ChefSteps

We’re looking at National Hamburger Day!

What better way to celebrate than with these ultimate smash burgers?

You’ll need:
454 g Brisket
15 g Egg yolks, (1 yolk per pound of ground beef)

Flipping good:

Separate your brisket into lean meat and fat to get those ratios on point. Dice and get it cold as possible. Then get to grindin’!

Add your salt and gelatin to the ground beef, weigh out your quarter pounders, lightly squeeze to cream and bind.

Get your chosen cooking option to maximum heat, add 2 burgers at a time, and smash with spatula to quarter-inch thickness and add cheese.

Serve and watch your guests enjoy!

Mouth-watering, juicy and delicious.

For more summer specials, check out chefsteps.com.

For the full recipe and a smoother, more custom cooking experience, check the link in the comments to access a 14 day free trial of StudioPass.

An impossible chef choice, apparently.

Chef Slowik vs. The Swedish Chef. Carmie vs. the Soup N**i.

Sasha, a self-confessed mumbler, feels seen by The Swedish Chef. Nick considers whether the burger from The Menu is worth the full murder-adjacent tasting menu experience.

Then Nick admits he has never seen the Soup N**i, which raises a few follow-up questions.

Slowik or Swedish Chef? Carmie or Soup N**i? Who gets your vote?

Homemade dumplings are better in every way!

Don’t take our word for it, give these Jiǎo Zi a try - from start to finish.

You’ll need:
280g All-purpose flour, unbleached
120 Cake flour, unbleached
14g Kosher salt
212g Boiling water
300g Taiwanese cabbage, finely chopped
5g Cornstarch, plus extra as needed
300g Ground pork
200g Jumbo shrimp, jumbo
40g Scallions
30g Lard
15g Toasted sesame oil
10g Fresh ginger root
5g Garlic cloves
5g Totole chicken bouillon powder
2g White pepper, ground
15g Dark Chinese soy sauce
15g Light Chinese soy sauce
15g Chinkiang black vinegar
15 g Water, room temp
12g Granulated sugar
5g Toasted sesame oil
2g Sichuan chile powder

Let’s go dough:

Whisk together all-purpose flour, cake flour, salt. Add boiling water, mix with wooden spoon until shaggy. Knead, rest, 15 mins.Knead to ball, cover, rest 1-12 hrs.

Half dough, roll out with pasta roller. Punch out wrappers, knead leftover dough and repeat until all used. Store until ready.

Filling station:

Salt and knead cabbage, sit on stranger and cheesecloth 15 mins, wring out. Use 45g cabbage water, whisk in cornstarch. Add to stand mixer with cabbage. Add pork, shrimp, scallions, lard, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, 5g salt, chicken bouillon powder, and white pepper. Combine then mix 2 mins.

Add 18g filling to each wrapper, dab top and bottom edges with water, lift over filling and pinch together to form a seam.

Heat 30g oil in skillet, add 12 dumplings, cook bottoms 3 mins. Add 120g water, cover, cook 5 mins, uncover, cook 3 mins. Repeat with any remaining dumplings.

Get saucy:

Whisk together dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, vinegar, water, sugar, sesame oil, and chile powder (if using) until sugar is dissolved.

Put it together and what have you got? Delicious dumplings!

For the full recipe and a smoother, more custom cooking experience, check the link in the comments to access a 14 day free trial of StudioPass.

The chefs have thoughts. Now we need yours.

Artie Bucco vs. Gene from Wet Hot American Summer
Artie is a great character, but possibly the worst person to be trapped in a restaurant with during a midlife spiral. Gene, meanwhile, has the exact camp-cook energy every table needs at least once.

Nick and Sasha have weighed in. Now it’s your turn.

Artie or Gene? Who are you hanging with?

Crunchy, golden pork belly with tender, melt-in-your-mouth meat underneath.

The full recipe is linked in the comments.

This is our take on Chinatown-style crispy pork belly: deeply seasoned meat, a glassy-crisp skin, and a final roast that turns the surface into a shattering crust.

The key is time. Cure the pork, cook it sous vide until tender, then dry the skin uncovered in the fridge so it can crisp properly in the oven.

Ingredients:
5 g dried sand ginger
4 g white peppercorn
48 g kosher salt
0.5 g five-spice powder
3 g granulated sugar
1 g MSG
900 g skin-on pork belly

Method:
Toast and grind the spices into a seasoned salt cure.

Cure the pork belly, then cook sous vide at 154°F / 68°C for 16 hours.

Dry uncovered in the fridge, then roast hot until the skin is crisp and golden.

Slice skin-side down and serve with the reserved dipping salt.

Full recipe + breakdown linked in the comments.

Remember these 3 things for a perfect carbonara:

1. Less salt in the pasta water.
2. Render the guanciale slowly.
3. Bloom your pepper in the fat.

Take this classic dish to the next level!