The Ingredient Roy Choi Mixes Into Mayonnaise For Better Burgers

If you're a burger lover, then you're probably always in pursuit of the next best one. For some, it's finding their favorite local burger joint. For others, it's perfecting your burger recipe at home. Either way you choose to eat and enjoy your favorite patty sandwiched between two buns, it's probably agreed that using quality ingredients is essential. 

Whether you're making patties from beef, turkey, or vegetable blend, you want those ingredients to be flavorful and delicious. Even the most delightful burger patty can be rendered mundane without the proper accouterments. Using a great bun, good veggies, and cheeses to accompany the patty makes a huge difference, but much of a burger's greatness comes from the condiments. 

There's a reason many burger spots have a secret spread or special sauce that goes on the burger. From BBQ sauce to Thousand Island-Esq spreads to garlic aioli, there are numerous options to choose from. Chef Roy Choi has his own twist on a special sauce, and it's an easy and flavorful hack you may want to add to your next burger.

Chef Roy Choi was born in Seoul, Korea, but raised in Los Angeles, CA, and most of his culinary endeavors, including Kogi BBQ, are a shared expression of his love of both food cultures. For his California-style double cheeseburger, the chef's recipe is a classic double burger but with a signature twist. That twist is the way he makes the mayo for the burger, in which Choi adds toasted sesame seeds for more flavor and a unique texture. So if you already use a sesame seed bun, it's a nice tie-in. 

For the sauce, the chef combines one tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds with 1/3 cup of mayonnaise. Toasted sesame seeds are often used in Korean cooking because of their nutty aroma and flavor — so adding them to mayo is a pretty perfect combination. Once again, Choi has found a subtle ingredient from his Korean cooking background and used it to up-level an American staple. A good burger is truly a symphony of textures, one of them being a creamy richness. While you can get that creaminess from the cheese, it can be further highlighted with a rich aioli or mayonnaise, and adding the nutty crunch of toasted sesame seeds might make it even better.