The Smash Burger Manifesto.

the juicy meat crispy crust the oozy cheese on a toasted but soft bun and the burger sauce who can forget the burger sauce whether you are brand new to smash burgers or want to know how to make them better today I will be giving you the complete guide to smash burgers why they taste so good what key chemical reaction is in play and how to construct what I think is a pretty perfect smash burger [Music] to answer this it all comes down to balancing the flavor equation which is flavor equals taste plus texture plus the emotional factor smash burgers taste really meaty and a big part of that is due to the Mayo reaction also known as the Browning reaction browning the burger meat creates loads of new flavor compounds and gives it that signature meaty taste that we know and love browning won't start to occur in temperatures hotter than 230 degrees Fahrenheit or 110 degrees Celsius so to optimize the may our reaction we smash the meat flat on a ripping hot griddle to maximize the contact points for browning to occur if you use a regular preformed patty and plop it on the grill you aren't creating the same amount of browning contact points that you can create by smashing this leads to a burger with less browning and less flavor compounds by smashing the burgers you get a more uniform crust across the whole patty speaking of crust the texture is another huge reason why smash burgers are so good we get crispy and juicy the dichotomy of which is like a beautiful melody as you bite through a smash burger with a proper crust you are greeted by crispness a juicy interior and crisp eNOS again for our other ingredients a lot of the same keys tastes and textures are at play for the bun we will brown the inside providing additional flavor and crispness while leaving the tops pillowy soft for textural difference the melted cheese also provides mouth-watering savoriness and a smooth texture our other toppings such as fresh lettuce tomato and burger sauce provide texture as well as salty sweet and acidic components to round out our dish also for my preference no smash burger is complete without browned onions with all of these tastes and textures combined it makes a lot of sense why these burgers are so good but there's also one more thing at play the emotional component an often overlooked element that is essential to how we enjoy our food is the emotional or human factor why does mom or dad's homemade version taste better sometimes it's in our minds and not on our taste buds I would say hamburgers are the one food synonymous with American culture hamburgers are our childhood happiness our teenage independence and our adult comfort when enjoying a smash burger our day-to-day problems seem to melt away and all seems right in the world you before we get to Smashburger construction let's quickly go over the tools you will need to be successful first up is a heavy duty cast iron or stainless steel pan or griddle you want a steady high heat to generate the crust for these burgers and this is where stainless steel and cast iron pans shine in order to smash the burgers we need a solid flat surface I'm going to be using a bacon or griddle press it's literally made for this job and works outstanding but the better all-around option is a solid metal turner or spatula I picked this one up at a kitchen supply store for like ten to fifteen dollars and it's a must-have kitchen tool in my opinion with this model of metal turner you can smash well by hand since it's more of a square shape however if you do have a longer one where the leverage might be different you can use the butt end of something like a wooden spoon for targeted pressure on the metal part scraping tools are just as important as smashing tools because once you create that crust you want to make sure it stays on the burger and it doesn't get stuck to the pan when you go to flip it to do this properly I again turn to the solid metal Turner you're going to flip it upside down and scrape to make sure that crust completely lifts off before you flip it now if you saw my smash burger taste test video Kenji Lopez does use this wall paint scraper to scrape the burgers and it honestly does work a little bit better than the spatula but not by much so I wouldn't go and spend your cash on one that's going to cover all of your tools for success let's move to smash burger construction smash burgers cook really fast and we want to eat them piping hot so we need to prepare everything else before we actually do the burgers so with that let's start with our burger sauce the burger sauce is our ammonia Smail base concoction of sweet salty and sour flavors to start very finely minced and onion and a chilli in adobo sauce now to a bowl add mayonnaise ketchup mustard sweet relish a chili and adobo fresh onion smoked paprika celery salt regular salt and fresh cracked pepper give it a taste and adjust any flavors as you see fit I rarely makes this the exact same way every time like I said earlier I love a smash burger with round onions remember that may our reaction from earlier same processes in play and also I'm not caramelizing onions there is a distinction here brown onions would be on high heat with a short cooking time caramelized onions would generally indicate a slower cooking process I do this by putting about a pad of butter on a medium-high heat cast iron and sauteing the diced onions for 2 to 3 minutes until browned after the brown I'm gonna just push the onions to the back of the griddle off the heat for easy access when we assemble the burger next let's brown our buns I love the Martins potato roll for smash burgers it just seems like the proper smash burger bun for me I like to just wipe the buns where the onions were with the residual butter and toast them but if you need to add extra butter you can add it again the mayor reaction comes to provide us with loads of extra flavor in addition to the texture [Music] lastly it shop any fresh toppings like lettuce tomato and get out your American cheese yes I'm using American cheese for this it just melts the best and fits in with that nostalgia of being a kid again obviously as processed cheese product is not your thing go for a different melting cheese now to our main attraction the beef there are a couple important items to cover here first shoot for an 80/20 beef blend the higher fat content lets itself well to maximum juiciness and flavor that being said I'm using a 90/10 blend for this video which some people may say is not right but it's really high-quality beef from breakaway farms and still makes stunningly delicious smash burgers now we're going to create a six ounce for 170 gram burger in total but using 2/3 ounce or 85 gram patties instead of one this is a tip I picked up from Kenji Lopez's ultra smash burger the idea behind this is double the burger double the crispy layers double the flavor from the Mayo reaction the smaller patties also cook faster - after browning the onions and toasting the buns on medium heat turn your cast iron up to a high heat and let it preheat for a minute before smashing the burgers sprinkle your balls of meat with salt and pepper right before and plop them on to the grill immediately smash the burger into the griddle apply firm and even pressure give your smash and implement a little shimmy and lift up make sure you do not touch the burger from now on it needs to remain untouched for crust development after about two minutes the crust should have developed flip your metal spatula upside down and scrape all along the edges to make sure that brown crust is still intact with the burger once the crust is released flip the burger over moving quickly add some browned onions to one burger and a slice of American cheese slide the other patty on top of the cheese and let's assemble this thing for my assembly I like to think about the layers from the bottom we're going to do bun sauce smash burger sauce tomato lettuce sauce bun and to give you an idea of the amount of texture and flavor in this let's take a look at that cross-section [Music] this Smashburger is the cross-section of food science and art thus concluding our guide to smash burgers hopefully I've convinced you to go make your smash burger and let all your worries drift away [Music]

Channel: Ethan Chlebowski

Views: 201,781

Rating: 4.935493 out of 5

Keywords: Cook with E, The Smash burger Manifesto, Smashburger, Why do smashburgers taste good, maillard reaction, smashburger recipe, smash burger, smash burger recipe, smash burger cast iron, smash burger with onions, smash burger and cheese, american cheese, smash burger browning, how to smash burgers at home, smash, smash burger recipe serious eats, smashburger recipe babish, the best smash burger, perfect smash burger, smash burger how to make

Id: H5Ad0bgRZP8

Length: 9min 39sec (579 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 08 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/SometimesTomorrow]

I'm convinced

[u/WanderingL1on]

A pickle away from perfection.