World's Best Hamburger

[Mike Buckley]

I began the year with a quest to make the world's best hot dog. Having accomplished that much sooner than expected (humility isn't necessarily my strong point ), I then began a quest to make the world's best hamburger. Having created the recipe shown below, I still need to determine a favorite meat and bun.

Setup
The tabletop is a floor tile and the background is translucent brown art paper. A medium continuous-light lamp fitted with a diffusion sock to reduce the brightness is lighting the background from behind centered around the hamburger. A small continuous-light lamp is slightly above the scene on the right side. A white reflector on the left side brightens that side of the hamburger. A flashlight on the right side fitted with diffusion material to soften the shadows is lighting the spinach leaf resting on the tabletop.

Recipe
Makes two hamburgers

Meat Mixture
1/2 pound ground beef
2 Tbsn fresh rosemary, minced
2 cloves garlic, pressed

Sauce
4 ounces Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
1/2 tspn Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tspn Sriracha sauce

2 sesame seed buns, toasted and buttered
Spinach to taste

2 tspn olive oil

Preparation
Combine the Sauce ingredients in a plastic bowl and mix with an immersion blender. Heat in a microwave oven until the mixture is warm and has the consistency of a thick sauce.

Combine the Meat ingredients and form two patties.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet. Fry the two patties over high heat until both sides are crispy and the inside is as you like it. Pat the patties dry with paper towels. Place each patty in a bun and top the meat first with the sauce and then the spinach.

[Shadowman]

Two complaints: one artistic and one ergonomic. Large burgers while they might be tasty are a chore/struggle to consume; so there's that and I know it is just a personal nitpick. Regarding the image, everything looks fine except for the glowing look around the edge of the bun and the back surface.

[Cogito]

Five years ago you proclaimed "The World's Best Hot Dog" and now the best hamburger? Quite honestly I wouldn't want to be in the same room as a hamburger covered in gorgonzola. Please, get real! You may be the greatest food photographer in the world but your taste in food leaves a lot to be desired.

[JBW]

I don't know Mike. Good yes, perhaps even great but not sure you have outdone the WhiteSpot burgers.

[Mike Buckley]

John: This is a quarter pound of meat. By most standards, that's a small burger. Perhaps you should consider changing the recipe to quantities that are appropriate for a slider.

Tony: I'm definitely far from the greatest food photographer in the world. As for your statement that I proclaimed five years ago to have made the world's best hot dog, you have a very strange calendar; that wasn't even five months ago.

Brian: I see that WhiteSpot Burger restaurants are only in British Columbia. I doubt that they'll deliver to me here in Virginia. So, I stand by my proclamation that mine is the world's best.

[Wavelength]

It is breakfast time here..... I really like the presentation; which is that garnishing leaf?...probably because i am not much into modern cookery that most of the ingredients you mentioned are unfamiliar to me

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Nandakumar. Though my mother liked to eat cold pizza for breakfast, I wouldn't recommend that or this hamburger for your first meal of the day. The green leaves are spinach leaves.

[mugge]

Mike, Mike, Mike. Your prowess as a hamburger photographer far outstrips your gastronomical prowess. Here is my recipe for macaroni and frankfurters:
4 l of boiling water
6-9 hand fulls of macaroni
5 frankfurters
boil for 12 minutes
serve with one half of mustard
get rid of evidence before wife discovers it
suffer a bit of lower stomach pain
avoid wife's eyes when asked what you had for lunch

[Mike Buckley]

I see, Ole, that your wife has characteristics that are similar to mine.

I actually got the idea for the gorgonzola sauce because a similar sauce (not my own creation) is a favorite when served on high-end cuts of beef. It seemed natural to assume that it would work just as well on ground beef...and it does!

[Mike Buckley]

A good friend whose cooking skills far exceed mine suggested that I try a blend of ground pork and beef, starting with about one-third pork.

[bnnrcn]

The image looks mouth watering Mike A slice of red onion or a slice of tomatoe might add to the composition by creating color contrast. I'm not happy with the glowing look which John alreday mentioned though . If you shoot the image again it might be better to use some more diffusion material to reduce the brightness when lighting from behind the hamburger .

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks for the ideas, Binnur! Adding other products to the scene to add color to the image would go against my preference to document the sandwich the way I like to eat it. On the other hand, I am thinking of a making a very different image of a hamburger that has nothing to do with how I like to eat it, so I'll most definitely keep that in mind.

[Mike Buckley]

While cooking supper last night, I asked my wife why a hamburger, which has no ham in it, is called a hamburger. My wife looked up the reason and we learned that the name is because the first one was made in Hamburg, Germany. Live and learn!

[george013]

While cooking supper last night, I asked my wife why a hamburger, which has no ham in it, is called a hamburger. My wife looked up the reason and we learned that the name is because the first one was made in Hamburg, Germany. Live and learn!

And the hot dog was original a frankfurter.

George