Fast Food Burgers - Mike Puts His Money Where His Mouth Is

The Super Double Double Smash Cheese Butter Burger

Overview

Ok, hopefully you have read my review of eight fast food burger restaurants and can relate to the observations in my post. The trend among the newer burger chains is to do a "smash burger" where you take a few ounces of ground meat and smash the shit out of it so it is big around and very thin. The interesting trend is what is old is new again. I'm sure they were not the only ones doing it, but Steak N Shake has been making burgers this way since the 1930s. Unfortunately, all of the Steak N Shakes near me have closed. It is a surprise to me that when this burger style is back "in vogue," the chain that popularize the style is closing stores. It seems to me that the concept needs a makeover. The overarching concept involves combining good quality meat such as angus beef with the right amount of fat, smashing the patty nice and thin and chilling the patties so the fat congeals prior to cooking.

After grinding and mixing the meats, I used a cast iron tortilla press to thinly and evenly smash the burger patties. This technique worked great.

Preparing To Cook The Burgers

Rather than grilling or cooking the burger on the stove top, I used a well-seasoned cast iron skillet on my Weber grill. My stovetop vent hood and fan are not very robust. Cooking meat with a relatively high fat content works better outside. Smoking up the kitchen and setting off the smoke detectors is No Bueno. So, I turned the grill burners on high and once boiling hot, I peeled the first burger off the wax paper and tossed it into the hot skillet. Immediately after the meat hit the skillet, I added a liberal amount of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper on one side. I did not season the other side because my sauces also contained a fair amount of salt and other seasonings. You have to take care and watch the cumulative salt that goes into the meal. Otherwise, it's easy to over-salt the sandwich as a whole. The great thing about this type of burger is the crispy crust that develops on both sides and especially on the edges. A thin patty with about 30% fat and a liberal sprinkling of salt and pepper creates a "bark" on the outside of the burger that is fabulous.

Seasoning The Meat

I generally do not season meat until right before searing and cooking out of concern that salt in particular will draw moisture out of the meat and produce a "hockey puck". Great seasoning is very important to every great burger (or any other meat for that matter). There are many seasonings I like to use when making burgers including garlic and onion powder, smoked paprika, freshly ground black pepper, white pepper, cumin powder, oregano, etc. Because I used various spices and seasoning in the sauces, I refrained from using the same seasonings on the meat during this exercise.

The Burger

I decided I was going to make a burger that combined what I considered to be some of the best elements of all of the burgers I tested. To get a great meat patty with the right fat and flavor content, I wanted to combine beef and pork. My local grocery store had no ground pork the day I bought my ingredients. As a substitute, I used thick cut smoked bacon.

I started with a 1.22 lb piece of slightly marbled Angus beef. I decided a 70% beef, 30% pork ratio would provide the right mix of meat, fat and flavor. To figure out the right amount of bacon, I took 1.22 lb divided by .70 = 1.74 lb total. 1.74 - 1.22 = .52 lb of bacon. So, I added about half a pound of bacon to the Angus beef.

After creating the patties, I put them into the refrigerator until the grill and skillet reached a temperature of about 500 degrees. More detailed steps for making the burger patties, cooking and assembling the burger follow below.

Toppings

For toppings, the popular (and flavorful standard toppings used in many of the burger joints) items that I used here included:

Beefsteak tomato slices
Red onion rings
Hamburger dill pickle slices
American cheese slices
Romaine Lettice Leaf

As described below, I love to use in many cooking applications is sautéed shallots. This is the simplest thing in the world, but sautéed shallots can be the difference between top quality tasting food and amateur hour. I found it interesting that while so many toppings available like grilled onions, peppers and green chilis are available, shallots were not offered at any restaurant I surveyed. I guess that is because people are just not familiar with these amazingly flavorful cousins of garlic, leeks and onions.

Steps for Making Two Awesome Burger Sauces

Sauces and toppings are two other elements that make a great burger. For this exercise, I decided to make a copycat Smashburger sauce and a creamy jalapeno sauce in the spirit of Whataburger. Here are the recipes for my two copycat sauces:

Mike's Smash Sauce:

Vegan Mayo              2 Tablespoons
Ketchup                     1 Tablespoon
Yellow Mustard        1 Tablespoon
Fresh Lemon Juice    1 Teaspoon
Dill Pickle Relish      1 Tablespoon
White Wine Vinegar     1/2 Tablespoon
Avocado Oil                  1 Tablespoon
Sea Salt                         1/2 Teaspoon
Black Pepper                 1/2 Teaspoon

Add ingredients to a blender, pulse mix until well-combined and scrape into a bowl, cover and place in the refrigerator until ready for use. Note, I have a food allergy to eggs so wherever I can, I use substitutes such as Hellman's Vegan Mayonnaise. It worked great in these recipes.

Mike's Creamy Jalapeno Sauce:

Pickled Jalapeno Peppers 1 Cup

Vegan Mayo 3/4 Cup

Fresh Lemon Juice 1/2 Tablespoon

Avocado Oil 1 Tablespoon

Fresh Garlic 1 Peeled Clove

Liquid Smoke - Mesquite 1/2 Teaspoon

Sea Salt 1/3 Teaspoon

Black Pepper 1/2 Teaspoon

Add ingredients to a blender, pulse mix until well-combined and scrape into a bowl, cover and place in the refrigerator until ready for use.

Steps For Making Excellent Burger Patties

1. Start with a good cut of beef like Angus

2. Dice the steak into cubes

3. Place the cubes into a bowl, cover and place in the freezer for 30 minutes.

4. Add some pork fat. Bacon works fine, as does ground pork. Chill in freezer for 30 minutes.

5. Place your grinder attachments in the freezer for 30 minutes as well. You don't want the meats to heat up the instant they hit the grinder. This helps ensure a better grind and prevents clogging.

6. Remove the beef and pork from the freezer, reattach the grinder and you are ready to grind.

7. Grind the beef and pork separately and

8. Once ground, combine by hand.

9. Weigh out 4+ Oz of the burger meat and form into tight balls.

10. Smash the burger patty into a think disc. A cast iron tortilla press with wax paper works great. If you don't have a tortilla press, the backsides of two dinner plates and wax paper will also work.

11. Once the burgers are flattened, cover with plastic wrap and place into the refrigerator until your skillet or flat top grill is ready.

12. Shallots! My secret weapon. Slice a large shallot - this will add amazing flavor to any burger.

13. Sautee shallots in a frying pan with butter, sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

14. Sautee on high for 6-7 minutes. Toss frequently until browned.

15. Use a skillet or flat top on an outdoor grill if you don't have a good kitchen hood that can deal with lots of smoke. Otherwise, prepare to set off your smoke alarm.

16. Add salt and pepper right before throwing the burger patty into the skillet. I only salt one side to avoid making the burger too salty when combined with sauces, sautéed shallots and other toppings like bacon (which also contain a fair amount of salt). Cook on high heat until blood begins to pool on top of burger, then flip.

17. When the burger reaches a temperature of 160 degrees + (confirmed with a thermometer), remove the burger and set aside to rest. Repeat the process for the other patties.

18. This is how the burger should look when finished and ready for a rest. Allowing any meat to rest a few minutes is critical. Otherwise, you may end up a flood of juices running down your chin and into your lap. If you like that, go with it, but don't send me your dry cleaning bill!

19. Butter the top and bottom of the buns and toast them for about 2 minutes on high heat or until sufficiently browned.

20. With the burgers fully-cooked, buns buttered and toasted, sauces prepared and toppings at the ready, it is time to assemble the burgers. Start with the sauce. This burger features my copycat smash sauce.

21. Add toppings - this burger has a full leaf of romaine folded in half, tomatoes, red onions and sliced hamburger dill pickles.

22. Since this is a double cheese burger, place a slice of cheese on top of the pickles and then add the first burger patty on top of the cheese. Next add the second burger patty and top with a generous helping of the sautéed shallots. Lastly, add another slice of cheese.

23. Combine the two halves into the fully-assembled double cheese burger. This burger was stacked and did not want to stay together. I solved that by driving a steak knife through the center. You could also try to smash the whole sandwich into something more manageable.

24. Here is a side-view of my burger with the creamy jalapeno aioli before taking the first tasty bites.