WASHINGTON — It’s been about a year since we last sat down with D.C. chef and self-proclaimed “food pornographer” Mathew Ramsey to get the juicy details behind his popular website PornBurger. To say he’s been busy since that interview is an understatement.
On May 17, Ramsey is set to release his first cookbook, “PORNBURGER: Hot Buns and Juicy Beefcakes.” It uncovers the secrets behind some of Ramsey’s most mouthwatering and eccentric burger combinations and gives readers the inside scoop on how to grind their meat and make their own condiments.
Ramsey says the progression from blog to a cookbook was a natural one, since his photo-only website lacked instructions on how to build the enticing burgers.
“Food porn is interesting because you’re conveying flavor; you’re conveying taste and smell — all of these things, just through visuals,” Ramsey said about the burger photos on his website.
“It is like porn in the sense that you’re trying to entice a sensual reaction through visuals, only in this case it’s just about food. We eat three times a day and I think it’s something we can all be passionate about.”
But his readers had an appetite for more than just tempting images. Ramsey said as his website became more popular, requests for recipes piled up. The California Culinary Academy graduate decided to get back in the kitchen (a late-night labor-of-love while he worked full time in video production) to recreate his burgers and write down his recipes.
The first half of Ramsey’s book features all of the “fantastical stacks” he made over the year, most of which bear provocative names and complex ingredients, like the truffled demi glacé and bone marrow and onion jam in the James Francophile.
As readers progress through the book, they’ll find a breakdown of the accouterments that give Ramsey’s burgers an edge, including homemade ketchups and pickles.
Ready to get cooking? Before you hop on the grill this summer, Ramsey has a quick tip: Whatever you do, don’t listen to advice that tells you to only flip your burger once.
“To really get a super juicy burger, I try to flip it every 30 to 40 seconds. It actually moves the fat around inside and keeps everything kind of greasy,” he said.
“The absolute thing you never want to do is squish the burger on the grill, because basically you’re going to lose all that precious fat that you’ve already worked so hard for — and all sense of dignity, because all that flavor will leak out.”
Turning the burger throughout the cooking process also shortens the amount of time you have to wait before it’s time to eat.
“It cooks it faster, as well, which is a whole other thing, because you’re continuously kissing it with heat on either side,” Ramsey said.
Now that Ramsey’s put a pen to his porn, he’s turning his focus to Bar R, his intimate and impossible-to-get-into supper club. This year, he’s growing his operation to seat eight and moving the dinner to a new location.
“I’ve upped the ante a bit,” he said. “There’s a whole new array of surprises and fun.”
Want to get on the list? Ramsey says the best way to be in the know about his sporadic suppers is to follow him on Instagram, @mathewramsey.
Mathew Ramsey will host a talk and tasting for his new book Wednesday, May 18 at Upshur Books in Petworth. Information and tickets are available on Eventbrite.
Recipe: The Bill U Murray Me burger
From Pornburger by Mathew Ramsey. Copyright 2016 Mathew Ramsey. Excerpted by permission of Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
What does this burger have to do with Bill Murray? Absolutely nothing. Well, unless of course you’re Bill Murray. In that case, this is a very personal public invitation to join me for a burger and a beer. Also, I’m pretty sure this is what he whispered into Scarlett Johansson’s ear at the end of “Lost in Translation”. This looker with a heart of gold is seared on the outside, medium-rare on the inside, with a molten core of melted cheese and a creamy sous-vide egg yolk. Stack this fatty with shredded lettuce, bacon, quick pickled jalapeno, tomato, and my smoky burger sauce, and you too may become a Bill-iever.
THE STACK
PornBurger Smoky Burger Sauce
Grilled red onions
Sliced tomato
1 Juicy Floozy patty
A few slices of crisp-cooked applewood-smoked bacon
Jalapeno Pickles
Shredded romaine lettuce
1 Sesame Brioche Bun
PORNBURGER SMOKEY BURGER SAUCE
Behind EVERY GREAT BURGER is a super-secret special sauce. This is mine.
Makes about 1 cup
3/4 cup homemade mayonnaise
4 teaspoons chili garlic sauce
(I like Huy Fong)
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon sweet relish*
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
* I use Gordy’s Sweet Pepper Relish, which is a blend of pickled cucumbers, celery, onions, and peppers.
Mix together the mayo, chili garlic sauce, ketchup, relish, and liquid smoke. Store airtight in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Mayonnaise
Makes about 3 cups
4 egg yolks
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 cups safflower oil
In culinary school, you learn to make mayonnaise whisking by hand. F*** that—I recommend using a stand mixer. Combine the yolks, vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, cayenne, and salt in your mixer bowl and mix with the whisk attachment on a medium speed (5 or 6) until combined. Keep the mixer on the same speed and add a few drops of oil at a time, waiting for all the oil to be incorporated before adding more. When the mixture begins to thicken and emulsify, you can start adding a more constant, but thin, stream of oil. Continue until all of the oil has emulsified. Store airtight in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.
THE JUICY FLOOZY PATTIES
These patties utilize science to build off of the shoulders of St. Louis giant, the Juicy Lucy, by adding some creamy yolk-popp’n persuasion to the equation. For those of you not keeping score, each floozy is one sous-vide-cooked beef patty, one sous-vide-cooked egg yolk, and a whole lot of melty cheese.
Makes 4 Patties
Eight 4-ounce PornBurger patties
8 slices American cheese, cut into 2-inch rounds (I use my 1/4-cup measure as a cutter)
4 extra-large eggs,* cooked sous-vide for 45 minutes at 148˚F
Extra-virgin olive oil, for the pan
Kosher salt and black pepper
* I usually make a couple extra, just in case of breakage.
- Use your thumbs to press a sizable divot in the center of each of the formed patties and press a cheese round onto each one. Carefully crack open your sous-vide eggs and gently remove the whites. Place a cooked yolk on half of the patties. Gently cover each yolked patty with an unyolked patty. Wet a finger or two and run along the seam of the two patties to make into one glorious patty. Be mindful not to squeeze down on the center, so as not to break the yolk.
- Set your sous-vide water bath to 131˚F using your immersion circulator. Place the patties in zip-top plastic bags, one per bag, and use the water displacement method to push out the air from the bag. Zip-seal the bags and place in the water bath to cook for 1 hour.
- Preheat a skillet or griddle over medium-high heat and drizzle it with oil. Season the patties liberally with salt and pepper and sear them on each side for about 1 minute, or until crispy. Serve immediately.
The PornBurger Blend
After lots of tinkering and experimenting in the kitchen, I’ve landed on what I consider the perfect beef blend, using just three cuts. It’s a well-rounded burger with plenty of fat that balances notes of buttery richness, nuttiness, and even a subtle kiss of grass. Without further ado…
THE PORNBURGER BLEND
1 part sirloin (preferably aged)
11/2 parts short rib
2 parts chuck
Sous-Vide Poached Eggs
I’ve tried just about every method out there, and I find the technique adapted from both ChefSteps and Chef J. Kenji Lopez to be essentially foolproof, allowing you to “poach” several eggs at once. Simply set your sous-vide water bath to 167˚F using the immersion circulator. When your water is at temp, place your egg(s)—still in their shells—in the bath and cook for 14 minutes. When they’re done, gently crack and drain them onto a slotted spoon. Don’t have an immersion circulator? Heat water to about 173˚F and pour it into a small insulated cooler or thermos. Add the egg(s) and let cook for the same period of time.
JALAPENO PICKLES
Makes 1 pint
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, peeled
7 to 10 jalapeños (the bigger they are, the less spicy), sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
Combine the vinegar, water, sugar, salt, oregano, and garlic in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring the salt and sugar until they dissolve. Add the jalapeños and simmer for 1 minute before removing from the heat. Use tongs to transfer the garlic and jalapeños to a sealable pint container, and top off with the hot brine. Allow them to sit for at least a few hours and ideally a full day before serving. Store airtight in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
BRIOCHE BUNS
First impressions are important, which is why I let these bubble buns do the all the talking. Buttery with supple squish and subtle sweetness… these babies got all the back.
Makes 12 buns
- Combine the yeast, water, milk, and sugar in a small bowl. Allow the yeast to activate and foam for roughly 5 minutes.
- Beat the 4 eggs in another small bowl until combined.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the flour, salt, and butter. Mix on medium speed until the butter and flour have a “crumby” texture.
- Add the yeast mixture and beaten eggs to the flour. Mix the ingredients (still with the paddle attachment) for about 10 minutes on low. The dough at this point should be incredibly slack and sticky. You want to be able to hold the dough and allow it to drop to the counter without breaking.
- Using as little additional flour as possible, shape the dough into a ball and set it in a greased bowl. Cover with a dampened kitchen towel and allow the dough to rise in a warm spot until it has doubled in size. It should take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours to double. Remember, it’s about size, not time.
- Dusting your hands with flour, gently punch down the dough to remove air bubbles and portion the dough into 8 equal pieces. (I like to use a scale for precision and to ensure equal cooking time.) Again, the less flour used for shaping and handling, the better.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Take each piece of dough and flatten it with the palm of your hand to form a disc. Fold over each of the four sides and pinch in the middle.
