Sunday, January 15, 2017

Ok, I'll get some fast food.

Fast food for us is waiting for about a minute and a half while Luis puts together a taco.  Options are tacos, tortas or if you go down the block or so, you can get a dried out hamburger.
I usually opt for the tacos because they are tastier and healthier as far as eat and run, or rather walk and eat food goes.

While the wife is gone, having sit down meals at the house are really not a big priority.  For breakfast I usually will toss a muffin into the toaster, one half with butter and salt, the other half with some great Mexican cheese.
While it melts, I'll make a cup of coffee, grab the hand full of medications I need to jam down the gullet, timing the larger pills with the synchronization of chewing so the large pills go down without choking.
If I get hungry for lunch, it off to finding the fast food stand that appeals to the appetite for that minute. Lots of times by the time I get there, I decide that I want something else and wind up going to my favorite seafood joint for a shrimp cocktail.
I like my seafood  joint because I can park right in front and keep an eye out for the doggies in the car.
I am sure that a shrimp cocktail is a healthier option than either tacos or burgers.
 I love burgers, but unfortunately I can count on one hand burgers that have been acceptable here in Mexico.
One of the best ones I have ever had was at a food truck, right next or past a caseta on the road to Guadalajara.
The problem with most burger cooks is they over cook the meat to the point where there is no taste or flavor and it is cooked to the point of being one more mode, past well done. The other thing the kills me and makes me want to scream is when they toss the meat on the flattop or whatever they happen to cook it on , and then proceed to use their spatula and keep pressing the patty over and over again pushing any last milligram of flavorful grease and moisture out of the patty.

We did have one of the best burgers in Mexico a few weeks ago. This food truck had a wood fired grill, yep in a food truck, that didn't over cook the patty. I'll try and find the photo I took there a few weeks ago on our trip to take my wife to the airport.

Anyway, there was one burger joint  in Patzcuaro that was decent but sadly for some reason they changed the cook or meat composition which left me less than happy my last visit.  Most burger stands buy there meat already in patties already frozen, Costco style.

For those of you who have never had a typical Mexican burger, more is better is the normal philosophy of Mexican burger joints, where my idea is less is better, as long as you use good meat.

My ideal burger that I make at home is chopped short rib meat, that I chop up in the Cuisinart, not overwork the meat, don't press the crap out of it when you put it to cook, turn it as soon as you see a little moisture come out of the top, turn it and finish it off with a piece of cheese. ( salt it sufficiently also)
Lettuce, tomato, red onion, maybe a little pickle or relish, mayo on the bottom, ketchup and mustard on the top and that's it.

The typical burger in Mexico , is  the bun, some mayo ( usually way too much ) then a smidgen of lettuce, then the dried out piece of meat, with cheese on top, then a slice or two of pressed ham, topped with a tasteless hot dog cut in half, topped with a few jalapenos, a tomato then ketchup and maybe a slice or two of tasteless bacon, then topped with the top of the bun saturated with ketchup.

For my tastes that is just a little too much. But based on the amount of people that are in line at the stand, that tower of excess is very popular.

That burger usually is around 35 or 40 pesos on the average.

While a taco is 7 or 8 pesos, usually requiring about 5 or 6 to make a filling meal.

SO, is it taco or burger? The price is about the same.

Or, maybe it will be a medium shrimp cocktail with all the fixings for about 65 pesos.

Too bad there isn't a nice place close by that has a massive salad bar, I like those but the only one I know if is at the Sirloin Stockade, but having lunch there is really expensive.


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