Best Grilled Burger & Burger Sauce
It takes a fair amount of hubris to call a burger “The Best” in the Twin Cities — this place is full of amazing burgers. (Yes, we’ve been following MPLS/St. Paul Magazine’s gonzo burger bracket too). But this is a good burger, so we’re going for it.
What’s so darn special about it? It gets all the tasty, tasty details right. The patty is 80/20 beef, and that little bit of extra fat means it chars up beautifully on the grill and stays juicy on the inside. While it’s still on the heat, we add a layer of aged cheddar that’s sharp enough to hold its own in a full stack of toppings. There’s crispy bacon, a burger sauce full of tang and mild spice, sweet, juicy beefsteak tomatoes, pungent red onions and iceberg lettuce. Yes, iceberg, and shredded not leafy. We love the texture shredded iceberg adds and how it doesn’t slide out of the burger or wilt — it keeps its crispy, crunchy cool.
The bun is also of paramount importance. We use an L&B potato bun, lightly toasted so that the consistency is just right — firm enough to hold the burger together, soft enough to smoosh into all the other ingredients.
Take a bite, and you’ll start to see why it might be the best grilled burger. It’s juicy, cheesy, bacony, crispy, spicy and tangy sweet, and anytime it’s on the edge of it being too much of any one of those things, you hit another layer that’s just exactly what you need. It’s a perfectly balanced burger. Make it for your next game day party: even if it doesn’t land you in a magazine, it’ll blow everyone’s mind.
Tip: If you’re lucky, you’ll have some leftover burger sauce. It’s so good, you’ll find yourself dipping your potato chips in it long after the burgers are gone. It’s also delicious on everything from smashed potatoes to turkey wraps.
6 servings
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
For the burger sauce:
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon dill pickle juice
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
For the burger:
2 pounds 80/20 ground beef
Salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
6 potato hamburger buns
9 strips black pepper bacon, cooked and cut in half
12 slices Hook’s 10-year sharp cheddar
Iceberg lettuce, shredded
1 beefsteak tomato, sliced
1 small red onion, sliced
Directions:
- Heat the grill to medium-high heat.
- To make the burger sauce: In a small bowl, combine all of the ingredients together until well incorporated. Set aside.
- To make the burgers: Use a kitchen scale to measure out 6 ⅓-pound balls of ground beef, and then form them into 3/4-inch thick patties. Make a thumb indent in each patty. The indent will help the patty hold its shape as it cooks, rather than swelling — and that will help it cook more evenly.
- Generously season both sides of the patties with salt and pepper.
- Place the patties on the hot grill and cook, covered, for 5 to 7 minutes. Flip the patties and cook them for another 5 minutes.
- Top each patty with 3 half strips of bacon and 2 slices cheddar, and cook the patties, covered, for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
- Remove the patties and set them aside to rest for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, toast the buns on the grill for 2 minutes, or until they’re golden and have nice grill marks.
- Top each of the warm buns with a burger patty, burger sauce, lettuce, tomato and onion.
