When chef, restaurateur, and Emmy-winning TV host Guy Fieri shares a food tip, we listen. His tip to add dill salt to fried chicken is a game-changer. Fieri appeared on “The Moment” podcast and shared how he always butters and toasts his burger buns before serving, and we’re shocked we never thought of this before. While he may not eat eggs, he certainly knows his way around a burger.
Fieri may consider himself the “Mayor of Flavortown,” but he should also consider running for office in Burger City, seeing how much knowledge he has about them. This was clear when Fieri shared his favorite base for veggie burgers (which includes hearty grains), and it’s even clearer when he emphasized that every single element in a burger needs to be handled with care.
In Fieri’s opinion, it doesn’t matter how fresh the lettuce is or if the aioli is made from scratch; if a chef doesn’t properly prepare their burger buns, they haven’t properly executed their dish. This is the biggest piece of advice he gives when speaking to Brian Koppelman: “You slap [the burger] on a bun out of a plastic bag and you didn’t toast it? You didn’t butter it? You’ve got to give it treatment,” he said.
Why you should toast your bun
There is a practical reason for toasting your burger buns. When you take a burger bun straight from its package and place a hot burger, ketchup, or any other sauce on it, the interior surface of the bun is likely to seep through and collapse. Toasting the bun will allow for the bread to have a crispy barrier that is more likely to hold its own against a juicy, saucy burger.
In addition to maintaining structural integrity, toasting a burger bun just tastes better. Doing so adds more texture to your meal and can even serve as a way to get some more caramelization into the sandwich. Even though Fieri recommended buttering the bun before toasting, we have found oil, bacon grease, and even mayonnaise to work just as well. In a nutshell, any type of fat will provide a barrier for your bread and some extra oomph.
Toasting may not be necessary if your buns are freshly baked from your local bakery, or if you are eating pulled pork and you want the sauce to be soaked up in the bread. But if your buns are even a little stale, toasting them before serving will restore the taste. Just make sure to avoid brioche, which Anthony Bourdain said was the worst bun for burgers.
