5 Pro Tips to Make Your Burger Better
Fourth of July weekend means a chance to break out the grill and show those lobster-print-shorts-wearing bastards from the block that your burger reigns supreme above all. But how? By stealing ideas from the best restaurant burgers in the country.
By Debbie Lee
Buy Better Beef
First you graduated from freezer-burned patties to ground beef from the grocery meat aisle; then you stepped up your game with fresh flesh from the butcher shop. Now prepare for the next level: specialty blends from your laptop. It’s the haute couture of hamburger meat, sourced from specific cattle breeds and custom tailored for restaurant chefs. At Hopdoddy Burger Bar (Austin), The Primetime—topped with brie, truffle aioli, and caramelized onions—boasts a heavily marbled but intensely flavored patty made from Texas-raised Akaushi cattle (a type of Wagyu). Burger connoisseurs who are serious about home cooking can have the same meat shipped to their door via heartbrandbeef.com.
More: 8 Things You DON’T Need for Your Cookout
Get Firmer Buns
Those wan, mushy sponges sold in six packs at the supermarket aren’t going to cut it. There are countless alternatives to the standard burger bun (potato rolls, pretzel bread, English muffins for those who worship Satan), but brioche is best. At chef Daniel Boulud’s db Brasserie (Las Vegas), The Piggie—topped with BBQ pulled pork, jalapeno mayo, and vinegar slaw—proves that the traditional French pastry deserves a place on any tailgater’s shopping list. The egg-and butter-enriched dough bakes into bookends that are feather-light, yet sturdy enough to stand up to the juiciest of medium-rare patties.
Spare the Square
Pity those of us born north of the Mason-Dixon for missing out on the weird but wondrous condiment known as pimento cheese. Made by blitzing grated cheddar, mayo, and jarred pimentos into a chunky mess, its slightly spicy, slightly trashy quality will only add to your burger’s everyman appeal. At Flip (Atlanta), chef Richard Blais’s Southern Burger is an obscene chicken-fried beef patty, broiled until bubbling, that’s dressed with a hefty schmear of pimento cheese and served with a side of Coca-Cola ketchup for an unapologetic take on Deep South classics.
A Not-So-Secret Secret Sauce
Let’s be honest: every “secret sauce” is essentially some variation on Thousand Island dressing. At Stephanie Izard’s Little Goat Diner (Chicago), the All American burger is slathered with an orange sauce that’s a kitchen-sink mishmash of every condiment in a fixings bar (mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, Worcestershire, and Tabasco.) If you’ve made too much, that’s okay—just dump any extra sauce on your fries for a homespun In-n-Out knock-off.
Pickles With Seoul
If dill pickles are Hillary and bread-and-butter are Mitt, then cucumber kimchi is your Ron Paul—unexpected, brash, and just weird enough to keep you interested. At Bachi Burger (Los Angeles), a Korean-influenced Kalbi Burger—soy-marinated Angus beef, spicy red pepper mayo, housemade kimchi—is served with thick-cut wheels of the fiery pickled cucumbers. They’re a little sweet, a little salty, and a lot spicy. Granted, you just can’t grab a jar at your local grocery store, but they’re easy to make (here’s a recipe) a day before your BBQ.
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