What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking?

I’m a really terrible cook and I managed to make a pretty decent veggie chili over the weekend.

I have no idea what the recipe is I just added spice to taste. Mostly cumin and chilli powder.

I made hamburgers in the oven twice in the last few weeks, and I'm never going back. I started with this recipe for oven cooking guidance but modified it significantly.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs ground beef, 90/10 or 93/7 fat
• 2 teaspoons dried minced onion
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp celery salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried minced garlic
• 1 cup of panko bread crumbs
• 2 eggs
• your favorite buns
• your favorite cheese
• your favorite toppings

Directions 

• Take the ground beef out of the fridge a few minutes before you start cooking to give it some time to warm towards room temperature. Though if the meat is still pretty cold it will be okay.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees then line a half sheet pan with foil and place a piece of parchment paper on top. Set aside.
• Add ground beef to a large mixing bowl then sprinkle in the seasoning.
• Add the eggs and bread crumbs
• Mix it just enough to combine the ingredients. The less you mix it, the more tender it will be.
• Divide the mixture into 8 parts and press them into patties. I shoot for slightly larger then the bun and thicker at the edges than the center. If the patty is too thick at the center, you will end up with a delicious meatball instead.
• Place the patties on the pan. If you have fattier meat, you may want to put an oven safe wire rack on the sheet first
• Put then in the oven and cook for 20 minutes. Turn halfway through.
• Check temperature with an instant read thermometer to make sure they are 160F at the center. Make sure you are probing the thickest part of the patty and checking ones at different parts of the tray (because the oven may not heat evenly).
• (optional) Put cheese on the patties and put them back in the oven for one minute or until the cheese melts.
• (optional) Butter the buns and put them on another baking sheet to toast for the last few minutes
• Assemble the buns, burgers, and toppings to taste.
• Enjoy!

160F is "well done" by grill lingo (no pink in the center). Because these cook slowly, the whole patty will be moist and flavorful, and they won't seem overcooked at 160F.

Because they all come out at once, you can easily feed a crowd this way and they don't need nearly as much supervision as a grill.

recently had the privilege of traveling to a few countries. a few takeaways:

• beef noodle soup in Taipei - great any time and with a little lump of spicy-fat-butter in your bowl, or other types of seasoning available on the tables, and you've got a great meal.
• beef soup in Tainan - thin strips of beef with simple broth. take a smaller dipping bowl, load with your pref of chili oil and seasoning; dip, enjoy!
• Hong Kong canto style dim sum - only wish that I had a larger travel crew to enjoy some of the bigger dishes with multiple servings. but the shumai and little baos are still terrific.
• Filipino inasal - thin strips of chicken/beef/protein on a skewer, grilled- great on the go.