Big Mike’s Burgers & More – Belen, New Mexico
In 2014, Epicurious compiled a list of crimes against burgers: Hockey-puck patties, pressing down with a spatula, over-flipping, unmelted cheese and hard-as-a-rock buns. For decades most burger aficionados followed these commandments as if their souls depended on them. We cringed and bristled when burger flippers smashed down burger patties on a grill. “There goes all the juices” we bemoaned. “Here comes another dry as a New Mexico dust devil burger” we lamented. Of all the felonious assaults against our beloved burger, pressing down the spatula was the most grievous, a crime that should be punishable by years of hard labor. Then in the 1970s a Kentucky restaurateur “invented” something we know today as a “smash burger.” To hasten the preparation time and sate the throngs queued up to be fed, he placed a large bean can atop the beef patties. By “smashing” the burger with a heavy object, he discovered the meat had greater contact with the griddle. Not only did this lead to a better flavor, the resultant beef patties developed a “crust” that sealed in juices. Smash burgers are super model thin compared to thick quarter- or half-pound beefy behemoths. The thinner burger has a much darker,…