Cooking Hamburger in the Oven

More pictures + flavour variations will be added later

From fresh ground beef
1. Patty out your burgers. I use this: Progressive International HPM-1 The Perfect Burger Press (yes, pretty much everything I own kitchen-wise comes from Amazon.com)

2. Line pan with a piece foil big enough to fit burger (or burgers). Bend edges of foil up to trap fat (easier clean up). Add burger.

3. Heat oven to 350F. Cook burger for 22 minutes, or until a meat thermometer reads 160F (I use this one and love it).

4. Let burger rest, if you want (absorbs fat), or don't. Enjoy either way!


From frozen
1. I freeze my burgers in aluminium foil, so just place frozen burger on pan. Otherwise, do the same bent-foil trick as with a fresh burger.

2. Heat oven to 350F. Cook burger for 4 minutes, then loosen aluminium foil from burger and make bent foil trap like before (if you try to loosen the frozen foil before heating it a little bit, it'll stick to the burger)

3. Cook for another 35 minutes at 250, or until meat thermometer reads 160F.

4. Let burger rest if desired.

5. Nom. (internet speak for "enjoy")

The Perfect Cup of Coffee

Why so many steps?
I'll be the first to admit this: I'm a bit of a coffee snob. =P Since I almost always drink my coffee black, I taste a lot of subtle flavours that are masked by creamer & sugar. If you like to flavour your coffee, that's cool with me. About four years ago, though, I realised that "good" coffee isn't bitter, overly acidic, metallic, watery, or any of the other nasty tastes that people try to hide. To try and learn what makes a "good coffee," I stopped using flavours. If you're drinking something brewed properly, it'll taste really, really delicious without the need for creamers. Or at least, I think so. Your milage may vary.

The best two cups of coffee I've ever had were:
1. The T-discs of Henry's Blend (Seattle's Best Coffee), brewed in a Tassimo pod coffee maker. Of course, these pods are no longer made. *sigh*
2. Room service french-press coffee at a Ritz-Carlson, tried on a whim while in Atlanta for PittCon (scientific convention; I was presenting some recently published research).

Since I don't live at the Ritz-Carlson, and those particular T-discs are no longer made, I had to find another way to brew coffee. The AeroPress turned out to be my answer. After some research, I read that the it was the both the slight pressure exerted by the Tassimo coffee maker during brewing + the proper temperature water that made the pod Henry's Blend coffee taste so different from standard drip Henry's Blend coffee. The Aeropress is a hand-press coffee maker (see pictures below for how it works), so it exerts a small amount of pressure as you extract the steeped coffee. Combine that with an electric kettle with temperature control, and you get an amazing cup of coffee. It's not quite the same as the T-disc brew, but it's close enough -- and delicious in its own way.

The electric kettle I use is the very long-named Cuisinart CPK-17 PerfecTemp 1.7-Liter Stainless Steel Cordless Electric Kettle." It heats water quickly (unbelievably so -- the stove kettle at my grandmother's house now seems to take forever) and has six temperature choices designed for types of tea.

What you'll need

• Cuisinart Electric Kettle; or a stove kettle, a thermometer, and patience
• An AeroPress
• Coffee (I use Henry's Blend, now renamed "Level 4" -- see picture below)

One awesome electric kettle. ♥ Haha.
The ideal temp depends on what blend you're using. Aeropress instructions say 160F; I prefer 175F for Henry's Blend. Since I store coffee in the fridge, I heat my water to 190F to compensate for the temperature difference.

The brand of coffee:

Components of the Aeropress:

1. Place filter on filter holder.

2. Assemble filter + body of AeroPress (it twists to close)

3. Decide how many shots of espresso you want, and add that many scoops of coffee. I'm making 2 shots.

4. There are numbers on the body of the AeroPress; add heated water up to the number of scoops of coffee you added. Stir with stirrer.

5. I usually find that the water level drops as soon as I start stirring, so I add a bit more water. Then stir for 10 seconds. It's okay if some water trickles through while you stir, I just like to compensate for that initial drop.

6. Briefly rinse the end of the plunger in hot water (I use some of what's left in the kettle), then .s.l.o.w.l.y. press down. Aim for 20 seconds or more.

5. If you see any of this when you're done pressing, scrape it on the edge of the cup. It's tasty. =)

6. Now you have 2 shots of espresso.

7. Add hot water to taste for the perfect Americano!

If you tried this, please let me know! I'd love to know what other people think of this brewing method.

Café Creme

What is a café creme? Simply espresso + heavy cream, usually mixed in a 1:1.5 ratio. It seems a bit silly creating a how-to for this, but having a page to link to keeps me from explaining what a café creme is every day that I drink one. This starts with a double espresso made with an Aeropress (click here for how to use the Aeropress), which is also the basis for my delicious cups of coffee (click the link above). If you've got your own espresso maker, you can use that instead.


What you'll need

• Cuisinart Electric Kettle; or a stove kettle, a thermometer, and patience
• An AeroPress
• Coffee (I use Henry's Blend, now renamed "Level 4" -- pictured in the Perfect Cup of Coffee post)
• Heavy cream

1. Start with espresso.

2. To a separate glass, add 1.5 ounces of cream for every ounce of espresso. Heat up the heavy cream a bit (18 seconds on 30% power works for me).

3. Add coffee to cream (or other way around, if you prefer). Stir, and heat a bit more (30 seconds at 40% power, or to taste). Enjoy! (No, really, that's all there is to it)

If you tried this, please let me know. I'd love to hear what you thought!

Easy, No-Mess Oven Bacon

This is the easiest bacon you'll ever make -- no mess, no splatter, and barely any clean up. It's also really easy to save the grease for cooking later, thanks to the parchment paper.

Just a note: Do NOT preheat the oven. Starting with a cold oven is what makes this work.

What you'll need:

• Parchment paper
• Bacon
• A pan
• An oven

1. Tear off a piece of parchment paper slightly bigger than how much bacon you're cooking. Cover the pan with it, and arrange bacon so that the pieces aren't overlapping.



Sugar-free bacon! This is the Gwaltney brand.



2. Place pan of bacon in cold (not preheated) oven. Turn oven on to 400F (204C). If you're using a Celsuis oven, please tell me how your bacon turned out!



3. Set a timer for 17 minutes (pictured is the meat thermometer I use, without the probe). Go take a shower, get dressed, etc.


4. At the end of 17 minutes: not quite done. I usually need to add 2 more minutes, but I always check at 17 minutes because I really don't like burnt bacon.


5. After a total of 19 minutes: perfect, mess-free, chewy bacon. If you prefer a crunchy texture, leave it in a bit longer -- about 2 minutes, depending on your oven. To save the grease, just transfer the bacon to a plate, lift the corners of the parchment paper (so the grease pools in the middle) and tilt the paper over your storage container. The grease will easily slide off the paper and into your container.


That's it! If you use this method, please comment below and tell me what you think. =)

Classic Beef Roast with Herb-Shallot Sauce

As promised, the roast recipe mentioned in Day 1. Credit goes to the little tear off tag on the shinkwrap covering my roast. You can find their online version by clicking here, or follow along below. I've added my own notes in parenthesis.

Classic Beef Roast with Herb-Shallot Sauce

• 1 beef roast, small end (4-6 lb)
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme (or 2 tablespoons fresh)
• 1 tablespoon(ish) garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon(ish) ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons(ish) finely chopped green onion
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 2 teaspoons spicy brown mustard (look for a kind without added sugar)
• 1 tablespoon butter , softened

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. Add dried thyme, garlic powder, and pepper to a small bowl. Stir to combine seasonings, then press the mixture onto all surfaces of beef roast.
3. Place roast, fat side up, on rack in shallow roasting pan. Insert ovenproof meat thermometer (I use this one from Amazon and love it. It's one of my favourite kitchen gadgets: The Original Cooking Thermometer/Timer by ThermoWorks) so tip is centered in thickest part of beef, not resting in fat. Do not add water or cover. Roast in 350°F oven 1-3/4 to 2 hours for medium rare; 2 to 2-1/2 hours for medium doneness.
4. Remove roast when meat thermometer registers 135°F for medium rare; 150°F for medium. Transfer roast to carving board; tent loosely with aluminum foil. Let stand 15 to 20 minutes. Temperature will continue to rise about 10°F to reach 145°F for medium rare; 160°F for medium (The standing period allows the juice of the meat to be re-absorbed; it really makes a difference).
5. Meanwhile, skim fat from drippings. Combine drippings and shallot in medium saucepan (I had to add a splash of water, because my drippings were mainly solid and had to be scraped from my roasting pan). Cook and stir over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes or until shallots are crisp-tender.
6. Stir in wine and mustard; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 8 to 10 minutes or until sauce is reduced to 3/4 cup. Stir in butter. Season with salt and pepper as desired.
7. Carve roast into slices. Serve with sauce.

Yum.

Personal notes
I don't have a "real" roasting pan. Instead, I used the pan from my toaster oven that came with a hole-filled "suspension tray" (I don't have a better name for it, sorry). I lined the pan with parchment paper to catch the drippings, then placed the suspension tray on top as normal. The parchment paper made step #5 much easier.