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Welcome to the Food Envy series, where we take a look at some of the dishes we've particularly enjoyed at Time Out Market Montréal because we think you'll love them as much as we did. This time, we had chef Normand Laprise give us a total breakdown of his burgers at Burger T! to help us understand why they're some of the juiciest we've ever laid our teeth on.
When it comes to who's frying up the best burgers in Montreal, there's clearly some competition.
On the one hand, we have ultra-minimalist smash burgers with thin beef patties that are crispy on the ends, and on the other we've got monstrous delicacies with countless toppings that can range anywhere from bricks of brie or straight-up poutine.
When Normand Laprise of the renowned Toqué! restaurant decided to open Burger T! at Time Out Market Montreal, he clearly wanted to not only fall between these two extremes, but to push the technical side of the business to its extreme in order to create the perfect burger.
What's "perfect"? It's a burger that's as neatly laid out as a fine dining dish at Toqué!, making you say 'wow' from the very first bite, and is so well done that the last bite is just as good as the first. You know, a burger that doesn't end as just a piece of bread with half of the toppings falling on the plate in the process.
From the patty to the bun to the toppings—not to mention the fries—Normand Laprise leaves nothing to chance.
The patty
The anatomy of the perfect burger begins with beef from Ferme Bouffard in the Eastern Townships, 100% traceable back to its source. From the date of slaughter to the moment it's in your burger, everything has been taken into account.
"For me, the tastiest part of the beef is the shoulder. So, we take a mixture of leaner and fattier parts of this section, to arrive at an approximate ratio of 70-30 (70% lean, 30% fat)," Laprise explains.
The bread
This phenomenon of tracing and ensuring impeccable quality of all products does not stop with the meat. The brioche bread, custom-made by Jeffrey Finkelstein of the Mile End bakery Hof Kelsten is delivered every morning. It's got an incredibly moist texture with a buttery goodness.
Toppings and cheese
The fillings, when not homemade, are sourced from a local producer, as is the case with the cheeses used. Blackburn cheese, La Beurasse de chèvre, and Petit Boivin, the last of which is a bestseller on the menu. It's a "Cheez Whiz" kind of spreadable cheese product that's one of Laprise's preferences. "I always have one in my fridge," he told us.
Even the fries
"I always use the same Russet potatoes from Quebec. Since there is only one crop per year, the flavours and texture evolve over time. I've noticed that they get sweeter as they mature," notes Laprise. As a result, the fries may be sweeter and softer on the inside in June, whereas if you eat them in September, they will be crunchier.
As for how they're cooked, the team has developed a three-cooking technique to achieve their results: "We steam them once, then we cool them down. We blanch them a second time, this time in oil, and then we put them in the cooler right away. That's when we send the fries every day to either Burger T! or a Brasserie T! location, who finish cooking them to order in the fryer. (Note that this process, along with the butchery and charcuterie, is done at the central kitchen of the Beaumont restaurant).
The look and bite
Take the beef burger with Boivin cheese, portobello and pickled onion from Burger T! as an example:
The patty is exactly the same circumference as the bun, even with some added Petit Crémeux cheese. Hidden inside are thin strips of Portobello mushroom that add texture and a noticeable taste of umami, as well as pickled onions that not only lighten the flavors, but also help compliment the seasoned meat and the sweetness of the cheese.
One bite of this burger immediately demands another, except maybe for a break to snack on fries—sometimes crispy, sometimes crunchy, but always salty—with a little dip into homemade mayonnaise and another in ketchup from Lac-Saint-Jean.
However you eat it—with fries, without, with a milkshake—we'd recommend you save just one bite of the burger to end your meal all on the highest note possible. Don't believe us? You probably haven't had one.