[0 - 2] - [Amiel] Hi everyone, I'm Amiel Stanek,
[2 - 3] editor at large at Bon Appetit
[3 - 6] and this is Almost Every Way To Cook A Burger.
[6 - 9] You can make a burger patty out of just about anything.
[9 - 13] Turkey, chicken, fish, even plants.
[13 - 15] But when most people think about a burger,
[15 - 16] they think about beef.
[16 - 18] And the character of a burger
[18 - 20] is very much determined by the cut of beef you use.
[20 - 23] Some people swear by lean sirloin,
[23 - 26] others by rich, fatty short rib and some people love
[26 - 28] the full flavor that cuts like skirt steak offer.
[28 - 32] But for my money, it's all about good old fashioned chuck.
[32 - 33] Chuck comes from the shoulder of the cow,
[33 - 36] is super beefy and affordable, and naturally clocks in
[36 - 39] at about 80% meat and 20% fat.
[39 - 42] Exactly what you want for a burger with tons of flavor
[42 - 44] and plenty of juiciness.
[44 - 47] Once the meat is ground, it gets gently formed into
[47 - 50] a nice, tidy six ounce patty with a little divet
[50 - 52] in the center to keep it from shrinking up when it cooks.
[52 - 55] The biggest challenge when cooking a burger
[55 - 57] is getting as much caramelized crust as possible
[57 - 60] on the outside while nailing the perfect, juicy
[60 - 63] medium-rare to medium inside and we're gonna try to do
[63 - 66] exactly that every way we can think of.
[66 - 67] Cast iron burger.
[67 - 70] All right, we've got our burger patty.
[70 - 72] We've got a pre-heated cast iron pan
[72 - 74] and we're gonna get a little bit of oil in there.
[74 - 77] We're gonna season our burger generously on both sides
[77 - 79] with kosher salt, the more fat the meat has,
[79 - 82] the more salt it needs, lay it down, press it gently,
[82 - 87] and cook it for about four minutes on each side. Beautiful.
[89 - 91] We've got nice caramelization on the outside,
[91 - 93] some crispy bits around here,
[93 - 96] cutting into it we got a nice wall of medium-rare,
[96 - 100] very little gray and the texture looks really nice
[100 - 104] and loose, very juicy. Mm, amazing.
[104 - 106] The meat is succulent and tender,
[106 - 109] the exterior is salty and complex.
[109 - 111] This method may be straight forward,
[111 - 112] but it delivers.
[112 - 114] Grill pan burger.
[114 - 116] So, now we're gonna use a grill pan,
[116 - 118] which is just a cast iron pan with ridges
[118 - 120] that mimic those of a grill.
[120 - 122] We're gonna brush it with oil to prevent sticking,
[122 - 124] season our patty, and cook it for
[124 - 125] about four minutes on each side.
[127 - 128] There you go.
[128 - 130] So you'll notice that the browning is concentrated
[130 - 133] along these lines where the meat was in contact
[133 - 135] with the ridges, but the rest is kind of gray.
[135 - 137] Not enough browning for my taste.
[137 - 140] The inside looks pretty perfect.
[141 - 146] Mm, I mean, it's tasty, but I'm not sure I see the point
[146 - 147] in the grill pan when the standard
[147 - 152] cast iron delivered such better browning. Pre-seasoned burger.
[152 - 154] You've probably noticed that we've been seasoning
[154 - 157] the outside of the patty, but not the inside.
[157 - 159] This time we're gonna try to mix some salt into
[159 - 160] the ground meat itself.
[160 - 163] Salt our beef, knead it well to distribute,
[163 - 166] form our patty and cook it for four minutes a side
[166 - 167] in this hot cast iron.
[168 - 170] Let's check it out.
[170 - 173] Time to try our salt inside burger experiment.
[173 - 176] It's plenty crispy looking, cutting it open,
[176 - 178] okay so this is interesting.
[178 - 181] It definitely cooked less evenly and you can see
[181 - 184] how that outer layer is gray and kind of dense looking,
[184 - 186] that's because the salt actually breaks down proteins
[186 - 188] in the meat causing it to stick to itself
[188 - 190] instead of being loose and tender.
[191 - 195] Mm, yeah, the texture is much more like a sausage.
[195 - 197] It's bouncier and less tender.
[197 - 199] You know, I'm gonna stick to salting the outside
[199 - 202] of the burgers from now on. Frozen burger.
[202 - 205] Same patty, but this one's been frozen solid.
[205 - 207] We're gonna oil the pan, season our burger,
[207 - 214] and this is gonna cook for more like seven minutes per side. [light music]
[215 - 217] All right, let's check it out.
[217 - 220] Because this guy's spent a bit more time in the pan,
[220 - 224] we got slightly more color, but nothing too significant.
[224 - 227] The inside is blushing and beautiful,
[227 - 230] but a bit more gray than our fresh patty.
[231 - 236] Mm, I mean, it's not bad, but it's not an improvement
[236 - 238] on our fresh patty, but it can be done.
[238 - 240] Okay, let's go to the backyard
[240 - 241] so I can air my clothes out a bit.
[241 - 244] Gas grilled burger, three ways.
[244 - 246] We got three patties that have all been salted
[246 - 249] and oiled, we got our gas grill.
[249 - 252] This first one is our standard beef patty.
[252 - 255] This one is frozen, so it's completely hard.
[255 - 257] And then this is another fresh patty that we're gonna
[257 - 261] put an ice cube on top of, allegedly to keep it moist
[261 - 263] and apparently we're not supposed to flip it until it melts.
[263 - 268] We'll just take these off when they're done. [light music]
[269 - 270] Gas grilled burger,
[270 - 272] revenge of the grill marks.
[272 - 274] You know, unless you've got a killer gas grill,
[274 - 277] it's hard to produce even as much heat as a cast iron pan
[277 - 279] so we're looking at way less browning.
[279 - 283] The interior, good color but it does look a tad dry.
[283 - 286] Mm, yeah, I want a lot more browning
[286 - 288] and because the heat was a bit lower,
[288 - 290] lost some juice as it cooked,
[290 - 293] it's fine but nothing to write home about.
[293 - 296] Gas grilled frozen burger.
[296 - 298] So this was on there for quite some time,
[298 - 301] it had to defrost and then cook through all the way,
[301 - 304] cutting in, yeah, definitely less even
[304 - 306] and you're seeing some kind of weird gradient.
[306 - 309] Hmm, huh, you know?
[309 - 311] It's a bit juicier than the last one,
[311 - 314] maybe because the fat was colder and rendered differently.
[314 - 317] But not a method I'd repeat unless I had to.
[317 - 318] Ice cube burger.
[318 - 321] I don't think that ice cube did anything at all.
[321 - 323] It certainly didn't help the exterior
[323 - 327] and yeah, the inside is cooked pretty unevenly,
[327 - 330] probably because one side was colder.
[330 - 332] Mm, yeah I mean it's fine,
[332 - 336] but certainly not juicier or better in any way.
[336 - 339] Water does not make food moist people, fat does.
[339 - 341] Charcoal grilled burger.
[341 - 344] Alright, we got a burger that's been salted and oiled,
[344 - 346] we've got a hot charcoal grill,
[346 - 348] we're just gonna lay this down right here.
[350 - 351] Okay, it's been about four minutes,
[351 - 352] let's give it a flip.
[353 - 354] Looks done to me.
[355 - 358] Here we have our charcoal grilled burger.
[358 - 361] Got a nice sear on the outside, definitely getting
[361 - 364] some of that charcoal, smoky sort of smell.
[364 - 367] Wow, look at that, that's really beautifully cooked.
[367 - 370] Perfect medium-rare and it's still nice and juicy,
[370 - 372] you can tell, mm, that is just--
[374 - 377] the taste of summer, juicy beef, beautiful crust,
[377 - 379] and that charcoal smoke flavor, mm.
[379 - 381] This is so backyard iconic.
[381 - 383] This is a really great way to cook a burger.
[383 - 385] You know, it's getting kind of cold out here,
[385 - 387] I'm ready to head back into the kitchen.
[387 - 389] Hibachi grilled burger.
[389 - 391] So, here we have a hibachi style grill.
[391 - 394] We're gonna salt our patty and let her rip.
[394 - 396] It's burning binchotan charcoal which is special
[396 - 399] because it burns really really hot and really cleanly.
[399 - 401] So we can do this inside, under the hood,
[401 - 403] without smoking up the place.
[404 - 406] Viola, hibachi burger.
[406 - 409] Wow, this smells great, decent color.
[409 - 411] I'm pretty impressed with that grill.
[411 - 416] And then interior, love to see it, looks pretty perfect.
[416 - 419] Mm, wow, the flavor is amazing,
[419 - 421] could've gotten a little bit more of a crust,
[421 - 423] but the grill flavor is awesome.
[423 - 425] As the fat and the juices drip onto the charcoal,
[425 - 427] it kind of vaporizes and perfume the meat
[427 - 430] in a really delicious way, yum.
[430 - 432] Butter seared burger.
[432 - 434] Back to cast iron except this time,
[434 - 436] we're gonna grease our pan with a bit of butter.
[436 - 439] Season the patty, four minutes on each side,
[439 - 440] should be good to go.
[440 - 443] Well, it smells buttery and delicious.
[443 - 445] But we're not seeing great caramelization,
[445 - 448] probably because of the water content of the butter.
[448 - 452] The inside, temp looks great, nothing to complain about.
[453 - 456] Mm, you know, I feel like I'm barely tasting the butter
[456 - 458] at all and I'm missing that crust.
[458 - 460] It's not bad, but this didn't add
[460 - 463] all that much in my opinion. Steamed burger.
[463 - 466] I swear this is actually a thing.
[466 - 467] We've got our burger patty,
[467 - 469] we've got a steamer set in this pot of boiling water,
[469 - 472] we're just gonna lay it down right here,
[472 - 474] close the lid and come back in about eight minutes.
[475 - 477] Oh boy, that looks done all right.
[478 - 481] Definitely not all that appealing looking.
[481 - 482] Gray town USA.
[483 - 485] No direct heat, no browning.
[485 - 486] And it really shrunk up a bit.
[486 - 491] Mm, the inside looks juicy but we've got a fat gray ring
[491 - 493] all around it, probably because it was cooking
[493 - 495] from all sides at once.
[496 - 499] You know, texture isn't awful,
[499 - 501] it's weird to eat this much beef with no browning at all.
[501 - 503] Could be good with a slider patty,
[503 - 507] but this is pretty unpleasant to me. Toaster burger,
[507 - 508] why not right?
[508 - 511] Season this guy up, slide it into the toaster,
[511 - 514] and we'll see what comes out on the other side.
[514 - 517] Okay, well it popped, and to get it out of there, ahhh.
[520 - 521] Oh God, okay.
[522 - 523] See if the chopsticks--
[525 - 532] Take it out, just turn it upside down. Toaster burger. Wow, well--
[532 - 534] We kinda scratched it up a little bit getting it
[534 - 538] out of the toaster, I'm not enamored of this exterior.
[538 - 541] I just don't think the heat was quite high enough.
[541 - 544] That's it, it looks a lot better than some of the burgers
[544 - 547] we've seen today, this inside actually looks pretty good,
[547 - 549] I'm not gonna lie.
[549 - 552] It got to the right temperature, I'll be it a little rare.
[552 - 555] Fun fact, the place that claims to invent to hamburger
[555 - 557] sandwich, Louie's Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut,
[557 - 559] uses weird vertical broilers that are not
[559 - 561] that different from a home toaster.
[561 - 566] Mm, missing the browning, certainly juicy.
[566 - 569] Could've been a lot worse, for sure. Ironed burger.
[569 - 572] No room service burger is ever gonna be hot and fresh
[572 - 574] enough for me so if I'm staying in a hotel,
[574 - 577] I'm just gonna fire up the iron, salt my burger generously
[577 - 580] on both sides with salt, spray it with the pam
[580 - 582] that I snuck through airport security,
[582 - 583] and go to town.
[584 - 590] I'm gonna flip it, finish the other side. Wow, okay.
[590 - 593] Honestly, I'm pretty impressed with what's going on here.
[593 - 596] The browning is even, almost smash burger level.
[596 - 598] Although I'm a bit concerned about the squishing
[598 - 602] and moisture loss, the inside, nice.
[602 - 604] This might be a sleeper hit.
[606 - 608] Mm, that's a damn good burger.
[608 - 610] It's a bit dryer than our standard smash burger
[610 - 614] but honestly it's better than a solid 70% of our methods.
[614 - 615] This is pretty great.
[615 - 616] Deep fried burger.
[616 - 619] We got a burger, we got a deer fryer,
[619 - 621] we're gonna season this bad boy on both sides,
[621 - 624] and drop it into our fryer set to 350 degrees
[624 - 629] for about 12 minutes. Ta-da.
[629 - 631] I'm not impressed by the way this looks.
[631 - 633] We might've needed higher heat,
[633 - 636] cutting into it, the temp isn't awful,
[636 - 639] but it has that same kind of gray ring all around,
[639 - 641] the way that our steamed burger did
[641 - 644] and I think that's because it was totally surrounded by heat
[645 - 647] Mm, I mean, it's not horrible,
[647 - 649] but definitely not better than our cast iron burger.
[649 - 653] Not sure I would pull out the deep fryer for this one. Waffle burger.
[653 - 655] We had to do it, friends.
[655 - 658] Burger, salt, hit our waffle iron with some cooking spray
[658 - 660] and do the damn thing.
[661 - 662] There's nothing I wanna say,
[662 - 665] it's just depressing at this point.
[668 - 670] I mean it looks kinda cool to be honest.
[670 - 672] Decent color at those points of contact
[672 - 674] but otherwise pretty pale.
[674 - 676] Yeah, that's seriously over cooked,
[676 - 678] we definitely squished the hell out of it so it lost
[678 - 680] a lot of moisture.
[681 - 685] Blech, it tastes like a cafeteria burger.
[685 - 689] It's so gross, bad. Rotisserie burger.
[689 - 693] Okay, we're gonna take this apparatus,
[693 - 696] we're gonna strap our patty in,
[696 - 698] try not to squish it too much.
[698 - 702] All right, get it in there, close the door
[702 - 703] and get it spinning.
[705 - 708] And there's our rotisserie burger.
[708 - 711] So, this is a situation.
[711 - 712] Looks like we lost quite a bit of juice
[712 - 715] but the exterior isn't the worst we've seen today.
[715 - 719] Getting in there, definitely on the rarer side, really uneven.
[719 - 722] Mm, definitely way less juicy than our other burgers,
[722 - 724] it lost a lot of fat while it was spinning.
[724 - 727] And the outside doesn't have the depth of flavor I'm after.
[727 - 731] I'll save the rotisserie for chicken thank you very much. Smash burger.
[731 - 734] Now for something a little different.
[734 - 736] We've got a slightly smaller wad of ground beef,
[736 - 738] we've got our nicely seasoned diner griddle
[738 - 740] and instead of making a patty,
[740 - 741] we're just gonna drop it on there
[741 - 744] and use a spatula to smash it flat.
[744 - 748] Hit it with salt, flip and season again,
[748 - 750] and there is our smash burger.
[752 - 755] The beautiful thing here is just how much caramelization
[755 - 756] we got on the outside.
[756 - 759] Beautiful even layer of crispiness.
[759 - 762] Check that inside, still nice and pink,
[762 - 764] good looking texture but certainly more cooked
[764 - 765] than some of the others.
[766 - 770] Mm, yum, this is definitely a favorite of mine.
[770 - 773] That exterior flavor is out of control,
[773 - 775] and it's still plenty juicy and tender.
[775 - 778] I honestly think this is one of the most fool proof ways
[778 - 779] to make a delicious burger there is.
[779 - 783] It' like the plutonic ideal of the roadside diner burger.
[783 - 785] Frozen smash burger.
[785 - 789] Okay, same thing, but this time we froze our wad of beef
[789 - 791] for about 15 minutes to get it good and cold
[791 - 794] which some people say produces a better smash burger.
[794 - 798] Squish it good, flip, let's check it out.
[798 - 801] Good color here, but not quite as goo as our first
[801 - 803] smash burger, maybe because the meat took longer
[803 - 807] to heat up, the inside a bit more rare,
[807 - 811] not bad looking, mm, honestly, it's hard to tell
[811 - 813] the difference I had heard that chilling the meat
[813 - 815] would prevent fat from rendering out,
[816 - 816] but I'm not buying it.
[816 - 818] Onion smash burger.
[818 - 820] Okay, spoiler alert,
[820 - 822] this is one of my favorite burgers of all time.
[822 - 824] An homage to a place called white mana
[824 - 826] in Hackensack, New Jersey.
[826 - 828] We're gonna put out beef down, shower it with thinly sliced
[828 - 833] onions smash it, season with salt, flip it, more salt,
[833 - 838] and there it is, beautiful, even crust, love to see it.
[839 - 841] What's really interesting is what's going on on the other
[841 - 845] side though it kind of steamed in the onion juices.
[845 - 848] God it smells amazing, the inside, looks nice,
[848 - 850] just like our other smash burgers.
[850 - 853] Mm, so so good.
[853 - 855] It's like a smash burger wearing onion perfume.
[855 - 856] So much flavor.
[856 - 860] Heaven, okay, let's head back outside, shall we?
[860 - 861] Grilled smash burger.
[861 - 863] Can we make a smash burger on a grill?
[863 - 864] We're gonna try.
[864 - 866] We're gonna smash our ball of beef onto this griddle heated
[866 - 868] griddle and let it do its thing.
[869 - 871] Looks good to me.
[871 - 874] So, here we have our alfresco smash burger,
[874 - 877] great cripsy caramelization on this side,
[877 - 878] just like our stovetop versions,
[878 - 883] the inside looks great. Mm, yum.
[883 - 886] Pretty much exactly what we got indoors,
[886 - 887] but with better scenery.
[887 - 888] If I'm cooking burgers on a gas grill,
[888 - 892] this is definitely my preferred way to do it. Smoked burger.
[892 - 893] Smoke 'em if you got 'em.
[893 - 896] We got our burger, we got our smoker.
[896 - 897] Let's do this thing.
[898 - 902] [coughs] Okay then.
[903 - 905] Not a whole lot of browning going on,
[905 - 907] it's definitely darkened somewhat
[907 - 909] but the temp was too low to get any real browning.
[909 - 912] Smells smoky though, the inside,
[913 - 916] well it looks pretty even but also maybe very rare.
[917 - 920] Mm, hmm, yeah it's smokey all right.
[920 - 923] A smidge dried out and really missing that crust.
[923 - 924] It probably would've been better if we seared it
[924 - 927] afterwards or smoked it at a higher temp
[927 - 930] or something like that. Searzall burger.
[930 - 933] Okay, we're gonna cook this here patty with a searzall
[933 - 936] which is basically just a fancied up blow torch.
[936 - 938] I'm gonna sit down for this one.
[939 - 940] Get the other side.
[942 - 945] All right, let's check this out.
[945 - 948] So the browning is kind of concentrated in a few areas,
[948 - 951] we've got some charred, burned bits.
[951 - 953] You know, the searzall is really for finishing
[953 - 955] already cooked things than cooking them through.
[955 - 959] The inside is pretty raw. Yikes.
[961 - 964] You know, it's too rare for me, it's cold in the middle.
[964 - 966] No thanks, eh, this seems like a good time
[966 - 968] to head back into the kitchen.
[968 - 970] Sous vide burger.
[970 - 973] Now we're gonna get fancy and sciency in sous vide burger.
[973 - 975] We're gonna slide our patty into this bag,
[975 - 977] then suck all the air out and seal it.
[977 - 979] Now, we're gonna place it in this pot
[979 - 981] that's fitted with an emersion circlator
[981 - 984] which will keep it at a consistent 120 degrees.
[984 - 986] We're gonna check on this in about 45 minutes.
[987 - 989] Phase one, complete.
[989 - 992] Now, we'll cut open our bag, get a little oil
[992 - 994] into our pre heated pan, dry our burger off,
[994 - 996] and sear it hard on both sides.
[998 - 999] All right, looks good to go.
[999 - 1002] Here we have our sous vide and seared burger.
[1002 - 1004] I'm a little disappointed by how little color we got here
[1004 - 1006] but I was afraid to take it further because the inside
[1006 - 1008] was already up to temp.
[1008 - 1011] Cutting in, yeah, not loving that.
[1011 - 1013] Sous vide cooking is way better for a bigger cut of meat,
[1013 - 1016] not a quick cooking one like this.
[1016 - 1020] Mm, yeah, totally fine, a little over cooked.
[1020 - 1024] You know, the pay off just isn't there. Microwaved burger.
[1024 - 1027] They're making me do this in case you hadn't guessed.
[1027 - 1028] We got a microwave,
[1028 - 1030] we got a burger patty, we're gonna season it,
[1030 - 1033] transfer it to a plate, pop it in, and cook it for
[1033 - 1034] two and a half minutes.
[1036 - 1039] Oh Lord, that's gotta be done.
[1039 - 1042] So, here is our burger cooked with low level radiation.
[1042 - 1046] It looks really gnarly and clearly lost a lot of its juice.
[1046 - 1050] No browning to speak of and it's a little pink
[1050 - 1052] in the middle but it cooked really unevenly.
[1052 - 1053] Let's get this over with.
[1054 - 1059] Oh well, it tastes like beef.
[1059 - 1061] It's definitely worse than our steamed burger,
[1061 - 1065] uch, no reason to cook a burger this way, period. Dehydrated burger.
[1065 - 1067] Why do people climb Mount Everest?
[1067 - 1068] Because it's there.
[1068 - 1071] Season it with salt, open this dehydrator up,
[1071 - 1072] get our burger in there, shut it
[1072 - 1074] and we're gonna let it go at 158 degrees
[1074 - 1076] for four and a half hours.
[1077 - 1078] Let's check it out.
[1078 - 1082] That is something all right.
[1082 - 1084] This looks pretty disturbing, it's very dark,
[1084 - 1086] almost like a black bean burger or something like that.
[1086 - 1088] Let's take a look at the inside.
[1088 - 1091] Wow, I mean, it looks kinda good.
[1091 - 1093] I'm honestly kinda scared to eat this because it's been
[1093 - 1095] in the danger zone for so long,
[1095 - 1097] I really hope I don't get sick.
[1099 - 1104] No, the exterior is like leather, so weirdly tough.
[1104 - 1108] Gah, bad, do not do this. Tartare burger.
[1108 - 1111] Okay, we've cooked a lot of burgers at this point,
[1111 - 1114] so now we're gonna try not cooking one at all.
[1114 - 1115] Here we've got some ground chuck,
[1115 - 1117] we're gonna add an egg yolk,
[1117 - 1120] some diced onion, some salt,
[1120 - 1124] little olive oil, we're making a very minimal tartare here.
[1124 - 1127] Formed into a patty and there's our tartare burger.
[1128 - 1131] Obviously this is raw, just beef with mixins.
[1131 - 1135] Gonna cut it in half which is pretty unnecessary,
[1135 - 1136] yep still raw beef.
[1136 - 1139] You know, I love steak tartare but for some reason
[1139 - 1140] it's kind of daunting on a bun.
[1142 - 1144] Mm, it's totally delicious,
[1144 - 1147] it would be a lot better if this bun was toasted
[1147 - 1150] to create some texture and temperature contrast.
[1150 - 1152] I don't think I could eat this whole thing,
[1152 - 1156] it's a really cool way to eat beef. Hand-chopped burger.
[1156 - 1157] Now we're gonna do something a little different.
[1157 - 1159] Here, we have six ounces of chuck
[1159 - 1160] that we've frozen a bit to firm up.
[1160 - 1163] Then we're gonna cut it by hand into a nice, even,
[1163 - 1165] quarter inch dice.
[1165 - 1167] Now we're gonna form it into a nice, loose patty.
[1167 - 1171] Get some oil into our pan, season the hell out of it,
[1171 - 1175] and cook it for about four minutes per side. Beautiful.
[1176 - 1178] That exterior is really gorgeous.
[1178 - 1182] The roughness of the chopped meat created a lot of surface
[1182 - 1185] area so you'll have lots of browning and these nice, crispy
[1185 - 1189] raggy bits, the inside is not as evenly cooked as some
[1189 - 1191] of our ground patties but it looks really juicy
[1191 - 1194] and I love how loosely textured it is.
[1195 - 1198] Mm, that tastes amazing.
[1198 - 1202] So beefy and moist, the texture is so different
[1202 - 1205] and fantastic, it kind of falls apart in your mouth,
[1205 - 1207] definitely labor-intensive but a really cool take
[1207 - 1208] on a burger for-sure.
[1208 - 1211] Mix-in burger, three ways.
[1211 - 1213] So, we've already established that we do not
[1213 - 1215] like to mix salt into our burgers
[1215 - 1216] but there are a whole lot of things people add to burgers
[1216 - 1218] that they swear make them better.
[1218 - 1221] In this one, we're gonna add some cold cubes of butter.
[1221 - 1223] Then we're gonna add some mayo to this one,
[1223 - 1226] and this last one is gonna get a few tablespoons
[1226 - 1227] of smooth peanut butter.
[1227 - 1229] Gosh that looks gross.
[1229 - 1230] Form these into patties.
[1230 - 1234] Season each one with salt, get these guys on the heat.
[1234 - 1237] All right, let's take a look. Butter burger.
[1237 - 1240] I mean, it looks like a nicely caramelized burger,
[1240 - 1242] and I think that has to do with the milk solids
[1242 - 1244] in the butter rendering out and browning
[1244 - 1245] which is interesting.
[1245 - 1249] The interior, nicely cooked but seems like there's
[1249 - 1251] some pockets where butter used to be.
[1253 - 1256] Mm, it's good, juicy, but not juicier than a regular burger
[1256 - 1258] and I think most of the butter just kind of rendered out
[1258 - 1261] into the pan, I'd rather put some butter on the bun
[1262 - 1265] honestly I'm not sure if this was a win. Mayo burger.
[1265 - 1267] I'm actually kid of psyched on this
[1267 - 1268] because I love mayonnaise on a burger
[1268 - 1270] so maybe I'll like it in it,
[1270 - 1273] the texture seems a little bit on the loose side
[1273 - 1275] and we got good color because of the egg
[1275 - 1276] and the sugar into the mayo.
[1276 - 1278] Cutting in, hmm.
[1278 - 1280] Oddly, it looks more well done even though it cooked
[1280 - 1282] for the same amount of time.
[1283 - 1286] Mm, oh, I don't think it's better than our standard patty,
[1286 - 1289] I'm not sure the mayo added anything,
[1289 - 1291] I'd much rather have mayo on the bun.
[1291 - 1293] Peanut butter burger.
[1293 - 1295] This got really crusty and again,
[1295 - 1297] I think that's because there are naturally occurring sugars
[1297 - 1300] in the peanut butter than encourage caramelization.
[1300 - 1302] Nice kind of crispy, craggy bits here
[1302 - 1305] and it smells kind of nutty I guess?
[1305 - 1308] The inside looks pretty nice although a little less even.
[1309 - 1314] Mm, oof, that is weird.
[1314 - 1316] It tastes like eating a burger and smelling someone's
[1316 - 1317] PB and J at the same time.
[1317 - 1319] I do not like that.
[1319 - 1324] Moral of the story, no mix-ins people. Juicy Lucy.
[1324 - 1327] I know I just said that I don't want things in my burger,
[1327 - 1328] but we're gonna try out a Minnesota specialty
[1328 - 1330] know as a Juicy Lucy.
[1330 - 1332] We're gonna form two patties out of this beef.
[1332 - 1334] Put some American cheese in there,
[1334 - 1336] and press it gently to seal.
[1336 - 1339] Season, cook it in our hot cast iron for about
[1339 - 1340] four minutes on each side,
[1340 - 1343] and that my friends is a Juicy Lucy.
[1343 - 1346] Liking the color here, but the shape is funky.
[1346 - 1348] We couldn't make our little dimple in the middle
[1348 - 1349] so it shrunk up a bit.
[1349 - 1352] The interior is supposed to be the really exciting part.
[1352 - 1355] And there it is, melty, oozy cheese.
[1355 - 1357] The temp is still pretty nice.
[1357 - 1362] Mm, tastes great, I love American cheese on a burger,
[1362 - 1363] so why not in it?
[1363 - 1365] At the same time, I wouldn't say it tastes better
[1365 - 1367] than a regular cheeseburger,
[1367 - 1371] but it's a cool party trick for sure. Baked burger. Oven time.
[1371 - 1374] This burger is salted and oiled and we're gonna pop it into
[1374 - 1378] a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.
[1378 - 1380] And that my friends is baked burger.
[1381 - 1382] Pretty uninspiring looking.
[1382 - 1386] It's gray and it feels a little bit leathery.
[1386 - 1389] The inside, really uneven,
[1389 - 1391] you can see that this side got more heat from the sheet pan
[1391 - 1393] and this side not so much.
[1393 - 1398] Uch, eh, honestly, tastes really similar to our steamed
[1398 - 1401] burger and I hate how the top is almost raw
[1401 - 1405] and the bottom is well-done. Yuck. Roasted burger.
[1405 - 1408] So baked was a bust, now we're gonna increase the heat
[1408 - 1410] and decrease the time.
[1410 - 1413] 475 degrees for about seven minutes.
[1413 - 1415] That should do it.
[1415 - 1417] Somehow this looks almost less cooked
[1417 - 1418] than our baked burger.
[1418 - 1422] Again, it's super uneven, way more cooked down here
[1422 - 1424] than it is up here, the metal is just such a better
[1424 - 1426] conductor of heat than the air is,
[1426 - 1428] I'm not excited about this.
[1429 - 1433] Mm, yeah, a whole lot of textures goin' on here
[1433 - 1434] and none of them are good.
[1434 - 1441] It's a more exaggerated version of our baked burger, no bueno. Broiled burger. Broiler time.
[1441 - 1443] We're gonna put our patty in there for about six minutes
[1443 - 1445] and see what comes out the other side.
[1447 - 1449] Okay, that looks about done.
[1449 - 1451] So, a lot of restaurants broil their burgers
[1451 - 1453] but they have much more powerful units.
[1453 - 1455] Our home broiler, not so much.
[1455 - 1457] Hardly any browning on top
[1457 - 1458] and the bottom aint much to look at either.
[1458 - 1463] The inside, actually looks better than our other oven method
[1463 - 1464] but it definitely shrunk up in a funky way.
[1464 - 1466] It's kind of loosey goosey.
[1468 - 1471] Yeah, I'm not into how gray this tastes.
[1471 - 1475] Juicy but seriously lacking in browned burger flavor.
[1475 - 1477] You know, this oven doesn't seen to be working too well
[1477 - 1479] for us but why don't we try the--
[1479 - 1481] Easy-Bake oven burger.
[1481 - 1484] All right folks, we got a mini burger patty,
[1484 - 1485] we got our easy bake oven.
[1485 - 1488] It actually feels kind warm.
[1488 - 1490] We're gonna salt it, get it onto this special little tray
[1490 - 1492] and slide it in.
[1493 - 1497] And now we're gonna use this ridiculous tool here to
[1497 - 1500] ew, I mean, ew but also, kinda cute?
[1501 - 1505] Obviously this burger is a little too small for this bun,
[1505 - 1507] it's definitely cooked looking
[1507 - 1509] but it's just a little puck of beef and that underside
[1509 - 1511] is very unappealing looking.
[1511 - 1513] I mean, it was cooked with a light bulb.
[1513 - 1516] The inside, actually still has some pink to it
[1516 - 1517] which is a little disturbing.
[1519 - 1521] Mm, oh, it tastes like the burgers
[1521 - 1523] they served in my middle school cafeteria
[1523 - 1527] with a hint of burning plastic, nasty.
[1527 - 1529] Pan to oven burger.
[1529 - 1530] This ones a two-fer.
[1530 - 1532] We got a hot pan, we're gonna get a little oil in it,
[1532 - 1535] season our burger and then sear it on both sides
[1535 - 1536] just to get a crust on it.
[1536 - 1539] Then, we're gonna transfer to this rack.
[1539 - 1540] And finish it in the oven.
[1544 - 1548] Voila, so it didn't get any new color in the oven
[1548 - 1550] and since we were trying not to over cook the burger
[1550 - 1552] on the stove we pulled it before we got the kind of crust
[1552 - 1555] we wanted, the inside looks pretty nicely cooked,
[1555 - 1557] little bit of gray around the edges.
[1558 - 1561] Hmm, it's not bad by any means,
[1561 - 1564] but I'm missing that crust and this wasn't better
[1564 - 1565] than if we would have just given it
[1565 - 1566] another few minutes in the pan.
[1566 - 1568] Reverse seared burger.
[1568 - 1571] Okay, let's try to do the exact opposite.
[1571 - 1573] This burger, we've oiled and salted
[1573 - 1575] and we're gonna put it into this 350 degree oven
[1575 - 1578] for about 20 minutes, just until the inside is rare.
[1579 - 1582] Then we're gonna take it out and now that it's fully cooked
[1582 - 1585] we're gonna sear it in a hot pan for a minute or so
[1585 - 1587] on each side, just to get some color.
[1588 - 1590] Reverse seared burger.
[1590 - 1592] The exterior here is quite appealing.
[1592 - 1595] Browning is a lot easier to achieve when the outside
[1595 - 1596] has been given a head start in the oven.
[1596 - 1599] That interior, very pretty.
[1599 - 1603] Nice and even, hardly any gray at all and very juicy looking
[1604 - 1607] Mm, that's really nice, much better than our sous vide
[1607 - 1610] or our pan to oven, that said, it's not markedly better
[1610 - 1613] than our pan seared burger and took longer
[1613 - 1615] so I'm not sure I see the point in any of
[1615 - 1617] these two step methods honestly.
[1617 - 1620] You know, I think I'm ready for a little fresh air.
[1620 - 1623] Fire pit burger, three ways.
[1623 - 1625] All right, we've got three burgers here.
[1625 - 1628] This first one we're gonna put on this preheated lava stone
[1628 - 1630] this one we're gonna put onto this rack
[1630 - 1632] directly on top of the coals
[1632 - 1634] and this foil wrapped burger is gonna go right here.
[1636 - 1638] We're gonna come back, flip these halfway through
[1638 - 1640] and take them off if they're ready.
[1641 - 1643] Lava stone burger.
[1643 - 1646] You can tell that lava stone was super heated.
[1646 - 1647] Look at that gorgeous browning.
[1647 - 1649] That stone provided really direct heat
[1649 - 1650] and protection from flare ups
[1650 - 1652] at the same time which we love.
[1652 - 1654] And the inside looks great,
[1654 - 1656] a hair overcooked but that's really my fault.
[1658 - 1662] Mm, that crust is amazing, so flavorful
[1662 - 1664] and just the famous whisper of wood smoke,
[1664 - 1667] I really like this method. Yum.
[1667 - 1669] Wood grilled burger.
[1669 - 1671] So, this one was cooked directly over the coals
[1671 - 1674] and it shows, very aggressive caramelization,
[1674 - 1677] a little charring even, really nice.
[1677 - 1681] The inside is really pretty, a smidge over cooked again
[1681 - 1682] but that's my bad.
[1683 - 1687] Mm, really tasty, big wood smoke energy.
[1687 - 1691] Yum, a bit less juicy than our lava stone burger
[1691 - 1692] but still excellent.
[1692 - 1695] The fire pit is definitely over performing.
[1695 - 1697] Foil packet burger.
[1697 - 1700] Well, first things first, now to get it open.
[1700 - 1702] Damn this wrapped up tight.
[1702 - 1705] Oh, yeah, that's not nice.
[1705 - 1707] Kinda raw over here.
[1707 - 1709] I mean, it just kind of steamed in that packet
[1709 - 1711] because there was nowhere for the moisture to go.
[1711 - 1712] Let's cut into it.
[1713 - 1715] Oh yeah, ugly interior.
[1715 - 1717] Very rare over here, more cooked over here.
[1717 - 1720] Uch yeah no, not a good method,
[1720 - 1725] no need to waste good foil to make a bad burger. Yuck.
[1725 - 1726] George Foreman burger.
[1726 - 1729] The lean, mean, fat reducing, grilling machine.
[1729 - 1730] We're gonna season our burg,
[1730 - 1733] spray our George Foreman with a little cooking spray,
[1733 - 1736] get our patty in and close it up.
[1736 - 1738] All right, let's give it a try.
[1738 - 1741] So we're got some grill marks, reminiscent of our
[1741 - 1744] grill pan burger, I'm concerned about how squished it looks
[1744 - 1747] though the inside, yeah that's over cooked.
[1747 - 1749] Definitely in medium-well territory.
[1750 - 1753] Mm, yeah that's pretty dry and grainy.
[1753 - 1755] I mean the promise of the George Foreman grill
[1755 - 1758] is that it squishes the fat and juice out of the meat
[1758 - 1760] and let's it run off which does not a good burger make
[1760 - 1764] in my opinion, missed me with this one. Air-fried burger.
[1764 - 1768] We got our burger patty, we got our droid thing.
[1768 - 1770] Salt both sides, brush it with a little bit of oil,
[1770 - 1773] open up our weirdo box and flop our burger in.
[1773 - 1776] That's gonna cook at 350 degrees for
[1776 - 1778] I don't know, some time.
[1780 - 1785] Give it a flip and there's our air fried burger.
[1785 - 1787] This looks truly awful.
[1787 - 1789] The outside just looks desecrated.
[1789 - 1792] Cutting it open, well it's cooked to temperature
[1792 - 1795] but there's definitely some graying around the edges.
[1795 - 1798] A product of that ambient, indirect heat.
[1799 - 1805] Mm, that's not a good burger, I hate that thing. Uck, okay.
[1805 - 1807] Today we cooked a whole lot of burgers,
[1807 - 1809] a whole lot of ways.
[1809 - 1810] What did we learn.
[1810 - 1811] Well, at the end of the day,
[1812 - 1814] a good burger is one of life's simple pleasures
[1814 - 1816] and as such our more straight forward methods
[1816 - 1818] ended up yielding the best results.
[1818 - 1820] No need to make things too complicated,
[1820 - 1822] all you need is quality beef, high heat,
[1822 - 1825] and maybe a little smoke and you've got the kind of burger
[1825 - 1826] that dreams are made of.
[1826 - 1827] Have a favorite way to cook a burger
[1827 - 1829] that you didn't see here today,
[1829 - 1830] leave it in the comments.