This is really something that sounds better in French. Although it's really not so bad in English, at least until you get to the bone marrow part: a half pound (before cooking) hand shaped burger, mushrooms in red wine-beef reduction sauce, garlic-lemon-chipotle mayo, slow proofed French bun, organic red leaf lettuce, bone marrow.
Sounded great until that last part, right? Marrow? Zombie food! Undrool!
Really, the marrow isn't that dominant from a gastronomic point of view. Much less so than verbally. It simply adds a rich note, more beefiness and no doubt more calories. It might have some redeeming quality, like being rich in some mineral or other. I don't know, since this was all about taste.
The bones, cooked along with mirepoix and seasonings, made a rich beef stock that was perfect for creating a sauce for the mushrooms. The rest can be used for something else later, like a sauce for another no doubt unhealthful beef dish.
The mayo gives the burger a bit of a kick from the heat of the peppers combined with the tang of fresh lemon juice.
Still no tomato in this bad boy - with the cool weather, the tomatoes aren't yet ready for prime time.
The lettuce goes in under the patty because I think that the mushrooms "stick" better to a rough burger than to slick lettuce - so when you bite into the thing it holds together a bit better. I've heard laying the lettuce low keeps the bottom bun from getting soggy, but I really don't mind some juicy burger drippings getting into the bun. More flavor. This bread is able to absorb a bit of juice without disintegrating.
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NOTE: For reasons known only to the L.A. Times, even though I posted it to their Facebook site, it never got into their best burger competition. So much for that. Guess it wasn't so simple to enter after all.
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