Mark McEwan is a genius. His passion for perfect ingredients is inspiring for anyone who has ever eaten at his restaurants. My fave, as many of you know, is Bymark.
I have been rather obsessed with the Bymark Burger (or the Gucci Burger, as it is also known) since September 21, 2010 when one first crossed my lips. It rocked my world in a way that drove home what that expression really means. Like a glimpse of divinity. Like a perfect timeless moment. Like those rare snapshots of life that take your breath away, and you remember when you're 92. That is what this burger is like.
So - you can imagine my chagrin when my vegan self, tired and exhausted from so many things during summer of 2010 and beginning of my busiest possible season in fundraising, decided to just take a free day and sample the burger I had been hearing about and reading about for 2 years or so. Just "OK already, I might as well just try it". You can also imagine my embarassment when the manager of the restaurant came to my table to ask if I was OK, since I was "enjoying" the delicious morsels so loud that the entire busy restaurant could have been disturbed. Imagine how disturbed I was (and have been) knowing that the vegan diet I have so heartily embraced could be tattered to shreds by this burger. Oh yeah, it is THAT GOOD.
I had to push my boundaries of honesty to own up to my love of this burger, even on this blog. Our family are pretty neat poster children for why vegan ROCKS, (particularly since our discovery was almost accidental).... For why animal products are just, in one word, BAD for us. For how my budget, my body, my time and my evironment have benefitted from the change.
So how does falling in love with a Bymark (Beef) Burger fit into this deal???
First - it reminds me that I don't have all the answers, and don't have to pretend that I do.
Second - it punctuates that it is top quality ingredients, not cheap crap, that make a taste bud perk up and respond.
Third, it hammers home the principle that textures, temperatures, and taste are the foundations of good dishes.
The Black Truffle...
The beautiful colour of purple lettuce, paired with its crisp and cool freshness...
The smooth and slick creaminess of the aoli....
The firm, salty, peppery, dense texture of the burger...
The browned King Mushroom veggie alter-ego, drizzled with truffle oil...
with all of the above compiled together and highlighted by the soft, fluffy, mouth-yield of a perfect bun.
How could I ever duplicate this? How would it be possible?
Well - it's taken me a month of hard time, but I've done it. I feel like Gene Wilder in Mel Brooks Young Frankenstein, when his monster got off the table and walked. Seriously!
My burger tonight gave new meaning to the scene when Teri Garr burst into song when she says, "If the Monster got your brains, what did you get from the monster?" Cut away to the monster (in bed with Madeleine Kahn), reading Shakespeare and then subtly inferring the obvious "enhancement" of some other important in exchange.
So, in my own, inimitable VEGANSTEIN way, I have veganized my idol, the Bymark Burger.
Match is a new vegan meat product which is getting a lot of attention latelyin the vegan world. It is textured vegetable protein with the flavours of beef, chicken, pork and even some seafood. I got some at Whole Foods on Sunday after a ski trip in Michigan, hoping to perfect this burger for Bill and Harrison for Valentine's day. You know - boys gotta eat.
So tonight (Feb 15th, I know, but they wanted to take me out for dinner last night!) I got to work the Match Beef into patties, flavoured with fresh ground black pepper, white truffle salt, and steak spice. I thinly sliced king oyster mushrooms and browned them in truffle oil and Italian black truffle salt from Rome. I mixed even parts of Truffle Mustard from Fauchon in Paris, with organic Vegenaise. And I finally used small cubes of the brie cheese from my friend Maria from Christmas that has been waiting patiently in my fridge for the right moment. I lightly pan-toasted soft store-baked hamburger buns, and lovingly washed some crisp purple lettuce.
And then counted the minutes till Bill walked in the door (...even more than usual... Have I ever mentioned that our own first meeting was the only moment that even compares to my first bite of a Bymark buger??)
When the burgers were assembled (and properly photographed) we all dove in and yummed.
Harrison, Bill and I all had 2 burgers and I feel an immense relief tonight, knowing that the flavours of my last meal before I die dish can be relatively veganized (OK, I can't imagine duplicating the taste of melting brie, but I only used a few cubes, and certainly less than 1/2 an ounce)...
And, as I pull the sheet back on one of the great discoveries of 2011, I can finally shout from the lab...
" IT WAS NEVER ALIVE!!!!!!!"
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