Day 22 ‘Get Your Jelly On’: Sydney Opera House-inspired kangaroo burger

Sydney Opera House on a beautiful spring day, October 2011

Sydney Opera House on a beautiful spring day, October 2011

* This post is part of  the Royal Selangor Jellyriffic Competition where ten bloggers from around the world compete by posting recipes each day for 30 days in the month of October 2011 to raise awareness and support for breast cancer. *

Update:

Follow our progress and download our recipes in the “Cuisines of the World” by clicking the image below:

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The weather over the last two days has been quintessentially Sydney.

Perfect blue skies and temperature in the low 20’s.  Reputed to have more than 340 days of beautiful sunshine annually, Sydney really puts it all on when she decides to do so.

I could not resist going for a morning run around Bennelong point, the Botanic Gardens and Mrs Macquarie’s chair to soak up the sun, cool sea breeze and the breath-taking views of the harbour.

The water is deep blue as it simmers under the reflection of the sun. As I approach the Sydney Opera House, I just have to stop to take a photo of this magnificent building. I have been to this awe-inspiring place for countless of concerts and more so recently when two of my favourite pianists Lang Lang and Evgeny Kissin were performing.

“I am so inspired”, I thought to myself as I headed home, the beautiful sails of the Opera House vivid in my imagination.

“What are we having for dinner tonight?” Mysaucepan quips as I walk through the door.

“Well, I’m going to cook something that you have never had before” I answer.  “And I think it is something that many people have never had before either”, I added.

“Oh goody Mr. Adventurous, I wonder what it might be” she says with delight punctuated with a hint of sarcasm as I am usually quite predictable for cooking my favourite comfort food at home.

“I’m going make some home-made burgers for you”, I say with a smile.

“Huuh? What is so friggin’ unusual about that?” she seemed a little deflated with my response.

“Well, it’s not just any home-made burgers I assure you. In fact, it will be something you’ve never quite seen before”, I boasted wide-eyed and tongue wagging.

“Oh my … I’d better get my camera ready and work up my appetite then!”, she says as she checks the camera while I get cracking in the kitchen.

Day 22: Main – Sydney Opera House-inspired kangaroo burger

Shaping bread into the Royal Selangor jelly mould

Shaping bread into the Royal Selangor jelly mould

As I work with the ingredients in the kitchen, Mysaucepan is curious and keeps pestering me about what I am cooking.

“Come on … what the heck are you cooking up?”, she nudges my arm as I’m handling the meat grinder.

“Well, if you keep nudging my arm, you might just have my fingers as mince meat for dinner!”, I blurted out.

“Oohh okay, I will leave you alone then”, flustered she wanders off to do her own thing.

Marinating meat with herbs, salt, black pepper, light soy sauce and EVOO

Marinating meat with herbs, salt, black pepper, light soy sauce and EVOO

As I prepare the ingredients, all I could think about is the beautiful Opera House, its pearly white sails rocking in the wind etched in my mind.

Surface tiles of the Sydney Opera House

Surface tiles of the Sydney Opera House

I ran my hand along the surface tiles of the Sydney Opera House earlier this morning. It is an intricate design that makes up the entire pattern of the white sails, just like the intricate patterns on the cross-section of the lebanese cucumber that I am slicing.

Lebanese cucumber slices

Lebanese cucumber slices

Vivid images of red and pink cherry blossoms against a perfect blue sky flashed through my mind.

“It is a signal that spring has arrived”, I thought.

Cherry blossoms in Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney

Cherry blossoms in Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney

With a new season in mind, I am inspired to cook with all the beautiful ingredients that are in season.

I love cherry and grape tomatoes because they are so sweet and juicy. I pop a few into my mouth as I am slicing them into wedges for the burger.

Grape tomato wedges

Grape tomato wedges

Kangaroo meat

Kangaroo meat is extremely healthy because it is literally fat free. It is very high in protein and iron content. It has considerably less fat than beef or pork.

Kangaroo fillets - lean and mean

Kangaroo fillets - lean and mean

However, it tastes a little gamey and it may not be the food for everyone.

Kangaroo meat - nutritional information

Kangaroo meat - nutritional information

If you grill a piece of kangaroo meat on the barbeque, the grill needs to be very hot so to just lightly seared the meat on each side or the meat will become quite tough.

Searing the kangaroo patties

Searing the kangaroo patties

I am careful to not overcook the kangaroo patties and as soon as they are seared on one side, I flip them over to finish off the cooking. As you can see, I use very little olive oil to sear the kangaroo patties as I have already marinated them with EVOO earlier.

Kangaroo burger patty

Kangaroo burger patty

Looking at the patties, I knew I should have made more than two. Nevertheless, I am happy to trial this recipe which I am quite certain it will work.

From top: Dijon mustard, barbeque sauce, tomato sauce and capers

From top: Dijon mustard, barbeque sauce, tomato sauce and capers

Apart from flavoursome meat, what makes a burger great is the sauces.

I squeeze some Dijon mustard, barbeque sauce and tomato sauce onto the serving plate and added a few pickled capers which I always love because of their tartness.

Sydney Opera House forecourt

Sydney Opera House forecourt

Sydney Opera House – my inspiration for this recipe

I could not get the image of the beautiful sails of the Opera House off my mind as I smell the wonderful aromas of bread being baked in the oven.

I got this idea from a dear friend from Kuala Lumpur whom I have known for a long time. He is a wonderful pianist, an accomplished engineer, corporate finance guru and a great mind in mathematics. Best of all he inspires me to play more Chopin and Gershwin and we also share our interest in good food.

Conic section

Conic section diagram

Conic section diagram - 1 Parabola 2 Circle or Ellipse 3 Hyperbola (Picture source: Wikipedia)

A conic section is a curve obtained by intersecting a cone (the jelly mould) with a plane. The types of conic section include a parabola, circle (or Ellipse) or hyperbola.

I have chosen a hyperbola in this particular case because it best represents the shape of the sails of the Sydney Opera House.

Baked bread in the shape of the Sydney Opera House sail

Baked bread in the shape of the Sydney Opera House sails

So dear readers, here is my recipe for my Sydney Opera House-inspired kangaroo burger. I hope you will try out this recipe and even if it is not kangaroo meat, you can use any meat that you prefer.

I used kangaroo meat for this particular recipe because I want to dedicate this dish to Australia for our Cuisines of the world journey.

You can use beef, pork, veal or chicken mince or a combination of these meats and it will turn out just as tasty.

Sydney Opera House-inspired kangaroo burger

Sydney Opera House-inspired kangaroo burger

Kangaroo meat tastes a little gamey but nevertheless, it is tasty and this burger is beautiful!

Sydney Opera House-inspired kangaroo burger

Sydney Opera House-inspired kangaroo burger

I have presented this dish as an open style burger and also “deconstructed” the ingredients so that you have the option to either assemble the burger on your own or just pick and nibble on each of the individual ingredients if you choose to do so.

It is a fun and exciting way to eat a burger, especially when it is an Aussie kangaroo burger!

Sydney Opera House-inspired kangaroo burger

Sydney Opera House-inspired kangaroo burger (Clockwise from top: grape tomatoes, lebanese cucumber, Dijon mustard, barbeque sauce, tomato sauce, pickled capers, seared kangaroo patty, rocket leaves, brown onions and baked crispy bread in the middle of the plate)

So there you have it, my interpretation of Sydney Opera House-inspired kangaroo burger and a connection between mathematics and good food.

Sydney Opera House-inspired kangaroo burger

Sydney Opera House-inspired kangaroo burger

So dear readers, will you give this recipe a try and if so, what meat would you use?

Related posts:

 

Related links:

Sydney Opera House
Performance Enquiries & Bookings
Tel: +61 2 9250 7777
Monday to Saturday: 9am – 8.30pm AEST
Sunday: 10am – 6pm

Sydney Symphony
Box Office & Customer Service
Tel: +61 2  8215 4600

Macro Meats – Gourmet Game
51-53 Lavinia street

Althol Park, South Australia 5012
Tel: +61 8  8341 2533
Email: sales@macromeats.com

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We wish you good health and happy cooking!

Chopinand & Mysaucepan

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15 Responses to Day 22 ‘Get Your Jelly On’: Sydney Opera House-inspired kangaroo burger

  1. Diana says:

    I never tried kangaroo meat before. I feel like trying them when I look at your dish!

  2. Nice attempt! I might need 3 plates of this. LOL!

  3. Sissi says:

    What an extraordinary tribute to the Opera House and to the whole Australia. I will make you laugh, but since the beginning of October, it’s definitely the most exotic dish you have prepared. You will now make me dream of kangaroo meat.

  4. sara says:

    Very cool! Love how you really got the shapes of the sails with the bread. Neat presentation! :)

  5. You know all the times Iv been past or to the Opera House and I’ve never gone so close as to see the tiles? Haha! Thanks for the pic :)
    Love kangaroo meat – this is such a perfect Aussie dish!

  6. Wow, I love kangaroo but don’t eat it too often as it normally involves lack of full disclosure about what we are actually having and lots of “do you like it” and “how is it” questions. :-)

  7. Wow and wow! Amazing effort for working on this project, I saw Billy’s version of this by making jelly. I love your concept and the previous post too :) Keep it up!

  8. heidi says:

    I love the spirit of this meal! ( and I’m quite thankful you didn’t get your fingers included in the mince.) I would probably use a mix of ground pork and chicken. Or just ground veal. The shape of the bread is lovely- thanks for the outside tour of the Opera House !

  9. Heeeeeeeehhh, this is such a great idea! the bread really looks like the opera house! 😀

    I just saw a documentary about the Sydney Opera the other day. My mom records these documentaries about UNESCO world heritage sites for me on DVD and sends them to me, and I like to watch them in the evening to relax. The other day was one about the opera house that is also on the world heritage list. :)

  10. You’re so creative… Love the idea! I’ve enjoyed looking at your previous ‘Get Your Jelly On’ posts, they’re all so pretty!

  11. I just realized today that black spots on the chart are much less now. Oh no, I’ll really miss this challenge. You two have been really doing incredible job! What a great dish featuring Australia!

  12. Ann says:

    Brilliant…absolutely brilliant!

  13. love your deconstructed roo burger!

  14. Cool creation! Love reading your posts…they are so entertaining! :)

  15. Sharn says:

    Hilarious! I Love it! 😀

Comments are closed.