Recipe: Grazin' Angus Burger with Chip’s Ranch Dressing

When we asked Chip from the Union Square Greenmarket what his favorite thing to make with his own Grazin’ Angus beef was, he listed a few things before admitting, "Ultimately, it's a burger." He loves a Grazin’ Angus burger so much that, as we mentioned before, he and his father-in-law are opening up a burger joint in Hudson, NY.

He likes to serve the burger "black and blue" (a heavy sear on the outside and rare in the middle) with caramelized onions and good local blue cheese or with homemade buttermilk-ranch dressing. We were pumped about the prospect of the homemade ranch because we love anything made with buttermilk or mayonnaise. So we got a pound of ground meat from Chip and some Coach’s Cultured Goat Milk and headed home to try it.

Black and Blue Burger

+ 1 lb of ground meat - grass-fed if possible!

+ salt and pepper

+ 3 tsp of butter

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. Take the ground beef and fluff it up a little without over working it. Lightly form it into 3 ⅓ pound patties, each about an inch thick.

3. Take a teaspoon of butter and gently press it into the middle of each patty, covering it back up with a little meat. Now salt! Don’t be thrifty with the salt if you want a nice crust. Pepper both sides.

4. Turn your pan (cast iron if possible) on high and wait until it's very hot. Sear patties on each side for a minute, until you have a nice deep brown crust. 

6. Stick the whole pan in the oven for 5-7 minutes. If you're not sure if the burgers are done, poke them. If they spring back but don’t give too much resistance they are done.

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

+ 1 cup of homemade mayonnaise

+ 4 cloves of garlic, minced

+ ½ cup of buttermilk - we used cultured goat milk because we like it's tang and grassy flavor but regular buttermilk works just as well.

1. Mix the garlic into the mayo. Add the buttermilk to taste, one tablespoon at a time.

Chip was right, this was an amazing combination. The intense beefiness of the grass-fed burger combined the the tang of the buttermilk and sharpness of the garlic was out of this world. It was especially fantastic on a (somewhat flattened) homemade burger roll with a slice of late summer tomato. Thank you, Chip!