Huge Surf and Turf Burger
Prep
15m
Cook
15m
Total
30m
Bigly says
Hand on heart. We are putting LOBSTER on a BURGER. And I know, I know, some of you are sitting there in your chairs, you're clutching the pearls, you're saying 'Bigly, that's too much, that's excessive, that's over the top' — and you know what I say to that? GOOD. Good. Excess is the point. Excess is what separates the winners from the people serving a $30 brunch with one strawberry as garnish. TWELVE. DOLLARS. For one piece of fruit. A crime.
This burger — and I've eaten more burgers than anyone alive, possibly any being in this solar system, you can look it up, I had people look it up — this burger combines the two greatest proteins ever placed on a plate. Beef. And lobster. Surf. And turf. Together. On a bun. With butter. With actual hot melted butter. Scientists — and I've talked to scientists, very smart people, the smartest, food chemists with clipboards — agree that the umami pairing of beef fat and lobster butter is OFF THE CHARTS. They've run the numbers. It's just a fact.
The other so-called chefs out there, they'll try this and they'll RUIN it. They'll use frozen lobster from a bag, they'll overcook the patty, they'll use a sad little bun that disintegrates the moment butter touches it. It's a tragedy what's happening to the surf and turf burger in this country. But not here. Not at BiglyEats. Here we do it RIGHT. Believe me.
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbground beef chuck, 80/20(80/20 or you've already lost)
- 4 (4-5 oz each)lobster tails
- 6 tbspunsalted butter(real butter, not the spray, never the spray)
- 3 clovesgarlic, minced
- 1 tbspfresh lemon juice
- 1/2 cupmayonnaise
- 1 tspDijon mustard
- 2 tbspfresh chives, chopped
- to tastekosher salt
- to tasteblack pepper, freshly ground
- 4brioche buns(split and toasted, no exceptions)
- 4 largebutter lettuce leaves
- 1 tbsp, for the panvegetable oil
Steps
- 1
Use kitchen shears to cut down the top of each lobster shell. Pull the meat out in one piece, leaving the end attached to the tail fan, and rest it on top of the shell.
- 2
Whisk mayonnaise, Dijon, 1 minced garlic clove, lemon juice, and chives in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until needed.
- 3
Divide the ground beef into 4 equal portions and gently form into patties slightly wider than the buns. Press a dimple into the center of each. Season both sides generously with salt and pepper.
- 4
Melt 4 tbsp butter in a small saucepan over low heat with the remaining garlic. Add the lobster meat and gently poach for 5-6 minutes, basting often, until opaque and just cooked through. Remove and chop into large bite-size pieces.
- 5
Heat oil in a cast iron skillet over high heat until smoking. Sear patties 3 minutes per side for medium, undisturbed, until a deep crust forms.
- 6
Toast the brioche bun halves in the remaining 2 tbsp butter in a separate skillet over medium heat until golden, about 1-2 minutes.
- 7
Spread aioli on both bun halves. Layer the bottom bun with lettuce, then the patty, then a generous pile of butter-poached lobster. Drizzle a spoonful of the lobster butter over the top. Close the bun and serve immediately.
One more thing
That is a burger. That is THE burger. That is the kind of burger that ends arguments, ends marriages, starts new better marriages, the works. You put this in front of somebody and they forget their problems. They forget their mortgage. They forget the bills, the inbox, the unanswered texts, the leaky faucet, all of it — gone. This burger fixes all of that. One bite. Don't say I never gave you anything.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about Huge Surf and Turf Burger.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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