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The high priests of the cult of burger don’t believe in the stuffing and mixing that we’ve talked bout in this series. They think that a burger should be seasoned and grilled and any variety or flavor should come from sauces, condiments and discreetly applied produce. And they’re not too far off base. But even the simpler approach has some tenants we have to follow for true bad ass burger production:

• Sauces should be homemade and warm. It’s not worth your time to smother your burger in a store bought sauce(although worcester and steak sauce do mix with ground beef well) and sauces should always be warmed first. A cold sauce isn’t going to mix with the burgers juices and will end up floating on top.
• Condiments should be served room temperature. And while I don’t expect you to make your own ketchup making your own mustard is a great way to kick up your burgers. Just think about it.
  
• Veggies should be cold and crisp. Remember that tomatoes and lettuce are on a burger for contrast. And to keep that briskness they should be added at the last second. I would even suggest your soak the lettuce for an hour beforehand just to make sure it’s really ready to crunch.
• Cheese should be melted thoroughly or left the hell off. Don’t try to throw it on after the burger is already cooked, you’re only insulting the guy you give it to. Unless you want to insult him I guess.
• Bacon should be precooked. Not too crispy but definitely not soggy. We want people to break it with a bite. And for the love of all that’s holy do not try to cook it on the grill. Darwin may just have to teach you a lesson; bacon grease burns.
• Mayo vs. MAYO!!!!!! In the past I’ve advocated a thin layer of mayo on each side of the bun for both flavor and soakage reasons, but don’t misunderstand me. A thin veneer of mayo mixed with a hamburger’s juices makes an awesome sauce. Mayo piled on like linebackers on a QB does not. If you can pick out the mayo flavor in the burger you put too much. Be careful.

And tomorrow, my world famous Veggie Burger recipe.

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Tags: burger, burger series, hamburger

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 at 1:25 am and is filed under Tips, tricks and facts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.