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Published on October 4th, 2017 | by David Morales

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Chef shares tips for making the best burgers

Making a tasty burger is a skill that everyone can enjoy. But it takes more than just the right ingredients. That is why Applebee’s new Chief Culinary Officer, Stephen Bulgarelli joins the Hype magazine to share some tips and unique recipes to making the perfect burger. Did you know that smashing ingredients makes a better burger? How about using a cast iron or sauté pan for that extra juiciness? Bulgarelli shows us how the pros from Applebee’s make their burgers so tasty and you can do it right from home.

Chef, we love to go out for burgers but sometimes we want to make our own. What is your best tip to creating a restaurant-quality burger?

Well for us and for me personally I use the freshest ingredients possible. So, we get fresh, never frozen beef, that’s super important. That gives you the best tasting burger and the juiciest burger possible.

What is a little-known secret when it comes to cooking that will boost our own burgers to another level?

For me personally, I use a cast-iron pan or sauté pan that gives you the best flavor. It caramelizes the meat just perfect and also keeps the burger super juicy. If you want to use a grill outside then I would suggest putting a pan on top of the grill, that way it keeps all the juice in and you don’t get an overcooked dried burger.

What is one of your favorite recipes that is easy to make at home?

I’m going to walk you through our recipe for an all in American Standard burger, which is one of my favorite here at Applebee’s. What we do is we start with some sautéed onions first and we put that in a pan. We’re going to take some dice pickles as well as some chopped cooked bacon and we’re going to let that sit for a minute on the sauté pan and get nice and warm. Then we’re taking our fresh, never frozen burger patty. We’re going to put though that on top of the burgers and smash it into the cast-iron pan.

That will give you an amazing caramelized crust on the bottom with all of those flavors of the onions, bacon and pickles marrying together and don’t forget to season with salt and pepper. That’s an important piece that you don’t want to forget. Then once it’s cooked, we’re going to flip it over and we’re going to put some cheese on top of that and then what we do is we take our brioche bun, we put our signature burger sauce on the bottom of that bun, then we put lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle. Then we top it with our toasted buttered brioche bun, which is an amazing tasting cheese burger.

What else can we do at home to enhance the flavor of our burgers?

Don’t be afraid of any toppings! If you like toppings, then do what you like. There’s no wrong answer when it comes to a burger. The one that I like the most is our whiskey bacon burger, and this one happens to have pepper jack cheese on it which gives it a little bit of spiciness, and then two strips of bacon in our signature fired up whiskey sauce which is a fireball infused sauce and kind of sweet and sassy all together. Then we top it with fried onions, which gives you that wonderful crunch taste. So, again don’t be afraid of toppings. They’re your friend whatever you like and well that’s great because we have 1800 around the nation and we be more than happy to have you in at Applebee’s anytime from one of our famous burgers.


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About the Author

is the Executive Editor of The Hype magazine. A graduate of Eastern Michigan University, David has a background as an artist manager, writer, blogger, drummer, and in the human services industry. He is passionate about helping others, learning and has a deep empathy for the creative process. You can follow his social media @dcypherstudios


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