Loco Moco, with a twist

Hey, it's Hawaiian food, the most natural Fusion cuisine in the world, they have borrowed from just about every cuisine in the world, to come up with something that speaks just to the island. But, I wanted to try out a new rub, then there was the fact that this dish normally lacks any vegetable matter at all. I was going to eat this for dinner, so it needed something. I came up with this.

 

Da' Grinds!

For starters, you need some rice, easy enough, standard Japanese rice cook implemented, then the hamburger patty. I went with a local source, grass finished Northcoast beef, with a rub from Ted & Barney's. They are a local Humboldt County butcher shop turned rub merchant. In the bottle, it looks a lot like salt and pepper and not much else. I figured it would be close to a Santa Maria-style rub. I seasoned the meat, with what I thought was too much rub, small shaker mishap, as it were. Still forge on, assume it will be too salty, I guess. Let the rub sit for a bit, while other prep work was done. A little Japanese, a little American, a little Humboldt County influence.

 

Too Much Rub?

I also wanted those greens, so I prepped up some baby Pak Choy, some yellow onion and a couple cloves of garlic. This was to be a fairly simple stir-fry, really trying to let the pak choi shine with a little garlic kick. California/Chinese influences here.

 

See, Healthy

 

Done, still crispy

Then there was the gravy, normally it should be a beef stock/base type of gravy preparation, but, that would be too easy. So, I went with some bacon ends for fat and flavor, and cooked them slowly to aid in building a fond in the pan, then flour, onions, lots of black pepper, and parsley were added to create some depth of flavor. A mixture of 25% milk and 75% water to bring the gravy to the proper thickness. Going for the Southern influence here.

 

Mmmm, not so healthy

From there, all that was left was assembly, a ring of rice, the pak choi in the middle, then burger, gravy and the required fried egg on top. I have to say, I decided to test a chunk of the second burger plain, and the Ted & Barney's rub was surprisingly not over-applied, it was nicely balanced and for something with just four ingredients, it was more than the sum of it's parts. I will probably go ahead and try it on a tri-tip at some point. It will definitely have a spot in my rub box.

 

Standard blogger too close to the food shot

I love runny eggs and rice, the seasoning on this was spot on, with the simple greens adding both a needed crunch and vegetal edge to the dish that is otherwise lacking. Overall, even as it is a Fusion dish, apparently a dirty word in professional kitchens, each of the flavors was well developed and individually strong, but, added to the whole. It's good eating, sort of Island-style.