By Jim O’Gorman
I’ve always felt a bit out of step with most people on the subject of burgers.
There is no doubt that they have become a cultural phenomenon in western society in the last 50 years. Not only have the well-known commercial chains become famous for their burgers, they’ve also made their establishments a must visit part of our lives.
That’s puzzled me.
I can remember vividly going to soccer matches in London in the 1960s.
“Roasted peanuts, tanner a bag” the cockney street vendor would shout and the queues would stretch down the street. Then came the ‘Swinging Sixties’ and the hot dog arrived.
This would have a frankfurter sausage in the bun topped with onions, the sausage overlapping the bun to make it impossible to eat without a mess.
Now frankfurters had a strong taste. When I went to a night match in France in the mid-1990s there were a range of sausages on offer with a hot chocolate drink.
I chose the merguez sausage option – a very hot, spicy sausage from North Africa. It kept me warm throughout a very cold night in Lens.
Somehow these tasty options got displaced, shoved out of the way by the beef burger. Now my objection is that the vast majority of beefburgers are tasteless on their own. Only when you add onions, cheese, bacon, ketchup and any other add-ons does the meal become tasty.
I accept I’m a voice in the wilderness on this.
However, recently I have come into the beefburger supporters club.
Why?
Easy. I stumbled across a really tasty example in The Tankard restaurant in Kilfenora, just a few miles from Fenit. Now The Tankard is well known in the wider Tralee area for its terrific seafood dishes – more of that later.
The restaurant is run by the O’Sullivan brothers with Ian the Head Chef. He offers a Cajun burger that really is sublime. Actually, to qualify that, you get two – yes two beefburgers – a very generous portion.
At €14.50c it also includes ample chips and a very nice side salad.
The difference is in the spices and sauce plus the fact that the mince is cooked appropriately. Far removed from the dried out tasteless offerings of more famous places, Ian’s burgers arrive on your plate with a moisture that plays well with the Cajun sauce. And when you are finished, stroll around the grounds and watch the waters gently caress the rocks of Tralee Bay.
If you’re going and it’s not on the menu, just ask. Ian will rustle the meal up quickly enough – and it really is worth waiting for.
