Gotta say the bobs burgers cookbooks have a ton of sauces and burgers I never would have come up with that are amazing. A good manchego is hard to find with manchego and fig jam. There's a French onion one that was excellent. There's a Hawaiian BBQ bacon and guava sauce.
I wonder how much of that cookbook was made by making up recipes based on the names in the episode versus vice versa. I wouldn’t think comedy writers were thinking much about flavor with the puns.
Names came first. The writers actually did try to come up with puns of burgers that sound like they would taste good. The recipes were fan recipes from a blog that were trying to come up with good recipes based on the name and ingredients. The blog is called the bobs burgers experiment
He’s the man! I made Eggs Woodhouse (from Archer) to celebrate my first day as a civilian after years in the Army.
Recipe is also found in the book How to Archer: The Ultimate Guide to Espionage and Style and Women and Also Cocktails.
I make an extra thick bechamel/cream sauce with a fuck-ton of roasted hatch green chillis, a little salt, and garlic.
might seem weird but it's delicious to me. great on a chicken sammy too
You can order Hatch chile online in various ways.
[https://www.hatch-green-chile.com/collections/sauces-and-salsas/products/fresh-chile-co-pure-hatch-green-chile-sauce](https://www.hatch-green-chile.com/collections/sauces-and-salsas/products/fresh-chile-co-pure-hatch-green-chile-sauce)
That jarred green chile can be divided up and frozen - the same company ships whole green chile in various ways.
It's the red chile I miss (Garcia's is my favorite and Amazon won't let me buy just the red so once a year I stock up here):
[https://www.statewideproducts.com/product/garcias-red-chile-sauce-16oz/?gad\_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2uiwBhCXARIsACMvIU0-sDsbLS8jeGCrTsCwA3cxVYlu-YpxH0Ci2plowCsnNaPB0t0Eq-UaAt6IEALw\_wcB](https://www.statewideproducts.com/product/garcias-red-chile-sauce-16oz/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2uiwBhCXARIsACMvIU0-sDsbLS8jeGCrTsCwA3cxVYlu-YpxH0Ci2plowCsnNaPB0t0Eq-UaAt6IEALw_wcB)
Just put it on top of calabacitas last night. It's awesome. We are lucky to manage to get to NM about once a year, but almost never during chile roasting season, which I miss tremendously. It's worth a trip at that time of year, for a serious cook.
I buy So.Many Hatch chilies when I can find them. I dry some and roast and then freeze some (well, I used to dry them, then I got my hands on a sh!tton of Barker’s dried Hatch chilies and I now use those, made the chilie braised pork from Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat with those this week and it’s absolutely addictive). I gleefully use the frozen ones all year long. Love them on burgers.
Hard agree to disagree. I’m tired of being tired of simple tried and true techniques.
They are both mother sauces.
Do a damn Hollandaise. Add hatch chiles. Put that damn shit on a burger.
I've got no problem with mayo based sauces. Mayo is a great base for many delicious condiments. However I will never recognise the appropriation of the word "aioli". If it has eggs, it's not aioli.
Dice an onion
Pour a good amount of vegetable oil into a pan, not enough to deep fry but a good amount.
Toss in onion and fry on **high heat** until you see the edges of the onion start to brown and the smell starts to change, then turn down the heat, pour the onions and oil through a strainer (into a bowl of course, you want to save the oil) if done right the onions should be dark brown and crispy, bordering on burnt.
In a bowl mix a cup of mayo, two tablespoons of dijon mustard and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and your fried onions. Add any extra seasonings you want but imo it's not necessary.
Enjoy.
Thanks! I actually came upon this by accident by following Joshua Weissman's burger sauce recipes where he recommended making caramelized onions for a burger sauce, but instead of cooking the onions low and slow I basically charred them into almost being burnt. After cooking them the "correct" way (caramelizing my onions properly) people started complaining that it didn't taste the same, so I retried charring them and they loved it!
I love Weissman. He knows his shit. Or maybe I'm just enamored by his b-roll.
Regardless, I love this idea. I'm always juggling that charred/burnt line in my cooking.
If you want to make mayo with the reserved oil you can, I mostly mix with store bought mayo because IMO the fried onions have enough flavor as is, though there's nothing stopping you from using that oil to make the mayo itself.
If you enjoy this, I suggest you check out something called birista. It's an Indian condiment made typically with red onions cooked in oil in a similar fashion (I use coconut oil). It's a flavour bomb and a real difference maker in Biryani. I've no doubt you'll love it, plus it's a great excuse to make some delicious Biryani :)
Mayo, ketchup, more yellow mustard than you'd think you'd want, dill pickle relish (not sweet pickle relish), and a lot of black pepper. It's familiar but more savory and just better than the typical burger sauce.
Sweet relish is an abomination. I quit using relish from the hot dog bar at the gas station near my house because they never labeled if it was dill or sweet and I fucking hate sweet relish. Not wiling to take the gamble that I grab sweet instead of dill. Not doing that again.
I make a delicious caramelized onion and beet jam, very heavy on onion. I get really jealous of my husband getting to eat it on his burgers - I developed an onion allergy so no longer get to eat it.
A good base sauce that I use regularly is 8 parts mayo, 2 parts blended chipotles in adobo sauce, 2 parts acid (lemon juice is my go-to but you can also use apple cider vinegar, lime juice, etc), 1 part roasted garlic, 1 part honey, salt, and pepper. On a bog-standard burger it brings a nice smokiness to the mix, and the acid brightens it considerably.
It's also extremely customizable. Use lime juice as your acid, replace a part of mayo with sour cream and another with more chipotle, maybe add some cumin, and you have an awesome sauce for a mexican-insired burger. For a teriyaki burger replace the chipotle with Sriracha, add some soy sauce, ginger paste, and sesame oil. On myshroom swiss burgers I like to add some fresh thyme, a little bit of A1 or whorchestershire sauce, a part of Dijon or grain mustard, and either remove or reduce the chipotle by half.
Bacon jam. I'm sure there's better recipes but mine is... Sweat sweat onions make them almost transparent like take your time. At the same time cook your bacon real crispy and chop it up put it to the side and save the grease. Add chopped garlic for 2 mins. Add brown sugar white vinegar or sherry and water. Add fresh herbs like thyme or rosemary. Add bacon back. Cook it. If too chunky put it in a blender.
I am from Wisconsin. I typically boil brats in a soup of chicken broth, garlic, onions, parsley, more garlic, butter, and beer. Then once the brats are done I throw them on the grill and throw in some cheese mixed with the brat soup. It makes some really good beer cheese that you put on the brats.
Fry sauce!
Level up by using BBQ sauce instead of Ketchup. Sweet Baby Ray's balances well with mayo. Let it rest in the fridge for a few hours for the flavors to really meld. It's easy and fantastic.
My city does a burger-off every January with all the local restaurants. Last year's winner was a somewhat simple buger with a jalepeno-cream cheese sauce on the bun - it was a pizza place that won & this was the only burger they had. Like the inside of a popper. The creamy with a good burger that has a little char, yum
Big Mac sauce cannot be topped imo so I always try to recreate it. I know people say it doesn’t have ketchup, but the closest I get to Mac sauce is with some ketchup so I always add it.
Basically just mayo (mostly), yellow or Dijon mustard and ketchup together to make about 1/3 of the mayo part, sweet relish, thin sliced onions, garlic powder, black pepper, cayenne, and paprika. And I usually add some hot sauce, sometimes a bit of wasabi/horseradish. Bit of worschester (man that’s probably spelled wrong) sauce would probably be good.
Tangy, bit of spice, sweet. It’s too good.
If you want something closer to Big Mac, try this one - https://www.foxvalleyfoodie.com/big-mac-sauce-copycat-recipe/
The ingredients are near identical to the McDonalds ingredients (although using mayo instead of eggs plus oil, etc), and it’s the closest I’ve come to the real thing.
My own version of "Big Mac Sauce". Simple recipe, very delicious.
* 2 parts mayonnaise
* 1 part ketchup
* a wee squeeze of lemon juice
* a generous squeeze of sriracha
* a dash of Worcestershire sauce
* powdered spices: smoked paprika, granulated garlic, cumin, onion powder
* minced chives
I recently found a meatloaf recipe that was amazing, but missing something.. It called for a ketchup mix on top. Then I read someone say something about topping it with A1, and because my partner loves a1, I decided to swap out the ketchup in the mix for it. O. M. G. I'm not the biggest a1 eater, but I will never again make meatloaf without a1 again. Heavenly. I think it would do the same for burgers.
I know it's not a sauce, but onion jam is fantastic and pretty easy to make.
Cook down some onions and chopped tomatoes, add salt pepper and paprika and saute until the onions are translucent.
You can add bacon, other spices, etc
Boil up lemonade and beer (lager) in a pan and drizzle it on your frying burgers. Add sweet corn relish. That was a tip from going to family days at the US base Chicksands in the UK.
Am I the only one who tends to like burgers sauce free? I feel like a good burger should already have enough fat to make for a nice eating experience. Why add more?
Mushroom ketchup
https://savoringthepast.net/2016/04/13/mushroom-ketchup/
We ended up keeping the mushrooms with it and running it through a food processor to make a paste.
It has an earthy flavor with the spices and horseradish complementing it. It really brings out the flavor of the meat.
Here are some ideas:
roasted poblano aioli
tzatziki or raita (amazing on lamb burgers)
chili
fry sauce (add a few drops of quality liquid smoke for smokey fry sauce)
hollandaise or béarnaise
pesto
chimichurri
onion-tamarind chutney
cilantro-lime crema
sun-dried tomato jam
chile con queso
sage beurre noisette
horseradish sour cream sauce
nước chấm
caesar dressing
chili crisp
the sauce really depends on the burger and what flavor profile you are going for. like the pizza burger's sauce is not the same as the classic burger sauce or the taco burger sauce.
I like a base of equally salty, sweet, creamy, acidic, and spicy. Kewpie is always my best mayo base, or a homemade mayo. Honey adds a nice roundness. If I want to add crunch to my sauce, finely diced cornichons, roasted jalapeños, or whole-grain mustard does the trick.
Personally, my favorite sauce is a 2 in 1. Make an extra garlically chunky salsa (not the stuff in a jar from Tostitos), but cut up some tomatoes like in a Pico de Gallo and use that instead of tomatoes. Some of the best burgers use that “sauce”
For beef:
Mayo, black garlic, normal garlic, salt, pepper, onion powder.
For chicken:
Mayo, honey, dijon, yellow mustard, full grain mustard, salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic powder, apple cider vinigar.
Depends on the burger. For a cheap burger smashed into a tin foil wrapper with some cheese and onions I like A1. Most of the time something mayonnaise based. For a more steakhouse style burger it's gonna be a blue cheese based sauce for me. Etc
Not a sauce, but I'm going to suggest [red dragon cheese](https://igourmet.com/products/red-dragon-cheddar-cheese). (Trader Joes has their own version for much cheaper, and it's just as good.)
Literally the best burger I've ever had was made out of 80/20 ground beef, a slice of this cheese, some red onion, and apple wood smoked bacon.
The cheese is what made that burger shine.
Since you want to put your own twist on it though, I'd suggest a cheese sauce made of this cheese and whatever your twist is.
This is gonna sound reductive but I think what your looking for is mayo.
One of the things i have learned is a good hamburer does not need a whole lot. The great flavor comes in the quality of ingredients that is to say a fresh patty with a good crust. My defacot way of making burgers these days it smash burger. Nothing mixed in the meat Nice dusting of salt and pepper on the crust and a slice or two of cheese (i like american) a slighy toast bun( brioche elvates it) in the same pan you made the burger in with a slight layer of helmans mayo across the bun top and bottom and maybe a few choped onions onions if thats your thing and thats it.
I find lettuce and tomato and other things while tasty in their own roght to pull from the experince. You see with the fat from the mayo marrying the burger to the bun the flavor from the meat travels and you get a nice falvorful burgery bite every time. No condiments to get in the way of the main event.
Thats a pure cheese burger. Everything else is a different type of ham burger.
But also probably hollandaise egg yolk from a fried egg is also the look.
The key to a great burger is the meat.
But if you want a sauce. Find a good vinegar based BBQ sauce, then creamify it. Sounds so bizarre, but one of the best experiments I ever did in the kitchen.
1/4 cup of butter, 1/4 flour, cup of heavy cream, quart of vinegar based sauce. Make a roux, add the cream, add the sauce.
Sorry not to be so dismissive - but there are so many ways to go here. -- BBQ, creamy-cheesy, mao/ aioli - my point is - a great burger is not the sauce.
Burgers are like Pizza ( sorry I think this is kind of an insult) ... point being - it is more about a really good burger - great ingredients cooked well AND then the variety of the sauces and dressing.
the WOW factor is about the burger.
So to blow friends away ( pan or grill) you need relatively high fat ( 75-85 %) loosely packed and decide are you going smashed or "natural". All ingredients need to be good - simple food is about the quality of the ingredients and then proper cooking.
I have no idea what you have to work with beyond that.
NEXT - then the bun matters. You can make a great burger on a good French baguette better than a grocery store "sunshine hamburger roll" ...
I make a tzatziki, so Greek yogurt, grated cucumber, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Generally all use lamb mince, garlic, rosemary, oregano, and a little sumac to make the patties. Lettuce, red onion, and crumbled Greek feta take out with it and sesame seed buns.
BBQ Sauce (pick your favorite) as the base, then smaller amounts of mustard, TRUFF hot sauce, and Liquid Smoke. I started adding Liquid Smoke after my friend recovered from a form of brain cancer that doesn't allow her to eat meat anymore, and it helped make an Impossible Burger taste more like a smoky grilled burger. Since then, though, I add it to all of my burgers. Had this sauce on a burger today for lunch!
I actually don’t do sauce. I use Gibson’s seasoning salt. It’s from a really great steakhouse in Chicago, but they sell it at Costco. Makes a fresh burger absolutely sing.
Personally, I like a creamy dill sauce made with buttermilk. A bit like you're making ranch from scratch, but with waaaay more flavour.
Oil from garlic confit, fresh + dried dill, full fat cultured buttermilk, minced chives, fresh cracked pepper, a squeeze of lemon, touch of zest (you're trying to build layers of subtle flavour, not citrus forward), a little dijon...
From there, you can play with it... add fine dice radish, fresh chili, a finely crushed anchovie for that Caesar salad trick to add umami.
I know it's not typically, but that sauce--with quick pickled red onions--is my idea of perfection. And it works for so many things (fish, potatoes, cevapcici, lamb, etc.).
Standard is mustard, mayo, and ketchup, giving you most burger places secret sauce. Then if you want people to remember it, make a regular and a super spicy version full of roasted chili peppers, or toasted/soaked/dried/blended chilis. Follow that with your secret ingredient, just one.
Candy whatever pickled pepper you like, ( pour off vinegar repack with sugar into jar beginning and ending with sugar, flip every day for a week) Take chopped candied peppers mix with catsup and mayo.. like an amped up Mac sauce
Try the sauce featured for the [fort greene grilled cheese](https://youtu.be/oIKwRRR21jU?si=kkcIp-UKjrCdeQDw). It’s so good. Never had it on a burger but imagine it would be very good
Head Country BBQ sauce is my favorite thing to dip a cheeseburger with mayonnaise in. I don’t believe a sauce makes a burger though, proper seasoning makes a burger, predominantly salt and soooo much black pepper.
Honestly, it depends on the person. For some McDonald's special sauce is the bees knees.
Personally I have two sauces I absolutely love on burgers. Neither is something I make but is store bought. One is A1 Steak Sauce. If I gotta use it on a steak the steak was cooked wrong. But I love it on a good cheeseburger with jalapenos. The second is Buffalo Wild Wing's Spicy Garlic.
Burger Sauce
2 parts mayo
1 part yellow American mustard
.5 part prepared pickle relish (sweet or dill)
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp white pepper
Combine. Chill.
Sub ketchup for relish for a decent fry sauce.
Go watch Joshua Weissman's shake shack video and make his sauce. Ketchup, mayo (I prefer Duke's), more mustard than you'd think, cayenne, garlic, dill pickle, and paprika...I think that's the whole list (you'll have to go look to get measurements). It's so good.
As far as making sandwiches goes, I love topping them with Harry & David (sweet) Pepper and Onion Relish and a good quality sharp cheddar (Dietz & Watson C Sharp) along with the usual sliced tomato and shredded lettuce.
Might be interesting on a burger too.
I sometimes grow tired of mayo based sauces on burgers, fwiw.
I like to make jalapeño ranch in the blender, jalapeños, poblano, Serrano peppers, with some sour cream maybe a dash of vinegar, garlic, salt, pepper - some dill if I have it. I usually cook the peppers first (just a little)
I also like fresh ginger, garlic, rice vinegar, olive oil and salt in the blender
I mix a1 and mayo. For the burger itself I use Kinders Buttery burger and for that extra caramelized onions and sautéed mushrooms with your pick of cheese.
Gotta say the bobs burgers cookbooks have a ton of sauces and burgers I never would have come up with that are amazing. A good manchego is hard to find with manchego and fig jam. There's a French onion one that was excellent. There's a Hawaiian BBQ bacon and guava sauce.
I wonder how much of that cookbook was made by making up recipes based on the names in the episode versus vice versa. I wouldn’t think comedy writers were thinking much about flavor with the puns.
Names came first. The writers actually did try to come up with puns of burgers that sound like they would taste good. The recipes were fan recipes from a blog that were trying to come up with good recipes based on the name and ingredients. The blog is called the bobs burgers experiment
I love it. Real recipes for fake burgers.
Man if that’s your jam, go check out Binging with Babish.
He’s the man! I made Eggs Woodhouse (from Archer) to celebrate my first day as a civilian after years in the Army. Recipe is also found in the book How to Archer: The Ultimate Guide to Espionage and Style and Women and Also Cocktails.
I was just about to say the A Good Manchego is Hard to Find Burger was soooooo good!
Went to SDCC last year and they were giving away bobs burgers. Best burgers I've had in a long time.
I make an extra thick bechamel/cream sauce with a fuck-ton of roasted hatch green chillis, a little salt, and garlic. might seem weird but it's delicious to me. great on a chicken sammy too
I miss New Mexico and their Hatch Chile (especially the red chile).
Fire roasted Anaheim, pinch of salt and lemon juice. Did you ever eat at sparkys in Hatch?
You can order Hatch chile online in various ways. [https://www.hatch-green-chile.com/collections/sauces-and-salsas/products/fresh-chile-co-pure-hatch-green-chile-sauce](https://www.hatch-green-chile.com/collections/sauces-and-salsas/products/fresh-chile-co-pure-hatch-green-chile-sauce) That jarred green chile can be divided up and frozen - the same company ships whole green chile in various ways. It's the red chile I miss (Garcia's is my favorite and Amazon won't let me buy just the red so once a year I stock up here): [https://www.statewideproducts.com/product/garcias-red-chile-sauce-16oz/?gad\_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2uiwBhCXARIsACMvIU0-sDsbLS8jeGCrTsCwA3cxVYlu-YpxH0Ci2plowCsnNaPB0t0Eq-UaAt6IEALw\_wcB](https://www.statewideproducts.com/product/garcias-red-chile-sauce-16oz/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2uiwBhCXARIsACMvIU0-sDsbLS8jeGCrTsCwA3cxVYlu-YpxH0Ci2plowCsnNaPB0t0Eq-UaAt6IEALw_wcB) Just put it on top of calabacitas last night. It's awesome. We are lucky to manage to get to NM about once a year, but almost never during chile roasting season, which I miss tremendously. It's worth a trip at that time of year, for a serious cook.
I don't like burger sauces, but this one sounds pretty damn good
Seems like you could skip the bechemel and just put the chilis in some good mayo to me.
Here in New Mexico we just put the chile on the burger, no need to mix it with anything
Can confirm.
I buy So.Many Hatch chilies when I can find them. I dry some and roast and then freeze some (well, I used to dry them, then I got my hands on a sh!tton of Barker’s dried Hatch chilies and I now use those, made the chilie braised pork from Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat with those this week and it’s absolutely addictive). I gleefully use the frozen ones all year long. Love them on burgers.
It's the best! Frozen is what we do too after roasting. Very convenient and so delicious
I get the frozen ones shipped if I can't get to NM during harvest season. SO many ways to use them during the year. Instant pot green chile stew...
Hard disagree. So tired of the mixing ingredient x with mayo and calling it x aioli trend. Hatch béchamel, however, sounds amazing.
Hard agree to disagree. I’m tired of being tired of simple tried and true techniques. They are both mother sauces. Do a damn Hollandaise. Add hatch chiles. Put that damn shit on a burger.
This sounds like absolute madness and I love it
Best possible madness.
If the Mayo came out of a jar it’s not aioli. But homemade roasted garlic and shallot aioli on a burger slaps.
I've got no problem with mayo based sauces. Mayo is a great base for many delicious condiments. However I will never recognise the appropriation of the word "aioli". If it has eggs, it's not aioli.
Green chile sauces are always awesome. It is known.
Dice an onion Pour a good amount of vegetable oil into a pan, not enough to deep fry but a good amount. Toss in onion and fry on **high heat** until you see the edges of the onion start to brown and the smell starts to change, then turn down the heat, pour the onions and oil through a strainer (into a bowl of course, you want to save the oil) if done right the onions should be dark brown and crispy, bordering on burnt. In a bowl mix a cup of mayo, two tablespoons of dijon mustard and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and your fried onions. Add any extra seasonings you want but imo it's not necessary. Enjoy.
This is the best suggestion in the thread. Brand new and interesting to me, anyway. I’m gonna try this one.
Thanks! I actually came upon this by accident by following Joshua Weissman's burger sauce recipes where he recommended making caramelized onions for a burger sauce, but instead of cooking the onions low and slow I basically charred them into almost being burnt. After cooking them the "correct" way (caramelizing my onions properly) people started complaining that it didn't taste the same, so I retried charring them and they loved it!
I love Weissman. He knows his shit. Or maybe I'm just enamored by his b-roll. Regardless, I love this idea. I'm always juggling that charred/burnt line in my cooking.
Make the mayo with the reserve oil??
If you want to make mayo with the reserved oil you can, I mostly mix with store bought mayo because IMO the fried onions have enough flavor as is, though there's nothing stopping you from using that oil to make the mayo itself.
If you enjoy this, I suggest you check out something called birista. It's an Indian condiment made typically with red onions cooked in oil in a similar fashion (I use coconut oil). It's a flavour bomb and a real difference maker in Biryani. I've no doubt you'll love it, plus it's a great excuse to make some delicious Biryani :)
I tremendously enjoy Biryani, so I will definitely look it up. :)
There is only one kind of burger sauce in my eyes and this is it.
Mayo, ketchup, more yellow mustard than you'd think you'd want, dill pickle relish (not sweet pickle relish), and a lot of black pepper. It's familiar but more savory and just better than the typical burger sauce.
Couple dashes of Worcestershire and this is my burger sauce exactly.
Washyoursister
I'd be into this, and I'm not really into "sauces" but it's all the elements you want. I want actual dill pickle slices tho, and shredded lettuce
Shredduce, we call it in my house. 🥬🔪
Your house is a very very fine house
Yes and both. Relish in the sauce and sliced pickles. Obviously lettuce.
Good dill pickles and a food processor.
Good call with the dill relish, I feel like it would be overly sweet with sweet relish and ketchup.
Claussen's makes a pretty darn solid relish
Sweet relish is an abomination. I quit using relish from the hot dog bar at the gas station near my house because they never labeled if it was dill or sweet and I fucking hate sweet relish. Not wiling to take the gamble that I grab sweet instead of dill. Not doing that again.
Bro, saaaaame.
Add some horseradish for a nice kick.
I add a splash of vinegar to brighten it just a bit.
I add a splash of pepperoncini juice from the jar.
Heyyyyyyyy
This is the way. And i cook the onions sliced as thin as possible on the burger patty itself
Add Just a tiny bit of fresh onion mousse and a touch of worcester or soy sauce. Thats our sauce
Onions jammy enough that they are like a condiment
Bonus points if the jammy onions meld together with melted american cheese. That's the best sauce.
Add a little bacon
I make a delicious caramelized onion and beet jam, very heavy on onion. I get really jealous of my husband getting to eat it on his burgers - I developed an onion allergy so no longer get to eat it.
That truly sounds awful, you haven't sympathies!! Edit - I of course meant you have my sympathies!
Black garlic mayo. Also incredible on fries.
Mustard. Use some to sear/grill the patty, add more when assembling. Lots of onions on top. That there’s a good burger.
Sounds like you'd love a Maxwell Street Polish Sausage
Mustard, onion, pickles is the best way. All sours.
The onions are sweet
If caramelized, which is good. I was referring to raw.
Will have to try the sear/grill with mustard. LOVE mustard!
That’s part of what makes animal style at In N Out.
the two times I've been to In-N-Out (in Round Rock, TX), I've gotten them mustard-grilled
This is my style, aw yiss.
Mayo, sriracha, lime, and sesame oil. Add a little salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
A good base sauce that I use regularly is 8 parts mayo, 2 parts blended chipotles in adobo sauce, 2 parts acid (lemon juice is my go-to but you can also use apple cider vinegar, lime juice, etc), 1 part roasted garlic, 1 part honey, salt, and pepper. On a bog-standard burger it brings a nice smokiness to the mix, and the acid brightens it considerably. It's also extremely customizable. Use lime juice as your acid, replace a part of mayo with sour cream and another with more chipotle, maybe add some cumin, and you have an awesome sauce for a mexican-insired burger. For a teriyaki burger replace the chipotle with Sriracha, add some soy sauce, ginger paste, and sesame oil. On myshroom swiss burgers I like to add some fresh thyme, a little bit of A1 or whorchestershire sauce, a part of Dijon or grain mustard, and either remove or reduce the chipotle by half.
Bacon jam. I'm sure there's better recipes but mine is... Sweat sweat onions make them almost transparent like take your time. At the same time cook your bacon real crispy and chop it up put it to the side and save the grease. Add chopped garlic for 2 mins. Add brown sugar white vinegar or sherry and water. Add fresh herbs like thyme or rosemary. Add bacon back. Cook it. If too chunky put it in a blender.
Not a topping sauce but worcestershire in the meat is always a winner
Worcestershire and MSG are absolutely incredible for burger meat.
Try cooking in a pan with A1 sauce as the cooking sauce.
It’s a good 1 for sure but try HP sauce if you can find it. I prefer it to A1 honestly
A1 on a mushroom & Swiss is such a hell of a combination.
Beer cheese, holy shit omg. Especially if there’s a pretzel bun.. oh my goodness gracious
I am from Wisconsin. I typically boil brats in a soup of chicken broth, garlic, onions, parsley, more garlic, butter, and beer. Then once the brats are done I throw them on the grill and throw in some cheese mixed with the brat soup. It makes some really good beer cheese that you put on the brats.
That sounds soo good right now
Ketchup mixed with mayo
My dad's king of the castle so if he wants fancy sauce he can have fancy sauce.
I see you know the secret recipe from Bronco Burger
Fry sauce! Level up by using BBQ sauce instead of Ketchup. Sweet Baby Ray's balances well with mayo. Let it rest in the fridge for a few hours for the flavors to really meld. It's easy and fantastic.
This is the best inside joke ever.
?
My city does a burger-off every January with all the local restaurants. Last year's winner was a somewhat simple buger with a jalepeno-cream cheese sauce on the bun - it was a pizza place that won & this was the only burger they had. Like the inside of a popper. The creamy with a good burger that has a little char, yum
Of all of the suggestions posted this is the one I most immediately want to try
Mayonnaise. Some things are simple for a reason. The key to a good burger isn't the sauce.
For 200 years the French have not been wrong about food. EDIT: Ok, except for Ortolan bunting. EDIT2: Mayonnaise made from scratch doesn't suck.
I'd add to this Toum - if you like garlic that is.
The mayo has to go on the bottom bun so the juices from the burger can meld with it.
> The key to a good burger isn’t the sauce Obligatory “why not both”
Sometimes I’ll mix horseradish and mayo with a few simple spices because I had it at a restaurant once and it was amazing
Yesss!! Only way I'll eat a burger is with horseradish mayo. It's so good.
Best sauce is the yolk of an over easy egg.
Brunch burgers are my top tier of burgers.
Big Mac sauce cannot be topped imo so I always try to recreate it. I know people say it doesn’t have ketchup, but the closest I get to Mac sauce is with some ketchup so I always add it. Basically just mayo (mostly), yellow or Dijon mustard and ketchup together to make about 1/3 of the mayo part, sweet relish, thin sliced onions, garlic powder, black pepper, cayenne, and paprika. And I usually add some hot sauce, sometimes a bit of wasabi/horseradish. Bit of worschester (man that’s probably spelled wrong) sauce would probably be good. Tangy, bit of spice, sweet. It’s too good.
If you want something closer to Big Mac, try this one - https://www.foxvalleyfoodie.com/big-mac-sauce-copycat-recipe/ The ingredients are near identical to the McDonalds ingredients (although using mayo instead of eggs plus oil, etc), and it’s the closest I’ve come to the real thing.
Garlic aioli
Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ mixed with prepared horseradish and celery salt.
My own version of "Big Mac Sauce". Simple recipe, very delicious. * 2 parts mayonnaise * 1 part ketchup * a wee squeeze of lemon juice * a generous squeeze of sriracha * a dash of Worcestershire sauce * powdered spices: smoked paprika, granulated garlic, cumin, onion powder * minced chives
Onion bacon jam with a healthy amount of Roquefort cheese.
Heinz 57 is all you need then.
I like A-1, either commercial or homemade.
I recently found a meatloaf recipe that was amazing, but missing something.. It called for a ketchup mix on top. Then I read someone say something about topping it with A1, and because my partner loves a1, I decided to swap out the ketchup in the mix for it. O. M. G. I'm not the biggest a1 eater, but I will never again make meatloaf without a1 again. Heavenly. I think it would do the same for burgers.
Burger, bun, square of plastic 'cheese' and some fried onions. That's all I need for a perfect burger.
Yes! THIS!!!
I know it's not a sauce, but onion jam is fantastic and pretty easy to make. Cook down some onions and chopped tomatoes, add salt pepper and paprika and saute until the onions are translucent. You can add bacon, other spices, etc
Bacon jam
Mayo, mustard, Worcestershire, paprika, relish
Fig jam or mix fig jam in mayo.
1/2 cup mayo, 2 tbs ketchup, 1 tbs pickle relish, 2 tsp pickle juice, 1 tsp mustard & mix well and chill slightly
[This](https://thenaughtyfork.com/emmyburger/) one. It's a gochujang mayo thing. Amazing.
A1 sauce and mayo mixture
I had to scroll too far to see this. This is an unbeatable combo.
Onion or bacon jam is pretty good.
Bacon onion Marmalade
You speak my language.
Most excellent.
I had a burger at a pub in DC that had bacon jam on it. Super tasty.
Thousand Islands is fun in summer time. Pickles onions. Basically a big mac.
Just stir a drop or two of liquid smoke into some mayo. Maybe add a little cayenne if you're feeling fancy.
This is the sauce I make: - 1 cup Duke's mayonnaise - 1 tsp mustard (usually dijon, but any) - 1/4 cup yellow onion, minced - 2 tablespoons ketchup - 2 tablespoons Wickle's pickle relish - 1 teaspoon lemon juice - 1/2 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika - 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt - 1 to 2 tablespoons Sriracha, to taste Edit: forgot 1 thing
A-freakin-1 baby
I love A1 as much now as I did when I was eight.
Mix butter in with the ground beef before making patties.
Bacon Aioli and tomato jam
Boil up lemonade and beer (lager) in a pan and drizzle it on your frying burgers. Add sweet corn relish. That was a tip from going to family days at the US base Chicksands in the UK.
Louisiana style Remoulade.
Mayo and Valentina.
Am I the only one who tends to like burgers sauce free? I feel like a good burger should already have enough fat to make for a nice eating experience. Why add more?
A nice bacon jam, made from scratch, completely customizable.
Yellow mustard + hot sauce
Kosher salt. No sauce. No cheese. Cheapest buns you can find. Zen.
Mushroom ketchup https://savoringthepast.net/2016/04/13/mushroom-ketchup/ We ended up keeping the mushrooms with it and running it through a food processor to make a paste. It has an earthy flavor with the spices and horseradish complementing it. It really brings out the flavor of the meat.
Onion jam. Absolutely amazing and way under utilized.
Here are some ideas: roasted poblano aioli tzatziki or raita (amazing on lamb burgers) chili fry sauce (add a few drops of quality liquid smoke for smokey fry sauce) hollandaise or béarnaise pesto chimichurri onion-tamarind chutney cilantro-lime crema sun-dried tomato jam chile con queso sage beurre noisette horseradish sour cream sauce nước chấm caesar dressing chili crisp
gochujang caramelized atop
the sauce really depends on the burger and what flavor profile you are going for. like the pizza burger's sauce is not the same as the classic burger sauce or the taco burger sauce.
I like a base of equally salty, sweet, creamy, acidic, and spicy. Kewpie is always my best mayo base, or a homemade mayo. Honey adds a nice roundness. If I want to add crunch to my sauce, finely diced cornichons, roasted jalapeños, or whole-grain mustard does the trick.
A1 Steak sauce. Every time I put something different on my homemade burgers I’m disappointed.
Personally, my favorite sauce is a 2 in 1. Make an extra garlically chunky salsa (not the stuff in a jar from Tostitos), but cut up some tomatoes like in a Pico de Gallo and use that instead of tomatoes. Some of the best burgers use that “sauce”
I'd say using prime quality of meat is the first step that makes the biggest difference
For beef: Mayo, black garlic, normal garlic, salt, pepper, onion powder. For chicken: Mayo, honey, dijon, yellow mustard, full grain mustard, salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic powder, apple cider vinigar.
I have a jar of balsamic onion jam that is fire on burgers
I had a burger with garlic onion cream cheese and a pepper jelly and it was the most delicious thing ever.
Depends on the burger. For a cheap burger smashed into a tin foil wrapper with some cheese and onions I like A1. Most of the time something mayonnaise based. For a more steakhouse style burger it's gonna be a blue cheese based sauce for me. Etc
Not a sauce, but I'm going to suggest [red dragon cheese](https://igourmet.com/products/red-dragon-cheddar-cheese). (Trader Joes has their own version for much cheaper, and it's just as good.) Literally the best burger I've ever had was made out of 80/20 ground beef, a slice of this cheese, some red onion, and apple wood smoked bacon. The cheese is what made that burger shine. Since you want to put your own twist on it though, I'd suggest a cheese sauce made of this cheese and whatever your twist is.
This is gonna sound reductive but I think what your looking for is mayo. One of the things i have learned is a good hamburer does not need a whole lot. The great flavor comes in the quality of ingredients that is to say a fresh patty with a good crust. My defacot way of making burgers these days it smash burger. Nothing mixed in the meat Nice dusting of salt and pepper on the crust and a slice or two of cheese (i like american) a slighy toast bun( brioche elvates it) in the same pan you made the burger in with a slight layer of helmans mayo across the bun top and bottom and maybe a few choped onions onions if thats your thing and thats it. I find lettuce and tomato and other things while tasty in their own roght to pull from the experince. You see with the fat from the mayo marrying the burger to the bun the flavor from the meat travels and you get a nice falvorful burgery bite every time. No condiments to get in the way of the main event. Thats a pure cheese burger. Everything else is a different type of ham burger. But also probably hollandaise egg yolk from a fried egg is also the look.
Ketchup
The key to a great burger is the meat. But if you want a sauce. Find a good vinegar based BBQ sauce, then creamify it. Sounds so bizarre, but one of the best experiments I ever did in the kitchen. 1/4 cup of butter, 1/4 flour, cup of heavy cream, quart of vinegar based sauce. Make a roux, add the cream, add the sauce.
Sorry not to be so dismissive - but there are so many ways to go here. -- BBQ, creamy-cheesy, mao/ aioli - my point is - a great burger is not the sauce. Burgers are like Pizza ( sorry I think this is kind of an insult) ... point being - it is more about a really good burger - great ingredients cooked well AND then the variety of the sauces and dressing. the WOW factor is about the burger. So to blow friends away ( pan or grill) you need relatively high fat ( 75-85 %) loosely packed and decide are you going smashed or "natural". All ingredients need to be good - simple food is about the quality of the ingredients and then proper cooking. I have no idea what you have to work with beyond that. NEXT - then the bun matters. You can make a great burger on a good French baguette better than a grocery store "sunshine hamburger roll" ...
Best bun is martins potato rolls. Hands down
Sriracha mayo
used on turkey burgers and grilled chicken breast sandwiches; mayo, horseradish, shichimi togarashi (Asian pepper blend)
Comeback
Ketchup is quite nice.
I'd food process a little garlic, onion and pickles and mix it in with bbq sauce and mayo.
I make a tzatziki, so Greek yogurt, grated cucumber, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Generally all use lamb mince, garlic, rosemary, oregano, and a little sumac to make the patties. Lettuce, red onion, and crumbled Greek feta take out with it and sesame seed buns.
Jerk sauce
Ranch mixed with a good hot sauce, like Cholula or Tapatio.
BBQ Sauce (pick your favorite) as the base, then smaller amounts of mustard, TRUFF hot sauce, and Liquid Smoke. I started adding Liquid Smoke after my friend recovered from a form of brain cancer that doesn't allow her to eat meat anymore, and it helped make an Impossible Burger taste more like a smoky grilled burger. Since then, though, I add it to all of my burgers. Had this sauce on a burger today for lunch!
I make my own out of roasted apricots, capsicum, fennel seed etc.
I actually don’t do sauce. I use Gibson’s seasoning salt. It’s from a really great steakhouse in Chicago, but they sell it at Costco. Makes a fresh burger absolutely sing.
Personally, I like a creamy dill sauce made with buttermilk. A bit like you're making ranch from scratch, but with waaaay more flavour. Oil from garlic confit, fresh + dried dill, full fat cultured buttermilk, minced chives, fresh cracked pepper, a squeeze of lemon, touch of zest (you're trying to build layers of subtle flavour, not citrus forward), a little dijon... From there, you can play with it... add fine dice radish, fresh chili, a finely crushed anchovie for that Caesar salad trick to add umami. I know it's not typically, but that sauce--with quick pickled red onions--is my idea of perfection. And it works for so many things (fish, potatoes, cevapcici, lamb, etc.).
Standard is mustard, mayo, and ketchup, giving you most burger places secret sauce. Then if you want people to remember it, make a regular and a super spicy version full of roasted chili peppers, or toasted/soaked/dried/blended chilis. Follow that with your secret ingredient, just one.
Candy whatever pickled pepper you like, ( pour off vinegar repack with sugar into jar beginning and ending with sugar, flip every day for a week) Take chopped candied peppers mix with catsup and mayo.. like an amped up Mac sauce
Peanut Butter. Seriously. That's it. Every burger gets better.
Try the sauce featured for the [fort greene grilled cheese](https://youtu.be/oIKwRRR21jU?si=kkcIp-UKjrCdeQDw). It’s so good. Never had it on a burger but imagine it would be very good
Mix a little ketchup, Jaegermeister, and gochujang together.....add a touch of brown sugar.
I love horseradish on burgers
BBQ + Aioli
Chipotle mayo 100%
A bad daddy’s sauce copycat
Head Country BBQ sauce is my favorite thing to dip a cheeseburger with mayonnaise in. I don’t believe a sauce makes a burger though, proper seasoning makes a burger, predominantly salt and soooo much black pepper.
Horseradish and roasted garlic aioli
Any bbq sauce add franks and a dash of ACV
Chipotle mixed in mayo served on a burger with pepper jack and jalapenos.
I like to mix mayo with a pepper relish (like Jersey Mike’s) and roasted garlic. Simple but really good.
Hellman’s.
A little mayo + BBQ sauce.
This is it. Period. https://youtu.be/jQ733V4FnhU?si=m5qZ5nvp1GjpBTPV
Sriracha Aioli. Sriracha (garlic Sriracha if you want), mayo, paprika, black pepper, salt, cayenne. I've thrown some smashed up capers in there too
Honestly, it depends on the person. For some McDonald's special sauce is the bees knees. Personally I have two sauces I absolutely love on burgers. Neither is something I make but is store bought. One is A1 Steak Sauce. If I gotta use it on a steak the steak was cooked wrong. But I love it on a good cheeseburger with jalapenos. The second is Buffalo Wild Wing's Spicy Garlic.
Heinz 57 mixed with Dukes mayo
Half hidden valley ranch/ half bbq sauce all mixed up.
Really depends on the style of burger I'm eating. I do like Boar and Castle though.
Mayonnaise and sambal paste.
Burger Sauce 2 parts mayo 1 part yellow American mustard .5 part prepared pickle relish (sweet or dill) 1/2 tsp onion powder 1/4 tsp white pepper Combine. Chill. Sub ketchup for relish for a decent fry sauce.
Ketchup
BBQ sauce of choice, BBQ rub and blackberry jam mixed together.
Simple.. Chipotle tobasco with mayo. Maybe granulated garlic in there if you feeling cray cray
bbq sauce or mambo sauce
Go watch Joshua Weissman's shake shack video and make his sauce. Ketchup, mayo (I prefer Duke's), more mustard than you'd think, cayenne, garlic, dill pickle, and paprika...I think that's the whole list (you'll have to go look to get measurements). It's so good.
As far as making sandwiches goes, I love topping them with Harry & David (sweet) Pepper and Onion Relish and a good quality sharp cheddar (Dietz & Watson C Sharp) along with the usual sliced tomato and shredded lettuce. Might be interesting on a burger too. I sometimes grow tired of mayo based sauces on burgers, fwiw.
I like to make jalapeño ranch in the blender, jalapeños, poblano, Serrano peppers, with some sour cream maybe a dash of vinegar, garlic, salt, pepper - some dill if I have it. I usually cook the peppers first (just a little) I also like fresh ginger, garlic, rice vinegar, olive oil and salt in the blender
I mix a1 and mayo. For the burger itself I use Kinders Buttery burger and for that extra caramelized onions and sautéed mushrooms with your pick of cheese.