How to Craft the Perfect Smash Burger in the Philippines
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Femail’s Ellen Manning shares tips on crafting a delicious smash burger from scratch at home.
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The surge of the smashburger
The golden era of the quarter-pounder has faded away, as British folks now have a stronger affinity for the smashed burgers.
continuing to surge
.
For many years, hefty burgers have been a favorite among famished British people, but nowadays, a notably thinner alternative has started to catch their attention.
establishing itself as one of the UK’s favorites.
Even though they aren’t new, our affection for them is highlighted through social media, with countless posts devoted to these straightforward yet flawless items.
Burgers are everywhere, with big hitters not just in the capital but across the country, attracting regular queues of aficionados at restaurants and shops as well as street food vendors.
The irresistible combination of a crunchy exterior, slim meat slices, and overall gooey deliciousness stands unmatched.
The key is in the Maillard reaction – named after French chemist Louis Camille Maillard, who discovered that when amino acids and reducing sugars react, they create a distinctive flavour in the browned result that gets our taste buds tingling in a way that’s strangely addictive.
Getting this effect in a burger requires ample heat, high-quality meat, and the signature ‘smashing’ method where clumps of ground beef are pressed and flattened until the patty becomes incredibly thin, achieving the crispy edge everyone adores.
We probably don’t have massive machines at home built for smashing hundreds of patties on an assembly line to satisfy avid burger enthusiasts.
However, we can create some of our own using appropriate strategies. The starting point is the meat itself.
It’s agreed upon that the meat needs to be of good quality. Generally speaking, people prefer a fat-to-lean meat ratio of 30:70.
Tom Warwick, the mastermind behind the popular burger chain MeatCastle, takes things up a notch. He attracts throngs of eager customers from all over the nation to his mobile eatery known as the Fortress of Burgers. Tom’s secret formula involves a blend with proportions not exceeding 25:75, processed using a 4mm grinder, emphasizing that aged fat enhances flavor.
‘To get the perfect blend, you should use double-ground high-fat beef mince; chuck works well for this, along with some brisket, flank, and rib meat,’ recommends Tom Robinson, who serves as the group head chef at Libertine Burger – an additional accolade-winner.
However, since I’m not a seasoned burger chef but merely an ordinary home cook, I lack both the time and means to get a custom meat mix prepared by a butcher for me personally.
Fortunately, I don’t live too distant from renowned butchers Aubrey Allen, known for making their own burgers and burger blends. So, I head over quickly and request the finest ground meat they have to craft my custom smash patties.
They sold me a substantial portion of their dry-aged, grass-fed ground beef, telling me that although experts may have their preferred method, the fat content here is sufficient for the task and should work just fine.
Heading home, I stop to grab a few brioche rolls and some classic American “sliced” cheese.
Since some folks enjoy having 4,798 toppings on their burgers, this focuses on the smash patties, hence we’ll keep things minimalistic.
I sought advice from the burger connoisseurs and learned we should shape the ground meat into patties. According to them, adding an egg isn’t necessary.
Robinson informs me that seasoning is meant for cooking, not required in the initial mixture. I’ve convinced both him and Warwick to share some cooking advice—largely so I can relay this information to my hamburger enthusiast spouse, who’s much more daring when flattening patties on a heated grill compared to myself.
The secret lies in achieving the perfect temperature—not too high and not too low,” explains Warwick. Given his extensive experience and the sheer number of burgers he has handled—reckoned to be in the hundreds of thousands—he likely knows precisely what degree of heat is required, though we can only speculate.
‘Therefore, we turn the stove to maximum heat, place a pan on it, and wait until it looks like it’s sufficiently hot.’
“Place one ball onto the grill, then flatten it as much as possible,” instructs Robinson.
‘Since what you’re searching for is that crispy exterior, that delightful Maillard reaction.’ We pursue it.
As soon as the meat touches the skillet, the sizzling begins, growing increasingly intense and assertive as we apply pressure to flatten the patty.
Fortunately, we have a burger press tool that comes in handy, and before long, the meat transforms into a flat pancake-like patty. While some advocate smashing the patty for about 90 seconds, Robinson advised me to refrain from meddling too much and let the meat be undisturbed until a nice, crispy crust forms.
I get why you’d notice a difference as it cooks, particularly when the Maillard reaction begins and alters the aroma. I can’t say exactly how long we were at it because my palate picked up on that transformation too. Plus, I was trying hard to manage the automatic saliva production triggered by the delightful scent of cooking meat and the anticipation of achieving perfect smash burgers right in our home kitchen.
I would readily enjoy eating it right away—just the meat. However, my spouse has observed numerous professional burger chefs at work, so after generously sprinkling it with salt and pepper, he emulates their technique by placing a slice of cheese atop the patty while it’s still in the pan. Then comes the brioche bun lid (Warwick emphasized that a quality burger bun is essential, hence I bought Tesco Finest ones). Finally, we cover everything with a cloche for the bun to softly steam.
No, I’m not sure why we have a cloche as well, but it turns out to be a useful item in the kitchen when you’re making a smashburger without wanting to stand in line outdoors during chilly weather.
At this stage, the pan might be getting too hot and the smoke detector is likely to activate soon, yet we remain unfazed. We’re nearly achieving burger nirvana.
As a kid, I would heap the completed burger with plenty of pickles, extra cheese, crispy onions, lettuce, tomatoes, and anything else I could get my hands on. However, although Robinson mentioned earlier that the beauty of smash burgers lies in their flexibility—where you can pretty much do whatever you like—he also emphasized that: “a great smash burger truly needs nothing more than some beef, a bun, and cheese.”
It doesn’t really require anything else.” I only mildly stray from his guidance, finding it impossible to skip adding some ketchup and burger mustard, then digging into my meal.
It’s fantastic. I’m curious if we’re not quite at the level of the experts yet, but these burgers definitely lack fatty patties. The patty—or should I say, patties, since we generously stuff each bun with two—has a delightful crispness and crunch to it.
The meat is bursting with flavor, enhanced by the classic process that gives seared steaks their deliciousness and makes smashed burgers so popular. You’ll wish it lasted longer, just like with the finest hamburgers.
This serves as a reminder that the finest meals frequently turn out to be the most straightforward ones. This explains why smash burgers continue to remain popular.
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