- Hey friends, it's Ashley from the Test Kitchen.
We're gonna take your burger game up a few notches
with a little French flair, keep watching.
(bright music)
Imagine this, two comfort foods coming together
to create the ultimate eating experience.
Classic French onion soup
and a perfectly cooked juicy burger.
It's like wearing footie pajamas
underneath your favorite cozy blanket.
Let me show you how to make it.
We're gonna start by getting our onions caramelized.
Go ahead and get your butter melting in a pan
on medium-high heat
while we slice up our onions.
And just to note,
as the butter slowly melts and simmers a bit,
it will start to brown just slightly
and that aids in the flavor of caramelized onions,
so let that happen, that is what we want.
And with your knife go really gently
and try and get as even slices as you can and super thin.
The thinness will help everything caramelize evenly
and it will help get those onions nice and translucent,
which is exactly what we wanna see.
Giving these onions a little bit of a stir
to incorporate that butter,
I'm gonna let them cook on medium-high heat
for just a couple of minutes longer
and then move the entire pan aside,
drop the heat to low,
and let the magic happen low and slow,
making sure to give them a stir every few minutes.
Now onto the burgers.
I'm using fresh thyme and shallot as ingredients
that will be folded within the burgers themselves.
This way it adds a great depth of flavor
and they're already ingredients
traditionally found in the classic French onion soup.
I'm using fresh shallot within my burgers
because it adds a really beautiful brightness
to the bite of this burger
along with the creaminess
from the caramelized white onions later.
Oh, you cannot beat this, this is going to be delicious.
I'm really attentive to the mixing in this.
Make sure that we're using nice and wide finger movements,
we're not pressing everything together.
As hard as it is to not wanna squish your patties,
it's better to lightly mix with your fingers.
This recipe yields four beautiful burger patties,
so the easiest way that I do this is
I just take my full pound of ground beef
and equally ball it into four balls for each patty,
so that's what I'm doing here.
So, forming my patties I'm really paying attention
to leaving an indent.
I'm gonna season it
with just some coarse salt and black pepper
and these beauties are ready for searing.
And remember, you guys, seasoning is really important,
so just be sure to season well on both sides.
Great, now I'm just gonna pop these in the fridge
for a couple of minutes while I get our buns ready.
For a really awesome burger tip,
if you're not already doing this,
add a little bit of mayo to your buns before you toast them.
It adds a really nice flavor
and it helps with even golden browning.
It's definitely my go-to way to prep my burger buns.
Once we have a nice crust of toasty goodness
on each of these buns,
I set them aside to start searing our patties
in the same pan.
Once your patties hit the hot cast iron, let them be.
We want to create that great sear on a burger patty
that everybody lives for,
and that requires not moving them around,
let the crust develop.
While I let my patties cook,
I keep an eye on them and I start to grate
my fresh Gruyere cheese.
This cheese is what makes French onion soup so fantastic.
And I'm still being patient with my burgers,
not messing with them too much.
And checking on our onions quickly,
they smell insanely good and super sweet.
I'm adding a little bit of Brandy to them
and this rounds out the flavor
and helps lift those yummy bits of goodness
from the bottom of the pan.
Oh my gosh, the crust.
This is what a great sear can do for your burgers.
Look at that, it's perfect.
At this point, the burgers will only need
a couple of minutes on this side to cook through,
so I build my burgers directly in the pan.
Start with a hefty pile of those caramelized onions, yum.
Next is an equally hefty pile of that grated Gruyere.
Oh my gosh, this is going to be great.
Watch how this melts so perfectly
over the sides of the burger.
That's what you want, overload that cheese.
Also, I always strategically let the cheese build off
onto the hot cast iron pan
and let it crisp up at the bottom.
I temp to ensure they're cooked to my liking
and cover them up, keep them warm,
while I get ready to plate up.
And look at this, that cheese pull,
the gooey caramelized onions falling into that cheese,
this is gonna be so good.
So here it is, it looks so good,
and that really oozy Gruyere cheese is just calling my name.
I'm gonna take a bite.
(bright music)
That is powerful flavor.
The caramelized onion in that salty really juicy burger,
this is so good.
Make sure to like and subscribe
and we'll see you next time here in Test Kitchen.
(bright music continues)