Simulated Hamburger Lettuce

A busy weekend had passed and I found myself back home in the test kitchen with an odd assortment of unused ingredients. I took a “mystery box” approach and gave myself a challenge. I had:

• Aged Sirloin steak

• Smoked Chicken Demi-glace

• Enoki Mushrooms

• Frisee' lettuce and cherry tomatoes

With a mind to slice the steak thinly later on, I pan roasted it and removed it to a cutting board to rest.

In the same pan I sautéed the mushrooms in the smoky chicken sauce. The flavor was great, but the consistency was off; it was oily, soft, and a little loose. It needed a unifier.

I dropped in two lightly beaten eggs and made a quick soft omelet.

I sliced the steak and plated it with the omelet and the Frisee & tomatoes (lightly dressed).

The steak and omelet disappeared first—they were delicious. As I began to eat the salad I detected a flavor that was at once deeply familiar and elusive. It took me a minute. Smoky, beefy, crunchy, tomato, mushroomy…

It was HAMBURGER LETTUCE. The lettuce that picks up the juicy taste from grilled beef. The residual liquid from the beef and smoky chicken Demi that were now dressing my frisee brought the exact taste experience of that first perfect bite of a hamburger with crunchy lettuce and tomato.