Read more reports from Meathead's grill deck at AmazingRibs.com
"They were very, very hungry. They wanted to live in a land that treated them as equals, a land filled with hamburger stands. And not just one type of hamburger, okay? Hundreds of types with different sizes, toppings, and condiments." From Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
The Sutter Home Winery's Build a Better Burger Contest puts a lot of emphasis on the condiments. "In my opinion," says James McNair, Honorary Chairman and Head Judge, "the meat patty is a major component of a good burger, but remains only one part of a burger. The bread, as Alice Waters stated in my first book on burgers, is equally important, and great condiments can elevate a plain burger into a sensational taste treat. At BBB we certainly want the patties, whether made from beef or another protein, to be high-quality, well seasoned, and nicely cooked, yet each of the other elements must be equally as good and exciting. Our contest is about creativity and good cooking, not about simply perfecting the old tried and true."
Me? I'm all about perfecting the old tried and true, so I keep the condiments simple and let the beef shine through.
A note to vegansThis article is NOT about the merits about eating meat. If you would like to debate that, Huffington Post has a lively ongoing discussion on the subject, just click here. Moderators will delete all comments on the subject from this article and flag you as abusive under these terms of Huffington Post policy:(1) Your comments are off-topic (2) They are intended to provoke. |
Here are some bottomings you might want to try either solo or in a blend: Ketchup, mustard, mayo, steak sauce, barbecue sauce, thousand island dressing, salsa, remoulade sauce, balsamic vinegar reduction, aioli, chimichurri sauce, tonkatsu sauce, mayo with a few drops of sesame oil mixed in, hot sauce in sour cream, smashed avocado or guacamole, horseradish -- straight or with sour cream, pickle relish, roasted garlic, minced jalapeno, or giardiniera.
What we like on our burgersAccording to a survey by the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association (HPBA), when it comes to hamburgers and other grilled meat or vegetable sandwiches, in the battle of the bottles, adult Americans report they use ketchup most often (66% of respondents), with mustard (62%) close behind. "Cheese, please!" say 66%, while 74% add lettuce, onion and/or tomato. Women lean towards the veggies more than men (80% vs. 68%), and 70% say they prefer a traditional bun to complete their grilled sandwiches.According to a survey of 1,000 adults 18 years of age or older in the contiguous US conducted in April 2007 by Synovate/eNation on behalf of Johnny Rockets, a hamburger chain, ketchup rules the condiments and is the most preferred topping (63%), followed by mustard (50%) and mayonnaise (42%). Other popular toppings include lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles. Fewer than 2% said that they prefer their hamburgers plain. A note about safety and proper cooking of burgersUndercooked ground meat and sausage can kill. It can happen to you or a loved one. It is primarily a problem in ground meats, not steaks. I urge you to click this link to read more about dangerous pathogens in burgers and other ground meats and how to prevent food-borne illness. |
Many restaurants have their own "Secret Sauce". The simplest is "Fry Sauce", which was created for French fries and uses a blend of 2 parts mayo (the dip of choice in Europe), and 1 part ketchup (dip of choice in the US). A typical, and more complex sauce, is a blend of ketchup, mayo, mustard, and perhaps sweet-sour pickle relish. In the Pacific Northwest there is a popular sauce called "Goop" made with mayo, mustard, sour cream, and pickle relish. Here's my favorite Hamburger Sauce, which I call "Glop". I've been known to use it on both burgers and fries. It's got a mild kick.
Ingredients
7 tablespoons mayonnaise
5 tablespoons Kansas City Style Barbecue Sauce or ketchup
3 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 tablespoon Tabasco Chipotle
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Do this
1) Mix everything together in a bowl.
2) Take the day off.
Obviously nothing is set in concrete about this recipe. You can vary the ingredients to your taste or doctor them with other ingredients. But start with this and then add what you like. Write it down, and do it again. Just don't make it so hot you can't taste the beef.
Lettuce. I want crisp, cold lettuce that crunches and squirts cold water on top of the hot meat juices. This is the perfect use for iceberg or Romaine lettuce. Especially the thick bottom parts.
Tomatoes. As for the tomatoes, try to find big beefsteak style tomatoes the same diameter as the patty. When you use small slices, they move around too much and usually fall out. Always use ripe tomatoes, no underripe pink rocks. They're too acidic. Nowadays you can often find real ripe tomatoes all year 'round that are grown in greenhouses. Campari tomatoes are grown in a greenhouse, usually grown hydroponically (in nutrient solutions and inert media like gravel, no dirt), about the size of golf balls and almost always delicious, perfectly ripe, and juicy. Interestingly, many come from Toronto. Plum tomatoes are less juicy if you want more substance. If I can't find ripe tomatoes, I live without them.
Onions. As with the tomatoes, I like a single thin slice of raw onion the same diameter as the patty. In season, I go for a slice of sweet onion like Vidalia (May through July) or Walla Walla (June through August). If they are not in season, it's red onion for me. Sometimes I put the onion on top of the burger while it's on the grill to take the edge off and make it less slippery. If you're making a cheeseburger, you can anchor the onion in place by putting the cheese on top. Just don't slice the onions long in advance. Onion slices or chopped onion can get really stanky when it sits around for an hour or more. They taste best when freshly sliced.
Many people prefer grilled, griddled, or caramelized onions. I have a soft spot for these, but they're slippery, and thery're a bit sweet for me for regular burgers, although I love them on cheeseburgers. A lot of pubs like to top burgers with breaded fried onion rings. I've even enjoyed burgers with those crunchy fried onions from the can, and I've seen menus with pickled onions.
Cheese. Put cheese on it and you've made a cheeseburger. The choice of cheese opens a whole realm of possibilities, so click the link for some. In parts of the Southeast, pimento cheese spread supplants both the melted cheese of the cheeseburger and the need for ketchup or other sauces. More on that soon.
Bacon. What doesn't go well with bacon? Add bacon and you get smokiness, sweetness, and saltiness. A remarkable variation on the theme is, are you sitting, pastrami as served at Hymie's in Merion Station, PA.
Stylin'. If you agree with McNair and want to do some stylin', try: Pickle slices, pickle relish, grilled tomato, roasted red peppers, sauteed mushrooms, thinly sliced pears or apples, potato chips, or slaw. Or go to his website, which has some amazingly creative creations.
In Chicago, the spectacular Kuma Burger at Kuma's Corner has a sunny side egg on top to complete the steak and eggs combo.
In LA it is not hard to find crumbled spicy Mexican style chorizo sausage on top, a sort of South of the Border chiliburger.
Then there's the pizza burger topped with tomato sauce and melted mozzarella cheese. Or the Carolina Pimento Cheeseburger, New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger, Beanburger, or one of the other regional styles. How about a "Guberburger," topped with peanut butter and served at The Wheel Inn Drive-In in Sedalia, MO. Or the "Nutburger" at Matt's in Butte, MT, which has a blanket of chopped salted peanuts mixed with Miracle Whip. How far would you drive for one of those?
Need more ideas? The fun website cheese-burger.net has some tasty combos.
Cheeseburger (Click the link for tips on making them). Bottomings: 1 tablespoon Meathead's Glop. Toppings: 1/8" slice of cheddar, 2 thick slices of bacon, griddled or caramelized onions.
Did I miss something? Let me know what you like on your burgers.
All text and photos are Copyright (c) 2010 By Meathead, and all rights are reserved
For more of Meathead's writing, photos, and recipes, please visit his website AmazingRibs.com
Friend Meathead on Facebook
Follow Meathead Goldwyn on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ribguy
Can "build your own burger" count as a regional style? Probably not.
I do think offering more than just yellow mustard and ketchup for condiments is paramount, especially if you offer lots of cheeses. That connection is key. Who the heck wants sweet relish and brie? Ok, that might actually not be bad, but you get my point.
We even do have a distinctive pizza that is overlooked: A thick fluffy crust (rectangular shaped) with the sauce on top of the cheese and toppings. Shield's and Buddy's have both perfected this. Frankly, I don't personally like it, but my wife does. I am the child of a New York transplant, so my hear lies in a thin crusted big wide slice.
If you ask me, a good hamburger is all about the meat. You get ground beef from a source you can trust, and you sear it at a high heat so it gets a nice dark crust on the outside before it has time to dry out inside. Keep the toppings to a minimum, a little sprinkle of salt, just a little mayo and maybe some Tabasco on the top bun for moisture (the meat juices will moisten the bottom bun), maybe a ring or two of onion. That's all you need.
That being said, a veggie burger can also be a tasty treat, and you can really pile the condiments on those, because there's no good meat-taste to be lost.
http://www.rense.com/general91/dehe.htm
As for Mayonnaise with cheese, that's what we get from learning to cook from Ronald McDonald.
It's very hard for many people to accept that there are rules to flavor just as there are rules to driving and to building bridges. But there are, and they're no more arbitrary than bricks and mortar.
There is what experts like and what non-experts like. Sometimes they cross paths and sometimes not. For many years Norman Rockwell was dismissed by the "serious" art world as a sentimental commercial illustrator. In recent years he has been "discovered" to be a talented realist American folk storyteller.
I submit that what many people like is worthy of note whether or not snobs approve. Mixing mayo with mustard, or chipotle, or sesame oil, or horseradish, or herbs, or spices is a great idea.
I'm guessing you are a first year culinary student and you have a LOT to learn. My motto is: No rules in the dining room or bedroom.
It’s been twenty years since I was a first year student at anything, but thanks anyway, you made me feel young again!
My comment had nothing to do with aesthetics, it was about biology and the science of taste. I understand the appeal of the ‘anything goes’ philosophy, most of it can’t go soon enough. Mix Mayonnaise with anything you like, but never try to say that there are no rules, in the kitchen or in the bedroom. Do we sleep with our siblings, our mothers? Should we have unprotected sex with strangers? Does the name Rodell Vereen mean anything to you? Of course there are rules. Sex is a form of dialogue between two creatures; eating, nourishment, is a dialogue between a your palate, your body, and nature. Surely you realize what that means and what it implies, don’t you?
The result of this so called freedom of choice is on view between the belts and the bones of two thirds of Americans. (Your bio picture would indicate you are a member of that majority.)
The structure of taste and the philosophy of nourishment is a field which straddles both aesthetics and science, and, given your obvious intelligence and prodigious resume, I would very much like to count you among those who understand the importance of these ideas. But, of course, you do have freedom of choice.
As Dorothy Parker said, ‘You can lead a whore to culture, but you can’t make her think’.
All the best.
We need a "Food Section" !!!!
I'm a little slow today.....just saw that there is one.....
I may have to unfan myself.....
;/
Mea culpa!!
I realized what a silly comment after I posted.....Now, I've found it, although I'm a little slow-cooked! Thanks for your great article.....I'll be back by now that I'm with the program!!
Then goes your condiment. I'm a simplest so I prefer just a dollop of natural ketchup. I'm going to be experimenting with making my own ketchup this summer as soon as all of the tomatoes ripen. I'll be canning the tomatoes so I can sacrifice a few to my ketchup experiments.
Now even though the bun is nicely toasted, the ketchup will still soak in a bit and anchor the patty. But the bun will NOT get soggy. I had a bun that gets so soggy before I'm done eating that the bun breaks down and I end up holding meat in my hand. That's what the bun is for.
Next comes the patty. I prefer a nice melted american cheese on mine. To me, meat is a combination of salt and sweet (with a bit of fat) and the cheese, although having all three of those tastes as well, emphasizes the sweet.
Next comes the tomato. If the cheese is melted correctly, the tomato will sink in a bit and not slide so much.
Then comes the lettuce. If you do it right there won't b so much that you can't get it in your mouth or it slides too much, although you really can't avoid the slide.
Along with the taste, I also like the different temperatures in my mouth; the warm of the burger and the cool of the lettuce/tomatoes.
http://amazingribs.com/recipes/hamburgers/zen_of_hamburger_buns.html
Soften butter to room temperature, then add some Inglehoffer's minced garlic gloves and mix, Then spread thinly on your bun and put under the broiler. Watch it as once they start to toast, they go real fast. If you can't get Inglehoffer's you can try making your own by roasting an entire head of garlic, then peeling the cloves and mincing them into a paste in a food processor. I just buy a jar of the stuff.
You'll need to experiment with the ratio of butter to minced garlic to your taste.
Oh, and if you ever do anything with turkey in a sandwich type application, try Inglehoffer's cranberry mustard.
I also like to add sweet relish. I'm a philistine.