Chef Anthony Pautrat, winner of the 2024 Coupe de France, gave us his secrets for making a perfect homemade burger!
A round loaf of bread, a chopped steak, a slice of cheese, some salad and that’s it? While preparing a burger may seem like child’s play, gourmets will tell you otherwise. To be sure not to make any more missteps, we asked the big winner of the 2024 French Burger Cup, Anthony Pautrat, to give us the ingredients for his ideal homemade burger but also his little secrets for preparation, cooking during assembly.
According to Anthony Pautrat, first of all, great importance will be given to the choice of bread. “We don’t get the bread in a supermarket, they are industrial burger breads full of preservatives, saturated fats, improvers, things that are not good for your health and then taste, when you take bread from a brand like Harry’s, and you put it in the toaster, it will quickly give off a vinegar smell. To be checked ?!
As we didn’t want to upset our chef, we went to an artisan baker! Our expert advises that you preferably get “a bagnat or brioche bread, quite simply”. As for cheese, no more pre-packaged sliced cheddar, take 35 grams of a fairly high quality cheese. Rather than cheddar, you can opt for a Savoie tomme or any cow’s tomme which will melt evenly on the steak. “The best thing is to take a cheese that covers and almost hides the steak, a bit like in pastry where you make a glaze on a dessert,” advises the former pastry chef. You’d almost think you heard Mercotte’s voice in Le Meilleur Pâtissier…
For the sauce, choose a little homemade mayonnaise, made in 2-3 minutes. Once assembled, you can make it original with 20 grams of Espelette pepper, turmeric and a small dose of alcohol if you want. Here too, we definitely don’t buy a sauce sold in supermarkets! “It’s better to bother a little and make a homemade sauce rather than buy a tube of mayonnaise,” assures our expert.
Ground steak can be purchased at the supermarket, as long as you opt for a steak with 15% fat. Obviously, going to the butcher is always a plus but the chef won’t blame you this time. “We rework the steak a little bit with salt, pepper and a few spices if we want, and the best would be to cook it in a small stainless steel circle – a cookie cutter that you can find for one or two euros at the supermarket – which will help your piece cook evenly. Finally, for the rest of the garnish, we will add a few arugula sprouts, a little grilled bacon and some fried onions to top it all off. Depending on taste, other vegetables or fruits are entirely possible: “seasonal tomatoes, several varieties of salad, cucumber, white peach or cherries for the more daring!”
Now let’s talk about a crucial point, cooking the steak. Heat the pan well, add a small knob of butter, and cook the steak in the cookie cutter until you obtain a nice color. The timing? 5 to 6 minutes at medium power. “We turn it over, we salt it, and above all we have to wait a little bit before putting the steak on the bread. We let it rest for one or two minutes so that the blood drains a little and we take advantage of this time to prepare the last ingredients (the bacon, the small salad leaves). This is what we call “pulling the steak”. You will be able to impress your friends by coming out with this expression… We then pour the cheese on the steak, which we will either melt with a blowtorch (this is ideal), or heat it for 2 minutes in the oven beforehand at 200° vs.
We then proceed to assemble with the toasted bread spread with sauce. First the salad, then the steak covered in cheese, then a slice of bacon that has been crisped in the pan then a little bonus topping on top (fried onions or even fried capers which add a little bit of flavor). acidity by breaking down the fat). It will take a maximum of 30 minutes to prepare this homemade burger suggested by Anthony Pautrat, French burger champion. Enjoy your food !