Recipes: How to make the best smash burgers

Hamburgers often make the menu for Memorial Day celebrations. Someone standing over a grill, flipping burgers, might be the iconic image for the holiday.

Hamburgers are so beloved that metro Atlanta restaurants organize Burger Week celebrations to tempt customers to try new and interesting combinations. Seventeen Gwinnett County restaurants participated in Explore Gwinnett’s seventh annual Burger Week last March with offerings ranging from a Banh Mi burger dressed with all the traditional banh mi accompaniments to Breakfast in Bed served on an English muffin with bacon onion jam and melted American cheese.

Looking over the options, what intrigued us were the two different schools of thought for how to cook a burger. A thick patty, grilled over charcoal or a gas flame, or a smash burger, with thin patties of meat seared on a griddle?

To consider the options, we talked with Eric Brown, general manager of Strange Taco Bar in Lawrenceville and LR Burger in Monroe, a self-proclaimed smash burger expert. “At LR Burger, smash burgers are all we do, and we smash a couple thousand burgers every week. I think they taste better.”

Credit: CHRIS HUNT

Credit: CHRIS HUNT

Brown says the deeper flavor in a smash burger comes from the caramelization, the Maillard reaction, that happens when you cook meat over high heat. That reaction is pronounced in a smash burger since so much of the meat touches the cooking surface. “Both sides of the burger are in full contact with the griddle. And the meat also cooks in its own fat, adding even more flavor.”

As a matter of fact, he says a smash burger is not the place to skimp on fat. “Don’t use anything less than beef with an 80/20 ratio of lean to fat. You need all that fat because you’re going to cook the meat to well done, and if there’s not enough fat, the patty will be dry.”

ExploreNFA Burger makes a spectacular sandwich inside a Dunwoody gas station

Credit: CHRIS HUNT

At Lawrenceville’s Local Republic, which is part of the same restaurant group, they cook those smash burgers on a 5-by-3-foot griddle.

In addition to the lean-to-fat ratio, he says the two other keys to a great smash burger are not to salt the meat before you put it on the griddle and to scrape up every bit of the browned bits as you’re flipping and moving the burger because “that’s where all the flavor is.”

Since not everyone wants to prepare smash burgers like a short-order cook, we also talked with Charlie Sunyapong, executive chef at Stage Kitchen & Bar in Peachtree Corners. The Stage burger this year was Death by Peaches, a 1/2-pound burger topped with ghost pepper yuzu aioli, peach pepper jam, aged white cheddar, dill pickles, arugula and fried onions, served on a brioche bun.

Credit: CHRIS HUNT

Sunyapong says that, like many home cooks, he likes a burger cooked over charcoal or a wood fire. And like Brown, he says an 80/20 lean-to-fat ratio is what makes for a good burger. Unlike Brown, he says a thicker burger to go on the grill should be seasoned with salt and pepper before cooking. At Stage, they make their burgers from a mix of ground chuck, brisket and short rib, and they cook them over a wood-fired grill.

Sunyapong created the peach pepper jam for this year’s burger. “We wanted something that said, ‘Georgia.’ We played around with a lot of jams, including bacon jam, but the peach was just the right combination with the burger.”

RECIPES

One takeaway from Burger Week celebrations, no matter where they’re held, is the more condiments, the better. We’ve got condiments you can mix and match whether you prepare smash burgers this Memorial Day or head out to the grill.

Credit: CHRIS HUNT

Local Republic’s Pepper Jack Loves Fraggle Rock Smash Burger

To make a smash burger, you need a griddle or a big cast-iron skillet, a sturdy spatula and a great ventilation system. There’s a lot of splattering and smoke involved. The patties cook so quickly that you can turn out burger after burger in short order.

For Gwinnett’s Burger Week this year, Local Republic paired their smash burgers with pepper jack cheese, house-pickled cucumbers and caramelized onions. They accompanied the burgers with Cajun-seasoned fries.

Credit: CHRIS HUNT

The restaurant prepares its jalapenos in a smoker for the chipotle-type flavor it adds to the sauce.

Credit: CHRIS HUNT

Stage Kitchen & Bar’s Peach Pepper Jam

This soft set jam is the creation of Charlie Sunyapong, executive chef at Stage Kitchen & Bar. Control the level of heat by deciding whether to include the seeds of the jalapeno peppers. And since you’re not processing this jam, refrigerate the jam after it’s made.

The peach pepper jam was a feature of the restaurant’s Death by Peaches Burger, a 1/2-pound burger topped with ghost pepper yuzu aioli, peach pepper jam, aged white cheddar, dill pickles, arugula and fried onions, served on an Alon’s brioche bun.

Credit: CHRIS HUNT

1910 Public House’s Fried Tobacco Onions

1910 Public House in Lilburn served a Western Cowboy Burger for this year’s Burger Week, a 6-ounce patty topped with pepper jack cheese, fried tobacco onions, bourbon barbecue sauce, lettuce, tomato and house-made sweet pickles on a sesame seed bun.

Executive chef Christian Speigal created the tobacco onion (named for the color the onions turn when cooked) and the seasoned flour recipes. The seasoned flour is a staple at 1910 Public House, used for its fried chicken and in its tempura batter.