Secrets of the burger chefs

[Robin Garr]

Secrets of the burger chefs

Neatly packed in its plastic foam box, Shady Lane's Brownsboro burger and onion rings arrive home safe and sound.


Some days you feel like a burger. Some days you feel like a steak. But let’s make one thing perfectly clear: This is not a matter of better and best. The simple, honest burger in no way takes second place to the faux nobility of the tenderloin, rib eye, strip, or porterhouse. Sometimes, when you’re in a certain mood, nothing but a burger will do.

Feeling like a burger and having a burger on your plate can be two different things, though. Do you get out and buy dinner, or do you make your own? There’s a lot to be said for making your own: You save costs, and you control the ingredients, the preparation, the heat, the toppings, even the decision whether to add a slice or two of cheese.

But how do you make your burger as good as it can be? To find out, we asked for advice from a half-dozen local burger experts, restaurant chefs who’ve earned the people's ovation and fame forever for the quality of their grilled ground-beef patties. This city has so many great burger joints, not to mention high-end eateries that make great burgers, that it wasn’t easy to narrow the pool down to six, so I went for a random cross-section. Apologies if I missed your favorite.

I invited each chef to respond to two simple questions:

* What are your secrets about making great burgers for your customers?
* What do you advise people who want to make great burgers at home?

Here, only lightly edited, is just about everything that the chefs at Six Forks Burger Co., The Fat Lamb, Grind Burger Kitchen, Burger Boy, 80/20@Kaelin's, and Shady Lane Cafe told us. ...


Read the complete article on LouisvilleHotBytes,
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/secrets-burger-chefs

Read it in LEO Weekly's Dining Issue today:
https://www.leoweekly.com/2020/06/burgers/

Solid selection. I've had them all except for the Fat Lamb. They're all great burgers, and getting this perspective makes it clear why since they all share very similar techniques.

[Robin Garr]

Yeah, it was tough getting down to the six that we had room for. I ended up just going for price and restaurant style diversity, but there's a bunch that could just as well have been included for quality.

So what is the trick to this, from Shady Lane: trying not to touch it too much while forming it because we don’t want to compress it

We just got our first grill last month and have been cooking a lot of burgers so my son can learn to properly grill (I have no idea how to grill so he's learning it all on his own). Anyway, he grills but I do all the food prep and seasoning. If not compressing the meat when forming the patty, how do I get it to stay together? It falls apart on the way to the grill otherwise. I have to really pack it tightly. I add dry seasonings to it, sometimes a little bit of worcestershire. Using an 80/20 mix (although now I'm going to look for something fattier). I'd love to know how to get it to stay together but not compressed.

So what is the trick to this, from Shady Lane: trying not to touch it too much while forming it because we don’t want to compress it

We just got our first grill last month and have been cooking a lot of burgers so my son can learn to properly grill (I have no idea how to grill so he's learning it all on his own). Anyway, he grills but I do all the food prep and seasoning. If not compressing the meat when forming the patty, how do I get it to stay together? It falls apart on the way to the grill otherwise. I have to really pack it tightly. I add dry seasonings to it, sometimes a little bit of worcestershire. Using an 80/20 mix (although now I'm going to look for something fattier). I'd love to know how to get it to stay together but not compressed.

The first thing is that grilling, as in over charcoal or gas, is a completely different beast than cooking over a flat top or cast iron skillet. I've found that for grilling, you have to trade off a certain amount of moisture for grilled flavor. So, you can work the meat a little bit more, and firm up the patty a bit. Actually, working the beef with a moist hand can create an outside moistness that works with charcoal particularly. It creates a seal and helps keep the juices inside. However, you may need to offset that by hollowing out a little indentation in the center of the patty. Just a dimple. That's because the center of the burger will tend to swell and this evens it out. Alternatively, some use an ice cube in the center for the same effect No expert, but a long-time burger griller. Hope this helps.

So what is the trick to this, from Shady Lane: trying not to touch it too much while forming it because we don’t want to compress it

When did Shady Lane start using fresh beef?

I seem to recall reading that when Bill and Susie Smith owned Shady Lane, Bill would pick up the beef and produce from Paul's each morning.

Thank you, Steve! I'm partial to a pan/griddle cooked burger myself, but my son wants to grill every night, lol.
We did learn about putting the dimple in the middle (haven't tried an ice cube, interesting!) but I'm going to try the moist hand next time.

Great article- all the burgers sound mouth watering. I must admit however, I lean more to the patty melt side. With bleu cheese.