These Days, Rare Is Rare

Posted by Adam Kuban, April 8, 2005 at 2:33 PM

What's a guy to do if he prefers his burgers rare? If you're David Shaw, writing in the Los Angeles Times, you've got a forum to sound off about the increasing number of burger joints that refuse to serve burgers kissed only lightly by the grill. In Mr. Shaw's words:

"A bowl of soup and a rare hamburger, please," I said to the woman behind the counter.

A thick, juicy, rare hamburger is one of God's great comfort foods, and I was especially eager to sink my teeth into one on a day when I felt so mindlessly harried.

A few minutes later, a waitress came to my table, soup bowl in hand.

"We have a company policy against serving rare hamburgers," she said. "I'll bring you a medium hamburger."

"No, you won't," I said. "I like my burgers rare. If you won't give me one that way, I'll eat elsewhere."

Mr. Shaw knows the risks of eating close-to-raw ground beef—namely E. coli 0157:H7—but he dismisses them:

Yes, yes, I know all about E. coli 0157:H7 and the four people who died and the 700 who got sick after eating undercooked hamburgers at Jack in the Box outlets in the Pacific Northwest in 1993. But a former Food and Drug Administration official testified before Congress that the meat used for these burgers was so filled with E. coli that the bacteria would have thrived even if the burgers had been fully cooked.

So what are you going to do, avoid hamburgers altogether?

Not me. I love a good, thick, rare, juicy hamburger. It's one of the best — and most American — of all taste treats. I'm no more likely to quit eating hamburgers than I am to give up such pleasures of the palate as barbecue, hot dogs, pastrami, pizza, steak or foie gras.

The story also tells of the best places to get hamburgers in Los Angeles and in general.

His dream burger is rare indeed [L.A. Times]

Post a Comment Favorite this!  (0)

Tags: Adam, rare, ruminations