Reply #29: The Story of a French Hamburger [View All]

[MineralMan]

I was in France with an orchestra and choir, doing concerts here and there. The buses stopped, at one point, at a hypermart in France around lunchtime. There was a McDonalds. All the silly people on the bus trooped over to the McDonalds. I looked around, and saw that there was a mobile grill sort of place parked not far from where the buses had parked, so I wandered over there.

They were selling hamburgers, of all things. So, I ordered one. On about half of the big griddle in the trailer were sliced onions being cooked. The cook hand-chopped about half a pound of beef as I watched, then slapped it on the empty half of the big flatiron grill. As it was cooking, he got a copper bowl and whipped up some mayonnaise using olive oil and lemon juice. He flipped the burger patty. Then, he got out a nice-looking, big roll about 6" long and 3" wide and sliced in half.

While I drooled, the meat was getting finished cooking. Rare. When it was done, the cook slathered the roll halves with the mayonnaise, put the meat on the bun, then scooped up a big pile of caramelized onion and put that on the meat. He then wrapped the burger in a sheet of newspaper and added a pile of lovely fries that I hadn't noticed before.

I took my newspaper-wrapped burger and got back on the bus, where people were filing on with their McDonalds bags. As they ate their shitty sandwiches, I opened mine up. The aroma of grilled onions from it just filled the bus, and everyone turned around to see what I was eating. I didn't say a word.

Best. Burger. Ever. I have never eaten anything so good in my life.