Hamburgers

Eastside Road, April 11, 2011—

ESPECIALLY WHEN THE BEEF is good, clean, and fair, and more particularly when you know first-hand its origins, the hamburger is one of the Hundred Plates. The hamburger sandwich, I mean: good ground beef, grilled over open flames, set between the halves of a good hamburger bun (which itself is worth going in to in some detail, but I won't here), spread with mustard and mayonnaise, and including sliced raw onion, a slice of tomato, and a leaf of good healthy lettuce.

This ground beef came from our son's Scottish Highland steer, grass-fed. It was chewy and full of flavor. Our son-in-law grilled it perfectly in his fireplace, over oak firewood. The bun was from Healdsburg's Downtown Bakery and Creamery; the catsup was in fact home-made chili sauce; and the vegetables were local. Buono, pulito, e giusto: Carlo would be pleased.

Pinot grigio; various reds