Why do we call it a Smush Burger and not the other more famous word…well it’s simple…because we are not legally allowed to (as we have been instructed).
Be woke folks, people out there trademarking techniques. 😂 And we henceforth propose the South African version – The Smush Burger
What makes a smush burger a smush burger? In short, the maillard reaction is behind it all. When your beef patty is introduced to the grills heat, the amino acids and sugars contained within begin reacting, which results in the changes of flavor and color. So you’re creating more surface area for the maillard reaction to take place when you “smush” your burger patty down.
3 Cheese & Crispy Onion Double SMUSH Burger
Prep Time: 40min
Cooking Time: 5min per Burger
Feeds How Many – 4 people double burgers, 8 people single burgers.
Ingredients
- 1kg Ground Beef – Free Range Brisket
- 2 x tbsn Worcester Sauce
- 1 x tbsn Crushed Coriander
- 1 x tsp Pepper
- 1 x Tbsn Onion Powder
- 8 x Burger Buns
- Pack of crispy onions
- 3 x Large Slicing tomatoes
- 4 x Dill Gherkins
- Thinly sliced crispy lettuce
- Cheese slices – Emmental, Gouda and Cheese Sauce – You can either make it yourself or purchase premade from the supermarket.
- Jalapenos
- Mayo & Chutney
- Salt – This is for flavour and should not be mixed in with the meat.
How To Do It
No binders in this recipe – Pure beef patties should not be spoilt with a binder – There, I said it. The Brisket ground beef has enough fat to meat ratio to act as a natural binder. 70/30 is ideal.
Mix the spices & Worcestershire Sauce into the beef – But do NOT kneed the beef, lightly mix, make ‘meat balls’ of around 100g each and rest in the fridge.
Prep – Slice the following into thin slices to add to you Burger:
- Tomatoes
- Lettuce
- Gherkins
Place the gas flat top on high. Add a bit of olive oil and brown/toast your burger buns.
100g Meat Balls Place in Fridge
Place on flat top & salt
Smash to desired patty
Prep you Burger buns prior as you want to eat this smush burger as it comes off the braai. Mayo on one side and chutney on the other of each bun.
Remove ‘meat balls’ from fridge and place onto hot flattop, adding salt and smash them to a reasonable patty. Make use of parchment paper so that your spatula does not stick.
Grill for 60 seconds and flip. Add your 2 different sliced cheeses, grill for 40 seconds, remove and add to pre prepared burger bun. Add the crispy Onions, add small squirt of cheese sauce, close the bun and enjoy.
Flip & salt again
Add Cheeses
Grill for 40sec
Stack patties
Assemble it all
Prepare to feast
Ranger Tip
Don’t add salt to the ground beef, salt dries meat out. Add only once you have smashed your patty.
You can also brush the smushed patty with a BBQ sauce, but I feel this dilutes that real meat flavour of the burger.
When prepping your Burger with the various condiments, don’t add too much of one ingredient, otherwise this will dominate the taste of the burger. Remember, the ground beef patty is the hero here.
A smashing recipe, thank you!
Was this a spur-of-the-moment recipe? Looks fantastic, will give it a try.