Best Burger Recipe

Using a sharp knife, remove any silver skin and any tough, gristly parts from the chuck, the brisket, and the short ribs. Reserve the skin and gristle for making beef stock or, if you find them to be offputting, discard them.

Using your knife, slice off any large pieces of visible fat from the three different kinds of meat. Some fat may-and, in fact, ought to-remain. Reserve the trimmed fat.

Cut the chuck, brisket, and short ribs into 1-inch cubes, keeping the three kinds of beef separate. Weigh the beef, still keeping the kinds separate. You should end up with a total of about 7 pounds.

Salt the cuts of beef, using 1/2 cup of salt for 7 pounds of meat. (If you have more than 7 pounds of meat, use a little more salt; if you have less than 7 pounds, use a little less salt. You need just under a tablespoon of kosher salt per pound of beef.)

Place the meat on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet, still keeping the three kinds separate. Refrigerate, uncovered, for 2 days. Cover and refrigerate the reserved fat.

When youre ready to grind the meat, cut 1 1/2 pounds of the reserved fat into 1/2-inch cubes. (If you have more than 7 pounds of meat, use a little more fat; if you have less than 7 pounds of meat, use a little less fat.) Reserve the remaining chunks of fat.

Set up your meat grinder, whether its the old-fashioned sort that clamps onto your counter or an attachment for your fancy schmancy food processor or stand mixer.

Grind the 1 1/2 pounds of cubed fat with the brisket and the short ribs and let it fall into a large bowl. Now fashion a wide landing strip of sorts from plastic wrap on your work surface, using multiple overlapping layers of plastic wrap. Pass the mixture of ground brisket and short ribs and fat through the grinder again, this time adding the chuck to create a textural variation. As the ground meat emerges from the grinder, carefully let the columns of ground meat fall alongside one another on the plastic wrap in a parallel formation. Then stack the meat columns to create a single large column of ground meat thats 5 inches in, uh, girth. Gently wrap the ground meat in plastic wrap, pressing firmly enough so the column holds together but not so firmly that you compress it too much. For ease of slicing, refrigerate the ground meat for at least an hour. (At this point you can wrap the column of meat in several layers of plastic wrap and refrigerate it for a couple of days or freeze it for up to three months.)

When youre ready to cook the best burger, unwrap the column of ground meat and, using a sharp knife, slice it to form as many best burger patties as you like, each 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Melt some of the reserved fat on a griddle or in a large, preferably cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. At the same time, heat another large but ungreased griddle or skillet over medium heat. Sear each patty, without budging it, for 60 to 90 seconds. A crust should form. Using a thin metal spatula, flip the patties and carefully sear the other side for 45 to 60 seconds.

Transfer the patties to the ungreased skillet over medium heat to finish cooking to the desired doneness and to allow some of the grease to drain. The exact amount of time depends on how you like your burger.

Transfer the burgers to a warm spot for another 2 minutes to rest and drain. (At Mission Street Food they use a wire rack set about an inch or so above the griddle. We think a wire cooling rack set on a rimmed baking sheet in a low oven will also do the trick.)

Assemble your burger however you darn well please.