The Bacon Burger Like You've Never Seen It

By: Adam Rapoport

A few weeks back, I stopped by Fleischer’s butcher shop in Kingston, New York, about an hour and a half north of the city. I was looking to buy a rack of lamb to grill up on the Weber. But then I noticed the house-ground beef-and-bacon burger mix, and I was like, Well, duh! Of course they grind their beef with bacon. Why wouldn’t you do that?

But as long as I’ve been going to butcher shops, I’ve never seen it done. I got it touch with Fleischer’s co-owner Josh Applestone, who says he gets that reaction a lot. “It’s kind of like peanut butter and chocolate,” he says of the shop’s signature grind. “I mean, how can you beat it?”

Fleischer’s specializes in locally raised grass-fed meat, and they’re one of those DIY shops that never lets a scrap go to waste. Their basic ground beef is a “nose-to-tail” mix composed of chuck, sirloin, belly, round—the works. They smoke the bacon themselves and incorporate the fatty discarded ends into their burger mix.

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Of course, custom burger blends are everywhere these days. Shake Shack in New York City relies on a combination of brisket, chuck, and short rib (reportedly) for its insanely popular patty. Minetta Tavern relies on ground dry-aged steak for the funky, aggressive punch of its Black Label burger.

The key—no matter what kind of blend you opt for—is making sure the mix has a relatively high fat content. That’s where the juiciness and much of the flavor comes from. Fleischer’s grind yields a slightly smoky, salty, luscious burger—about 70 percent meat and 30 percent fat.

QUESTION IS, HOW DO YOU COOK IT?

I took a couple of pounds of the beef-and-bacon grind home and cooked it up, both on a charcoal grill and on the stovetop.

A FEW POINTERS TO KEEP IN MIND:

As Applestone will tell you, you want to get your pan smoking hot before you lay the patty down. And the meat is fatty enough that you won’t need much—if any—oil.

If you can get your hands on a  blue-steel sauté pan (kind of like a crepe pan), go for it. Cast iron is also a great option.

No doctoring or crazy fixings required. Any freshly ground beef with at least 20 percent fat content just doesn’t need it. A little salt and pepper will do.

SEE MORE:  How to Make Better Meat, Overnight

AND THEN THE BASICS:

Applestone keeps it old-school with Martin’s potato rolls. “They might not be good for you, but they’re really tasty,” he says. “I love that squishy potato flavor.”

And like most burger purists, he keeps it fairly simple with the fixings—mayo, a little ketchup, maybe some raw onion. And then he let’s it all meld together.

"I just love that last piece of bun filled with all that bad stuff," he says. "The grease, the mayo, the salt. It’s like the pope’s nose of the burger."

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The Perfect Cheeseburger

Ground beef, with a fat content of at least 20 percent
Salt and pepper
American cheese

1. Bring the meat to room temperature. Take a chunk (six ounces or so) and form something the size and shape of a tennis ball. But don’t work it too much.

2. In one motion, with the heel of your hand, press down on the ball to form a patty. Don’t mess with it any more than that.

3. Sprinkle both sides with salt and freshly ground pepper.

4. Get your pan smoking hot. Lay the patty in and don’t touch it for at least two minutes. You want a nice brown crust.

5. Flip it gently, place a slice of cheese on top, and allow a crust to develop on the other side.

6. How long you cook it is your call. If it’s a thick burger and it needs to be cooked through, slide the pan (assuming it’s ovenproof) into a 400-degree oven for a minute or two.

7. The important thing is to just let it fry. Don’t smush it with a spatula. Don’t constantly lift it up to see if it’s done.

8. Once you’ve got that caramelized crust, place the burger on a cutting board. Grab that squishy burger bun, open it up, and toast it quickly in the greasy pan.

9. Combine bun and burger. Add fixings. Inhale.

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