4 Levels of Hamburgers: Amateur to Food Scientist | Epicurious

I'm Emily and I'm a level one chef I'm

Lorenzo and I'm a level two chef I'm

Frank and I've been a professional chef

for 23 years I last made this hamburger

recipe probably about two weeks ago I

actually just made this super a couple

days ago this is the burger I make for

my family and friends the people that

are most important to me when I make

burgers I just use store-bought ground

beef here we go this is grass-fed ground

chuck it's about 80 lean meat and 20 fat

the fat is your golden ticket to a good

burger for my hamburgers I like to use

beef short ribs it's got a great amount

of lean meat to fat the only problem

with it is this tough so we have to do

is grind it I like to run my own meat

because when you go to the supermarket

basically they're just getting whatever

beef scraps they have this way I get a

burger that I know exactly what's in it

now I'm just gonna put some bread crumbs

in it holds it together I think a little

better next step some Worcestershire

sauce garlic powder salt chilli flakes

because my husband likes everything

spicy now that may be just ground up I'm

gonna form it into patties you really

just shouldn't handle the meat too long

I disagree with that glitch I like to

work it a little so the burger stays

together holds its shape what I usually

do is I work it until it'll kind of

stick to my hand I'm just gonna kind of

like roll these up and then flatten them

like hockey pucks then I do the old

divot little dimple in the middle I work

it into a volcano shape what this is

gonna happen is is that when the meat

curses can expand a little this is

actually gonna disappear even out make a

nice flat burger now we're ready to cut

some burgers I cook the burgers in a

cast-iron pan cast-iron pan holds a lot

of key I'm using a nonstick fry pan

skillet griddle flat iron what I'm doing

is cooking bacon why I'm having a bacon

cheeseburger so when I cook these I

don't really need that much pink inside

just a little bit of pink that ground

meat doesn't really have a great texture

when you cook it rare I like it medium

rare i season my burgers with salt salt

it right before it get cooking what

happens when you season ahead salt draws

out the moisture you

a moist burger when I season I seasoned

liberally it's gonna help that cross

form I have a little beef fat so I'm

gonna take a little bit of fat and just

coat the bottom of my pan I'll also use

the delicious rendered fat from the

bacon to cook my burger I'm gonna take

these off you sit over there the reason

I use beef fat and not something like

butter with a pan this hot I'm gonna put

my butter in the pan and immediately the

butter is gonna burn I think it's now I

have my patty have my volcano in the

middle I'm gonna put the flat side first

I'm gonna give it about 4 minutes on

each side when I see the lower portion

of that burger get dark crispy Brown

flip over I'm gonna go as high as I

possibly can to start that browning and

the crust on the box people tend to

start moving things around leave the

bird alone I'm just pressing down on it

to make sure that all the meat touches

of the pan at least a little bit do not

press the juices out of this delicious

burger please I want a little bit of

onion flavor on my birthday I take a

nice slice of onion I'm gonna put it on

top so I can see that it's nice and

crispy so I'm gonna do the old flip oh

[Laughter]

my burgers brown on this side I'm gonna

give it a flip so you can see I have a

beautiful crust

this looks disgusting oh no that's worse

there's a nice crisp outer layer that's

been formed its sealing the juices in

this burger and I'm waiting about three

minutes so now my onion on the other

side is getting caramelized

carmelization is when the sugars start

to go Brown the way that I'm going to

test this burger for doneness is I'm

actually gonna poke at it right if I

poke at it now it's still really soft I

want it to be fairly firm I'm gonna go

ahead and put the cheese on this side

cuz at least a little less charge

this is American cheese so today I'm

using sliced cheddar cheese basically

this is when you get your camera out you

start taking pictures of your this

burger I'm gonna use some mustard cheese

now Monster has a lot of the same

melting qualities as American cheese but

it also has a little bit more flavor my

burger is being hugged by my cheese

pickle so let's set this delicious

burger oh my lord have mercy so now my

cheese has melted it's not melted

totally but it's gonna continue to cook

as I take it out of the pan I'm gonna

take this off and just check the

doneness real quick if one were to eat

this it would be a little raw in the

middle that burger was burnt on the

outside and raw on the inside so we're

gonna go again I'm turning this on much

less hot than before butter burger

yeah that's a cook burger and now we're

gonna get abundance and toppings and

finish this burger i have that kaiser

roll today i'm gonna butter it a little

bit I'm actually just toasting this in

the griddle so I have just a normal

white grocery store button hamburger bun

I like a potato roll the bun doesn't

need any extra fat the burger has enough

for it toasted plain now we've got some

nicely toasted kaiser roll delicious now

we're gonna work on our toppings for the

burger first off I have some ketchup I

just like a little bit of moisture

underneath the burger put a little mayo

hello all right so we have mustard on

the top I usually do three dill pickle

slices fantastic as a chef I like to

make my own pickles I have a fancy

french mandolin but this gives the

pickles a nice crinkle cut we just want

to make enough to fill up our jar some

sprigs of dill I'm just gonna stuff them

into the bottom of the jar I have a

little bit of garlic and a couple of

cloves and then my spices coriander seed

black peppercorns mustard seed some

little Thai bird chilies and then I

proceeded to stuff my cucumbers in and

now I'm gonna take the brine that I made

I get a ladle and I just fill it with a

ladle and then you're gonna put my lid

on it goes right in the fridge I leave

it in the fridge for about a week I have

my burger patty I'm gonna put it on my

bun I have the pickles that I made the

lettuce that's a nice slice of lettuce

right there tomatoes I only like a few

pieces of raw onion I kind of like a lot

of it oh boy my bacon some ketchup not a

ton

I just want enough so that it adds a

little sweetness to my burger I'm just

gonna press it all together BAM boom

beautiful it looks good it smells

fantastic what I like most about this

burger is it's not complicated

[Music]

and now for the best part I get to eat

it it's just delicious

we have three different chefs and three

very different cheeseburgers from the

bun the beef and the toppings but let's

talk about the ground beef first Emily

our first chef use ground hamburger

ground hamburger doesn't tell you a

whole lot about the beef that you're

using so this is just the beef that was

at the grocery store ground hamburger

comes from any skeletal muscular tissue

you won't know specifically where that

meat is coming from Lorenzo used ground

chuck grass-fed ground chuck the ground

chuck comes from a really particular

part of the animal it's near the

shoulder area ground chuck is 80% lean

and 20% fat it's gonna make for a nice

juicy and flavorful hamburger it's like

summertime and abundant Frank ground his

own meat from the short rib and it also

has quite a bit of fat in it so if it

gets stuck you just push it through a

little when you grind your own meat you

have more control over it as well you

can see exactly how much fat is going

into your hamburger it has a beautiful

amount of flooring and you can make sure

that you're controlling the protein to

lipid ratio I get a burger that I know

exactly what's in it

handling and shaping of your ground beef

makes a difference to emily added a lot

of spices to her ground hamburger she

also added breadcrumbs the spices are

there to add a lot of different flavors

the breadcrumbs are gonna alter the

texture a little bit I don't know if

that's right but that's what I do

I would call that more of a meatball

than a hamburger we're not making

meatballs lorenzo believed as many

people do that you shouldn't overwork

your patty everyone has a body

temperature and that heat from your body

melts the fat you can't overwork your

meat but it's a little bit hard to do by

hand when you're making a hamburger oh

okay

Lorenzo made an indentation in his Patty

and Frank made a little volcano he

changed the shape completely I want

there to be a divot in the center this

is gonna modulate the water loss that

happens when you start to add heat to

your patty you start to have some steam

inside and that will raise or give it a

little bit of a puff to the patty

especially when you cook it at a very

high temperature Frank and Lorenzo both

salted their Patty prior to cooking you

don't want to salt your ground beef when

you're mixing it no you're absolutely

right salt and change the structure of

the proteins and add some tough quality

to your burger it's important to do it

just prior to putting the hamburger

patty on the grill salt it right before

you cook it

Emily used butter to cook her hamburger

patty this gives some really nice

flavors no who doesn't like butter but

it also has a really low smoke point I

think as you add the butter and turn up

the heat you're gonna burn the butter

and you're gonna get these off P resines

and other types of compounds that are

gonna give a burnt and bitter kind of

taste

Lorenzo used rendered pork fat nice

little fat rendering from here which we

will use and this has a really nice rich

quality and a new flavor profile to your

beef yo Frank used rendered beef fat

which is a lot of really nice long chain

fatty acids like stearic acid it doesn't

hurt to cook beef in beef fat it makes

it taste better when you heat the

stearic acid it's going to melt and you

baste the burger in that fat it's going

to just riad that delicious unique

stearic acid quality that you get only

from ground beef Emily used a nonstick

frying pan she really didn't need to

there's enough fat in the hamburger

patty it will be very easy to release

from the pan I've had a lot of things

stick to pans over these

Lorenza used a griddle so he had a lot

of contact with the hamburger patties it

actually looks really good

you're going to want conduction to

happen that can only happen when the

patty has maximum contact with the heat

source Frank used a shallow cast-iron

skillet just repaired holds a lot of

heat so he not only had the conduction

from the bottom of the cast iron skillet

making contact with his patty but he

also had the advantage of the heat being

retained because there were sides to

that skillet so he had a nice heat flow

around his burger

when you cook ground beef the proteins

that are present are going to coagulate

and they're gonna squeeze a lot of the

natural water that's present in the beet

out of the protein matrix when you have

20% lipid content you won't lose the fat

and it'll make for a really nice juicy

cheeseburger you generally want a nice

high heat to get a good sear on your

meat and that's going to impart some

really nice roasted Karim Allah or the

oniony flavors and that's from Bayard

browning Manor Browning is a non

enzymatic browning reaction that happens

between proteins and reducing sugars

you'll know your hamburger is done in a

couple different ways

Emily cut hers open if one were to eat

this and it would be a little raw in the

middle you generally want to avoid doing

that you're gonna have a lot of the

juices and the fat run out of that

hamburger before you even get to enjoy

it

lorenzo timed his meat this is okay if

you have a really consistent product but

if you change the different meats that

you use when you're making your

hamburger patty that can be variable to

it'll move waiting about three minutes

three minutes on each side at a really

high temperature for a relatively thin

patty should do the trick we also had

Frank who knows how to look and touch a

hamburger and tell whether it's done or

not but burger start to firm up this is

something that comes only from

experience okay we're good to go with

this

Emily used American cheese you're always

gonna know that American cheese melts

really well but it doesn't have a whole

lot of taste I like American cheese for

its cheese the wrens are used to cheddar

cheese to make it look the old-fashioned

cheeseburger when you'd always see it

ballpark cheddar cheese is going to give

you a nice flavor profile you're gonna

have a nice rich quality and a little

bit of Tang to that type of cheese Frank

used Munster Munster also melts really

well and it gives you some really nice

flavor profiles it's the most complex

out of the three cheese's that our

chef's used when you choose a cheese for

your hamburger you want to make sure

that you consider water content if you

have a softer cheese it's gonna melt

very easily cheeses that are a little

bit harder are not gonna melt very well

because there's just not enough moisture

when choosing your bun you have options

Emily used a standard white bun that you

pick up in the grocery store it was

pretty much one-dimensional Lorenzo used

a kaiser roll delicious kaiser roll we

have a little bit of texture on the

outside of the kaiser roll he also

toasted his bun and used butter butter

is a really nice flavor that compliments

some of the toasted chemicals and

compounds that happen when you toast

your bread Frank just toasted his roll

it was a potato roll so it had a nice

rich quality to it he did not put any

kind of additional fat with his roll

because there's plenty of fat in his

ground short ribs when it comes to

toppings you have a few things to

consider texture I'm gonna do a little

bit of raw onion color fresh tomatoes

and taste the pickles are gonna add a

contrast to your burger it's talking to

me ha ha ha the next time you make a

cheeseburger

I hope you can take some of these

elements and incorporate them into your

own recipe