Wisconsin Butter Burger Recipe

Every now and then, you end up trying down at a burger cooking in a pan, scorching in a pool of rendered fats, and pondering, “You understand what this wants? A giant pat of butter.” Proper? Or perhaps you’re not from Wisconsin.

I’m not from Wisconsin myself, so earlier than I got down to make butter burgers, I referred to as my good friend Josh Modell in Milwaukee for recommendation. “Butter burgers are actually good, however, I’ll admit, they’re additionally form of gross,” says Modell, a author and editor who ran The Onion’s editorial operations in Chicago earlier than shifting again to his dwelling state of Wisconsin in 2021. “Like, a burger is already fatty and scrumptious and great. You have a look at the pool of butter on the backside of the plate and suppose, ‘Ought to I actually be doing this to myself?’”

Then once more, Modell identified, many people are okay with butter-soaked beef in a unique context—once we exit for steaks. (Daniel Gritzer had the same realization.) “I’ll go to the 5 O’Clock,” a Milwaukee establishment since 1946, “and I know that the ‘juices’ on the backside of my plate are largely butter,” Modell says. “I’ll sop them up with out eager about it… However there’s one thing totally different about that. It appears like extra of an occasion.”

Why Your Burger Actually Does Want Butter

Wisconsin butter burgers vary from event-worthy to on a regular basis. Culver’s, a Sauk Metropolis, Wisconsin–based mostly quick meals chain that’s taking Higher Midwestern tradition nationwide, serves a signature “ButterBurger” distinguished by a “lightly” buttered bun. Pfft. The butter burger that will get meals writers excited and retains cardiologists up at night time is the home specialty at Solly’s in Milwaukee, the place a four-ounce sirloin patty comes topped with stewed onions and a beneficiant layer (a tablespoon or two) of soppy, spreadable Badger State gold. “The butter is a complete further ingredient,” Modell says. That’s the burger I wished to make.

Once I discovered that the butter burger at Solly’s is made with all sirloin beef relatively than chuck or a combo, the idea began to make extra sense to me. There’s a logic to it. Sirloin is extremely tender and extremely lean. By itself, it makes bland, dry burgers, however in blends, it’s a delicate complement to fattier, extra flavorful, and harder cuts of beef. As an alternative of mixing sirloin with the likes of oxtail and brisket, as in Kenji’s Blue Label Burger Blend, the cooks at Solly’s are dousing the lean lower with a supplementary fats that’s considerable in Wisconsin, for a burger that’s remarkably tender and remarkably juicy. And since sirloin doesn’t have a powerful taste of its personal, the candy style of butter comes by means of.

Make Your Personal Butter Burger Mix

Whereas many butter burgers are merely topped with butter, I had a hunch that the burger could possibly be even higher if I included butter into the burger, infusing fats and taste into each chunk. Simply as essentially the most scrumptious meals is seasoned in layers, not simply on the finish, I believed one of the best butter burger is likely to be one which begins with butter, lubricating that lean sirloin from the second it hits the pan.

So, I made a decision to grind my very own beef. I used a stand mixer with a grinding attachment. You need to use a standalone meat grinder or a food processor. What issues most is protecting every little thing refrigerator-cold till you’re able to prepare dinner, so the fats disperses evenly all through the bottom beef and also you don’t find yourself with a melty, slippery mess. Grind the meat with butter in batches, so it doesn’t overheat, and deal with it as little as doable. The direct fats infusion takes further work, however the result’s a wealthy, tender burger patty. Some folks describe wagyu fats as “buttery.” Utilizing precise butter within the grind gave me one thing approximating that have for a fraction of the associated fee.

Nonetheless, I missed the partially melted butter topping that’s a trademark of the Solly’s expertise, so I ended up splitting the stick, grinding half into the patties and reserving half for topping the burgers and cooking the “stewed” onions, one other Solly’s custom.

Add the Savory Compound Butter to Effectively, All the things

Even with butter all through, the burger was nonetheless lacking one thing, I felt. There’s nothing unsuitable with a easy burger, however, bear in mind, I wished this one to really feel extra-special. After a number of extra buttery bites, it got here to me. 

See, there’s one other butter burger I really like—extra precisely, a margarine burger. And it isn’t from Wisconsin. It comes from Lindey’s Touchdown West Bayburgers, a trailer exterior Lindey’s Prime Steak House in Seeley Lake, Montana, the place I used to cease for lunch on my days off from a visitor ranch about 20 minutes away. It’s topped with the restaurant’s domestically well-known “finger-lickin’ sauce.” The recipe for the sauce is a home secret, protected even from small-town gossip (consider me, I’ve tried), however the house owners admit that the bottom is Blue Bonnet margarine, and it’s rumored that one other key ingredient is soy sauce. There’s extra to it, I do know, however these two flavors conjure up the Bayburger fairly effectively from right here in Kansas Metropolis.

This isn’t a margarine burger, however I paid tribute to Lindey’s with a easy soy butter used all through this recipe—within the grind, to prepare dinner the onions, and on prime of every burger. A spritz of lemon juice on the onions completes the soy, butter, and lemon taste trifecta (salt, fats, acid, umami…) for a predictably scrumptious outcome. This isn’t the butter burger you’d get at Solly’s or Culver’s. With the additional effort and taste, it’s a butter burger that appears like an occasion.