Build a Perfect Burger
The Hamburger is the Ultimate Tailgating Food
If I’m grilling burgers I want [the grill] very, very hot. Sometimes I’ll cover the grill with a sheet pan for the last couple of minutes -- before cooking -- to make sure it's as hot as possible for a good sear.
— Aaron Burgau, New Orleans chef and restaurateur
Perhaps no single food item is more emblematic of the American football tailgate party than the hamburger. Sure, you can make the argument for the hotdog, but those wieners pledge allegiance to baseball. Ribs,barbeque chicken and brats are all contenders, perhaps, but none can claim the tailgating ubiquity of the noble hamburger: beef and bread -- simple, portable, delicious.
While there are restaurants from coast to coast solely devoted to the ground beef patty between two buns, there are those who think the best burger is the one you cook yourself, outdoors, over an open flame -- preferably before a football game. And by following a few simple tips from experts, you can achieve burger excellence at your next tailgate party.
The Meat of the Matter
The path to the perfect burger begins at the butcher counter. The beef is the star of the burger, or it should be, as selecting the right meat is essential. Ask for the freshest 80-20 ground chuck available -- that’s 20 percent fat -- and prepare to do very little to it, says filmmaker, food writer and burger expert George Motz
Motz, who chowed down on burgers across the country while filming his 2004 documentary, "Hamburger America," says 80-20 chuck provides the perfect balance of flavor and consistency.
“If you go higher than 80 percent, flavor suffers – no fat, no flavor,” Motz said. “On the other hand, when you go higher than 20 percent fat, it renders out and ends up on the coals and you have a flameout.”
The Perfect Patty
Second to choosing the right meat is the way you form your patties. “Don’t mess with them too much,” said Motz, who is also host of Travel Channel’s "Made in America." “Hand-form them loosely. Don’t pack them too tight."
He suggests pressing a dimple with your thumb into the center of the patty on top and bottom, making almost a donut shape. That way, when the center expands during cooking, you don't end up with a spherical burger.
Motz said the perfect burger for the grill weighs 4 to 5 ounces and is 1/2-inch thick. “Bigger is not better,” he added. Motz seasons his patties after they’re formed, just before they hit the grill, with salt and nothing else. He said that heavy seasoning before cooking or mixing seasonings into the meat before forming it into patties leads to tougher burgers. Also, he says, seasoning the meat with things such as minced onion and Worcestershire sauce mask the flavor of the meat and turn a hamburger into meatloaf.
However, Motz admits he’s a purist. Other burger experts don’t take quite such a minimalist approach.
Richard Blais, "Top Chef All-Stars" season 8 champion and owner of several Atlanta-area restaurants, including Flip Burger Boutique, believes in adding a few more flavors to the meat before grilling.
“A good throwing of salt and black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and Worcestershire powder for me,” Blais said.
Go Hot and Fast
Whatever style of grill you use, keep using it. Charcoal grilling and gas grilling certainly each have their advocates, but the advantage of using the grill you’re most comfortable using outweighs the subtle flavor variation between a burger grilled over coals and one grilled over a propane flame. What’s not up for debate is heat. You want to get your grill as hot as possible before the ground beef ever touches it.
“Crank it up all the way,” said Aaron Burgau, chef/owner of Patois Restaurant and Tru Burger in New Orleans. “If I’m grilling burgers I want it very, very hot. Sometimes I’ll cover the grill with a sheet pan for the last couple of minutes -- before cooking -- to make sure it’s as hot as possible for a good sear.”
Burgau says the perfect burger is grilled for a couple of minutes and flipped, then cooked on the second side for a couple more minutes; the exact duration depends on patty thickness to achieve a perfect medium-rare.
What About the Cheese?
No matter what the cheese -- cheddar, Swiss, Manchego, Roquefort, or any other that comes to mind -- you can be sure that someone, somewhere, at some point has put it on a hamburger.
And it was probably great.
There’s no wrong cheese for a cheeseburger. But if you’re wondering what’s the ‘perfect’ cheese, you might be surprised to know that two out of the three chefs asked said they prefer plain ole processed American cheese. While Blais prefers the gooeyness of melted Swiss, Burgau and Motz are solidly in the American cheese corner.
“There is a time and a place for American cheese,” Burgau said.
Motz agreed. He says American cheese is perfect for cheeseburgers because of its salt content -- it’s saltier than most other cheeses -- and its distinctive, smooth melt.
The Finish
The reason for the popularity of the common, store-bought hamburger bun, Motz says, is that it’s the perfect hamburger bun. Motz likes his toasted and buttered. He piles his burger with American cheese, onion -- raw or grilled -- and spicy mustard. Nothing else.
But one ingredient rules over all others -- the meat.
"Just treat your burger like a $65 steak," Blais said. "Season it, baste it, and rest it, and season it again, and just care for it."
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/liquidlibrary/Getty Images hamburger patties with bun image by robert lerich from Fotolia.com Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
