts. I have never been able to find a Brooklyn-style bagel, and I wonder if they still exist.

My childhood bagels were hard and chewy, there was no way to make a sandwich from them. I ate them radially, schmearing the exposed end with cream cheese and eating my way around.

At the company cafeteria today, everyone was talking about bagels, and all but one person laughed at me for eating bagels the way I did. The one person who concurred with me, was a Bulgarian. He was a true Bagel maven.

From Slice

Do You Put Ranch Dressing on Pizza?

I don't put ranch on anything! Gross tasting stuff.

From Slice

Do You Put Ranch Dressing on Pizza?

Amen "omnomnom"! (I'm from Mich, too. Same area)

From Slice

Do You Put Ranch Dressing on Pizza?

I absolutely love ranch on my pizza. Granted, I am a middle-school student (though homeschooled), and got the idea from my (middle school, homeschooled) friends after we started dipping French-Fries in Ranch (that's justified in Mich--here most of the fries are way too greasy or way too dry). We decided to try it on our pizza--and it's great. Only Hidden Valley (tm) works though. Deep dish pizza doesn't need it, fortunately. A group fave for us is cayenne pepper, fresh black pepper, ranch, and tabasco sauce. I agree, if it's good pizza, it doesn't need condiments, but (1) pizza in metro-detroit isn't that good, and (2), it doesn't matter if it needs it--if ya want it, I say put it on unashamedly!

From Talk

Do you blog? What's your URL?

Cocina Savant
http://cocinasavant.blogspot.com/
Weekly pictures, recipes, and thoughts from a husband and wife who love books and cooking for each other.

From Talk

What's your favorite salad combination?

Top a bed of arugula with blueberries, sliced granny smith apples or pears, blue cheese and some chopped pecans. Squeeze some fresh lemon juice on top and you have a great salad combo! I have another great salad combo under my recipes section on my blog: www.shar-on-nutrition.com

From Talk

What's your favorite salad combination?

I slowly slowly lowly cook thin slices of garlic and sliced almonds in olive oil and butteruntil they are just barely browned, and finish the last few minutes with a good shake of seasoned salt and sugar.

They are the perfect delicious yummy crunchy topping to any mixed green salad. That, plus a sweet element, like grapes or berries or diced apple, makes a good salad great for me.

From Talk

What's your favorite salad combination?

Spinach, strawberries, red onion, almonds, raisins, cheese...yummy! This is also good with pears...and a homemade poppyseed vinagrette! Excellent!

From Serious Eats

Ten Steps to the Perfect Cheeseburger

@Mike5966: If you have a high BTU grill it is possible. I crank up all the burners on mine and the temp reaches ~700f. I rotate the burger a couple times before the flip to get more char on the burger. If you can get your grill hot enough you will achieve what you are looking for.

From Serious Eats

Ten Steps to the Perfect Cheeseburger

Lvn4life.. Imedium means pink in the middle. Medium well is almost no pink and well is zero pink.

From Serious Eats

Ten Steps to the Perfect Cheeseburger

Mike5966 - George Foreman? lmao j/k

btw - I am a medium kinda girl. I dont really want to see a pink center when I bite in

From Serious Eats

Ten Steps to the Perfect Cheeseburger

I wonder if there is a way to combine the crispy carmelization of griddling with the picnicky smokiness of grilling into one perfect patty... if someone could/has achieved this or knows a place that has, please do tell.

From Serious Eats

Ten Steps to the Perfect Cheeseburger

I am a big fan of irradiated beef for hamburgers. It nearly eliminates any risk of illness from undercooked beef.

From Serious Eats

Ten Steps to the Perfect Cheeseburger

Still don't understand the popularity of medium rare when the threat of foodborne illness is considerably high.

E. coli is very real, there is a reason why some restaurants refuse to serve any meat not well done. When you become ill, there will be no one to blame but yourself!

From Serious Eats

Ten Steps to the Perfect Cheeseburger

That picture is revolting-- looks like some serious e-coli waiting to happen. Guess I'm not a foodie.

From Serious Eats

Ten Steps to the Perfect Cheeseburger

That article shouldn't even be mentioned (except in ridicule) on AHT. Thumbprints are for those who overwork the meat. Its personal preference, but cmballa is right - handled as little as possible and packed so loose they almost fall apart leads to the juiciest result. 'Exactly 3 mins'? That's ridiculous. Salt and pepper well ahead? Knock yourself out, but don't do that to my burger, thanks. And if grilling buns is the only civilized way to eat them - I'll stick with the cavemen at Shake Shack, PJ Clarke's, White Manna, Corner Bistro, etc.

From Serious Eats

Ten Steps to the Perfect Cheeseburger

The thumbprint is ridiculous. Don't add too many ingredients to the meat. Salt and pepper and oil. Use a hot grill and only flip once, wait for the blood to rise to the top -- don't ever squish them with the spatula. I like to add worcestershire sauce while they cook too.

From Serious Eats

Ten Steps to the Perfect Cheeseburger

What's with the notion that the grilling season ends with Labor Day? Both my Weber grills, gasser and charcoal, see duty 12 months a year here in Connecticut. I think these are good general rules of thumb - these guys have determined that for the 6 oz burgers they make with the fire they build, 3.2.1 works for them. Weighing is a good idea.

From Serious Eats

Ten Steps to the Perfect Cheeseburger

Doesn't the cook time vary based on heat of the grill/griddle and how thick it is, etc? The 3-2-1 rule seems too general.

I like how that commenter totally owns them on explaining the reason for the dimple.

From Serious Eats

Ten Steps to the Perfect Cheeseburger

Make the center of the burger a little thinner so that when it tightens up, it won't turn into a ball.
As for me, I always like to grind my own beef so that I feel better about cooking to medium rare.

From Serious Eats

Ten Steps to the Perfect Cheeseburger

Sure. Don't grill it. Griddle it :P

Generally though, the meat shouldn't be touched no matter how you are going to cook it. Pull out a chunk and gently pat it into shape, if you must shape it at all. I think part of the reason so many people like medium rare or other undercooked styles of burger is they've never had properly handled meat, which will stay juicy even when being cooked through.

From Talk

What's your favorite salad combination?

The organic farm is drowning us in huge quantities of broccoli, lettuce, boc choy, kale, spinach, Kale, collards, radicchio and escarole! I'm not complaining, but I'm trying to keep things interesting while we eat all these greens.

Current fave: any combo of lettuce, sliced strawberries, chopped red onion, walnuts, chevre and poppyseed dressing thinned with a little milk - don't like it too thick. You can throw in some white beans, too, if you like.

Also: lettuce or greens of any kind, thinly sliced pears, craisins, and a good-sized slice off a log of chevre, rolled in chopped pecans and baked until warm. Dijon mustard dressing - heaven!

My favorite chopped salad: lettuce, onions, tomato, avocado, walnuts or almonds and any type of vinegarette. Love, love, love tomatoes and avocado together.

From Serious Eats: New York

Roasted Delights, Chinese Barbecue At Its Best [Update: no longer open]

I passed by Roasted Delights this weekend. It was shuttered.
The phone is also disconnected.
Any clue as to what has happened?

From Slice

Do You Put Ranch Dressing on Pizza?

I have NEVER heard of this culinary habit of ranch dressing on pizza until I read this in the Wash. Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/27/AR2008052700821.html

It just seems like such an incongruous flavor or condiment to add to a pizza.

Recent Posts

From Talk

Smoky Kitchen, Need Some Exhaust

From Talk

Sesame pancake sandwiches @ Dumpling House, Chinatown

From Talk

I bought some salted pig jowl.

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About cmballa

Website: http://sometrajectories.com/

Location: Prospect Heights, Brooklyn

About: Writer and gallerist with a penchant for buying meals with invisible money.

Favorite foods: Fatty pork, cheeseburgers, goat butter, bitter greens, oily coffee, citrus fruits, crusty bread, fried chicken, coconut-type desserts

Last bite on earth: A slice off the moist end of one of my dad's barbeque briskets, with white bread and pickles