These Late-Night Burgers Don't Make Sense Until You Taste Them

For Epicurious , by Katherine Sacks.

Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Sophie Strangio, Food Styling by Ali Nardi

When you are craving beef-on-a-bun, there are so many ways to make a burger taste better. Add bacon and BBQ sauce . Griddle it into a patty melt . Make it out of steak .

But in Istanbul's bustling Taksim Square , there's a more surprising path to burger greatness: Drench it in sauce. Like New York City's infamous dollar-a-slice pizza, or Los Angeles' Sonoran hot dog , the "wet burger," also known as an islak burger, is everyone's favorite late-night snack, and in the wee hours of the weekend, you're sure to find a young, hungry, and rowdy crowd in line, waiting to get their fill.

I stumbled across that rowdy line a few years ago on a quick trip through Istanbul. I took one look at the crowd in front of the food stands, with display cases filled to the brim with tomato-sauce soaked burgers , and knew what needed to be done. I need to try a wet burger. Digging in, my hunch was verified: With its garlicky, tomatoey sauce and soft, drenched buna wetburger was the perfect way to finish (or, ahem, pause) a night that includes many, many glasses of raki, the very strong, anise-flavored drink of choice in Turkey.

Back in the U.S., when I tried to describe that Turkish burger, no one knew what I was talking about. And that's not surprising. If you've never been to Istanbul, it's likely you've never come across wet burgers, and it's likely you never will. This is strictly street food in Turkey (read: Turkish cooks would never make them at home), and unlike dishes like kebab , kfte ,and baklava , wet burgers have yet to spread to the masses abroad.

But years after my trip, I still couldn't get those wet burgers out of my head. (So moist, so delicious, so good!) Looking for a recipe, I was shocked that even in cookbooks I found that focus on Turkish street food , there's barely a mention of wet burgers, let alone a recipe. If I couldn't fly back to Turkey on a whim to grab wet burgers with my friends, and I couldn't find the recipe online, I'd just have to create one, right?

I started by going straight to the source: reaching out to Ansel Mullins, who runs the popular site Istanbul Eats , where I had originally read about wet burgers during my trip the city. Although Mullins is a native Chicagoan, he's been living in Turkey for the past 15 years, and is a true expert on the city's food culture. "The islak burger is kind of like a diner burger," explains Mullins, who described the patty as very garlicky, with a soft bun covered in a thinned out ketchup-like sauce that's made with paprika and tomato paste. "Its not particularly native. It's more inspired by the American hamburger culture."

Like many street food phenomenons, Mullins says it's hard to pinpoint the exact origin of the dish, but most agree that the wet burger was created at Kristal Burger in the late 1970s, not too long before before McDonalds opened its first outpost there . Like many street food stars, after Kristal had success with it, the idea quickly spread, and soon vendors across Taksim were filling steam boxes with tomato sauce-soaked buns.

But while it's easy to see how the burger sprang from the Golden arches and a love of Americana, it's also steeped (quite literally), in Turkish tradition. "It is popular in the culture to eat moistened bread," Turkish chef, food writer, and Istanbul Culinary Institute founder Hande Bozdogan told me. She pointed to islama kofte, a type of grilled kfte (aka meatballs) served on grilled bread that has been doused with a paprika-spiced veal broth. Mullins suggested the same idea: "You could see how someone who knows islama kfte and loves American hamburgers would go there."

But when I asked if anyone would ever make the wet burger at home, Mullins just laughed, explaining the deep division in Turkish cuisine between the food you make at home, the food you eat at restaurants, and street food. "Part of the fun of the wet burger is getting it while you are out," he says.

But digging even further, I discovered one chef making wet burgers back on home turf. Boston chef Ana Sortun , who won a James Beard award in 2005 for her inspired Turkish cuisine at Oleana , creates a riff on the wet burger at her more casual outpost Sofra . I called her to get the low-down on how to do it at home. She packs in tons of traditional kfte spices into the beef patty (including dried oregano, cumin, marash pepper, and, occasionally, ground pistachios), then covers it in a rich tomato sauce." The combination of tomato and brown butter is a very Turkish flavor, "Sortun says, explaining that's how she makes her simple sauce.

Instead of calling it a wet burger, Sortun describes her burgerwhich she serves on a pita-like breadas a steamed bun, and says the key is using the oven's "steam/bake" option, which many home toaster ovens have.

Armed with more information than I realized was possible, it was time to get into the kitchen and try making wet burgers myself. I started with a beef burger, which, following Mullins description of the Taksim version, I kept simple by just seasoning it with parsley, garlic, paprika, salt, and pepper. To make the sauce, I followed Sortun's cue and browned butter with garlic, adding in paprika and tomato paste to create a quick, thin tomato sauce.

Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Sophie Strangio, Food Styling by Ali Nardi

Because the Epi test kitchen oven doesn't have a steam/bake option or a toaster oven, I needed to figure out another way to mimic the steam. First, I brushed the buns with the sauce, then dunked the cooked burgers in the sauce to fully coat them in sauce. Once the burgers were assembled, I covered the pan in foil, then baked them for a few minutes to let the sauce fully set in. (Pro tip: Serve the extra sauce on the side. It's great for dipping the burgersand friesin.)

I've told so many people about this burger, and they all think "wet burgers" sound weird. But now that I have my recipe , I've made this burger for so many friends, and everyone loves it. The patty is rich with garlic, paprika, and parsley flavor, and the tomato sauce gives it such a succulent texture. Although I don't have a trip to Istanbul planned anytime soon, I feel happy I can cook these burgers anytime I wantraki shots totally optionaland be instantly transported back to a late night in Taksim Square.