The Perfect Burger Simple purity — it's a burger not a meatloaf. First, it’s about the beef, and not about all the spices and goodies that are often ground into the meat. Everyone has their secret ratio and favorite cuts, my best advice is addition by subtraction. Fresh, high-quality ground beef and salt and black pepper. While monster nine-ounce burgers have their place, I prefer a thinner patty, about five ounces To me, a great burger should have an equal amount of "crumble" and "stability". Meaning it should hold together enough to allow you to cook them correctly, (from edge to edge) and the guest should be able to take a bite without it falling apart. As with many cooks, I like both the charcoal-grilled as well as seared on a griddle/pan for a variety of different reasons. So my fellow culinary nerd friends and I devised a plan to get the best of both. Because fat absorbs aromas so well, we first charred beef fat directly on hot hardwood charcoal embers, then we smoked it for several hours. We then chilled the fat and then ground it into the meat. Achieving an inside out char grilled flavor evenly distributed throughout the meat. (Yes, its a lot of extra work.) Other Essentials: warm, tender bun, Heinz ketchup, French’s yellow mustard, and Mt. Olive pickles — accept no substitutes.