This build is the opposite of the smash. Where the griddled burgers press a little beef thin for crust, the pub burger keeps a lot of beef thick for juice: one hand-formed patty, cooked so the centre stays moist, on a toasted soft bun that can hold it. The toppings stay simple and savoury so the beef leads. It’s built to be a hearty meal on its own plate, with a knife beside it and chips on the side.
I cook these medium to medium-well. In Canada, anything less is uncommon and feels, well, weird.
Picks
Beefy and juicy; a hearty meal.
- Forming burger patties: One thick patty, 170–180 g, hand-formed loosely, with a thumbprint in the middle so it cooks flat
- Seasoning burgers: Salt and pepper on the outside, just before cooking
- Cooking patties: Grilled or griddled over medium-high heat and turned two or three times, or reverse seared; rested a couple of minutes
- Assembling burgers: A soft bun, toasted; leaf lettuce, a thick slice of tomato, raw purple onion, pickle; aged cheddar and crisp bacon if you want them
- Sauces and condiments: Mayonnaise on the bun; ketchup and mustard on the table
Where it comes from
The pub burger came in with pub food that took itself seriously. Pubs were traditionally drinking places with little emphasis on food; in the 1980s and ’90s, the gastropub raised it to restaurant quality, and hamburgers are now one of the dishes pubs commonly serve. One of the earliest was in Canada: Spinnakers in Victoria, British Columbia, opened in 1984 and is sometimes called the world’s oldest gastropub. The term itself was coined in London in 1991, at the Eagle in Clerkenwell, and gastropubs spread through the U.K. and U.S. in the 1990s and early 2000s. (Wikipedia, Gastropub.)
| Constraint | Pick it explains |
|---|---|
| A sit-down meal, not something eaten from paper | One thick patty, on a plate, with a knife |
| Food meant to stand with the beer | Simple, savoury toppings; the beef leads |
| Cooked to order in a restaurant kitchen | A thick patty cooked juicy, on a grill or flat-top |
Why these picks
- One thick patty. Thickness is what keeps it juicy: the centre stays moist while the outside browns. It trades the crust of a thin patty for juice and beefiness.
- Hand-formed, loosely. Packed beef cooks up dense and springy. A thumbprint in the middle stops it doming into a ball.
- Salt at the last minute. Salt left on the beef too long pulls out moisture and firms the texture.
- Toasted soft bun. Soft enough to bite through a thick burger, toasted so the juice doesn’t soak straight in.
- Simple toppings. Lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickle add cool, sharp, and sour without hiding the beef.
How it fails
- Burnt outside, raw middle: the heat was too high for the thickness. Lower it, or cook it gently first and sear it after.
- Dry and grey: cooked through to well done, or the beef was too lean.
- Domed, falls off the bun: no thumbprint, so the middle puffed as it cooked.
- Soggy bottom bun: the bun wasn’t toasted, or there was no mayo between it and the patty.
Variations
- Bacon cheeseburger: aged cheddar melted on the patty and crisp bacon.
- Mushroom Swiss: mushrooms sautéed in butter and melted Swiss cheese instead of the cold toppings.