As Hawaiians organized to fight the sugar oligopoly called the Big Five in the late 1940s, a few teenagers from the barefoot football club called the Lincoln Wreckers asked Nancy Inouye, the cook at their favorite hangout, to make them something more filling than the noodle and sandwich offerings. She scooped some rice into a bowl, topped it with a hamburger patty, and added a ladle of beef gravy. The boys dubbed it Loco Moco since one of them was taking Spanish and it was George “Crazy” Okimoto who screwed up the courage to ask Ms. Inouye, and they added the nonsensical moco because it rhymed. Nobody knows how the fried egg—now an integral part of the classic grind—ended up on top.
There’s nothing in the historical record to tell us if the burger itself was a thick bistro-style or thin fast food version, but since those distinctions are relatively modern that’s not surprising. But I wanted the crispy, lacy edges of a smashburger, which we might think of as a recent addition to the burger canon but has actually been around (although without the catchy name) almost as long as cooked ground beef patties on bread. Early burger cooks were more interested in stretching a couple of ounces of beef to be big enough to cover the bun, but we’d recognize the thin burgers as smashed.
I also wanted a more flavorful gravy on my loco moco, so I took a cue from hambagu, part of the yoshoku tradition of Western foods adapted to Japanese palates. It’s basically a saucy burger steak with rice, but the hambagu gravy varies from jarred demi glace to a ketchup-y tomato sauce to an onion gravy spiked with miso to a roux-thickened curry. I took a little from each to create the miso curry gravy, and it’s good enough to make anytime you want a tasty sauce for almost anything.
Recipe
½ pound ground beef, preferably with 20% fat
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon miso
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 cups dashi or stock
Kosher-style sea salt
Fried eggs and cooked rice to serve
Make the gravy first. Cook the shallot in the olive oil until it’s soft (about 10 minutes), then add the curry powder and flour and let cook for another minute. Blend in the miso, ketchup and soy sauce, then add the dashi and stir well. Cook at a gentle simmer for another 10 minutes or until it thickens.
Divide the ground beef into four 2-ounce portions, and form each one into a patty about 3 inches in diameter. While most smashburger recipes call for smashing on the hot griddle, I prefer to put the hand-formed patties between a couple of pieces of parchment or waxed paper, then use a press, large can, wine bottle, or anything else with a flat bottom to press them into very thin patties. The paper also makes it easier to place the delicate patties on the hot griddle. Carefully peel back one paper, set the burger on the cooking surface, and then peel off the other paper.
A griddle works best since its lack of a deep rim makes it easier to press the burgers while they cook to increase surface contact so you get the brown and crispy browning from the Maillard reaction. But a heavy skillet will do the job. Get whatever you’re using very hot, then carefully place your thin patties and press down with a spatula for a few seconds. Let the burger cook for about a minute, then flip and cook the other side for another 15-30 seconds, but don’t smash it again.
You could use the same skillet and residual burger grease to fry the eggs, but I think it’s easier to use a clean pan (you can also transfer some of the beef fat for flavor if you want). But fry an egg however you like to, one for each serving, and runny yolks, please, so over easy or sunnyside up.
Assemble the loco moco with a generous scoop of rice with a smashburger on top, gravy next, and crown everything with the fried egg.
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