Krispy Kreme bacon cheese burger

To begin with I'd like to remind you of the classic Sesame Street game "three of these things".

Now, having refreshed your memory take in the following picture and sing along:

#Three of these things belong together
#Three of these things are kind of the same
#But one of these things just doesn't belong here
#Now it's time to play our game (time to play our game)

Did you get it right? I have to confess it's a bit of a trick question. Actually these four items - an original glazed Kripy Kreme doughnut, a beefburger, bacon and cheese - are the components that together make up the (self-acclaimed) "best burger in baseball": a Krispy Kreme bacon cheese burger.

Clearly, once I'd heard about such a thing (thanks Man vs. Food) I had to have one. As the burger is only available from the Gateway Grizzlies ballpark, I'd have to do it myself.

Today, I finally managed to get all the requisite ingredients and set about making me a Krispy Kreme bacon cheese burger.

I fried the smoky bacon first, then fried the patty in the tasty bacon grease (I even used Heston's 15s flipping tip which did actually produce a great crust and a juicy burger). Before mopping up all those meaty juices by grilling the sliced doughnut in them. The burger is then built with the doughnut glazed-side in.


Now, everyone who I have mentioned this to has so far had a similar reaction, much along the lines of "WHAT? That's disgusting. Why would you do that?".

I feel I am now ready to answer that question and defend this burger because it was actually a uniquely tasty experience.

Unsurprisingly the sweetness of the doughnut glazing pervades every mouthful. However, the burger actually manages to titillate all your tastes in one mouthful. After the initial sweet hit, the meaty umami of the beef kicks in, followed by the tang of cheese, finishing with the saltiness of the bacon. It's really quite remarkable. And incredibly moreish.

I was quite sad I couldn't have another immediately. I'd gladly have another and would urge you to try it. I really think you'll be surprised.

What's the difference between a cake and a sponge?

Apparently the difference (according to Campden BRI) is that a cake uses fat to stabilise the cake whereas sponge uses air. Technically it's a Victoria cake, then. There's only a few "true" sponges; these are the fatless one like flan cases.

Amazing what you find out on training courses for work.

Apologies if you were expecting a joke.

Goose risotto

I finally got round to using up the meat from the goose legs that have been in the freezer since the family Goose-fest. In retrospect I should have not roasted the whole goose and then I could have made a confit with the legs or even a tasty cassoulet.

Still a risotto is always good. This one was based on the Hairy Bikers recipe and had plenty of chestnut mushrooms and I used some of the reserved goose fat to sweat the onions and rice at the start.

[Obviously I would have used goose stock made with the bones of the bird, but I haven't got round to that yet...]

Easter egg

*Post alert*

There are some pictures at the end but don't look until you've read the words for maximum effect. I should have taken photos as I went. Unfortunately for us all , I didn't.
*Post alert*

It being Easter and having seen a suitable mould in Abraxas (the great local cookshop in Banbury), I thought I would have a go at making Easter eggs for the traditional family get-together.

It all seems pretty straight forward. Melt some chocolate, pour it into a mould and let cool. Easy. (I couldn't be doing with all this tempering malarkey). For a little bit of interest I thought I'd do a milk outer layer, white middle layer and a thin dark inner layer. Then decorate with a little icing.

However, I'm not sure the phrase "easier said than done" has never found a more apt use. Needless to say, things didn't quite go to plan.

I'd done a little bit of research on the interweb and it was clear that it would be necessary to take it step by step and build up the egg in stages to avoid the chocolate just pooling in the middle resulting in a very thick centre and very thin walls.

It all went well with the outer milk chocolate layer. I took my time and took great care to only add a small amount of melted chocolate, moving it around the mould to get an even covering, (although building up the sides was tricky) then leaving it to cool. Before repeating the process.

It was when I started on the white layer that it all went Pete Tong. As soon as I put the first spoonful of white chocolate in, it started melting the milk layer. Then it all just started to pool in the bottom. I guess I must have had the chocolate slightly too hot. I left it to set and tried again with slightly cooler chocolate. Same result. And the white chocolate had started to get through to the surface somehow.

I decided that my three distinct layer of different chocolates was not going to happen. Instead I just melted the dark into the white and layered up as I had done with the original milk chocolate layers.

One half down, I melted all the chocolate together and produced a reasonable second half. A little melted chocolate was used to sandwich the two halves together and I left the whole egg in the freezer overnight to set.

What I took out of the freezer seemed reasonable and I set about decorating with very thick icing. However, it didn’t occur to me that as the thing defrosted, moisture would gather on the surface thus wash away the icing.

All in all a catalogue of errors. Mainly down to my lack of patience, I reckon. Not sure I’ll be in too much of a hurry to repeat. Although eating the leftover warm chocolate was very nice…