http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/dining/01burg.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&em
The Perfect Burger and All Its Parts
Over the last decade or so, there has hardly been a serious chef in America who hasn't taken a shot at reinventing or improving it. They have trained their skills on every element, from the precise grind of beef to the ketchup and pickles. Some have turned their bakers loose on reformulating the bun.The genius of his Comme Ça burger is that it is consistently juicy, perfectly seasoned and precisely medium-rare. The patty is charred on the outside and rosy pink from edge to edge. He puts a good hard sear on both sides using his plancha, the freight train of flat tops, then transfers it to a 375-degree oven to finish cooking. After it comes out, there's a built-in resting period while he toasts the buns and makes a last-minute lettuce salad.
THE RIGHT CHOICE OF MEAT But before you get to cook the burger, you have to choose the right meat.In "Burger
Bar" (Wiley, 2009), Hubert Keller writes that what you do not want is preshaped burgers or meat that is stuffed and compacted into plastic packaging. Once
beef is compressed, a light texture cannot be regained. Douglas Keane, the executive chef and an owner of Cyrus and the Healdsburg Bar & Grill in
Healdsburg, Calif., advises people to lose their fear of fat. He started with 80 percent lean beef, then moved to a 70-to-30 ratio. "The day I did
it," he said, "the servers started coming in and asking, 'What did you do to the burger? The guests are going crazy.' " Pat LaFrieda,
president of LaFrieda Wholesale Meat Purveyors, which delivers custom blends to many of the top burger restaurants in New York City, recommends grinding the
meat yourself with a food processor or a mixer's grinding attachment. He prefers chuck and brisket, and said to put them in the freezer first and chill
them to 30 degrees.
Alternatively, jar lids are popular with chefs. Mark Richardson, the executive chef at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco, swears the lid of a
Hellmann's mayonnaise jar makes the best possible burger mold.No matter how big the patty is, one small shaping trick will help it cook better. "The
first thing you do is take your thumb and make a well in the burger," said Bobby Flay, the owner of
eight restaurants, including Bobby's Burger Palace, and the author, most recently, of "Bobby Flay's Burgers, Fries & Shakes" (Clarkson
Potter, 2009). Tamara Murphy, the executive chef and an owner of Brasa, in Seattle, said the air and water in burgers make them puff up when they're
cooked. "Nobody wants a ball of a burger," she said. "Then people take their spatula and go, smash, squishing out all the liquid."Dimpling
the patty, she said, helps it cook evenly, and you won't be tempted to smack it down and lose all the juice.
All the chefs agree that salt is crucial. Whether you're using kosher, table or sea salt, you should be pretty liberal with it. Beef can take more salt
than you think. Most chefs recommended seasoning the burger just before cooking it.
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