Summer is officially here in full swing, which can only mean one thing--- break out the grill. A mainstay of summer grilling is, no doubt, the classic, no frills-hamburger. We've looked around and consulted a real pro -- Matt Jennings, chef at Providence's Farmstead & La Laiterie, inventor of the Pig Mac, three-time winner of roving pork spectacular Cochon 555, and two-time James Beard Award nominee--- to bring you the best tips to make the best burgers. Here they are:
Always go for the cleanest meat you can find, which, in a lot of cases, is going to mean local, humanely-raised, grass-fed. Farmers' markets are a great place to look. Your local butcher can definitely source it. So that's first and foremost: good, healthy meat.
The best burgers are made from trim. The chefs that are making these burgers with part short rib, part chuck, part brisket? I see it as a marketing tool more than anything. Every animal is different. The only ratio that matters is the fat-to-lean ratio. Your burgers should be between 26-33 percent fat. End of story.
Set up a healthy relationship with a butcher you trust and tell them that you're looking for beef scraps. You'll need to anchor that mix with something, and I recommend chuck roll. It's the top of the chuck, and it tends to have more fat to it. Use that as your base and add in the trim.
I don't want a burger that's so finely ground that you lose all the texture and juices. I want a little chew and body. So, if you're grinding your meat at home, set your grinder on the biggest setting.
(Note: If you don't have a relationship with your butcher, just head over to your favorite supermarket and grab the leanest ground beef you can.)
Or, better yet, you can rough-mince burgers by hand. That makes the best burger. Hand-chopping is the shit. Find yourself a really good, sharp knife and a tough cutting board and go at the meat, chopping until you get to a pebbly texture. You're going to break a sweat, but once you've had a patty made that way, you can't go back.
Put your patty on a searing hot grill, season the heck out of it with Kosher salt and cracked black pepper. Then just don't touch it. You're looking at 2-3 minutes per side for medium-rare. And don't smash it into the grill with a spatula — seeing that makes me sad.
With any good meat, I let the burger rest. All the beautiful blood inside will be able to redistribute evenly. At the restaurant, we rest our burgers on all our leftover herb stems.
I also love pork burgers. We have a special here called the Pig Mac. It's a huge hit, so I can only offer it now and then, because people get rabid. It's pork shoulder mixed with beef fat trimmed from our dry-aged steaks.
For toppings, the sky's the limit. We'll put house-made bacon on our burgers and pull cheeses from our cheese shop that can range from stinky washed-rind cow's milk to Camembert-style to French blue. My favorite burger cheese right now is Big Ed's, a creamy, rich, mellow-flavored cheese from Wisconsin. It's an incredible melter. Don't get me wrong — there's definitely a place for a burger with American cheese on a Wonder Bun. But don't limit yourself.
And you definitely need some acid to help cut all that fat. Pickles are great. Ketchup. Relish. Maybe a hot mustard, too.