Domestic Perfection: Hamburgers

  

Although I thoroughly enjoyed making and eating them, these certainly weren't perfect hamburgers. The only thing missing from Blumenthals ingredient list was the 16g of sodium citrate, which I couldn't find in any of the pharmacies and chemists visited (except in the form of lemon flavored cystitis tablets), and I doubt this made much of a difference to the outcome. Mistakes were made in the final stages of the recipe; exact amounts of ingredients weren't used in the last ten steps, the wrong type of frying pan was used and I slightly burnt half of the burger buns under the grill at the last moment. Apart from the frying pan these mistakes were due to the pressure of having a lot to do in a short time. This is the point where skill and experience is needed. A complete amateur, like myself, can quite easily complete the majority of the recipe because of the extreme detail of the instructions and ingredients, even though they are complex. But as soon as there was any suggestion of pressure and fast paced accuracy I failed completely and needed extra help (kindly given by Ben and Simon).

 

The point of doing this was not an act of the ego. This was the part I disliked the most; going to various butchers and shops, asking for strange amounts of and unusual ingredients, and receiving skeptical looks and questions in return. Instead, the point was to experience the attempt for perfection in what may be an everyday act and to see whether skill is needed. This is not an outcome or full-stop, but a starting point and experiment to help guide my work. Through the experiment I shall have an analysis of the experience and more of an opinion on what it means to do something everyday in regards of time and money spent, necessity and the social.