- Hi, I'm Alexis, and it's no secret that I love burgers.
They're so indulgent.
They're crispy, they're fatty, they're juicy,
they're cheesy, it's all the best flavors in one.
I'm gonna show you how to make a three minute burger,
30 minute burger, and three hour burger,
because no matter how much time you have,
you should be able to eat an incredible burger.
Let's get to it.
Say you want a burger but you have no time.
This is the burger for you.
It's a three minute smashburger,
one of my personal favorites.
I'm using a blend of 80/20 ground beef.
I'm gonna shape it into four even balls.
So, once the meat is divided,
you can season just on the top with salt and pepper.
You can be pretty generous here.
It's gonna form this really nice crust.
Don't worry, I'm gonna season the other side,
but once they're in the pan.
That's really all the prep you need to do.
So, right now I'm ready to make my burger.
gonna keep my pan over high heat, add the oil.
While my pan's is getting hot, just gonna toast the bun.
You don't have to toast it, but it adds a little flavor.
I personally like a toasted bun.
Ooh, happened so fast.
So, once the pan's super hot, like, smoking just like this,
gonna take one of these a little meat guys,
place it salt side down in the pan.
Working super fast, take two spatulas and just smash.
Smashburger!
(meat sizzles)
And then season with salt and pepper.
So, after one to two minutes,
once it gets this, like, really beautiful crust,
it's called the Maillard reaction,
which basically a chemical process
which is the browning of meat.
Maillard reaction gives meat flavor,
it gives that brown look, covers your room in smoke.
It's ready to flip now, so one foul swoop.
Ooh, baby!
Put your cheese on top.
Once your cheese melts, your burger's done.
It's that easy.
Woo, she's smoky!
I mean, this is the easiest burger ever.
We got the burger, we got our cheese,
pickles, ketchup, mustard, burger in three minutes.
Oh, yeah, you get this crispy, craggy edge,
and it's, like, salty,
and you got the pickles for some acidity.
It's so good!
This is it, I'm done.
Screw the other ones.
This is amazing, and it only took three minutes.
So, say you have a little more time.
It's a week night, you want a burger.
You don't wanna have something basic,
you want something a little more.
That's where this burger comes in.
I'm gonna start with pickled red onions,
which are really easy to make.
You can keep them in the fridge for a few weeks,
and they're really gonna amp your burger up.
I'm gonna start with water.
I'm using apple cider vinegar,
but you could use champagne vinegar,
white vinegar, you can experiment.
I'm gonna add sugar, salt,
I like to add some peppercorns and some coriander seeds.
I'm gonna bring the brining mixture to a boil as I stir.
I want the sugar and salt to be dissolved.
So, now that my brine's at a boil,
I can actually take it off the heat, add the onions,
and just make sure that the onions are fully submerged.
I'm gonna let the pickled red onions
sit for about 30 minutes.
They're gonna cool down,
so I'm gonna move on to making
my own thousand island dressing.
Yeah, you could go out,
buy a whole thing of thousand island,
but this is gonna be about a billion times better.
First mayonnaise,
ketchup,
garlic,
some chopped pickles, and vinegar,
and you just whisk to combine.
It's that easy.
You have everything in your fridge to make this.
Now it's patty time.
Add salt,
add pepper,
and mixed it together.
I'm going to do a pub-style burger.
So, smash-style burgers use about four ounces of meat
where a pub burger would use about six to eight.
So, significantly bigger.
If you take your thumb and press it the middle of the burger
and kind of make a divot,
it'll help that the burger
doesn't puff up as you're cooking it.
It'll make them or even surface.
Woop, this is ready to go, so I can start to cook it off.
Going to heat my pan with some oil.
Like the smashburger, I'm going to toast my buns.
Pan is hot, time for my burger.
The smashburger cooked really quickly.
For the pub-style burger it's a lot more meat.
It's gonna take four to five minutes before I flip.
Even though I'm not smashing it down with the spatulas,
it's still gonna get that beautiful crust,
that Maillard reaction.
So, once the meat starts to color,
you can see half way up it's starting to get brown,
that's a really good indicator
that the burger's ready to flip.
Ooh, baby!
Cheese on top, cook for a few more minutes.
That's a burger.
Ah, the cheese!
Time to build this burger.
So, I'm starting with the burger.
Oh my God, it looks amazing.
Add some lettuce, tomato,
some pickled onions, and that thousand island on top.
Down.
That's a burger.
First thoughts are just utter excitement.
I mean, this looks absolutely insane.
Oh my, it's amazing.
Alvin!
(Alexis chuckles)
30 minutes, magic.
I am overwhelmed.
It's crazy that it could get even better than this.
There's a three hour burger after this,
and it might put this to shame.
I love you, it's okay.
Say you have an entire afternoon
and you really wanna impress someone,
this three hour burger is a real show stopper.
I'm starting off with making my own brioche for buns.
So, I've got warm milk, warm water, sugar,
give it a mix, and sprinkle the yeast over.
I'm gonna let my yeast bloom for about five minutes.
It'll get really bubbly and foamy.
That's a sign that it's ready to go.
So, while that's blooming
I'm going to mix the flour and salt.
(machine whirs)
Just mix it up.
Ooh, okay, my yeast is bloomed and foamy.
Going to add the milk-yeasty mixture
and get it just combined.
The dough is starting to get really shaggy,
so I'm just gonna add the eggs.
The dough's gonna look kind of wet and all mixed up.
It's gonna look wrong, but that's okay.
You wanna add the butter tablespoon by tablespoon
so that it gradually gets incorporated into the dough
and is more cohesive.
Now I'm just gonna let this mix for eight minutes.
You'll know the dough is ready when it's taut
and forms into a ball that goes around the dough hook.
Now it's smooth, it's springy, it's cohesive.
I mean, look at that beautiful dough, perfect.
Gonna put it into a greased bowl.
This is gonna help prevent any sticking later.
I'm just gonna cover it with a towel.
Gonna let the dough rise for about an hour
until it's doubled in size.
That's it for step one.
I'm gonna move on to my caramelized onions.
They take a while, but it's something
that's really, really worth it if you have the time.
Going to add my oil and onions.
Onions are a classic pairing with burgers.
I think caramelized onions are a really nice addition
because they added this depth of flavor.
Caramelized onions take at least an hour, if not more,
so just gonna give it a bit of a stir.
Season them with some salt.
The salt is gonna draw out some more moisture too.
That's what we want.
My onions have been caramelizing for quite a while now,
and they're starting to get cooked down.
I'm just gonna add a bit of wine.
It's just gonna add flavor and a deeper color.
The onions need a few more minutes
and they'll be ready to go.
Okay, my dough has doubled in size.
It's smooth, it's beautiful, it smells yeasty.
Just turn it out onto a clean surface.
You could also use a scale to measure these evenly,
but I think you can just eyeball it.
These are roughly the same size.
Once you've divided all the dough up,
take the edges of the dough,
and you're just gonna bring the sides together
just like a little package, and kind of fold it into itself.
It's so cute!
So, you've tied everything together, smooth,
and then you can just put your hand under the dough
and kind of twist it to bring it together.
So, you've got this beautiful little round ball.
Gonna squish it down into a disc.
I need to let these rise for an additional 30 minutes,
and then they'll be ready to bake.
So, while the buns have their final rise,
I'm gonna finish up my caramelized onions.
These onions have been cooking for a long time,
and let me tell you, they are caramelized.
This is how caramelized onions should look.
They're not pale golden.
They're not golden brown.
They are dark and caramelized.
They take time, they take patience, but it's like gold.
You now have gold.
And now that they're done,
I can finish up with my buns and move right along.
My buns have been resting and they're ready.
I feel like a proud mom.
I'm gonna do a little egg wash, egg, water.
You wanna make sure to brush the buns
all the way to the bottom, because remember,
they're gonna rise in the oven.
So, if you don't do that, the top half will be beautiful
and the bottom will be less so.
My buns are egg washed, ready to bake.
I'm gonna pop these into the oven and move on to the aioli.
You could just use mayo, sure.
But if you have time, why not make an aioli?
It's even better if you make your own.
It does take practice, and it takes patience,
but once you know how to do it
you can make it in, like, 10 minutes.
So, I've got two egg yolks, adding some grated garlic,
a little Dijon mustard, and give that a whisk.
So, this is the part that gets a little tricky.
I've got some grape seed oil,
so I'm gonna start by adding just a drop.
So, you're basically adding drop by drop of oil
until an emulsion starts to form.
It's gonna get thick, creamy.
It just takes a little bit of time to get there.
When people say they don't like mayonnaise,
I am personally offended because I love it.
But moreso, I just, I wonder, like,
if you like eggs and you like oil, that's all mayonnaise is.
I've used almost all of the grape seed oil,
and you can tell that it's starting to get really thick.
It becomes pale yellow.
It's kind of gloopy if you start mixing.
Like, this is exactly how it should look.
So, at this point I can just gently
stream in the rest of the oil.
So, all the grape seed is added, adding the olive oil.
You could do it without,
but I think it adds a nice little something.
She's thicc.
How many Cs?
Probable four Cs.
Once the aioli becomes emulsified,
you can add more oil at once.
You don't have to do the drop by drop.
Gonna add a little bit of pepper a little salt,
and I'm gonna add lemon juice.
That's gonna thin the aioli out a bit.
It's also gonna add some acid.
This is, like, luscious.
Luscious aioli.
Aioli's done, and we can start making the patties.
So, the last step is grinding my own meat,
which I know seems extra, but this is a three hour burger.
This is worth it.
The general rule for burgers is that it's 80% lean, 20% fat,
and you can use all sorts of different
beef combinations to make that up.
I'm using chuck, sirloin, and short ribs.
Before I get started, it's really important
that the meat grinder's frozen and that the beef is frozen.
Otherwise it's not gonna work,
and it's a huge food safety risk.
(machine whirs)
Pop it on, meat, and use this handy thing
to just push it down.
Feels great, it's so satisfying.
That's it.
You know, another thing about grinding your own meat
is that the patties are gonna have more air,
and more juiciness than if it's already this,
like, pre-packed thing from the grocery store.
It's really, really worth it.
I'm just gonna toss it together
so everything gets incorporated.
Gonna add the salt, pepper, and mix it all together.
Woo, it's cold.
Now I'm just gonna shape them into their final shape,
standard burger, nothing too crazy.
I'm gonna do the same divot in the middle
that I did with the 30 minute burger.
That's it, burgers are ready.
They just need to be cooked up and assembled.
You can tell the difference with the hand ground meat.
It's so red.
It looks so fresh.
I think this alone is gonna really
make this burger stand out.
gonna add my oil, and this is my beautiful bun.
It's just golden, it's light, fluffy, looks like a pillow.
I'm just gonna toast the buns like I've been doing.
Three hour burger needs toasted buns.
Beautiful, so beautiful, wow.
Pan's hot, smoking, same process.
(patty sizzles)
Okay, burger's ready to flip.
Ooh, put some Gruyère on top,
let that get a little melty.
I'm so excited for this burger.
My burger's done, the cheese is melted.
It's time to assemble.
Ah, this is the crown jewel of all the burgers.
I'm gonna start off with a bed of arugula,
something to cut all the fat.
Burger, gonna add some aioli to the top of the bun.
Oh my God, and these are my fingers
for some of those onions.
Oof!
Aah!
Okay, moment of truth, right?
They're getting bigger every time.
(cries happily)
This isn't a burger.
This is like a steak, this is like filet mignon on a bun.
It is so rich, so decadent, absolutely incredible.
I mean, the aioli, the caramelized onions, the bun,
everything feels so intensely flavorful.
It's amazing, it's amazing.
I wish you could taste it.
I love all of these burgers.
Whether you have a few minutes
and you wanna go smashburger route,
if you have a little bit more time
you can really elevate it with a 30 minute,
or if you have an entire afternoon
and wanna make a very ambitious three hour burger,
no matter how much time you have,
there's a burger for you.
Let me know your favorite burger in the comments below.
Until then, happy cooking!
- [Man] Oh, yes!
(charming music)
(camera clicks)