Beautiful Burgers

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This article was published 27/09/2018 (2548 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Whether you like to keep it simple or load it to the max, there’s a burger that will please just about anyone.

From a basic beef burger, chicken, salmon or black bean patties, Culinary Arts instructor with Assiniboine Community College Bryan Hendricks knows what goes into making every bite memorable — no matter the trend.

“People are going back to a more basic (burger),” Hendricks said. “It used to be that everybody would throw a bunch of spices and herbs into their ground beef and add some eggs and other fillers. Now, we’re going back to… really good, flavourful cuts of beef and simple salt and pepper.”

Once you have a good base, Hendricks said, it can be all about the condiments that go with it.

“You can take a burger and you can class it up or you can dumb it down… you can do anything with it,” Hendricks said. “You’re only limited by your imagination.”

Hendricks prefers a fairly coarse grind of meat, he said, a little more so than what you can buy in the grocery store.

As increasing numbers of chefs start taking a more scientific approach in the culinary world, Hendricks said greater attention is being paid to the grind itself.

“There are now some chefs who will only grind their meat in a certain direction in order to keep the proteins aligned and it ends up being a better textured burger,” Hendricks said.

You’re only limited by your imagination.

A good rule of thumb is to maintain a ratio of 80 per cent protein or meat to 20 per cent fat, Hendricks said.

Regular ground beef from the grocery store should be about that on it’s own, he added, but you can also use bacon ground into the mix, pork belly, or pork or beef fat from your local butcher.

“Fat is flavour, fat is moisture,” Hendricks said. “A lot of people shy away from fat but you know, to have a really nice product you do need to have that fat … you need to have that moisture in there.”

Hendricks recommends making burgers about a day ahead of time and making sure they are kept ice cold. He also grinds a little bit of ice in with the burger to keep the fats solid and add moisture.

And if he’s going to use any sort of binder, Hendricks said he might use a little bit of Guinness beer.

“The Guinness will help hold your burgers together,” Hendricks said.

Smashing or pressing down the patty while cooking is a huge no-no, Hendricks said, as it squeezes out all the flavour and moisture.

Flipping the burger back and forth is the way to go in order to ensure cooking is even and there’s no charring on either side, he added.

While a burger needs some sort of crunch, Hendricks said, the bun is not where you want it. Any softer bun, lightly toasted with butter, garlic butter or even olive oil, will be a good base.

“The last thing you want when you’re serving a burger with all these nice condiments is for you to bite into the burger and the resistance of biting into the (bun) causes everything to shoot out the other end,” Hendricks said.

The crunch can come from ingredients as simple as lettuce or dill pickles to something more out of the ordinary like pickled cauliflower or tempura crisps, Hendricks said.

Any entree can be made into some sort of burger, Hendricks said, it’s just a matter of exploring flavours and using your imagination.

“When my students first start out in year one, I tell them to go to the grocery store and walk up and down the rows, and pay special attention to the chip aisle,” Hendricks said. “All your flavour components are there — sour cream and onion, salt and vinegar — all those things are there but nobody pays attention, and that’s a great way to start. Paying attention to what’s already paired in the grocery store and just start experimenting.”

Perfecting a burger that will stand out a dinner parties may take some trial and error, but Hendricks said anyone can become a burger expert with some practice.

“It’s the favourite sandwich of everyone … the most popular sandwich that’s out there,” Hendricks said. “You can do anything with it, change it to whatever it is you want to do.”