You would’ve thought that with such a legendary title ‘pimp up your burger’ that the creative juices would be flowing freely, but sadly that wasn’t the case! There was but one burger that came to mind: that traditional one, the image heavily embedded into my brain since childhood…bread buns, surrounding a patty of some sort (meat or veggie), a selection of high-calorie sauces and a minuscule portion of limp salad vegetables. Doesn’t sound so appetising on reflection, but as a kid, this option would always go down a treat- well, when I was allowed on the occasional day each year!

So how to transform this ol’ fashioned burger it into a pimped up version? This is what I came up with:

Cheesy bread pudding; Rib eye steak; Assorted condiment gels: ketchup, honey mustard, hot pepper sauce; Purple potato chips and puree

Cheesy bread pudding

The collaboration of soft brioche buns and melted cheese, such a sheer delight to bite in to. I find a moist bread pudding just as heavenly, though I normally seek assistance from a cup of tea or coffee rather than a savoury patty. But I have the strong belief that a bread pudding, with its subtle flavour and cloud-like texture, exhibits blank canvas charm so naturally I envisioned, bread pudding slathered with cheese to replace the bog-standard burger bun and here’s how I made it…

Neatly stack 700g worth of sliced bread into a baking dish to make 3 layers. In between each layer, sprinkle 100g grated mature cheddar cheese. Make a savory custard by whisking together 6 eggs, 750ml milk, and 1 tsp vanilla extract. pour onto the cheese and bread layers. Leave to soak for 30 minutes before placing in the oven for 45 minutes at 190C. Allow to cool before cutting and serving.

Assorted condiment gels: ketchup, honey mustard, pea and mint sauce

For the gels I picked the sauces that I prefer most with burgers: mustard, tomato ketchup and hot sauce.

To make the ketchup, 500ml passata, ½ tsp salt, 1tbsp sugar, 3tbsp vinegar, 2 tbsp rapeseed oil, ¼ tsp of the following spices: cinnamon, ground cloves, nutmeg and cumin and leave to simmer for 30 minutes.

For the hot sauce, I always find that green chilies give it that extra freshness and remind me of my grans home made chili sauce she would keep in jars all over the house! So this was my preferred choice of pepper. In a food processor, blend green chilies with salt, coriander, green bell pepper, 1 garlic clove and lemon juice. Each ingredient can be added in varying amounts depending on how spicy or sour you like it.

I was a bit lazy with the mustard and didn’t actually make my own this time BUT I do have a recipe - so if you’re up for the challenge, you can find it in the following link from a previous SIC entry!

https://steemit.com/steemit-ironchef/@foodflaneur/steemit-iron-chef-2017-17-an-orgy-of-canapes-oh-steady-on-there

To make all of the above into gel form, add 1 tsp agar powder per 400ml liquid product (add some water to further liquefy the sauces if needed otherwise the gel will not be smooth). Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before plating.

Potato chips and Puree of purple potato

Of course no burger is complete without a portion of potato by its side. As the world knows, a burger goes hand in hand with fries, but not the pimped up burger. The pimped up burger has a nice side of creamy purple potato squeezed closely beside it.

Simply boil purple sweet potatoes and mash with a tad salt, pepper and butter. Any potatoes can be used, but I thought purple would be fun for the photography aspect.

For the chips, please refer to the recipe for monochrome week on the following link:

https://steemit.com/steemit-ironchef/@foodflaneur/steemit-iron-chef-2018-act-01-round-10-rose-petal-raindrop-cake-dragonfruit-and-lime-coulis-pickled-ginger-and-strawberry

Ribeye steak

Always sounds easy but it’s so tricky! I don’t make it often so I just kept it simple. Seasoned a ribeye steak with salt and pepper and pan fried in a dash of hot oil, searing the entire periphery for 2 minutes each side and then stuck in a hot oven for a further 5 minutes before leaving it to rest.