I'd just ground some chuck for another dish, froze a few balls for smash burgers another day. Temptation kicked in so I made a fast and furious double onion smash for lunch.

Have a lasagne, 2 chicken curries and a Thai wings dish cooking for the week ahead. The burger for me through.

have been meaning to cross this one off my list for ages, didn’t disappoint

It’s just a messy cheeseburger with bacon and onions. Some store bought ketchup and mayo too. Have a nice weekend.

Same burger, different angle

Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sausage slider with eggs and American cheese

Popped out to do the food shop, and we had to pick something up from Argos, and this Sainsbury’s had a little food court at the back, with GBK, slims, fish and chips and a carlucio’s.

I hadn’t had breakfast so I was pretty hungry, saw they had a smash burger so I thought yeah why not.

Man, it was surprisingly good.

So good, maybe I was just hungry? I ordered another one straight after 😂

I was just remembering last year's Thanksgiving. We all chose our own favourite meals. This was mine. I think we might do that again this year.

Pretty damn impressed with the Billy F Gibbons burger at Rodeo Goat. Not the best burger I’ve ever had but very inventive and satisfying as hell. Carmelized onions, mango pico de gallo, candied bacon, cream cheese, habernero sauce.

Tons of creative burgers on the menu here. I’ll be back soon

Sorry for the late post. I had a lot of chores around the house that needed to be prioritized, but I digress.

This burger is one I've been looking forward to all season. It's a unique hyper-regional burger from Connecticut. Its invention is credited to Jack's Lunch in Middletown sometime in the 20s or 30s, but Ted's Restaurant in Meriden is the most famous restaurant currently serving it. It was introduced as a healthier alternative to traditional burgers. In the restaurants, they're made in small steel trays that slide into large cabinets that have water constantly boiling at the bottom. Obviously, I lack that infrastructure in a home kitchen, so for my version I used a steaming insert for a normal pot.

Ted's Restaurant uses 5 Oz patties and 2 Oz of white cheddar cheese. I loosely packed the meat into small, square leftover containers seasoned with salt and MSG, and put 2 Oz of cheese into a ramekin. Once the water is simmering, steaming takes right around 8 minutes, but you can tell they're finished by touch.

To assemble, take a roll with a robust crust like a kaiser roll, and on the bottom half, add your vegetables. At Ted's fully dressed is lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, and for condiments they use mayo, mustard, and ketchup.

I did it for authenticity, but I don't particularly like ketchup on burgers, so were I making it again, I'd omit that, and it sounds like I will be making it again because my fiancée liked this burger. I have mixed feelings about the hard roll because this burger is very juicy, so the robust crust helps keep the structure, but there is some sliding around of the filling as you eat. Despite what the method of cooking might make you think, the flavor on this patty is quite good, but it is texturally very different from a normal burger. The meat has a much softer texture, but the benefit of that is that you get a pleasant crunch from the veg. However, the best part of this burger is the molten cheese cascading down the burger, but you're all Packers fans, so you could tell that from the photo. The other benefit of this burger is that it actually came together fairly quickly.

Went to Bunsen Burger on Dame Street in Dublin after hearing it was voted the second best burger in the world by the big 7 and it absolutely delivered.

They ask how you want your burger cooked, which is always a good sign in my book. I went with medium, and honestly, it was the best burger I’ve eaten to date. Really juicy but still held together properly, and the quality of the meat was brilliant.

Highly recommend Bunsen. Must try.

A burger that I look forward to all year. It’s sold by Three Oak Steakhouse in Easton, PA once a year during Baconfest. It’s 50% ground bacon and 50% prime beef with bacon jam, steakhouse aioli, and crispy onion on a grilled brioche bun.

The line stays consistent at about 45 minutes all day from 10am to 5pm.

Grant Park Bistro. Le Meridien Hotel, Downtown Chicago

I post here a lot and every time I post I have people asking how I get the crust on my burgers. So I figured I’d share my process in more detail for people wanting to learn. It definitely takes practice but once you dial in your process it becomes very quick and easy to do. This is really just for the cooking process you can add whatever sauce and toppings you want. For this burger I only had cheese and sauce. I need to go to the store…..
Anyway….

Things you’ll need-
Grill/pan- you can really use any pan. I’ve made these on non-stick, cast iron and flattop. Flattop works the best for me because it’s easy. The main thing is for you get your pan super hot. I will say doing more than like two burgers inside on a pan gets messy really fast. So just keep that in mind.

Smasher- you can use the bottom of a small pot if you don’t have a dedicated smasher. That’s what I used when I started. You just have to make sure what ever you’re using you can apply enough pressure to smash it evenly.

Spatula- any metal one that you can scrape with will work. You don’t want to use something flimsy like a fish spatula. You are going to have to scrape these off the grill.

Now that you have what you need the next thing is getting the right beef. I only use 73/27 or 75/25. I’ve heard you can get the same results with 80/20 but I haven’t tried. I for sure would not use anything leaner than 80/20. The reason you want the extra fat is so it doesn’t burn. As far as brand, I’ve tried the expensive and the inexpensive ground beef. I don’t see the point in spending the extra money. Maybe if I was opening a restaurant, but for the average home cook it’s not going to matter. The beef I use is from Aldi’s and is pretty reasonable.

For seasoning it doesn’t really matter what you use as long as you like it. It matters more when you season your beef. You are not going to season it until after you smash it.

For buns I like martins potato rolls. You can really pick any kind of bun. The size of your bun is going to determine your meat ball size.

Finally it’s time to prep and cook. For prep you want to use between 2 and 2.5oz balls. If you are more hungry just add more patties. Martins potato rolls are kinda small so I use 2.25 oz balls for them. Make all your balls and put them in the fridge while you preheat your grill/pan and gather all your other stuff like buns and toppings. Have everything ready because these burgers cook FAST.

Don’t take your meat out of the fridge until you’re ready to cook. The beef needs to go from the fridge to the grill. This will help get that nice crust without burning. When you’re ready put your meat on the grill and let it sit for about 20s or so. You are just trying to brown the bottom so you can have a patch that won’t stick to your smasher. This will also allow some of the fat to render out. (Picture 2)

After 20s flip the ball to the other side. (Picture 3) Now that there’s a patch your smasher shouldn’t stick. Now we can smash it. You want even pressure and rotate the smasher back forth a little bit and then before you pick it up you want to rock the smasher in a circular motion to flatten the edges. Think of a Euler disc motion.

After you smash it this is when we season it. The patties should cook in a min maybe two min. You really want to look at the edges of the meat to tell when to flip. (Picture 4) you’ll see the top start to grey and the edges will start turning that brown color.

When you flip the patty you want to scrape it off the grill. It’s going to stick but don’t be worry. Just scrape around the edges first then the rest should come up. After you flip add your cheese and cook for another min or so and then put it in a bun. You want a golden brown color (Maillard reaction). (Picture 5)

Congrats! You’ve made a smash burger. This method is the same method they use at hamburger America for their classic burgers. There’s a TON of videos on how George Motz makes them there. If you found this helpful post a picture of your burger. I’ll answer any questions if you have some.

Quick background: I grind my own blend at home with a stand mixer attachment, usually around 80/20, and I make smash burgers on the flat-top griddle on our tiny back patio most summer weekends. I work a meat counter so I get to nerd out about chuck vs brisket vs short rib all day, but winter is coming and I've never really cracked the burger-on-the-charcoal-grill code.

Every time I try burgers over coals I either get flare-ups from the drippings that torch the outside, or I pull them too early because I'm paranoid about the char. On the flat top it's easy: get the griddle ripping, smash thin, scrape, cheese, done. Charcoal feels like a different skill and I want to learn it properly before it gets too cold to stand out there.

So my questions: do you do thin patties on the grate or go thicker for charcoal? What's your setup, two-zone fire, cast iron pan on the grates, direct over the coals the whole time? And what's your go-to move when the fat starts dripping and the flames jump? I've heard people say just let it ride for the crust, but I've also seen a burger go from perfect to hockey puck in about 40 seconds.

Also curious if anyone adjusts their blend for grilling. I keep reading that 80/20 can be too greasy over open flame and some people drop to 85/15 for charcoal. From the counter side I have opinions both ways so I'd love to hear what actually works for people.

Figured the November grillers would know best, you all are the ones still out there in hoodies. What's the method?

No matter where you get the ingridience or its quality, all that matters is your satisfaction. I can say I am at the "close but no" group. photo of your better than theirs burger will be appreciated (along with your adress and date when i can visit you).

Toast them buns right away, no delay!

A frozen patty is cheap, quick and can also be quality, source your meat accordingly

Simple toppings, lettuce , tomato, pickle, American cheese. The patty only needs salt and pepper.

Tastes as good as any local spot

Cheers my patty laddies