There is something so magical about a smash burger. My mouth waters thinking about the crispy and fatty burger patties, the buttery brioche buns and gooey melted cheese. My first smash burger was at a street food market and it was a pop up burger place run by a professional chef that worked at an Italian restaurant. My wife kept raving about the smash burger and when I tired it, I was immediately addicted to the burger and I knew at that moment, I had to figure out how to make an amazing restaurant quality smash burger.

The Burger Patty:

I first started looking at the ground beef in the grocery store and even the fattiest ground beef I could find was just not fatty enough. Plus I had some questions about the quality of the ground beef in the grocery stores and decided that to get the highest quality patty, I would have to grind the meat myself.

Based on the research of various recipes I can see the fancy restaurants use some combination of chuck/short ribs/brisket and have a fat percentage of 20%. I have tested patties at 20% and I just didn’t get the amazing crispy texture and it just felt like something was missing. Plus I have watched smash burger restaurants cooking their patties and it looked like there was way more fat. After testing out the various percentages, I landed on 40%- 50% fat. I know it sounds crazy but as the fat melts away, it creates this amazing crust. I think after cooking the patty and with the fat melting off, I think I land at about 30% fat. So I think the patty has to be higher in fat and once the patty is cooked, you want to land at an ideal 30% fat left and the rest just melts away in the pan. The problem with a patty at 20%, is that the fat melts and you are left with only 10% which is way too low.

What type of beef to use? Sure chuck is relatively cheap but short ribs and brisket get really expensive and if I am going to end up grinding the beef, why would I waste a beautiful short rib? I would just rather use the short ribs for Korean kalbi or make a red wine slow cooked short rib dish. I love a good steak and I save so much money buying a whole striploin, tenderloin or ribsteak from Costco and cutting my own steaks. So after cutting 3 inch thick steaks, I save all the trimmings. The trimmings from striploin, tenderloin or ribsteak is high quality. I cut up trimmings into cubes of fat and meat and I create a fat to meat ratio of about 50:50. Each patty is about 3 ounces each and so I aim to make 2 burgers so a total of 4 patties and so I want a total of 12 ounces. It is important to freeze the trimmings before you grind. The grinder will cause friction and the temperature will increase and to keep the meat safe, it is better to partially freeze the beef. So I save all the trimmings that most people throw out. So I joke that the burger patties are free! I think there is just a sense of satisfaction using up scraps to make an amazing burger. No food wastage!

I use a kitchen aid mixer with a meat grinder attachment. It is important to ensure the grinder is cleaned with hot soapy water and ensure there is no bacteria growth. Any meat grinder that you can find will do and if you don’t have a meat grinder, you could just go crazy hacking away at the meat using a cleaver until you get ground beef. Using a cleaver to make hand cut ground beef is a really good workout but it just takes way too long for me. So I feed the partially frozen meat into the grinder at a medium speed. Once the meat is ground up, I immediately put the meat into the fridge to cool down to avoid bacteria growth. After about 15 minutes in the fridge, I roll out 3 ounces of ground beef, then between 2 pieces of parchment paper, I pre-smash the burgers using a pot. I leave the patty on one side of the parchment paper until it is ready to cook. I know I am going to upset the smash burger purist because I pre smash the patty. But smashing a burger in a pan is fine for the first patty, but dangerous for the following patties as there is hot great in the pan. Plus, with a fat ratio of 40%-50% I guarantee it will be crispy.

I pull out a cast iron pan and get it ripping hot and throw on the patties. My goal is to get a really crispy crust on 1 side only. Once I am happy with the crispiness, I flip the patty and just cook on the 2nd side to ensure it is cooked through and I throw on the cheese to let it melt.

The Cheese:

I have tried the good old American cheese but I just didn’t like the fake consistency of the cheese and there was just no flavour. So I choose to go with a pre-sliced old cheddar to use. So much more flavour in my opinion.

The Bun:

While the smash burger purists love the potato bun, for me it is not a deal breaker if I use a different type of bun. Plus finding a good potato bun is hard to find. I ended up using a brioche bun and I butter toast it. Brioche buns are just so luxurious with all the butter and they are soft and fluffy.

The Sauce:

I’m asian and so I tend to like kewpie mayo. I’ve tried different combinations but I landed on a simple sauce. Keypie mayo, ketchup, dijon mustard, smoked paprika and pickle juice.

Smash Burger Recipe

Equipment:

Kitchen Aid mixer with meat grinder attachment

Pot

Parchment paper

Cast iron pan

Yield: 2 Smash Burger

Ingredients:

2 Brioche buns

1 Tablespoon butter

2 slices of tomatoes

2 eggs

8 Slices of sweet pickles

4 slices of old cheddar cheese

Patty:

12 ounces of ground beef (each patty 3 ounces each)

Special Sauce:

2 Tablespoons Kewpie Mayo

2 Tablespoons Ketchup

1 Teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 Tablespoon of sweet pickle juice

1 Teaspoon smoke paprika

STEP 1: Prepare the patty

Buy a whole striploin from Costco and cut 3 inch thick steaks (and make amazing steaks for another time). Take all the trimmings and ensure there is approximately a 50:50 ratio of fat to meat and chop up into small squares. Put the trimming into the freezer so that the trimmings are partially frozen. Using a kitchen aid mixer with a meat grinder attachment, grind the meat at medium speed and put the ground meat into the fridge for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, roll the ground meat into balls and each ball should be 3 ounces each. Cut 6×6 inch squares of parchment paper. Place the ball in between the parchment paper and smash using a pot. Ensure to evenly smash the patty. Then leave the patty on one piece of parchment paper and put the patty into the fridge. Repeat until you get 4 total patties.

STEP 2: Cook the patty

Take out your cast iron pan and heat up until it is ripping hot. Place the patty onto the cast iron pan. Cook on one side until you get a really good crust. Add salt and black pepper. Then flip. You don’t have to get a good crust on the 2nd side. Just need to ensure you cook it through. Then place a slice of cheddar cheese on top until the cheese melts and remove from the pan. Repeat for 3 more patties.

STEP 3: Prepare the sauce

Combine the Kewpie mayo, ketchup, dijon mustard, smoked paprika and sweet pickle juice and mix.

STEP 4: Toast the buns

Toast 2 buns on a non-stick pan with lots of butter. Toast until it is golden brown and remove.

STEP 5: Cook the egg

Add a tablespoon of vegetable oil to a non-stick pan and pan fry 2 eggs sunny side up.

STEP 6: Put it all together!

Start with the bun and add a health spoon of sauce. Add sliced tomatoes and 3 slices of sweet pickles. Place 2 patties on top and add more sauce on top. Then add the sunny side egg on top and finish with the bun and enjoy!