Hubcap Grill proclaims itself to be “the king of downtown burger joints.” Self centered cockiness or truth?

To be fair, I’m not really a hamburger aficionado. Given the choice, I’ll choose hot dogs over hamburgers 90% of the time. I’m hard pressed to name the top burger places in Houston because I don’t seek them out. I’ll probably never be the one in my relationship to suggest we go out for a burger. You get the point.

But dang, do I crave burgers now that I can’t seem to get a good one.

Sadly, I have only been to Hubcap twice. But I sure liked it both times. Whenever I hear about owner Ricky Craig’s newest hamburger creations, my mouth waters. Cheetos burger? Yes, please. Sometimes I wonder if, unlike Alison Cook, I needed someone who would “dress up” my burger before becoming a true burger fan.

I’ve heard great things about Hubcap’s unadorned burger, but what they’re probably best known for is piling all sorts of things on a burger that you might never have thought would belong there. Craig’s creations besides the Cheetos burger include a Frito Pie burger, Greek burger, and the Black and Bleu burger. I’ve tried the Sticky burger, a bacon cheeseburger smothered with crunchy peanut butter, and the Muffalletta burger, topped with a house made dressing and olive salad. Both were insanely good, the toppings blending perfectly with an incredibly juicy beef patty. The sticky burger was everything my pregnant cravings wanted – salty, crunchy, peanut buttery, meaty. (Next time though, I want to put jelly on it). Both my dining companions each time ordered the seemingly redundant yet apparently irresistable Philly Cheese Steak burger, which has the customary all beef patty topped (yes, topped) with Swiss cheese and grilled thinly sliced ribeye, onions, and green peppers.

The Hubcap Philly Cheese Steak burger

Besides the delicious toppings, I love the way the Hubcap burger itself tastes, and that’s something, coming from someone who isn’t usually partial to burgers. The meat is loosely packed and incredibly juicy while still seared to a char on the outside. The buns are soft and avoid the trap of being bready or starchy which sometimes detracts from the burger. And the fries! Everyone I know swoons over the Hubcap fries. Don’t get Craig started on them unless you like listening to diatribes on potato starch content and double frying.

Hubcap recently started running a burger truck with sliders, whose hours and location you can follow via twitter (@hubcap_grill), for those of you who can’t make it downtown for their lunch hours. Lunch at their downtown location is routinely packed, and seating can be cramped, especially in the hot summer months when no one really wants to sit on the outside patio, so it’s always best to arrive early or be willing to take your lunch to go. Go try for yourself and see if they don’t make a hamburger convert of you!

Popovers are deceptively simple and deceptively easy little treats. Though there are special tins especially for popovers, I’ve always had perfect success using an ordinary muffin tin. The key is to bake them until they are high and crusty, and as with many things that magically rise to stratospheric heights, not to peak during baking.

cream cheese popovers

From the Joy of Cooking

Whisk together 1 cup AP flour and 1/2 t salt. In a separate bowl, combine 2 large eggs, 1 1/4 cups milk and 1 T warm melted butter. The milk and eggs should be at room temperature, otherwise the melted butter will harden upon contact with the cold milk.  Fold the liquids into the flour mixture just until blended. Fill a greased muffin tin 1/3 full. Drop a dollop of cream cheese (or other cheese of your liking) in the middle of each cup and cover with batter. The cups should be about 2/3 full. Bake for 15 minutes at 450 degrees. Then reduce the oven temperature to 350 and bake for another 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and puncture each popover with a sharp knife. Enjoy warm, while they retain their crisp shape and gooey, cheesy inside!

Here’s a post I’ve dredged up from my drafts that I actually found mostly written, but not published for some reason.  I’m not usually a huge dessert person, 10 course tastings at Textile notwithstanding, but with the advent of the pregnancy, sweets were all I wanted (for the first three months, anyway).  I went through gallons of ice cream and bowls of fruit topped with crunchy streusel.  This was one delicious recipe from that time that gave me an excuse to have a bit of Jim Beam in my dessert – yum!

I’ve never made tiramisu before so I can’t speak to the ease of this recipe over any other.  I just know that it was far easier than I expected it to be.  The most difficult part was finding the ladyfingers at HEB!  I ended up with a huge bag of them that I had to throw out when we moved.  In any case, I’ll probably never order tiramisu again now that I know how easy it is to make.

Easy peasy tiramisu (from Martha’s Dinner at Home)

Make yourself some espresso or very strong coffee.  You’ll need about a cup.  In a bowl, blend equal parts mascarpone cheese and heavy cream – about a cup of each – with a few tablespoons of brandy, a splash of vanilla, and half a cup of sugar.  Trim the edges off 12 ladyfingers, dip each in the espresso, and layer in a glass serving dish.  Top with half the mascarpone mixture and cover with shaved bittersweet chocolate.  Repeat layers, chill for an hour, and serve.

Back in June, I put an open ended question out there: What cookbook would you take with you on a journey if you could only take one?

When it came time to actually pack for Spain, I was close to taking no cookbook at all. Matt & I managed to fit everything we brought to Spain into the luggage we brought on the plane with us. Yes, you ought to be impressed- especially since I had to bring both a pregnant and post-pregnant wardrobe! I sure hope I fit back into everything I brought in a few months.

With so much crammed into my bags, I ended up packing the Joy of Cooking into the backpack I carried with me on the plane. It became my layover reading, as it had been my road trip reading, and I ended up being incredibly happy I had brought it. Armed with the wealth of recipes, ingredient conversions, and handy tips in the book, I was able to piece together meals from day 1 in Spain, despite the differences in supermarket produce and measurements.

Up until now, looking for recipes usually entailed a bit of internet hunting, and probably combining two or three different recipes. I didn’t realize what a trove of classics could be found in the Joy of Cooking, and without internet access, I was forced to make them without cross-comparison with 6 other sources. The result? Consistently tasty and reliable meals.

Joy’s recipe for stuffed cabbages is simple and delicious. It also yielded about twice as much as I expected, and I froze the extra rolls for a second meal with great results.

Stuffed Cabbages

From the Joy of Cooking

Combine in a bowl 1 lb ground beef, 1 egg, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs and 1/2 cup uncooked white rice, 1/2 cup water, and 1 each chopped carrot, onion, and clove of garlic. Core a head of green cabbage and plunge into a pot of boiling, salted water. After 5-10 minutes, remove the softened outer leaves. Return the rest of the cabbage to the pot to continue softening – but be careful not to leave it too long! Trim the spine off each leaf to make them easier to roll, and stuff each with about an inch of rice mixture, leaving a good margin when rolling them up. The rice will expand during cooking.

Chop the remaining cabbage leaves and add to a pot of hot oil along with a chopped onion. Add 1/2 cup white wine, one 28 oz can of tomatoes in sauce, broken up by hand, 1 cup of water, 1/2 cup of sugar and the juice of a large lemon. Here, Joy also calls for a few things I couldn’t get readily but without which the recipe was still good: 1/2 cup raisins, 8 crushed gingersnaps and 2 chunks of sour salt. I’d be interested to see how these items change the end result.

Place the cabbage rolls seam side down in the sauce; add water to cover if necessary. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Serve hot with sour cream.

Note: Sour cream is difficult to come across here (i.e. I haven’t seen it anywhere) but I’ve created a good imitation by mixing creme fraiche, yogurt, and lemon juice.