The Art of Creating a Northwest Indiana Style Smash Burger

As we begin our journey to create the perfect Northwest Indiana style smash burger, it's essential to start with the right ingredients. In this case, we're working with approximately 6.4 ounces of ground chuck. The chef carefully forms the meat into balls, ensuring they are evenly sized and full of flavor. By drying them out for a few hours, the meat develops a beautiful color that intensifies as it caramelizes, resulting in a super crispy crust.

To further enhance this process, the chef uses a neat little griddle contraption placed directly on their gas grill. A small amount of oil is applied to create a polymerized coating, making the burger nonstick and ensuring it sizzles instantly when placed on the griddle. The goal here is to set up the perfect conditions for the burger to cook evenly and achieve that ideal balance of flavors.

With the meat prepared, it's time to assemble our burger. We'll add a little bit of fat to create that nonstick property under the patty, ensuring every bite is juicy and flavorful. As we wait for the first layer to soften up, we can hear the sizzle start to take place, signaling that the cooking process has begun. Now it's time to smash our burger, carefully compressing the edge to create a tapered and thinner middle, while keeping the outer edges thicker and more pub-like.

Using a trowel or spatula, we gently press down on the burger, allowing the edges to flare outwards as it cooks. This process requires finesse and attention to detail, but the end result is well worth the effort. As we season our burger with salt, black pepper, and garlic granulated garlic, we can see it start to develop a beautiful dark color – the ultimate sign of flavor development.

Now that our burger is almost ready, it's time to add some finishing touches. A dollop of softened butter is spread on top to give it an extra layer of flavor and crunch, while also adding a pop of color to the dish. With the burger now seared to perfection, we're ready to assemble our masterpiece. The bottom bun is carefully placed, followed by a slice of American cheese – plain Jane, but loved by all.

The final touch is our signature smash sauce, a little concoction the chef has invented using mayonnaise, chopped gherkins, dijon ketchup, sriracha, granulated garlic salt, and pepper. The combination is nothing short of magic, bringing all the flavors together in harmony. With the burger now complete, it's time to take that first bite...

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enmy northwest indiana style smash burger okay i got approximately 6.4 ounces of ground chuck here i put them into balls all right i kind of dried them out all afternoon here so we get that beautiful color to intensify and make sure we have a super caramelized crust right i got this neat little griddle contraption that i put directly on my gas grill so i'm gonna hit this with a little bit of that just to create that polymerized right i love that word polymerized coating here that makes it super nonstick so you take your in a ball you're gonna put it on there you hear that sizzle it needs to sizzle instantly we're gonna set it up okay let that go for about 10-15 seconds kind of soften up the beef create this kind of first layer and then flip and smash and this is what i like to do with the trowel or the spatula make sure you get a little bit of that fat on here too to create that kind of nonstick property right under you can see it just seared the meat a little bit you can hear that sizzle start to take place now it is time to smash it so we're gonna smash oh man and now we can start kind of compressing the edge a little more tapered and thinner than the middle so it kind of flares out at the edge and then you got that big kind of pub thickness right like in a pub burger we can smash with your tongs in a pretty wide spatula here we go so you could just take it around the edge just like that and now we season with some salt some crushed black pepper and a little bit of garlic granulated garlic and we're going to let these go until they are just gorgeous right and there we go you can see it start to look super dark and that is where the flavor lies in holy smokes and that's what makes a northwest indiana style burger great it's those flared super lacy smashed edges that peek outside the bun so i spread some softened butter on this just to give it a little extra flavor and crunch and color and i'm gonna put these directly on there keep an eye on them right i try to keep a side of the griddle a little cooler for this moment and our burgers are good to go a little cheese on top lorenzo loves some american cheese so i'm going to give you that one that's plain jane i got you what that's the bottom bun oh it's a bottom uh so this smash sauce is a little sauce i invented it's got mayonnaise chopped gherkins dijon ketchup sriracha some granulated garlic salt and pepper and we mixed it boom you got yours i got mine i'm shutting down the heat all right hey should we cheers first for breakfast kind of more brunch but it can be your dinner any day of the weekmy northwest indiana style smash burger okay i got approximately 6.4 ounces of ground chuck here i put them into balls all right i kind of dried them out all afternoon here so we get that beautiful color to intensify and make sure we have a super caramelized crust right i got this neat little griddle contraption that i put directly on my gas grill so i'm gonna hit this with a little bit of that just to create that polymerized right i love that word polymerized coating here that makes it super nonstick so you take your in a ball you're gonna put it on there you hear that sizzle it needs to sizzle instantly we're gonna set it up okay let that go for about 10-15 seconds kind of soften up the beef create this kind of first layer and then flip and smash and this is what i like to do with the trowel or the spatula make sure you get a little bit of that fat on here too to create that kind of nonstick property right under you can see it just seared the meat a little bit you can hear that sizzle start to take place now it is time to smash it so we're gonna smash oh man and now we can start kind of compressing the edge a little more tapered and thinner than the middle so it kind of flares out at the edge and then you got that big kind of pub thickness right like in a pub burger we can smash with your tongs in a pretty wide spatula here we go so you could just take it around the edge just like that and now we season with some salt some crushed black pepper and a little bit of garlic granulated garlic and we're going to let these go until they are just gorgeous right and there we go you can see it start to look super dark and that is where the flavor lies in holy smokes and that's what makes a northwest indiana style burger great it's those flared super lacy smashed edges that peek outside the bun so i spread some softened butter on this just to give it a little extra flavor and crunch and color and i'm gonna put these directly on there keep an eye on them right i try to keep a side of the griddle a little cooler for this moment and our burgers are good to go a little cheese on top lorenzo loves some american cheese so i'm going to give you that one that's plain jane i got you what that's the bottom bun oh it's a bottom uh so this smash sauce is a little sauce i invented it's got mayonnaise chopped gherkins dijon ketchup sriracha some granulated garlic salt and pepper and we mixed it boom you got yours i got mine i'm shutting down the heat all right hey should we cheers first for breakfast kind of more brunch but it can be your dinner any day of the week\n"