The twenty-eighth recipe I made from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table cookbook, was Cafe Salle Pleyel Hamburger found on pages 240-242.
In this book, Dorie's explanations of the origins of recipes preface each recipe, making the book a fun and educational read as well as one with delicious and wonderful recipes. This hamburger was created by the owner of a little cafe within the Salle Pleyel concert hall in Paris and was designed to give Americans (and others) a hamburger menu choice while creating something new and delicious to fit more in with the French taste palate. I have to say, she did an excellent job as the ingredients in this burger made it interesting, different, and delicious.
The ingredient list for the Onion Marmalade: red onions, water, coriander, butter, salt, and pepper. The ingredient list for the burgers: ground beef, oil-packed sundried tomatoes, capers, cornichons, tarragon, parsley, salt, pepper, and Parmigiano Reggiano.
Whatever you sub or change, don't change the Onion Marmalade until you have made it once exactly as she says because (despite the rather pale mushy look of it) this is really wonderful. I taste-tested it way more than absolutely necessary while making it, and I can think of other things this onion jam is going to grace around here in the future. So good, and perfect for the burgers.
When I made the burgers, I used ground sirloin as that was her first suggestion, but in the future, I will use a less lean mixture to give the burger just a little more moistness. That said, it was absolutely delicious with the ground sirloin alone as well. Definitely a repeat, the combination of flavors is fun and very French, loved it.
