A Week Of Cocktail Burgers Pt. 3: Nicholas Tang's Sidecar Burger (With Softshell Crab!)

The Sidecar — featuring two parts cognac, one part Cointreau (orange liqueur), and one part fresh squeezed lemon juice, served in a sugar-rimmed cocktail glass — isn’t the kind of drink that immediately brings burgers to mind. But hey, take great chefs, throw challenges their way, and they will rise to the occasion. Check back here all week for more cocktail burger deliciousness!

I try not to set too many guidelines when it comes to the Cocktail Burger Project. I love seeing chefs taking my germ of an idea and running with it, and I figure too many rules can get in the way of their creative vision. So all I ask is that the burger have the flavor profile of the cocktail that inspired it — in this case, a Sidecar. And that’s pretty much it.

When I approached Nicholas Tang, the executive chef at DBGB in Washington, DC, to come up with a Sidecar Burger, I figured I had at least a rough idea of what I was getting into. DBGB is Daniel Boulud’s meat-lover’s paradise, a mecca for sausage and burger lovers. But while Tang can dish out the bistro-influenced beef and pork deliciousness, his Singaporean origins loom large in his legend — and in his cooking. So I shouldn’t have been surprised when Nic sent me his concept via email: a soft-shell crab “burger” with a cognac-based marinade and a savory pineapple and Cointreau-based compote, on a Chinese mantou bun. Now that’s thinking outside the box... and outside the beef.

Chef Nicholas Tang working on his Sidecar Burger.

Chef Nic used burger patty-sized soft shell crabs marinated overnight in Hennessy, scallion, garlic, and cilantro stems, before dredging them in rice flour — ”After working for three years in New York, I tweak things to make them more gluten-friendly.” [Sadly, the Manhattan location of DBGB closed a couple of years ago.]

“How did you come up with the idea?” I asked. “It’s the season,” he said, “and last year I did soft shell crabs with chili sauce. And then you talked about Hennessy, you talked about Cointreau. I was excited. I was off the day you sent the email, so I kind of bounced the idea off my wife. So half the credit goes to my wife.”

“Are you a Sidecar fan?”

“No, I’m a gin and tonic man.” Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily. I don’t think the Sidecar is a go-to for too many cocktail mavens, simply because of all the sugar. Drinking them daily is probably not advisable.

Chef Nic got to work on the sauce. “Surprisingly, this being an Asian recipe, the oil I use is butter. Back home we use ghee or margarine. But since we have butter, I’m gonna use butter. We’re gonna toss the peppers in it. I have a mixture of white peppercorn, black peppercorn, coriander, just a touch of fennel seed, and pink peppercorns. I like pink peppercorns on seafood because they have that berry flavor.”

“And that’ll work with the citrus notes in the sidecar,” I added. As if he didn’t know that already.

“So we put ginger, chopped garlic, shallots, and because the garnish is the top of the scallion, I’m just gonna use the bottom. No wastage. So we’re just gonna cook this up and get it nice and soft.... If you do this in a Chinese restaurant, it’s gonna be in a wok, so this is a little more refined, the heat is way higher.” Not that I think of a wok as unrefined, but he’s the chef, so I rolled with it. “And then a little sugar, to balance off. Usually, we’d use MSG. But here... this is dashi broth.” I was grateful — after an MSG-laden meal I’m usually ready for a good, long nap.

Next, he poured in the Hennessy and flames shot from the pan — good for dramatic effect and for this photo:

Adding cognac to the Sidecar Burger sauce makes for a great photo op.

After the inferno died down he added soy sauce, vegetarian oyster sauce (”I like the vegetarian mushroom base”), and kecap manis, a sweet soy sauce. He thickened it with a slurry of rice flour and water — “You can use cornstarch, but [this is] not so goopy.” A taste test proved highly satisfactory to us both: “There’s a bit of a kick there, but it’s nice and round,” Chef Nic said.

Now it was on to the crabs, which he fried in canola oil at 375º. While they fried, he worked on the mantou buns (available at most Chinese grocery stores). They’re a fantastic alternative to brioche or potato buns, especially for a sauce-heavy sandwich like this one. “I’m just gonna sort of scrape off a bit of the inside, so we can fill it more.” Damn, I like this guy’s style. “And then I’m just gonna cook them in the oven. And while it’s toasting, I’m going to warm the sauce up.” We were in the homestretch, and my mouth was watering so much that I was wishing for a bib.

The crabs came out of the fryer, the buns came out of the oven, the sauce came off the stove. Chef Nic placed a leaf of Boston Bibb lettuce on the scooped-out bottom of the bun, and then laid down a few spoonfuls of pineapple compote — wait, did I mention the pineapple compote? “Pineapples with onion, Cointreau, lemon zest. I chopped cilantro, the leaves of the celery, and a bit of red chili. It’s spicy but sweet.” Then came the crab, followed by the sauce, and the scallion garnish. A dainty burger it was not: “It’s gonna get a little bit messy, like a Sloppy Joe,” he warned me. In place of fries, he’d included some thinly sliced deep-fried lotus root chips. Which was great, because fries with this monster seemed a little... superfluous.

The burger was miraculous. As far as replicating the flavor of a sidecar, Chef Nic had nailed it. It had the deep fruitiness of the Cointreau, the mellow smooth notes of the cognac, the brightness of the lemon, and a spicy kick at the back of the throat reminiscent of a slug of booze. The bun held up to all that sauce and compote beautifully — the mantou is soft but not mushy, fluffy but not too porous, and it was the perfect size and shape for the job. The crab itself was so satisfyingly crunchy, and worked with the Sidecar’s flavors better, I suspect, than ground beef ever could (although further research is certainly necessary in this department). It also pairs very well with the actual cocktail. The flavors are similar, obviously, but you won’t feel like you’re drinking a liquid version of the burger; the spice of the sauce cuts through the sweetness of the cocktail beautifully.

Is a soft-shell crab burger really a burger? By your standards, maybe not. By my standards — meaning, does it fit on a bun? — hell yes. And regardless of semantics, this Sidecar Burger is a hellaciously good meal, no matter what you want to call it. Check out the recipe and try your own!

SIDECAR COCKTAIL RECIPE:

2 oz. cognac (I prefer VSOP)
1 oz. orange liqueur (Cointreau is generally the go-to)
1 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with plenty of ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass with a sugared rim (just wet the rim of the glass and smoosh it around in a small dish of sugar).

NICHOLAS TANG’S SOFT SHELL CRAB SIDECAR BURGER

Ingredients:

4 Soft Shell Crabs

¼ cup cognac (he uses Hennessy VS)

1-inch piece ginger, sliced

2 garlic cloves, smashed

1 scallion, sliced

4 Mantou buns*

½ cup rice flour (for dusting crabs)

4 leaves bibb lettuce

Lotus root chips, optional

Sauce

4 T Butter

2 small shallots, minced

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 scallions, white part only, minced

1 T freshly ground black pepper

1 T freshly ground white pepper

1 T freshly ground pink peppercorn

½ T ground coriander seeds

1 tsp. ground fennel seeds

½ cup cognac

2 T black soy sauce* 2 T oyster sauce* 2 T kecap manis * 2 T hon-dashi powder* 2 T sugar 1 T rice flour

1 T lemon juice

Pineapple compote

1 ripe pineapple, peeled, cored, diced

1 cup diced red onion

½ cup diced candied ginger

1 cup Cointreau

1 teaspoon each: coriander seed, fennel seed, pink peppercorn, wrapped together in cheesecloth and tied with butcher’s twine

1 Fresno chili, chopped

1 T chopped cilantro

1 T chopped yellow celery leaves (from the heart of the celery)

1 lemon, zested and juiced

*available online or at Asian supermarkets

Combine the crabs, cognac, ginger, garlic and scallion and marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

To make the sauce, melt the butter over medium heat in a medium saucepan and add the shallots, garlic, and scallion. Sauté for 5-10 minutes or until translucent. Add the spices and continue cooking 1 minute, then add the Hennessy. Reduce by half then add the black soy sauce, oyster sauce, kecap manis, hon-dashi powder, sugar, and ½ cup of water. Bring to a simmer and continue cooking for 5 minutes. In a small bowl mix the rice flour with 1 T of water, then add to the simmering sauce. Cook another 3 minutes then finish with the lemon juice and keep warm on the side.

For the pineapple compote, combine all the ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook until reduced to a jam, then cool completely. Stir in the Fresno chili, cilantro, celery leaves, lemon zest and lemon juice.

Arrange the buns on small cookie tray and bake until toasted golden.

Heat a small fryer or shallow pan filled with at least 2 inches of canola oil to 375˚F. Toss the crabs in the rice flour and fry for about 5-7 minutes.

To assemble, cut the mantou buns in half and place a piece of Boston bibb lettuce on the bottom. Add about 3 T of pineapple compote, then add the crab spoon the sauce over the top. Replace top half of bun and secure with a skewer. Serve with a side of lotus root chips.