Hail to the Beef Fix yourself the Columbus Surprise Burger with the help of a master chef

By Cindy Gaillard

Master Chef Hubert Keller wants you to make a burger infused with the best ingredients Columbus has to offer.

Burgers are but one of Chef Keller’s passions. A native of Alsace, France, he is classically trained in the art and science of pastry. He is known for his world famous restaurants – Fleur de Lys (San Francisco), Fleur by Hubert Keller (Las Vegas) and Burger Bar (San Francisco, Las Vegas and St. Louis). Food critics delight in his creations, and his peers regard him as one of the world’s most imaginative of their kind.

The most important thing to remember about food, Keller says, is to experience the flavors of the place in which you live. A proponent of eating local decades before the . movement got started, Keller says gathering and cooking local ingredients is a way to connect to a place that feeds the soul as well as the body. Memories, stories and community history are tied to the flavors of regional ingredients.

“My grandma had a garden,” Keller says. “Everyone had a garden. It sustained the family.”

The stories his grandmother told while gardening and cooking – stories of his fam- ily, of their heritage, of the place where generations passed – sustained the family on a more spiritual level as well. Food is for the palate and for the soul, Keller says.

That’s why Chef Keller wants you to make a burger and connect with the flavors of Columbus. Keller’s book, Burger Bar: Build Your Own Ultimate Burgers is full of recipes that are easy and delicious – and most importantly, the recipes are flexible.

Keller wanted to give people the freedom to experiment. “They create excitement in themselves and satisfaction that they made delicious food,” he says. He especially wants readers to use local ingredients as much as possible. “It makes sense.” After decades of buying processed and engineered food, people are now valuing local food like the food Keller grew up with, he says: “It’s come full circle.”

To give you some ideas on building your own burger, WOSU’s Chefs in the City staff took up Chef Keller’s challenge. A highly

Kitchen of Kindness

Chefs in the City is a cooking event in front of a live audience at the WOSU@COSI studios. It brings together the freshest local ingredients, some of the most creative regional chefs and one blockbuster, nationally recognized guest chef to create new mouth-watering recipes for audience members to taste.

Oh, and it’s a fundraiser, too. WOSU TV’s children’s educational programming benefits from ticket sales to the event.

Chefs in the City is in its sixth year at WOSU Public Media. Nearly 200 patrons taste food made fresh by innovative local chefs.

“The reaction from the community has been incredible,” says WOSU’s Patrick Testa, Chefs in the City events director. “Each year, more and more restaurants and other culinary institutions want to be involved.”

Partnerships with food industry businesses boost fundraising, as do major donors who back the idea of alternative ways to generate funds for public television.

The event itself sells out every year. Names such as Ming Tsai, Rick Bayless and Jacques Pepin helped to generate ticket sales. WOSU TV airs a broadcast version of the event that walks the viewer step by step through each recipe. This year, Jeni Britton Bauer from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams will once again delight with inventive ways to incorporate her world famous flavors into athome creations.

There is also an auction component to Chefs in the City. Bid on a woodfired feast package for 12 at Franklin Park’s Live-Fire Theatre or a Memorial Tournament Final Round VIP for four with food and beverages in the Sky Suite at Muirfield Village. The grand prize is a Sonoma Luxury Wine Extravaganza with Chauffeur.

“I believe we have a truly unique event, incorporating what has been called the best culinary auction in central Ohio with an educational celebrity cooking show taping and a wine, spirits and local food celebration,” says Testa.

WATCH

Chefs in the City on WOSU TV

Broadcast Date: 1-2:30 p.m. Saturday, May 19

The program will also air on WOSU PLUS at 8 p.m. and will be accessible through Time-Warner OnDemand.

BID

WOSU’s Online Auction at www.wosu.org/chefs

Chefs Featured

• Jeni Britton Bauer, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams (multiple locations)

• Richard Blondin, The Refectory (northwest Columbus)

• Jay Cotrell, M at Miranova (downtown Columbus)

• Jamie George, Z Cucina (Grandview Heights)

• Travis Hyde, Ella (New Albany)

• David Tetzloff, G. Michael’s Bistro (German Village) anticipated fundraiser for WOSU, Chefs in the City will feature Keller as its guest chef in May. The perpetually sold-out event is committed to using local ingredients from farmers around central Ohio.

The staff put together a list of their favorite local ingredients and asked Keller to help choose what flavor combinations might work.

The staff thought long and hard about which ingredients signify Columbus. Beer came to mind; that was a given. Pretzels signify Columbus’ German influence. Everyone loves ribs at the Jazz and Rib Fest. Cheese is a must, but Swiss seemed too predictable. Microdistilleries are selling out of their wares due to overwhelming popularity, but how to incorporate their complex flavors? Chef Keller guided the process.

The result is the Columbus Surprise Burger, based on a recipe on Pg. 34 of Keller’s book. After you bite into the ground New York strip steak seasoned with cilantro and chives, the surprise is a juicy bite of meaty short ribs braised in the Columbus Brewing Company’s Spring Lager.

The burger has a generous portion of fresh Chevre goat cheese from Blue Jacket Dairy. The onions are pickled (see the book’s Pg. 134 for the recipe) using Brothers Drake Mead and Honeyrun Farm honey instead of vinegar. Lucky Cat Bakery’s pretzel rolls hold the burger together.

Marinated Fennel Salad (Pg. 114) is a great side if you include Watershed Gin, which has a citrus accent that blends well with the fennel and radishes.

Television producer Diana Bergemann hosted the staff tasting along with her husband, Chef Derek Bergemann, who cooked the Columbus Surprise Burger to

The husband-and-wife team of chef Derek Bergemann and Chefs in the City producer Diana Bergemann perfection. Ten committee members from Chefs in the City were on hand for the tasting.

The burger was delicious from the first bite to the last. It was juicy; forget condiments, you won’t need them. The two meats together were rich, but not overwhelmingly so, and complemented each other beautifully. The Chevre is a mild goat cheese that is a great companion to the pickled onions. The bun gave a satisfying crunch and held the meat without crushing the ingredients together. The fennel salad was a fresh departure, and its flavors enhanced the anticipation for another bite of burger.

The committee, of course, loved the burger. “I had no idea a burger could taste this good,” was a line repeated around the table.

A curious thing happened, though. The conversation turned from the task at hand – critiquing the burger – to stories of good meals and good times with loved ones and friends. The empty plates sat while the conversation grew richer. No one wanted to leave.

And did the Columbus Surprise Burger indeed represent Columbus? As one staff member put it, “The flavors were wholesome and daring at the same time.” Now that sounds familiar.

But take Chef Keller’s advice: You had better try it for yourself, just to be sure. cs