Bobby Flay Chooses This Beef Blend For His Brasserie B Burger

Regardless of the sauces and salad, it's the quality of the patty that determines the character of a classic all-American burger. Selecting ground beef with the perfect meat-to-fat ratio is the key to producing moreish burgers that sing with succulence. Chef Bobby Flay chooses a beef blend with an 80% meat to 20% fat ratio when preparing the Bar Americain Burger featured on the menu at the Brasserie B Parisian Steakhouse.

Now, why select this particular beef blend? If you peruse the ground beef options available at the supermarket, you'll see several different mixes running the gamut from super lean to extravagantly fatty. Leaner varieties are ideal if you're trying to boost your diet with high-quality protein. However, for making burgers, the presence of a little extra fat is essential. Firstly, the fat is full of flavor, which results in a burger that has a rounder character and savory depth. Secondly, during the cooking process, the fat renders down and melts, producing a finished product that's juicy, succulent, and tender.

Once cooked, the Bar Americain Burger is served with strips of bacon, tomatoes, and iceberg lettuce for texture and freshness. However, there's another genius way Bobby Flay adds crunch to his burgers: loading them with chips.

Boning up on the characteristics and flavors of different cuts of beef is useful when making the perfect burger patty blend. For instance, chuck has a good amount of fat and a buttery flavor, while brisket is tougher but has a richer taste. Combining different meats (along with making sure they have the 20% fat to 80% meat ratio) can produce burgers that have a more flavorful quality and umami vibe. However, if you like your burgers to be well done versus medium, you might be better off opting for a 70/30 or 60/40 blend with extra fat to guarantee that they don't dry out on the grill. Just be mindful that the fat from these richer options can cause flare-ups.

The only ingredients Bobby Flay uses to season his burgers are salt and pepper. This is because extra add-ins, like minced onions, breadcrumbs, and herbs, that have to be worked into the meat can make the burgers dense. Handling the ground beef as little as possible and using a light hand to shape it makes for burgers that are juicier on the inside. It also allows the natural flavor of the beef to come to the fore. That said, Flay does slather a homemade sauce, which is packed with flavor, onto his burger buns. Made of mayo, Dijon mustard, horseradish, and salt and pepper, this sauce lends the finished burgers a tasty depth.