Fancy Sauce (for your smash-burger and fries)

I recently discovered that I can make fast food burgers at home.

I know. It’s exciting, right?

I can’t claim to have invented the smash-burger, and unlike most foods, I have no interest in tracking down the origin. I just know that they’re super easy to make, and they’re delicious.

First off, if you don’t know what a smash burger is, it’s pretty simple: it’s a smashed burger. I’ll post some links down at the end, so check them out, but the basic gist is that you take some fatty ground beef, smash it onto a hot griddle, and cook it until it’s crusty. Add some cheese, a classic bun, and some fancy sauce, and – OH MAN – you’ve got a tasty burger in the works.

Sure, the individual ingredients and procedures are important. For example, I would recommend some specific things to send your burgers over the top. My top priorities are 3 oz. balls to make the patties, white bread buns, American cheese, and – of course – fancy sauce.

Basic fancy sauce (also known as fry sauce) is a mixture of mayo and ketchup. The simplicity of fry sauce is wonderful, and assuming you can get past the idea of dipping your fries in mayo, it can add a tasty (and super easy) condiment to your culinary repertoire. At it’s core, the combination of mayo and ketchup gives you a hit of salty, sweet and savory in one smooth delivery system. It’s also the basic combination of condiments that makes burgers – like the Whopper – taste so good.

I realize that Whoppers aren’t a selling point for everyone, but it illustrates my point. Remember, fatty fast food is for special occasions.

The fancy sauce recipe I’ve been playing around with uses the basic elements as a foundation, and adds some new, complimentary flavors and textures that should give your burger and fry experience a tasty boost.

OK – it isn’t a great picture, but it is a great condiment!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup regular mayo
3 tbs ketchup
1 tsp honey
1 to 2 tbs minced shallot (depends how “oniony” you want it to be)
1 tbs chopped dill pickle
1 tsp pickle juice
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
pinch of salt and pepper

The instructions are super simple: prep all of the ingredients above, and mix them together in a bowl. Season and taste as you go, and adjust and modify based on your personal preferences.

For example, my wife doesn’t like pickles, so I mix in everything but, set aside a portion for her, and then fold in the pickles and juice afterwards.

Spread it on burgers, dip your fries, or spread it on your pizza. Well, maybe not the last one, but it’s pretty good whichever way you make it!