Shadowing Practice: The Best Burger You'll Ever Make - Learn English Speaking with Video

Creating lesson...
1
That is how you make a double cheeseburger.
2
We'll start by making our buns by adding some all-purpose flour, milk powder, sugar, salt, and instant yeast to the bowl of a stand mixer.
3
Now give that a quick mix, add in your eggs and water, then add on your dough hook attachment and mix until just combined.
4
Next, while still mixing, add your butter one tablespoon at a time, bit by bit until all that butter is fully combined.
5
Once all that butter is incorporated, turn your mixer up to medium high speed and let it go for 15 to 20 minutes.
6
Once your dough has cleaned the edges of the bowl and looks something like this, butter a medium glass bowl, then shape your dough into a ball and toss it in.
7
Cover this with plastic wrap, then let it rest at room temp for one hour.
8
Then place it in the fridge for 12 hours or overnight.
9
Once your dough is fully hydrated, transfer it to a work surface and divide it into six equal portions.
10
Technically, if you want to be ultra precise, you should use a scale here, but as you can see, I've chosen to eyeball it.
11
Your job now is to create tension.
12
You want to shape each one into a perfect smooth ball like this.
13
Place these on a parchment lined baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap, then let them proof for one hour, and now we can finally prep them for baking.
14
All we do here is make a quick egg wash and brush it across each of our buns.
15
Make sure you get all the way around and underneath each one.
16
And then once they're all covered, go ahead and coat them fully and evenly with sesame seeds.
17
You can put as many or as few as you want of these, but remember, as the buns bake, the sesame seeds are all going to spread out.
18
So even if it looks like a lot now, it may not look the same later.
19
The final step, if you want restaurant quality buns, is to add buttered ring molds around each one, which will help them bake fully and evenly.
20
And now into the oven they go.
21
Once finished, they should look something like this, ready to hold the perfect burger.
22
But for now, we'll let these cool off to the side while we make our patties.
23
Our patties will be made of three different meats.
24
The foundation is chuck, which gives you that beefy classic burger flavor.
25
Then short rib, which gives us that marbling and richness.
26
And finally, brisket, which gives us fat and juiciness.
27
As I grind, I'm going to alternate, and that ensures that these three different meats blend into each other evenly.
28
You may be wondering, why are we making our own burger patties.
29
Why not just buy pre-ground meat?
30
I could give you a lot of reasons, but I think the best reason is control.
31
I can grind it to the exact size I want, which gives the perfect texture to my burgers, but also I know exactly what that fat to lean ratio looks like.
32
But I guess the most important thing you need to know is that it just tastes better.
33
There are three things to know when shaping patties.
34
The first is that you want to handle them as little as possible.
35
If you overwork them, they'll become heavy and bouncy.
36
Next, you always want to make them wider than your buns because they shrink about 20% during cooking.
37
And the easiest way to do that is to just measure with your bun.
38
Finally, we want to put a dimple in the center, and that'll stop the patty from shaping up into a meatball.
39
Once our patties are shaped, we'll cover them loosely with plastic wrap and place them in the fridge until they're ready to be cooked.
40
While those are resting, we'll make some caramelized onions by adding some butter and oil into a pan over medium heat, and once that's melted down,
41
we'll add our sliced onions as well as a generous handful of salt, and give this an initial mix to make sure every piece of onion is coated in that butter and oil.
42
Now I'll turn this down to low and I'll let this cook while we move on to make our pickles.
43
As a first step, we'll chop our cucumbers into nice thin rings.
44
And by the way, the whole time we're doing this, we're going to be watching those caramelized onions.
45
Whenever it starts to get too brown anywhere, add a little bit of water and give it a stir and just let those keep going.
46
Back to these, I like my pickles cut super thin in a burger so they don't slide out.
47
All we do here is add them to a jar.
48
What we're doing right now, by the way, is called the quick pickle method because it takes literally just a few minutes.
49
And then we'll move over here to a small pot and add some water and vinegar, as well as some sugar, salt, peppercorns, crushed garlic, chili flakes, and a bay leaf.
50
I'm going to take another look at my caramelized onions here.
51
Just a quick splash of water and another quick stir.
52
And now that this has come to a boil, I'll pour it carefully over my cucumbers.
53
Do not cover this right now.
54
That'd be dangerous because of how hot it is.
55
These are going to turn into pickles very fast and they are
56
so much better than what you can buy in a jar.
57
The longer you let them sit in this liquid, the stronger they'll taste.
58
Last thing to do before we cook our patties and assemble our burgers is make our secret sauce.
59
For this, we'll add mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, a little ketchup, a few chopped pickles, as well as a little splash of our pickle brine, vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder,
60
smoked paprika, and a touch of lemon zest.
61
My caramelized onions need more attention.
62
See that dark char around the edges there?
63
That's what really gives us that deeply caramelized flavor.
64
And then every time you just use that liquid that you add to scrape all of it off, they're becoming all jammy.
65
All those sugars are caramelizing.
66
Look at those.
67
You could stop them whenever, but I'm going to let them keep going for just a touch more.
68
Let's give our secret sauce a good mix.
69
Sometimes I love if the secret sauce has kind of this beautiful bright pop of color.
70
So I add a little bit of extra paprika or turmeric.
71
Once you're happy with your secret sauce, carve this up and toss it in the fridge until you're ready to assemble.
72
That means pickles, ready, those are done.
73
Caramelized onions, perfect jammy, those are also done.
74
So now to cook our patties, first step is to do one final shape.
75
You just wanna make sure now that you're happy with how they look.
76
I'm also gonna cut my parchment so I can pick up and easily move around my patties as needed.
77
Just before cooking, I'm gonna hit each of my patties with salt and fresh cracked pepper on both sides.
78
And once they're ready, we'll preheat any kind of heavy bottomed or cast iron pan.
79
You want to get it ripping hot.
80
Oh no. And once that oil begins to smoke, we'll add on our patties.
81
I've got my buns right here so I can easily measure when they've shrunken up enough.
82
Once you've got that nice golden brown char, go ahead and flip.
83
Then add your cheese.
84
I'm using two pieces.
85
I like a lot of cheese.
86
And then get creative with whatever method you want to melt it.
87
I feel like I do something completely different every time.
88
While those melt, I'm going to quickly fry off a couple of French fries here.
89
I just bought some of my favorite frozen fries.
90
Today was not the day to make homemade fries as well.
91
But I do still feel that if you're going to put in all this time and effort making these beautiful homemade burgers, you might as well at least have some solid fries.
92
And while those finish, I'm also going to toast off my buns.
93
I'm running out of space here.
94
To toast my buns, I'll first cut them in half.
95
Then melt down some butter, place each side of my bun face down, making sure they're coated with that butter, and toss on a lid to let it steam.
96
People hate on frozen fries, but they can be some of the best fries I've ever had.
97
Listen to this.
98
Wait till you hear the crunch.
99
They're insane.
100
Our patties are done.
101
What's great is that my patty should now be the perfect size for my burger bun.
102
Our buns are beautifully toasted.
103
Our fries are crispy golden brown, which means it's time to assemble.
104
We've got our bottom bun, secret sauce, some iceberg lettuce, tomato, our first patty, then our pickles, second patty, then our caramelized onions, some diced red onions, a little more burger sauce,
105
and finally that top bun.
106
Before we taste, one last thing.
107
I feel like no one ever eats burgers and fries in a fancy way, so just dump these out.
108
Press it down a little bit.
109
Don't get mad at me for that.
110
It's a big burger.
111
Mmm.
112
It really is one of the best foods. That is so good.
113
I don't know what else to say.

About This Lesson

In this lesson, learners will practice their listening and speaking skills by engaging with cooking-related content, specifically focusing on making the perfect double cheeseburger. Students will enhance their understanding of detailed instructional language in cooking, which includes various culinary techniques and vocabulary. By following along with the transcript and focusing on pronunciation and intonation, learners will not only grasp the process of making a burger but also develop their English speaking skills through the shadowing technique.

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

  • Stand mixer: A kitchen appliance used for mixing ingredients.
  • Dough hook: A tool used with a stand mixer to mix and knead dough.
  • Proof: The process of allowing dough to rise before baking.
  • Dimple: A small indentation made in a patty to prevent it from puffing up while cooking.
  • Quick Pickle Method: A fast way to create pickled vegetables.
  • Caramelized onions: Onions that are cooked slowly until they turn a deep brown color, enhancing their sweetness.
  • Fat to lean ratio: The proportion of fat to meat in ground meat, affecting texture and taste.

Practice Tips

To maximize your learning experience, apply the shadowing technique as you practice with this video transcript. Listen closely to the speaker's pronunciation and rhythm, and try to shadow speech by repeating their phrases immediately after they're spoken. This not only helps to improve English pronunciation but also allows you to internalize the culinary vocabulary presented in the lesson.

Since the pace of the transcript corresponds to natural conversation speed, practice by playing short segments repeatedly. Focus on mimicking the speaker's tone and inflection to capture the nuances of spoken English. Remember, it’s crucial to handle those moments where the speaker emphasizes specific actions or terms; these are key to enhancing your own speaking abilities.

Use this lesson on a shadowing site or alongside auditory content to cement your learning, ensuring you challenge yourself by gradually increasing the speed at which you practice. Consistent practice will not only make you more comfortable with English cooking vocabulary but also boost your confidence in speaking tasks.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.