My Ultimate Burger

There are endless discussions and articles on the burger or how a burger should be eaten. At the end of the day, it's all about personal preference so the discussions will be endless because people have different tastes. Here's my take on the ultimate burger.

A burger should be treated like a steak so it should never be cooked well-done. I know that some people like to eat cardboard but for the life of me I can't understand it. My preferred doneness of a steak really depends on the meat. I like to eat a a lean cut like fillet mignon (tenderloin) rare and sometimes medium rare. I like to eat a fatty marbled cut such as a rib-eye, medium rare and sometimes medium. Sometimes, if the quality of the tenderloin is very good, I like to eat it raw in preparations such as steak tartare, Carpaccio or beef sashimi.

The reasoning for preferred doneness is simple: a tenderloin is lean and has almost no fat, thus it dries out when cooked beyond medium rare. A marbled cut such as a rib-eye has lots of fat. It needs to be cooked beyond rare to render some of the fat and to make the steak more juicy. Its also not easy to digest beef fat that is rare. The same goes with burgers, it all depends on the cut and the quality. Burgers should never be cooked beyond medium. I've also eaten some medium rare burgers that were too mushy which means the quality of the beef is low and/or not fresh and/or not cooked properly and maybe had extenders. If done right, it is wonderful to eat a juicy fatty medium rare to medium cooked burger with your hands as the juices and fat spill out. The feeling is so primal and we are just submitting to pleasure. So what makes a great burger? The combination of both rawness and juiciness and here is how I achieve it.

As mentioned, a burger should be treated like a steak so it is important to have high quality beef. If the beef was defrosted and frozen again, do not use it. It has to be as fresh as possible. Refreezing meat will release its juices and color, and it is just not safe to eat old beef. The easy way to do burgers is to purchase commercially ground beef. The trouble here is that we do not know where the source of that beef comes from and we have no control of its fat content. You can always choose a cut of beef and have the butcher grind it. The best way for me is to is to grind the meat yourself -hand chopped. The recommended cuts for grinding are the chuck, the round or the sirloin. I am very lucky though, I have access to some end cuts and trimmings from a USDA Select grade tenderloin from a top meat packer from Wisconsin courtesy of the restaurant. Local beef can also be used as I've had some good experience with local tenderloin. I would suspect some local meat will be better for a burger because it's fresher and hasn't been frozen.

Grinding meat by hand will need some extra work but you will be rewarded with its wonderful taste and texture. First I slice the beef into 1/4 inch cubes. With two very sharp knives i start slicing the beef in a criss cross manner. When the beef is already minced, I start pounding the beef with both knives like beating on a drum. The hands should be relaxed and I make use of my wrists. I do not grind the beef too much, leaving the beef a bit coarse. The texture is much better this way and it helps retain juices in the meat.

At this point, I will add the fat content. Ideally, a good burger should be 15 to 20 percent fat. Here I use bone marrow. Many people get shocked and surprised that I add marrow to my burger but the french have been doing it for years. I learned this technique from the time/life cookbook series on its beef edition. I also have a recipe in a 1962 cookbook, Mastering The Art of French Cooking by Simon Beck, Louisette Bertholle and Julia Child. Three reasons why bone marrow is better than ordinary fat: 1. It is high in calcium making it the lesser evil. 2. Marrow is easier to digest when undercooked and 3. It tastes so much better. The marrow I use is of good quality, and what do i mean by this? Sometimes at the end of the long bone, we get marrow that is powdery. In the middle of the bone, it is firm and soft, this is the quality that we are looking for.

After grinding the beef, i spread it and add chopped marrow, a bit of sea salt, black pepper and fresh thyme. It is also ideal to have a weighing scale to weigh the ingredients. Here I'm making a 200 gram burger and using 40 grams of marrow. After spreading the marrow, i shape it into a big pattie trying as much as possible to keep all the marrow inside and not exposed on the outer part. We want as much fat of the marrow to stay in the pattie and not escape and render too much during cooking. Right before cooking, I lightly season the outside with sea salt and black pepper.

Cooking the burger is the same as cooking steak, the difference is that the burger cooks faster. After making sure the raw burger is at room temperature, I use a flat gridle at very high heat. (Using a broiler or char-grilling would be better though). I cook my almost 2-inch burger 1 minute and half on each side. Since I'm using high quality tenderloin and using marrow, I cook the burger medium rare. After flipping the burger, I add a slice of gruyere cheese. The burger is placed on a dutch roll, the same bun Lusso Restaurant uses for their acclaimed foie gras burger. I add some lettuce, tomatoes and cooked onions. Right before eating I spread some some Bernaise sauce on the bread.

Eating this burger is very close to heaven. The nice flavor and freshness of juicy uncooked (medium-rare) good quality meat, the buttery taste of the marrow, juice, fat and nice texture of hand chopped beef. A touch of butterry herby and a bit of sour sweetness from the bernaise on the uncooked beef, the melted gruyere, the nice crusty bread, dense and soft, capturing the juices without getting soggy, with the tomato lightening up the flavors and the onion adding a crunch and a bit of sweetness.... Harmony, like a jazz band all syncopating but in rhythm. It can't get any better than this. This could be a poor man's fillet mignon or chateaubriand but i'm sure the poor man is enjoying this as much as the rich man is enjoying his tenderloin. This is total bliss.

I would recommend a nice merlot or another medium bodied red wine to compliment the burger rather than a soda. I would like to believe the fat melts with wine. Eating this with a cold soda solidifies some of the fat in your mouth and its not a nice feeling. As i said, a good burger should be treated like a steak.

Where can you find this burger? Its not available all the time but those in the know... you know where. Those not in the know, you can send me an email. Don't even think about ordering this well-done because it will not be served.