The savory science of building the perfect burger
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The best burgers in Tarrant County
After a Reader’s Choice bracket, these are the best burgers around, decided by you.
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RELATED: Who makes the best burgers in Fort Worth? After nearly 20,000 votes, here are the winners of Readers’ Choice: Best Food Truck | Best restaurant | List of 8 finalists.
With grilling season underway, the obvious choice for most Texans is burgers.
Burgers grilled in the backyard mean summer is starting, and it’s time to kick back with family and friends. There are plenty of sides and cold drinks, of course, but the star of the backyard barbecue is that glorious golden brown juicy meat patty that you can smell from a mile away.
Burgers are often associated with good memories like birthdays, camping trips and swimming at the pool.
“Our dad would always be grilling, and the smell of the fat, the fire, the peppers, salt,” said Fred’s Texas Cafe head chef Fabian Alvarado. “It just kind of humbles and calms you down. It’s one of those little memory blankets that if you’re ever in a bad mood, I can smell beef, it just kind of triggers that memory.”
But the quintessential Cowtown meal is not without its controversies. Crafting the perfect burger — with the perfect combination of ingredients — is a mystical process that Fort Worth chefs have perfected with time and labor.
“Burger is almost the perfect food, it’s got everything you need, and you can put it all in one bite instead of mixing it up in your plate,” said Landon Amis, general manager at Rodeo Goat in Fort Worth. “I like that you also have the ability to put any type of cuisine, flavors into the hamburger.”
The Burger
Culinary experts say the key to the perfect burger is that the patty should be delicious just on its own.
“Everyone has their own opinion about what makes it a great burger, but I would say the focus has to be on the meat,” said Chef Ched Pagtakhan, instructor at The Culinary School of Fort Worth.
That comes down to the meat to fat ratio, Pagtakhan tells his students. You want the patty to be juicy, but not fall apart as you eat it. When you’re buying the beef, the sweet spot is 75% meat to 25% fat. Because it’s difficult to find that meat ratio at the grocery store, the best way to get a juicy patty is to grind your own meat, Pagtakhan says.
“When people buy just regular ground meat, they have no control over what muscle is going into that mix. They can’t control the lean meat to fat ratio, so it’s very hard, you’re creating an unpredictable product,” Pagtakhan said.
Fresh meat is a must for a quality burger, chefs say. They say never use frozen meat.
Rodeo Goat sources their meat out of 44 Farms in Cameron, the largest beef producer of Black Angus in Texas. Dutch’s makes sure the meat is fresh by cooking order by order, so that it goes straight from grill to bun.
To get the most flavorful patty, use tougher muscle, which gets more blood flow through it that makes the flavor more developed. Pagtakhan likes to grind short ribs, beef chuck or brisket into burger patties. If you want to get really fancy, throw in some oxtail meat in there.
The meat should be seasoned well on both sides with salt and pepper to bring out the flavor. Use a pepper grinder for more freshness.
Using a cast iron pan to sear that patty creates a crispiness on the outside as you cook it. To grill your patty, Amis recommends using a flat top grill. Alvarado likes to do four minutes on each side for a medium cooked burger.
The Bun
Buns add just the right amount of chewiness to compliment a burger.
“When you bite into that burger, the meat is still the star, the bun is just kind of like a supporting role,” Pagtakhan said.
Choose a lighter type of bread, Pagtakhan says, that’s not too dense as to overpower the burger. You don’t want to feel like you’re eating more bread than burger. The burger shouldn’t be so small that it hides in the bun, but it also shouldn’t be so much bigger than the bun that you touch it when the sandwich is in your hands.
Make sure the bun is sturdy so that you can slather butter, toast it and it holds together when you’re eating it, Amis says. Buy the buns from a local bakery for maximum freshness, Alvarado recommends.
Pagtakhan suggests a sweet bread like a potato bun, which is very soft and absorbs the juices in the burger when you bite into it. Amis and Alvarado like using brioche buns. Dutch’s Hamburgers uses sourdough buns from a Houston bakery.
The Toppings
Burger toppings create a range of textures, and it all depends on what you want to achieve.
“It gives you balance, you don’t want to be munching on something that’s 100% soft or something that’s very chewy. So as you think about all of those different textures that you’re putting in, it helps round it all out,” Pagtakhan said.
If you add lettuce, your burger will be fresh and crispy. Pickles add acidity and crunch. Tomatoes make the burger more juicy. Ensuring your produce is fresh and grown locally will help you build a delicious burger.
For more crispiness, you can throw in bacon, fried onions or tortilla chips.
Want to make a Texas burger? For a southwest flavor profile, add roasted green chiles and pepper jack cheese.
Other Fort Worth burger combinations: Fuego Burger uses a ring of melted cheese and green chiles for its signature burger, Grub Burger Bar makes a blue cheese and mushroom burger, Dutch’s Hamburgers uses grilled jalapenos and onions topped with hot mayo and Fred’s makes a burger with pepper jack stuffed poblano pepper.
Just have fun experimenting with different combinations and see what you like, the chefs say. Rodeo Goat is known for its unique flavor combinations inspired by pop culture and holidays, like a “dragon burger” with dragon fruit and hot sauce for the final season of “Game Of Thrones” and the “dad bod burger” for Father’s Day with a fried macaroni and cheese patty and queso. Their most popular is the Texas-style Bodacious burger — with fried onions, barbecue sauce, bacon, grilled jalapenos and jalapeno mayo.
Make a Mexican-style burger by incorporating chorizo, fried egg and avocado, or make an Italian-style burger with prosciutto, basil pesto and mozzarella, Amis recommends. Or try a sweet burger with grilled peaches, caramelized onions and jalapeno jam.
If you want to stick to the tried-and-true burger toppings: lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, American cheese, ketchup and mustard, put effort into sourcing fresh quality ingredients and artfully preparing them.
The Condiments
Condiments are one of the most contentious points in the burger debate. Should you use ketchup? How about mayonnaise or mustard? Do you have to buy a fancy sauce to make a good burger?
While it comes down to preference, if you’re focusing on the flavor, less is more. You really want the beef flavor to shine, Pagtakhan says. Each condiment you add has to make sense combined with other ingredients.
To some, there is no greater pairing than ketchup squeezed onto a patty. For others, the mere sight of a bottle of Heinz next to a burger is enough to cause repulsion.
Alvardo is in the latter group, saying that you should leave the ketchup for the fries. Fred’s doesn’t serve burgers with ketchup but they leave ketchup bottles on the tables for customers.
“If you’re going to, just don’t tell your buddies you did it, because they’re gonna remember what you did,” he said.
Understand what that condiment is going to provide the palette, Pagtakhan says. Ketchup is sweet and acidic, while mustard is going to add some spiciness and bitterness, so the combination of the two together creates balance. Mayonnaise works well if you have sharper flavors going on, like sharp cheddar or blue cheese. To step it up, you can add aioli, a garlicky alternative to mayonnaise, giving the burger a more defined flavor. Or, add some sriracha to the mayonnaise to create a spicy creamy flavor.
This story was originally published June 24, 2022 at 12:00 AM.
