- Hey guys, it's Inga.
- I still have a big forehead.
My eyes are down here.
- Welcome back to another round of Trendy Vs. Traditional.
I will be representing trendy.
- I will be making a very traditional dish.
- We read a lot of your comments.
- We read all of them, and there was
a lot of weird stuff in there.
- One of the comments that we kept on seeing was...
(drum roll with hands)
- [Together] Burgers!
- Yeah, I love burgers.
- I have also never made a burger in my life.
- A little confidence boost.
I'm feeling good that traditional might take this one.
- I have some big ideas today that I will
try and make happen.
- I take back what I said about being confident.
You are cooking first.
Good luck.
- Thanks.
- Have a great time cooking a nice burger.
I can't wait to try it.
- Okay, so burgers.
I think I could have taken this in a lot
of different directions, but what really caught my eye
was the ramen burger.
It was actually really popular a while back.
It became this huge phenomenon.
I love ramen and I love burgers,
so ramen burger together as one
just seems like a really cool idea.
I will at least try to make it taste
as good as possible.
- Welcome to traditional burger land.
There's not gonna be a lot of wild stuff going on.
We're just making a burger.
Simplicity is key here.
This is a table full of boringness,
but when they all come together, something really special.
- We should probably make the buns.
This is actually the ramen that the OG
ramen burger master uses.
- Folks, let's start with buns.
To start, we're gonna toast the buns.
- Just trying to loosen it up a little bit.
We're actually gonna keep it undercooked,
because we have to pan fry them later.
Maybe 30 seconds would be enough.
Go, 30!
- That pan is heating up a little bit.
I don't think we need any fats in there.
We're just toasting that.
- So once we take these out, we're gonna put them
in this mold right away.
No eggs or anything, 'cause I don't want it
to be too custardy.
Instead, this--
Oops, hold on.
30 seconds, take it out!
The starchiness of the noodles itself
will actually help it clump together.
- Before you even start to come for me in the comments,
the produce is washed.
Delete the comment that you have typed out.
This is washed.
We're not gonna show it on camera, enough.
So we're just gonna peel off a couple.
It's not washed.
Ha!
Go ahead and retype it in.
Give me five seconds.
I'm a joke.
- Here are the half-cooked noods.
Gonna-- (laughter)
They're noods!
Here are the half-cooked noodles.
Going to put half of this in here to shape our first bun.
Can see that it's kind of sticky.
That's good, that's the starch.
- Got the lettuce washed.
- [Producer] Take off the sticker...
- I like the taste of the sticker.
I'm really falling apart here, guys.
We're gonna go ahead and save that sticker for later.
- That's the first one.
Fold this together in Saran wrap like this,
and then do the same thing.
- I'm gonna wash this on camera, 'cause
I'm not gonna be taken for a fool any more.
As I'm prepping the toppings here,
I think a big part of burgers, but really
any sandwich vessel in particular, are ratios.
You don't wanna take a bite of a tomato,
you wanna take a bite of a burger and all its friends.
So that's what I'm gonna aim for here today.
Just like little thin pieces.
- Once you put it in here, you need to find
something to really press it down.
I'm using my hands right now, but I'm gonna find
something to put on top of this.
- By the way, can we talk about the bun?
Real good looking toast on there.
You want it to stand up to the juice,
so we've got some pretty good juice defense here.
- I happen to have a pickle jar that I stole from Chris.
(laughs) I'll return it to Chris later,
but sort of like that, so it can help
form that shape, and then we're now gonna
put this in a refrigerator.
- We're gonna toss some bacon in that's also
going on the burger.
We don't need a ton of bacon.
This isn't a bacon sandwich.
- While the noodles are chilling in the fridge,
there's a couple more things we could work on,
like toppings and sauce.
Caramelized onions could be a good touch,
because that's actually what the original ramen burger does.
All I have to do is chop up this onion.
- So I think anything with bacon on it...
Will win.
Bacon is just a delicious treat,
and when you slap it on to another delicious treat,
we're talking success.
- It's suddenly so quiet.
- [Producer] You're handling a knife!
- You'll notice there's three pieces of bacon in here,
two for the burger, one for the boy.
I need sustenance to get through this.
- Turn this on.
Pour some oil in there.
Ugh, I love this sound. (oil crackling)
- I guess we'll cut an onion too.
We're gonna keep it pretty true to a burger
you would order at a restaurant.
Just like, a couple hoops.
A couple o' onion hoops.
- It's a really time-consuming process,
but I promise it'll be worth it.
It will get this caramel color and this sort of
jam-like consistency, which I'm thinking
we'll be mixing in with the sauce
that we'll be making later.
- The only thing worse than limp bacon
is dirty lettuce, and I've already done one of those
things today, and I will not do another.
I made a mess already, but that's important
when you're cooking traditionally.
Everything's a mess, that means you're doing it right.
I'm gonna pull two of these guys out.
Put them on a paper towel to get some of that
grease off.
- This is going to take a long while.
We don't actually have enough power in this studio
to have two stove tops going at the same time.
I am going to bring this into the other kitchen
and try to cook it there.
- The bacon grease that is in this pan
is going to be our fat when we cook the burgers
in the cast iron skillet, and I'm really excited for it.
- Let's work on the sauce.
The sauce I'll be making is actually sort of like
a tare, which is the glaze or the dipping sauce
that they usually offer at Japanese barbecue.
There's a couple of things that go in there.
This liquid is a combination of kombu and bonito flakes,
which is just seaweed and some fish flakes.
That's kind of the broth that I made earlier on.
I'm gonna pour a little bit of that in there
to give it some flavor.
Soy sauce, sake, sweet cooking wine, sugar.
'Cause you want it to be sweeter.
Garlic and ginger.
There we go, give that a good mix.
We are actually gonna let this slowly simmer
until it becomes slightly stickier and slightly thicker.
- We've got some toppings, we've got our bacon.
Now it's just time to talk patties.
I'm gonna ask my wife to please turn off the video.
The ring's coming off.
Mostly because I don't want E. coli and other meat germs
onto my nice wedding ring.
- We simmered it for two hours, but the actual sauce
that they put in the ramen burger, when I talked
to chef Keizo, he told me they take six hours to make that.
The ramen is the novelty, but the sauce is where
the magic really is, which is why I'm really
putting a lot of effort into this.
Put a little bit of this into the onions
so it gets immersed.
This will be our sauce.
With a condiment like this, I think just one is enough.
If you put a little too much in there,
it might get a little too crazy.
- Meat.
85% lean to 15% fat.
If the ratio is any more lean, then you're gonna
start to get towards a burger that isn't as
juicy and succulent.
The meat has been sitting out, which is nice.
You never wanna put ice cold meat into a pan.
It's gonna seize up.
You want your meat to just relax.
Just eyeball your bun.
- This patty is 80% lean and 20% fat.
Going for more fat here, because it's juicier.
There's really no rubric to how big the patty has to be.
I want mine to be kind of the same size as the noodle buns.
- We're gonna make a little dent in the middle
so that it doesn't turn into this meat mountain.
- I'm putting a little like, pothole in here.
I'm not seasoning it yet.
I'm gonna actually wait for it to cook first.
- Before the patty goes into its hot little bed,
we need to season the ever-loving hell out of it.
Put a little bit of this bacon grease into our pan here.
In she goes. (meat sizzles)
- This is going in there.
Oh my god, look at that sizzle!
It's getting my face.
- Once you've flipped the burger,
that's when you put the cheese on.
The cheese just gets melty.
It's like a big cheese blanket that goes around the burger.
The reason we're using a cast iron is because
it's a pan that holds a lot of heat.
- Burger is done.
Gonna let it rest here.
- You know what also is cool about meat?
That when you go to flip it, it just comes right off.
That's how you know it's, we're good, we're good to go.
Now that we've flipped, what do you think about that?
Two slices of cheese?
Once we get to around six minutes of this burger,
that's when you whip out the pièce de résistance,
little old thermometer.
So we are at where we wanna be.
Gonna go ahead and take this guy off
and just let it hang out here.
- So now for the noodle buns.
Ta-da!
Here are the ramen buns!
They're circular and beautiful.
Hopefully they'll hold that shape.
We're gonna pan fry these now in sesame oil.
- I've earned myself a snack.
I'm sorry Inga, but bacon on a burger.
- I'm gonna take these out now.
This one's trying its best.
That's one, and that's two.
And now for the cherry on top, you know how
ramen usually is served with an egg?
I was thinking a ramen burger could also have an egg.
So let's get cracking.
I'm trying to not cook the egg yolk too much,
because normally it's a soft-boiled egg
that goes into the ramen.
While that's cooking, I'm going to glaze the burger.
This why I said we don't need to season it.
It's gonna get this coating.
Ho ho ho!
I did it, I flipped it!
And that is our egg!
Fantastic!
We have all our components ready.
I'm just gonna reset the table.
Let's get to plating.
- Where are my pickles?
- I'll return it to Chris later.
- My inspiration today is just a Krabby Patty.
Whenever I see a Krabby Patty on screen,
I'm just like, that's what a burger looks like!
I'm gonna be very careful here.
See, I'm already...
Oh god!
Are you kidding me?
How does that happen?
Ketchup, this is gonna be a disaster.
If you thought the mustard was bad.
Come on.
Oh my god.
What is happening right now?
That's what I wanted, but.
Gordon Ramsay, I know you're watching.
Look away, because that is horrific plating.
- It is time to assemble.
(upbeat, playful music)
It's slightly messy, but this is the ramen burger.
- I think that looks exactly like a Krabby Patty.
- It looks so good!
It's so round!
Ugh, I'm so happy.
- I'm gonna finish my bacon.
I got a lot to clean up.
(noise of anticipation)
(exclaim in surprise)
- Oh my god!
- Yours looks so good!
- And there's an egg on it!
- And you put bacon in yours!
- I'm not feeling good about this.
- I'm not feeling great either.
This is such a good-looking burger.
- I appreciate that.
This is clearly the time-intensive flavor bomb
that it looks like.
We're gonna have our friend Vic come in,
and he is going to tell us which burger he prefers,
the traditional or the trendy.
So Vic is gonna give up to five points
for the look of the burger, and five points
for the taste of the burger, and then the burger
with the most points, that's the burger that wins.
- Wow, look at this!
I've had plenty of burgers in my day, trust me,
but I've never seen one like this.
That one caught my eye right away.
(laughs)
This is gorgeous, too.
I'm ready.
(impressed exclamations)
- [Vic] That looks nice!
- That's a serious cross-section.
- Now the moment of truth.
Holy cow.
This is if you threw a ramen noodle soup together
and made it a burger.
- Yes, that's the idea!
- Amazing.
- That was really good.
That is bangin'.
I was-- (laughs)
I'm gonna move on the next one before I fill up on this one.
Holy cow. - Can we get this guy
a napkin here?
- Let's get to this bap, wow.
This one looks like real classic.
Stab into this bad boy.
That juice, though!
Wow!
- So good, I can smell it from here.
- Mm, a little pound of mustard on the bottom, too.
- Don't even get me started.
- I think you did a good job.
Maybe a little bit more cooked than I would like it,
but still super juicy.
Cheese was a little bit thick.
Oh, it was toasted on the bottom.
That makes a good bun nice.
For burger number one, looks, solid four.
Just very beautiful, very well-constructed.
- To hear that. - But, and I'm sorry, Chris,
Inga's burger takes the cake.
I'm gonna give Inga's five on both the flavor
and the looks.
The moment I walked in here, my eye drew to that one.
It just looks complex and awesome, and I love ramen.
I think Inga's the winner for this challenge.
- Yay! - Deserved.
- I have redeemed myself since last time!
- Thus ends another episode.
Trendy Vs. Traditional.
Type in the comments what you wanna see next.
Let's do this.
(upbeat music)