What guy doesn’t love a good burger? OK – what carnivorous guy doesn’t love one?
I’ve tried lots of methods and recipes of cooking burgers over the years – and I’ve made a lot of pretty decent ones – but never one that I’ve really felt a need to make another one exactly like it again. I’ve had burgers like that – but always from a restaurant. Will Alton Brown’s be any different?
Burger of the Gods is people!
From the get-go, I was pretty skeptical about this one – but if there’s one thing that I’ve learned about cooking beef over the past few years, it’s that good beef doesn’t need to be masked by extra stuff. This recipe definitely has a lack of “extra stuff”. All you need is:
- 10oz chuck – chopped into 1/2″ pieces
- 10oz sirloin – chopped into 1/2″ pieces
- 1/2tsp kosher salt
That’s it. No worcestershire sauce, no onions, no garlic – nothing but some kosher salt and two types of beef.
You don't need a meat grinder to grind your own meat. Who knew?
Using a food processor, grind up the meat. Knead it by hand and mix in the salt. Form it up into patties and throw it onto a hot cast iron skillet for a few minutes to cook it. Of course, I couldn’t resist – and I threw on some swiss cheese. Burgers aren’t complete without some sort of cheese.
They're a little small. You may need to eat more than one.
Verdict
Yeah, this is a short one. But there’s really not much to talk about except for the quality. The key here are the two types of meat: sirloin and chuck. By “grinding” your own meat, you know exactly what’s going in there – and just how good the meat is. The chuck gives it the burger flavor you’re expecting – a bit of fat, but not too much. The sirloin, however, gives it that hint of steaky flavor. It’s prominent without being overbearing. The simple salt seasoning works perfectly with the combination of meats.
Where this recipe falls down is in its instructions. Alton instructs you to form the patties into 4″ diameters with 3/4″ thicknesses. That’s fine – slightly small – but OK. The cooking times are where it all goes to hell. 4 minutes on each side for a “medium-rare” burger. To give him it a fair shot, I cooked my first burger exactly like he instructed – and got a well-done burger. The second time, I cooked it for 3 minutes on one side and about 2 on the other. I got something on the well done side of medium-rare. For a medium-rare burger, I’m thinking I’m going to have to go to something more like 4 minutes total.
Burger of the Gods? Maybe one of the lesser ones. This could easily work as my standard go-to burger if I can work out the cooking times.
Burger of the Gods Rating: 
I foolishly forgot to get tomatoes for proper toppings.
