Onion, sour cream make burger with a difference

By Charles Perry
Los Angeles Times

Bitoque is a French adaptation of bitok, a sort of Russian hamburger given a lighter texture with bread crumbs and served with sour cream sauce. Accompany it with matchstick potatoes and a salad of dandelion greens, and serve fruit for dessert.

Chewy, high-gluten crumbs, such as those from English muffins, will create a good texture. (The French and the Russians like to soak the crumbs in milk, but I prefer onion juice.) This is a good use for a stale English muffin, but you can make crumbs from a fresh one and dry them out.

You need the right amount of fat in the hamburger — too fatty and it's greasy, too lean and the flavor is disappointing. Twenty-percent-fat ground beef is best. Light sour cream works well.

Bitoque

• 1 English muffin
• 1 large onion
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• Freshly ground nutmeg
• Oil for frying
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon of flour
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup sour cream

Grind the English muffin to crumbs in a food processor. If fresh, dry the crumbs in a microwave oven or by tossing in a skillet.

Meanwhile, puree onion in the blender. Strain the onion juice through a strainer and discard the solids. Mix the onion juice with crumbs and squeeze out excess juice.

Place the crumbs, beef, salt, pepper and a few grindings of nutmeg in a food processor and process until it forms a ball, or knead thoroughly by hand. Form meat into 4 patties and dust on both sides with flour.

Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until a corner of one of the patties sizzles immediately if dipped into the oil. Fry the patties until browned on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes, and remove to a warm platter.

Pour off the oil. Add the chicken broth and scrape up the browned bits from the skillet. Bring to a simmer. Stir the flour into the sour cream until smooth. Add the sour cream to the skillet and return to a simmer, stirring, 1 minute. Serve the patties with the sour cream sauce.

Makes 2-4 servings. Preparation time: 25 minutes.

Nutrition information: Each of four servings: 406 calories; 446 mg sodium; 82 mg cholesterol; 29 gm fat; 10 gm saturated fat; 12 gm carbohydrates; 23 gm protein; 1.26 gm fiber.