The Best Way To Cook A Burger, According To Ali Khan
Is it just us, or are there, like, a lot of chicken sandwiches on the market right now? From fast food joints to finer dining establishments, it seems that just about every restaurant has revamped its poultry products in some manner in an attempt to win over customers, hoping to ultimately be declared the winner of the Chicken Sandwich Wars. Don't get us wrong, we're not mad about the influx of crispy chicken patties topped with spicy mayo and pickles that are then sandwiched between two toasty brioche buns. However, it doesn't look like there's going to be an end to this intense battle anytime soon, and to be honest, we're a little chicken sandwiched-out.
We're ready to get back to basics and chow down on a few juicy burgers for a while, and fortunately, chef Ali Khan has found more than a few amazing places for us to get our fix. Between his former Cooking Channel show, "Cheap Eats" and his blog, the host has dedicated a considerable amount of time to scoping out the best places to order a tasty burger on a budget. With so many burgers under his belt, it should come as no surprise that Khan knows a thing or two about whipping one up on his own. So, what exactly is his go-to technique for cooking one of his favorite meals? His method may be a bit of a surprise.
Ali Khan loves cooking burgers in a cast iron pan over the grill
Ask Khan where to go for an amazing burger on a budget and he'll probably direct you to Belcampo Meat Co. "Get the Double Fast Burger, medium rare," he told Urban Daddy. "I think it's the best bang for your burger buck in Los Angeles, maybe the country." However, if you don't happen to live in L.A., Khan has a great strategy for how to put together a delicious burger at home — in a cast iron pan over the grill. "No better way to cook a burger," the chef tweeted.
A number of people applauded the technique, with one user tweeting in response that it "captures the beauty of the flat top and the taste of the grill." However, not everybody came out in support of the method, as Khan's fellow Food Network star Sunny Anderson tweeted that while "cast iron is the jam," he could have easily used the grill on its own. The television personality defended his choice, noting that it was his lack of a grill scrub brush and the state of the cooking grate that led him to throw the patties in a skillet. Considering that the grill master himself, Bobby Flay, has previously expressed his support of cooking a burger on a cast iron pan as opposed to simply over an open flame, we're pretty sure that this method will yield nothing short of a delectable meal.