Soft-Shelled Turtle Hamburger is a dish made by Hisako Arato against Akira Hayama during the 43rd Annual Tōtsuki Autumn Election's Main Tournament: Quarterfinals.
Description[]
Hisako Arato sought to create a hamburger that "vehemently rocks human instinct" by creating a dish that was both richly infused with the flavors of the soft-shelled turtle and that strongly emphasized the gelatinous nature of the meat to stimulate the soft palate.
The patty was made with the boiled meat and innards of a freshly slaughtered soft-shelled turtle mixed with the turtle's blood, ground pork, and turtle shell powder and was wrapped in pork crepiné and pan fried. The patty was also smothered with a sauce made from the thickened turtle dashi, schisandra fruit, kinshinsai, ginger, and shaoxing wine.
The patty and sauce were served on a buttered steamed bun topped with korean lettuce and shredded ginger.
Recipe[]
- Soft-Shelled Turtle Patty
- Soft-Shelled Turtle
- Soft-Shelled Turtle Blood
- Shaoxing Wine
- Soft-Shelled Turtle Dried Shell Powder
- Soft-Shelled Turtle Blood
- Sake
- Thickened Dashi
- Schisandra Fruit
- Kinshinsai
- Ginger
- Shaoxing Wine
- Ground Pork
- Pork Crepiné
- Salt
- Pepper
- Soft-Shelled Turtle
- Steamed Buns
- Butter
How to Make[]
- Hisako began by decapitating a live, soft-shelled turtle and pouring out its blood. She then filled the neck cavity with sake to pour out the rest of the blood and prevent all of it from coagulating.
- Hisako then used the tip of her chef's knife to pry off the turtle's shell to prepare the meat and innards.
- The meat, innards, and shell pieces were then boiled into a dashi.
- The boiled meat and innards were then kneaded with ground pork, the drained turtle's blood, and turtle shell powder; seasoned with salt and pepper; and dressed in crepine to form the patty, which was then browned on a griddle.
- The burger was assembled with buttered steamed buns, fresh Korean lettuce, and julienned ginger with the patty smothered in a sauce made from the thickened dashi.
Gallery[]
Real Facts[]
- Soft-shelled turtles are eaten as a delicacy in East Asia. A Chinese dish stews them with chicken. According to a 1930 report by Soame Jenyns, Guangdong restaurants had them imported from Guangxi in large numbers; "eaten stewed with almonds, roast with chili sauce or fried with bamboo shoots, they [were] considered a great delicacy." Due to the rising demand and over-hunting of them, the price of soft-shelled in China skyrocketed by the mid-1990s.
- World-wide, the most commonly consumed soft-shell species is the Chinese soft-shell Pelodiscus sinensis. As a noted Japanese biologist pointed out in 1904, the Japanese variety of this turtle, which at time was classified as Trionyx japonicus, occupied a place in Japanese cuisine as esteemed as the diamondback terrapin in the United States or the green turtle in England. The farming of this "luscious reptile", known in Japan as suppon, was already developed on an industrial scale in that country by the late 19th century.
- A hamburger, beefburger or burger is a sandwich consisting of one or more cooked patties of ground meat, usually beef, placed inside a sliced bread roll or bun. The patty may be pan fried, barbecued, or flame broiled. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, bacon, onion, pickles, or chiles; condiments such as mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup, relish, or "special sauce"; and are frequently placed on sesame seed buns. A hamburger topped with cheese is called a cheeseburger.[1]