To tell DH I don’t like his signature dish?

[Notsympatheticenough]

He makes beef burgers. It’s his thing, bbq with beef burgers. He’s a good cook, cooks other stuff really well. But he’s convinced his dry, stodgy, unseasoned beef burgers are the best thing he does. I’ve avoided eating them pretty much for the last 10 years of our relationship, there’s usually other stuff, people round, it’s a bbq…you know? . Tonight he said ‘as a treat, I’ll just do the burgers’.

my heart sank. And the little hungry bit of me died a bit.

Dh describes every single meal I make as "nice enough or it's not so bad!" 🤣🤣 I think he realized 30 years ago it covers everything.
I learned long ago by the tone of his voice if he likes it or not!!

Is it not a bit twattish to have a "signature dish" if you're not actually a chef?

Also, grated apple in a burger? Wtf?

I was using signature dish in a shorthand light hearted way - he doesn't actually flounce off to the kitchen announcing I'm going to make 'the signature dish' - which, especially if it was just a burger, would be so wanky I'd have divorced him years ago.

He thinks he makes a good burger, that people like burgers the way he does them, and, to be fair, people eat them. I can't quite reconcile this with the odd time we go out and have a really good burger, and he thinks his is in the same category. There's some wilful blindness there.

I'm also not I want to pour cold water on him cooking, he'd never really done the cooking in his first marriage beyond something beige and chips, so was really quite happy that he's turned into, without any great issues, mostly a good cook and shopper.

I have started quietly adding fish as an option to summer BBQs and eating that instead of the burgers.

Also, grated apple in a burger? Wtf?
Nowt up with that. Usually adds a little moisture and sweetness to it
Also had finely chopped apricot in a burger. That's nice as well.

just mix,it,when i take it out

Can anyone actually cook,or have tasted a really special,good burger?

This thread is weirdly making me really want a burger!

The M&S "Best Ever" burgers are our favourite, but I'd love to be able to make a decent burger that doesn't just crumble to nothing. Whenever I've made them, they taste nice, but they never have that true compactedness (not a word, I know!) of a shop bought burger.

What's the key??

(Also, if anyone has any advice on how to grill a burger in your own kitchen without setting off the smoke alarm, I'd be grateful!).

Sorry OP - not helpful I know.

If someone shares a nice recipe here, could you try and make them as a "surprise" for him, then claim the signature dish as your own?!

My OH makes a very good burger. He got the recipe from a recipe book that came with a Canadian gas bbq we bought years ago, which said that you don't need to add anything except salt and pepper. Also that the meat needs a good amount of fat in it to get the right consistency, flavour and juiciness. I'm not a big meat eater but have to say that they are really tasty.

I do them in the microwave if ds is short on time and fancies more than cereal.

bowl, 2 whisked eggs, splash of milk, tiny bit of butter, salt and pepper

30s on high, stir with fork, repeat and it should be done or very nearly

I'm not paticularly big on burgers, but I make mine by buying a piece of sirloin steak, with a decent bit of fat on it, and chopping it by hand with a big knife, rather than mincing it.

I throw in a few breadcrumbs - this helps to retain moisture - a small amount of onion and garlic slurry that I make in a Ninja blender and a little fresh parsley.

For me, it's more about the fat content, meat quality and application of heat. I sear them, preferably over charcoal, then cook slowly until they're completely done.

...and sea salt, and freshly ground pepper, a lot of both for burgers.

Truffoiled, I agree about the meat quality, it's so important. We're lucky to have a farm locally that does minced beef at a good price and the flavour is very different to shop bought.

As for cooking, OH always cooks on on the bbq, come rain or snow, so they have those char lines on them.

My DM once added cucumber to a shepherd’s pie as she’d run out of other ingredients. My siblings and I still talk about it.

This is how I do them. Touch the meat as little as possible so it doesn’t get all tough and solid. Indent the centre so it doesn’t balloon up. Salt and pepper only. Sometimes a slab of cheddar on top in which case I’ll put a lid on the pan. Cook fast and hot, flipping once. And don’t make them so enormous that they need cooking to shoe leather just to prevent the insides being raw. Cast iron pan.

For the pp and the smoke alarm: I always open a couple of windows for a through draught and put the extractor on high first!

Thankfully I have zero poker face so DH can tell immediately if I don't like something After ten years though, it's a bit awkward. You need to give him the Turd Sandwich:

Bread/compliment: It's so inspiring the way you've grown as a cook/I love watching you in the kitchen/it's a lovely treat having you cook for me.

Turd: Your burgers are fucking honking and I don't want to see another as long as I live.

Bread/compliment: I'm really craving your lasagne/curry/roast, it's delicious.

Sorted

The trick to this is spooning the hot pasta water into the mixture to keep the sauce silky! I have learned the hard way...

Oh yes you can, I can assure you!

ExH once made some meal or other and it called for 6 cloves of garlic, which would have been a fairly enthusiastic quantity anyway. You can guess what he did, can't you? He used 6 garlic bulbs. In a meal for 2.

BRING IT

Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. A friend made it for me. It tasted weirdly of nothing...

Tested positive for Covid the next day... probably needn't have bothered testing.

😂

Or maybe try skimming them across yonder lake!

Well, at least after 40 cloves of garlic, you wouldn't need to worry about social distancing!

Lack of communication over a burger. I don’t understand why people don’t just speak up. I will happily say if something my husband cooks needs seasoning or something as he would me.

Perhaps say “have you changed how you do them, they don’t taste like they’ve got as much seasoning in them”

Gotta say I love a burger so I’d be happy, plenty of cheese and garlic mayo sorts any naff burger out.

Be my guest

My husbands are delicious

Did you eat their livers with a nice chianti?

You're not alone my friend. DH makes a posh sausage dish from scratch, very strange aftertaste, can send me from ravenous to sickly by mention of it. Absolutely to him his signature dish.

But he's so proud of himself creating it and it ignited a love of cooking so I just encourage other dishes as much as possible and pray he doesn't choose that for guests 😂 Taking that one to my grave. I loves him too much to break his heart.