Title: The World's Best Single Burger Pt 2
Categories: Beef, Groundmeat, Sandwiches
Yield: 1 Serving
Hamburgers
But there's a problem! In order to brown and crisp properly, those
raged bits need to be exposed to temperatures well in excess of 400
F. And what's more, they need to be evenly exposed to that heat,
lest the outermost raged edges burn before the rest can follow suit.
On a normal griddle or large saute pan, this is an impossible task.
The rendering beef fat leaks out of the patties and drains away.
Only the bits in direct contact with the surface will crisp up
properly. That's why smashed-style burger joints like the Shake
Shack do what they do: Even though smashing the bottom of the patty
into a flat plane reduces surface area for crisping, they need to do
it in order maximize griddle contact.
At home, we fortunately have more options. One of the side effects
of cooking burgers for myself is that I often want to cook just one,
so I whip out the small, eight-inch skillet. It was a happy
discovery one day when I noticed that when cooking a burger with a
high fat content, a good 1/8th to 1/4 inch of rendered beef fat
collects at the bottom of the pan, essentially deep-frying the
entire lower half of the patty in its own fat.
Couple this with the super-loosely-packed ground beef, and you've
got prime breeding grounds for crispy, crunchy, deep brown beef
bits, the best parts of the burger.
The Cheese and the Bun Classic yellow American is the way to go
here. It's custom-made for dripping and oozing into the nooks and
crannies formed by this patty. Even before the burger comes out of
the pan, you can see the magic of the cheese at work: Like liquid
hot magma, it finds every possible crack and crevice in the burger's
surface, coating it in a layer of gooey, salty cheesiness.
As for the bun, you can go with a Martin's potato roll, but in this
case I actually prefer the innocuous squishiness of a regular soft
white burger bun from Arnold. Pickles and onions are fine but
completely unnecessary. Skip the ketchup, mustard, or mayo entirely.
With beef this crispy and beefy, you don't need anything to get in
the way of the flavor.
