Serial Griller is run by us - Dave and Keren Kurth.
We got the idea to create our own burgers after the disappointment we shared with burgers when we ate out. All we really wanted was a classic American style cheeseburger, but all too often we were served up burgers that failed to impress. Too much bread, dried out patties, patties that tasted like meatloaf.
We started playing around with recipes at home and doing a little research, before long we had a pretty amazing burger happening and we needed to share these with others. We made them for friends and family and they agreed, these burgers were good, really good! And we were having fun. Imagine we said, if we could make a living doing this. And so the dream began.
We started with a food truck in 2015, mainly servicing Cooks Beach in the Coromandel with our three young boys in tow. Moved on to a shipping container in Hahei campground which we ran for a few years.
One day we decided we’d like a change of location, we have three boys and thought that Taranaki seemed like a pretty good spot to raise them. We moved to a spot just outside of Ōakura just after the first Covid lockdown and fell in love with the area. We looked around for the perfect spot for months and then a friends mother suggested the carriage which had been empty for quite some time.
How could we say no to the carriage, it’s fun, it’s quirky and its perfect for us.
Only a short 14 minute drive from New Plymouths CBD, it’s the perfect spot for a weekend lunch or dinner.
WHAT IS A SMASH BURGER?
A smash burger has a beef patty that has been cooked smash style.
First the select cuts of prime beef are ground and then formed into balls. The ball of meat is placed on a hot chrome plated grill and immediately smashed down onto the grill with a super high-tech tradies trowel.
Despite popular belief this does not give you a dried out meat patty. What happens is the ‘Maillard Reaction’ also known as the ‘browning reaction’.
The Maillard Reaction is a series of reactions that happens when protein rich foods are heated. It’s what creates the crust on your steak, the golden brown colour on your toast and the complex, pleasing aromas and flavours that accompany browning. It’s the smell of a steakhouse and fresh bread from the oven. It doesn’t just make meat taste good, it actually makes it taste meatier.
Cooking our burgers smash style improves its flavour as it maximises contact with the grill, increasing the surface area directly in contact with the hot metal and maximising browning.
Smashing allows you to get a deep brown crust before the interior over cooks and dries out, even with a relatively small patty. This is why we have designed our burgers with two 75gm patties, so we can have twice the amount of ultimate crust as well as being juicy and delicious at the same time as being quick to cook.