There are no frills to the perfect burger, nothing that should be allowed to interfere with the four essential ingredients, meat, cheese, a roll and onions. Lettuce and tomatoes add nothing but distraction, ketchup may be used to dip the fries into, but is borderline disgusting on a burger while mayonnaise is actually disgusting.
The meat 80/20, and cooked medium rare, the cheese American, the onions sliced thin, but I also enjoy the crisp fried version and the roll should be toasted and bland to allow the juices to penetrate. Permitted sides, a pickle, fries, Cole slaw and onion rings.
I like toasting the outside of the bun just slightly, and not the inside at all. And a slight bit of ketchup on whichever side doesn’t have the cheese.
Agreed - given the wonderful range of cheeses available to us, the thought of putting a slice of processed cheese on anything I’d eat is a complete non-starter.
The American cheese can also add some saltiness which helps. I also prefer a good mustard applied directly to the burger, usually the underside, no ketchup
Most of the year I can go without tomato, but for when they are perfectly ripe and the most flavorful, I also like a little pickle on the burger as it cuts the richness just a bit.
Heck I like a lot of variations depending on my mood as absolutes are too limiting.
Triple cream brie, caramelized onions made with a bit of balsamic vinegar, and bacon. Sorry Mark. I’ll agree with the toasted bun. Perhaps we should plan a spring “dueling burgers” event.
Double smashburger with American processed cheese product, charred onions, pickles, and a little mayo. That’s it for me. Keep your fancy cheese off my burger.
I think this statement is wrapped in a lot of culture. If you’re from a country that has access to affordable beef I think there is more of a culture for just a meat, cheese, bun burger… but in Asia where it’s less common to have beef adding lots of vegetables.
I like the texture of vegetables… I do enjoy a good Chicago style hotdog too. I can see why they load up the hot dogs sometimes with fries to make it a meal.
I find the dogma of having to use crappy plastic cheese for a cheeseburger “being the best” is based only nostalgia and not what is best tasting. Others mentioned cheese adds maybe some saltiness, moisture (mouthfeel), and possibly umami, but all of those are inherent in beef that cheap processed cheese isn’t really adding to.
I’ve done my own experiments and find a standard burger size for me is best or even slightly larger opposed to the love of the smash burgers now. I think if your ground beef is suss quality sure smash it into a griddle and adding some cheese makes sense. If you have a premium ground beef I’d rather it be more like a steak burger. A style of burger I’ve been enjoying is the “French onion soup” burger where they add caramelized onions and Swiss… you can find this at Capital Burger.
The perfect burger is the one that hits your craving. It can be and look different. Sometimes that’s at a steakhouse or sometimes that might be at a McDonald’s at 2 am.
