Superiority Burger Cookbook

A FEW NOTES ON THESE RECIPES

Salt is kosher and is a given for every recipe (yes, even the sorbets!), even when not mentioned in the ingredients lists. Freshly ground pepper is also standard in almost every savory recipe. Add as much or as little as you prefer. Salt is listed by measurement only in the more exact recipes, like pickled vegetables, spice blends, and cakes. Otherwise, assume you will be adding salt and pepper to the seasoning to your liking. We use lots. But never too much. Sea salt is A-OK too, just be careful as it can be finer grained, therefore more potent.

Sugar is unbleached organic cane sugar unless specified otherwise.

Flour is all-purpose.

Water. Do not underestimate its power. It can thin out an overreduced soup, and it can soften stuff up in a frying pan. Use it wisely and safely.

Spices are purchased from a reliable purveyor and ground the day of or day before doing the recipe. The spices will always taste better, fresher, and more intense. An inexpensive coffee grinder will work nicely for this.

Grapeseed oil is fine for cooking and frying. Sometimes we use a mid-range extra virgin olive oil for cooking as well. Really nice (read: expensive) olive oils are reserved for final garnishing and seasoning right before serving, because olive oil is the best sauce.

We use Hodo Soy–brand tofu and yuba. It’s expensive, but it has no equal.

For all brown rice applications we use Koda Farms organic brown rice. It deeply transcends regular brown rice.

This book is 95 percent vegan, the exception being a scant use of milk, milk powder, cream (gelato recipes), and labne (in a few different recipes). A high-quality soy, cashew, or coconut vegan yogurt can be substituted for any of the dairy components. We do not use eggs or butter.

We use Gulden’s brown mustard, B&G hot cherry peppers, Frank’s RedHot, Matouk’s Calypso, Delouis Dijon, Bragg Liquid Aminos, and Heinz organic ketchup. Some things are just better not homemade. We feel strongly about this. But we would never use commercial mayonnaise (vegan or real). We use only the chickpea recipe on page 211. This may seem contradictory. We are fine with that.

We have a firm commitment to farmers’ market fruits, herbs, and vegetables. But if you can’t find what you need there due to seasonal availability, then supermarket produce is fine. It will just need a little extra help, but that’s what cooking is, right?

Whenever dried pasta is mentioned, go for the blue box of De Cecco. It’s widely available and texturally fantastic when cooked to al dente.

Our polenta is from Anson Mills in South Carolina. They ship all over. Support these guys and use their stuff. It’s perishable so keep it refrigerated. It’s of a completely different caliber from any other polenta you can grab at the supermarket or even that fancy-food shop, the one with the inflated pricing.

We have tried to keep the recipes easy to follow and all on one page. However, a few require using additional recipes found in the back pantry section (see page 203). You will get to know these pantry recipes very well.

All of the measurements are in cups and tablespoons; that’s how we cook at the restaurant. Our gelato formula is in metric, though. So you will need a scale, but only for that recipe. An Escali Primo scale is about forty bucks, industry standard, and will never let you down. You will also need a working candy thermometer for the gelato recipe; we love our Thermapen.

There isn’t a standard recipe portion size. If it’s a little annoying, we apologize. Some things work well for four portions, and some things just make more sense for six or eight. Either way, all this stuff makes for fantastic leftovers, so look forward to that at 2 a.m., or for breakfast the next day.