I'll be testing Flay's process before the holiday weekend. So basically I fake out the burger.'īefore grilling: Lots of kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper on both sides. And then what people do is they take the back of the spatula and press it down to get it back to the shape - and you lose all the moisture in it. Because if you just throw a burger on the grill, what happens? It plumps up like a football. 'You want a little bit of separation so the juices can run through and actually create lots of moisture from the fat when it melts.'Īnother trick: 'After I've shaped the burger, I take my thumb and make a well in the middle, so that when the burger cooks, it actually comes back to the shape that you want it to be. 'And don't pack it together too much,' says Flay. When forming your burger patties, do not overwork the meat. (Waring also sells a countertop mixer, and restaurant supply stores often have hand-crank models.) Grind everything together - don't separate the different cuts. Flay uses the food grinder attachment on a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. So: Go to your butcher, and for every pound of raw meat, start by asking for three-quarters of a pound of chuck and a quarter-pound of sirloin, and then - here's one of Flay's secrets - ask for some beef trimmings to mix in, to add fat. And you'll get that from the chuck and the sirloin.' 'You can go on and on about all these blends - to me, you need flavor and you need fat. Some chefs have been known to mix in short ribs and all kinds of other cuts to play with the flavor of the burger. 'After a while, you'll know what your preferred mix looks like.'

How can you tell you've got it right? 'Basically, you just eyeball it. The key, he says, is making sure you also have the right beef-to-fat ratio. But you can play with that, and you can adjust the numbers based on what you like (and what's easiest to order at the butcher counter). When Flay grinds meat - at home or at his Bobby's Burger Palace chain - his ideal formula is simple: 85 percent chuck, 15 percent sirloin.

'And you can customize the flavor and the fat content. 'You know where the beef is coming from, that's for sure,' he says. The Results: Find out What happened when we tested out Flay's tips in our own kitchen >īobby Flay doesn't see why everyone doesn't grind their own beef for burgers at home.

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