In 2019, the chef Jae Lee had a concept. What if he could make a smash hamburger– a renowned junk food meal including a smashed patty, American cheese, pickles, and a hamburger sauce– even much better? He began to play with a kimchi-based hamburger sauce, and a flavoring mix for the patty (the dish for which he holds extremely near the chest). He served his very first kimchi smash hamburger at his New York pop-up, and the excitement was instant. After Gothamist stated that Lee's take on the classic was “among NYC's biggest hamburgers,” it ended up being a regional fixation. Simply a couple of months later on, he opened his very first dining establishment, Nowon, where he still serves this smash hamburger to its lots of fans– clocking in at about 1,200 hamburgers offered every week.
Over the last 5 years, smash hamburgers have actually ended up being more popular than ever. And a variety of chefs throughout the nation are signing up with Lee in dealing with smash hamburgers as a canvas for all sorts of reinterpretation and imagination. For them, upgrading the smash hamburger is, in part, a workout in using fond memories– both for junk food and the meals they enjoyed as kids. Lee's kimchi smash hamburger, for example, is a take on a Big Mac, which was his preferred hamburger maturing. Chef Sky Haneul Kim's bulgogi smash hamburger, on the menu at Gift Horse in Providence, recalls to her most-loved meal in Korea. “In Korean McDonald's [back then]they had a bulgogi hamburger, however they had an alternative to include an egg,” she states. “That's how I get it whenever I'm there.”
Nowon's smashburger.Courtesy of Nowon
These chefs are developing on the noticeably American cooking custom of hamburger patties smashed flat for efficiency and taste. This meal may have been created on the flat-top grills of lunch counters and restaurants, however today's finest smash hamburgers are anything however old-school.
The most recent boom is partially driven by the draw of conventional smash hamburgers. They appear at pop-ups; in vibey, poorly lit dining-room; on Shake Shack menus throughout the nation; and naturally, at the eponymous chain, which has areas in 30 states, in addition to in Washington D.C. and Canada. For restaurants, these slim hamburgers provide a fairly affordable alternative (numerous expense less than $8), and dining establishment owners value that they prepare rapidly. The thin, crisped hamburgers make routine looks on influencer's feeds, too, thanks to their visual appeal. The exuding cheese, lacy edges, and golden buns are all over.
Simply as the 2010s saw an increase in chefs remixing and reimagining juicy, traditional, distinctly un-smashed hamburgers, a wave of chefs has actually discovered methods to put their spin on the crowd-pleasing smash hamburger. In San Francisco, the Filipino smash hamburger at Bundok's Burgers includes zippy longanisa patties sandwiched in between 2 halves of a purple ube bun. Little Grenjai in Brooklyn made headings with a Thai krapow smash hamburger, which overruns with chili and oyster sauce, in addition to a lemongrass and bird's eye chili giardiniera.
