to unofficially kick off summer, each year my company holds our grillmaster cook-off to encourage a little friendly competition. the prompt was to cook a burger (whatever burger means to you) and create a short video to accompany it that would be shown at the company-wide townhall meeting. somehow my name was thrown into the mix, and before i knew it, i was dirtying up the kitchen, trying recipe after recipe until getting it just right. i won’t spoil it for you, but let’s just say i had a big ‘ole time getting creative and thinking outside the box.

now, i need to give credit where credit is due. the patty was largely inspired by allison at up beet kitchen. the only addition i made was some liquid smoke, which helped create that meaty flavor i wanted for this particular burger. next, the folks at mashed ensured i had all the right ingredients (and their ratios) for a bite that will satisfy until you can get yourself far west enough to go to in-n-out in person and order the real deal.

the entire video was shot on my samsung galaxy s9 and fully edited using adobe premiere rush. someone tell padma i’ll meet her wherever for the next season of top chef!