Burger Scholar Sessions

Burger Scholar George Motz teaches you how to cook a hyper-regional slugburger from Northern Mississippi. Borne out of the Great Depression, the slugburger patty combines beef and bread crumbs—a method that was used to extend the meat supply. As the bread crumbs toast on the griddle, they absorb the rendered beef fat, creating the ultimate crispy burger. Here is your master class on how to make a regional slugburger at home.

The double-dipped roast beef burger is an icon of Brooklyn, New York, and Burger Scholar George Motz is here to teach you how to make one at home. This regional one-off burger—known locally as the "Gargiulo"— hails from the historic roast-beef emporium Brennan & Carr. Here, the burger patty is topped with freshly sliced roast beef, sauteed onions, American cheese, and is eventually dunked in a vat of piping hot beef broth.

Burger Scholar George Motz says that if you're ever in Miami, you owe it to yourself to visit Little Havana—a neighborhood known for its iconic regional burger, the Cuban Frita. Served on a Cuban roll and topped with crispy potato sticks, the burger patty is seasoned with Chorizo spices and doused in a secret red sauce. The Cuban Frita is a culinary survivor of the exodus following the Cuban Revolution, and remains one of the great Cuban-American gastronomic expressions. Here is your master class on the Cuban Frita.

Burger Scholar George Motz has taught us about fried burgers and steamed burgers, but did you know about the smoked burger from Texas? In this episode, George teaches you how to apply the principles of barbecue to a burger. With a simple offset smoker set-up, you can achieve the perfect smoke ring on this burger right in your own backyard. Here is your master class on the Texas smoked burger.

Burger Scholar George Motz is here to set the record straight: A real homegrown Hawaiian burger is NOT a beef patty topped with pineapple and ham. When locals crave a burger, they order something called the loco moco. Technically a 'burger plate,' this regional icon is a burger patty placed on a bed of rice, drenched in gravy, and topped with a fried egg. A popular late-night order at diners, the loco moco is one of George's favorite burgers to eat. And now's your chance to make one at home. Here is your master class on how to make Hawaii's own loco moco burger.

In our season finale, Burger Scholar George Motz teaches you how to cook a regional specialty from Tennessee: The deep-fried burger! At a place called Dyer's in Memphis, burgers are smashed paper thin and dipped in a skillet filled with hot beef tallow—a method that harkens back to the dawn of the original hamburger. Grease is an heirloom at Dyer's. When you bite into a burger from there, you're biting into history. That's because the same grease has been used since 1912! Here is your master class for making a Tennessee deep-fried burger.