Why the customer is always right.
I have always answered 99 per cent of our customer feedback, whether they are letters of compliment or of complaint, and recently we had a couple of adverse comments regarding our Heathcotes burger in the Olive Press. I found it difficult to understand as it seemed that we were doing all that we had done previously.
Nonetheless, this was a good opportunity to revisit ourpast recipes and through a lot of hard work and a lot of tasting, we have changed our burger recipe, which has inspired me for today’s tip.
The product or the ingredient is always the most important but sometimes what you do with it can then make a difference. If you want to cook a steak – or a burger, for that matter – brush with a little oil, season with salt and pepper, then cook on a hot pan and fry on one side only until near the end, before finally turning over to cook the other side of the meat. Cooking mainly on one side in a smoking hot pan is the key.Here’s some guidelines for timing:
- Blue: 90 seconds, flip over for 30 seconds
- Rare: 2.5 minutes, flip over for 30 seconds
- Medium Rare: 3.5 minutes, flip over for 30 seconds
- Medium/Well done: 4.5 minutes, flip over for 30-60 seconds
And finally, here is the second course for our June 5th wine evening featuring Fiona Beckett:
Scallops “just cooked” with lime and caviar
Tomorrow, another tip and another course, and I will let you know what Fiona matches with this at the end of the week.
In the meantime, if you want to try our new burger, you know where to find us, but I’m not going to give you the recipe!
- Paul Heathcote
