- [Babish] This episode is brought to you by my friends at The
Botanist Islay Dry Gin. Hmm, this bottle seems a
little smaller than usual. (fingers snap)
Ope. Too big. Let's try again.
(fingers snap) There we go. That's right. We're gonna make good use of
these later in the episode with a twist on a classic
summertime backyard staple: a gin mojito. But for now, let's get down to
the basics of smash burgers. (cheerful theme music) (jazzy music begins) All right, so the BOC, or bun of choice, for a smash burger is a
dense, chewy potato roll. These are inexpensive
and widely available, but if for some reason you
wanna make it yourself, here's how you do it. 415 grams of bread flour, 45 grams dried potato flakes, a tablespoon each kosher salt and yeast, and two tablespoons of sugar head into the bowl of a stand mixer, where they are tiny
whisked until combined. Then, we are combining
170 grams of hot water with 110 grams of cold milk, creating a tepid mixture
perfect for yeast activation. Dump that in, along with one large egg. Swap out your stand mixer's bowl so you guys can see what's going on. Allow that to knead together
until fully combined, and then we're gonna start
adding four tablespoons of room-temperature butter
one tablespoon at a time. At this point, you might get frustrated with your stand mixer's performance and break out the new hotness. Dump the dough in there
and continue the process, adding one tablespoon of butter at a time, making sure it's fully incorporated
before adding the next. Once all the butter's been added, we're gonna let this
knead for five minutes or until our dough passes
the windowpane test, indicating that its
gluten network is strong and that it's ready to bulk ferment. Lube up a large bowl, retrieve our dough, optionally stretch it into a taut ball, plop it inside, cover it up, and let it rise at room
temperature for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. This is gonna depend on
the temperature, humidity, how recently you've saged your kitchen. But once it's puffed up to twice
its size, it's ready to go. We're gonna turn it out
onto a well-oiled countertop for weighing, division, and shaping. First, we're gonna weigh
the entire mass of dough, divide that number by five, and divide the dough
into five equal pieces. Makes sense, right? Then, by pinching the edges and rolling against the countertop, we're gonna stretch them
into five taut balls, which we're gonna spread out on a parchment-lined baking sheet and start patting down so that they rise into more bun-like shapes. Cover and let rise for
another 45 minutes to an hour or until the balls do not spring back immediately when poked. Looks like these guys could
use a little bit more time. Once they've passed poking proficiency, it's time to gently and
evenly brush them down with a beaten egg. Then, these guys are headed into a preheated 350
degree Fahrenheit oven for anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes until they are golden brown and register 190 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit at their thickest point. While these guys cool completely, we can start to talk about meat. I have a selection of beefs here, all that can potentially
bring their own flavors and properties to the party. First up, we have hanger steak: great on the grill, not
so great in a burger. Its tough muscle fibers and
relatively low fat content end up giving the burger
a dry, mealy texture. Next up, we got some boneless short ribs. This cut is high in fat and flavor, making it ideal for burgers,
if a little expensive. Sirloin is a good deal cheaper, and it's got decent
flavor, but not much fat. It's got slightly grassier,
more mineral notes, so it's good for adding
roundness to your burger. Chuck is the golden ground
beef standard for a reason. It is rich, buttery, laden with fat, and relatively inexpensive, but it does have some connective tissue that you gotta get rid of. Brisket is like sirloin, only better. It brings all those grassy mineral notes and a whole lot more fat, which you're gonna have to pay extra for. Eye round is pretty horrible. It's low on fat, it's low on flavor, and this one in particular illustrates how much quality can vary from butcher to butcher. This one looks like pork, practically. And last up is ribeye. Maybe the most delicious
of all the known steaks, it's practically a crime
to turn this into a burger, but if you watched my recent
steakhouse burger episode, it's the only way to
get that dry-aged flavor between your buns. So now, to see how all these guys perform in a burgarian context, I'm
gonna grind all of 'em up and turn them into little
patties for sampling. First up is the hanger
steak, and like I mentioned, it's pretty dry, pretty
chewy, pretty mealy. And, given its growing
popularity as a steak, there's no reason that you'd
turn this into a burger, ever. Unless you do a cooking show and you're trying to prove a point. Next up is short rib, which
is the polar opposite, full of favor, buttery texture,
and rich, beefy beef notes. This is worth its weight in gold. Sirloin definitely has flavor,
but it's pretty boring. Definitely good for cutting
something more rich, like short rib or brisket. Chuck tastes exactly like
every burger I've ever had. There's a reason that ground chuck is part
of our culinary lexicon. Brisket, like I mentioned
earlier, is sirloin, but better. It's got the sharper,
more metallic flavors with more intramuscular fat to carry them. Eye round is already bad enough, but this one is particularly bad. I mean, look at it. It's weird. It's a good reason to treat
beef tasting like wine tasting and keep a spit bucket handy. Last but not least, dry-aged ribeye, and of course, this was the best. If you got $35 a pound to blow on burgers, this is the answer for you. Otherwise, save a few bucks and make your own beefy burger blend. I like starting with a base of chuck for its familiar burger acumen. Then, I cut it with some brisket for its complex, grassy goodness, then finish it off with
a helping of short rib for a hefty hit of flavor and fat. The ratio is up to you. I go two parts chuck to one
part short rib and brisket. Now, time to actually cook the damn thing. I've got a lightly oiled, positively sweltering piece
of cast iron over high heat, onto which I'm going to
drop two 1/4-pound balls of our ground beef blend, which I'm then going to smash using my very stiffest spatula, sort of smearing the beef
as I go to prevent stickage. You wanna try to get the patties about half an inch wider
than your intended bun, as they will shrink. But if they're a little bit bigger than your bun, who cares? Would you rather have a burger with patties that are
too big or too small? Once the patties are smashed, we're to leave them there over high heat for about a minute, until you see browning forming around the edges of their beefy skirt. Now you wanna scrape as hard as you can to get underneath the
patty, give it a flip, and then same thing
goes for the other side. Now's the time to season with kosher salt and
freshly ground black pepper. Do not let me catch you mixing the seasonings into your beef. And of course, the requisite
yellow American cheese. And just like that, your
kitchen is full of smoke, and you're ready to eat a burger. But if you don't feel like
setting off your fire alarms, there is hope, and it's
sitting right outside, next to your lawn mower
and disused trampoline. Get your grill of choice up
to 500 degrees Fahrenheit with your cast iron griddle inside, and you got yourself the perfect place to smash some patties. No setting off fire alarms, no lingering beef stench in the air, no angry spouse wondering why
you're making smash burgers at 3:00 in the morning. No matter how you make 'em, they need to sit atop a
dense, squishy potato roll, preferably one generously
smeared with butter and toasted on a flat top or grill before getting stacked
proudly with patties, your choice of vegetal toppings. I like the classic LTO. A special sauce arranged in a Satanic star to summon the beast,
and there you have it: a juicy, beefy, crunchy, cheesy, entirely-from-scratch smash burger. Now alls it needs is a light, crisp, refreshing summer cocktail. While a mojito is traditionally
made with white rum, The Botanist's different wild
botanicals make it versatile in many drinks and plays especially nicely with the foraged mint I
picked in my herbs garden. Or you can just get yours at the store. Drop it into my intended serving glass, cover it with 3/4 of an ounce of freshly squeezed lime juice, and two teaspoons of extra-fine sugar that I'm going to muddle
together using a muddler. Once the sugar is mostly dissolved and the mint is good and smashed up, we're gonna top that with ice. Two ounces of The Botanist Islay Dry Gin. Make sure you include all
22 wild foraged botanicals. Dump that on in and top it the rest of the way with club soda. Give it a little mix with
your very longest bar spoon. Get all those minty bits
as evenly as distributed as possible throughout the cocktail. Garnish with a little bit more mint. Garnish with a wheel of lime. And there you have it: a gin mojito, which I actually prefer
to a traditional mojito, which can sometimes be made
a tad too sweet by the rum. Instead, the Botanist gin gives
it a lovely herbal profile that really highlights all the fresh mint. A perfect summer cocktail for firing up the grill
this Labor Day weekend. Kick back and relax this Labor Day and have Drizly deliver a bottle of The Botanist directly to you. And if you're a new customer, use the link in the video description to get $5 off your first order. Cheers.
(jazzy music continues) (jazzy music fades)
I don't know how I feel about the new stand mixer... I feel like I'm losing an old friend and they're being replaced with a new friend that looks eerily similar but also different
$35 a pound for ribeye? Glad I don't live in NYC. I thought the current $20 price in my neck of the woods was high. Making me miss the days when it was $5-6/lb
I appreciate the bit at the beginning just so he can get 3 bottles of gin.
I love to make smash burgers, but like to use a muddler to press down on the spatula to really get a nice smash.
Does anyone know what planter he uses for his herb garden?
I’m like 90% sure that was really pork lol.
Lighting is messed up again, extemely bright and washed out
Potato rolls widely cheap and available? If I were to order these online it would cost anywhere between $49 - $406 (Australian dollars)... and yeah I could make my own (also not sure what potato flakes are, is it instant mash potato?) but I don’t own and can’t afford a stand mixer, sometimes I feel like it isn’t really basic it if it can’t be done without expensive equipment. I get that Babish is based in the US but I just wish more cooks would develop genuinely accessible recipes, with simple but quality ingredients. Food deserts exist everywhere !