Making Hamburgers (1 Viewer)

[Ron-P]

Secret ingredient in my burgers is always beer.

Bingo! I cannot add anything else to this thread.


Peace Out~

 

[Malcolm R]

Alton Brown of "Good Eats" recommends an even mix of sirloin and chuck. He also recommends buying sirloin and chuck steak and making your own hamburger meat using a food processor.

 

[teapot2001]

Todd, that's ingenious.

What brand of hamburger buns do you guys buy? And what's your favorite way to heat them?

~T

 

[Steve Schaffer]

I like to make the patties and cook 'em up to almost done, then place a slice of tomato on top followed by a slice of cheese, cover and cook until cheese melts, serve open face on toasted English Muffin halves slathered with Best Foods (Hellman's back East) Mayo.

The nooks and crannies in the muffins trap more Mayo!

 

[Greg_R]

Scott, you must be an onion man. I love onions. My wife has mixed that Lipton Onion soup into burgers before, and they are delicious.

Take a whole sweet onion and core out the middle 3/4 of the way through. Add some water into the hole along with a bouillon cube. Wrap the onion in foil and grill (medium heat & it takes awhile). When the onion is cooked chop it up and use it as a topping (or eat separately). Awesome!

 

[Chad Ferguson]

These are amazing! Keep them coming!! Does anyone here put an Ice cube in the middle of their burgers while cooking them? Seems like some of you guys own your grinder or something to that effect. Seems expensive but it just might be worth it in the end I suppose.
Thank you

 

[Chris Hovanic]

I like the small cheep buns :b . I hate haveing more bun than burger. Kaiser rolls are good and my wife found a oat/wheat/nut bun last summer that was quite good.

As for heating them... toasted all the way with some garlic butter on the grill.

beer, salsa.... mmmm going to have to try thoes! When is the BBQ?

 

[Patrick_S]

I tried that but found that burgers taste better when there is a bit more fat.

I have to agree 100% with the idea that a great burger has to have some fat in it. There is nothing worse then a burger that is made out of 90% lean.

 

[Dan D.]

Now, how do I shape a perfect round patty?

I use a burger press like the one below. I think they work great, especially for pressing butter/ingredients into the center of the meat or when using softer meats like ground chicken.

http://shop.popcornmonsters.com/kitc...rger%2520Press

 

[Greg_R]

Seems like some of you guys own your grinder or something to that effect

I just use my food processor (cube the meat and then pulse it a few times). Too much and you get meat paste...

 

[Mark Sherman]

I just make a couple 1/4 pound patties then on one side I put

EVOO, Sea Salt, Crushed Garlic(just a pinch) and Black pepper.

The when its on the grill put the same on the side facing up. then to top it off I use Bulls eyes BBQ sauce, mayo Plum tomato, Pickles(Vlassic are nice and cruchy) on a nice Kaiser toasted of Course. YUMMY

 

[Patrick_S]

Seems like some of you guys own your grinder or something to that effect.

I do have a grinder that attaches to my KitchenAid mixer. It does a great job, far better then the food processor method, which is ok but not nearly as good.

 

[Angelo.M]

A few thoughts...

Montreal seasoning is great for burgers. Not precisely certain what's in it, but we always keep it in the spice rack for burgers and steaks for grilling.

A dash of Texas Pete, or similar hot sauce, is also great when making burgers.

I've also taken a liking to aging my steaks and chopped meat. You always hear about 'aged beef' and you can purchase (usually at a premium) aged beef, but you can age it yourself at home very easily. Take your steak/chopped meat out of the styrofoam/plastic package from the market and wrap it in a clean kitchen towel. Place it in the refrigerator for a few days (3-4; some people recommend a week or more) prior to when you will use it. The towel will absorb the excess water from the meat, aging it. When you cook the meat, you won't have to waste time cooking off this water. The result is, to me at least, a more tender, more flavorful meat. Now, this may be all nonsense, but give it a try.

Finally, Italian dressing or vinagrette makes a zesty marinade for burgers. We form the patties and soak them in the marinade for a day, and then grill them. Occasionally I'll add just a bit of butter during the cooking. The butter mixes with the natural juices of the meat and creates a 'steak sauce' that is out of this word.

One last thing: always let your meat/burgers 'rest' before serving them. That is, let them sit off of the grill for a few minutes prior to dishing them out. Not precisely sure what this does, but I've been told that it helps the meat reclaim some moisture. Also should apply to hams, turkeys and other such items.

 

[JohnRice]

I mix diced spicy white onionsand diced garlic or garlic powder into the meat by hand. Ball the meat and work it into a nice round, even patty. I can make a nice even patty by hand without it looking too perfect. Then I take the patty , lay it on a plate, poke a bunch of holes into it with a fork, pour some lime juice over it, let it soak in a little, poke in some more holes and pour some Worcestershire across it. Let it sit for maybe ten minutes and grill it over pretty high heat so it sears. When it is about half done I flip it, let it cook a little more and sprinkle some crumbled bleu cheese on it and cover that with cheddar. Cook it until the cheese melts.

I grill the buns along with the burger. Maybe half as long. I like a little crunch on the inside of the bun. I size the patties to fit the bun. Huge bun, huge burger.

 

[JayV]

always let your meat/burgers 'rest' before serving them

Absolutely, Angelo. And yes, it applies to other meats.

Alton Brown had a precise explanation that generally went like: When you cook meat, juices run out of the meat (I guess cell walls and stuff. Dunno). When you take it off the heat, the meat re-absorbs these juices.

Resting meat gives the meat time for this to happen (I use a 3-minute rule for burgers and small steaks). This way your first bite doesn't cause these fluids to run out and lounge on the plate instead of staying home and keeping the meat moist.

This is why cutting into a piece of meat on the grill to see if it's done is a wonderful way to drain these fluids, dry out your meat and make beef cookies.

-j

 

[Andrej Dolenc]

Well, even if some of the meat juice does run out of the steak / burger onto the plate or whatever, no problem. Perfect for sopping up with a chunk of bread!

 

[Malcolm R]

Plus you avoid the mouthful of blistering hot grease when first biting into a big, juicy burger right off the heat.

 

[teapot2001]

I made the Lipton Onion Soup burgers last night. Very good! I don't make burgers that often, and a problem I ran into again was the patty shrinking into and bulging in the center. Is there a way to prevent this other than making it as flat as possible? How do burger places like McDonald's and In-N-Out make their patty so thin and not wide.

~T

 

[Adam Barratt]

These burger recipes sound great. I haven't had a homemade hamburger in years, at least not since my mother used to make them.

Me: "Can we go to McDonald's?"
Mum: "No, but I'll make you a hamburger!"
Me: "Really?"
Mum: "Yes, and it'll be much better than anything from McDonald's"

Yeah, right. I still remember those scrawny little patties with their big-ass chunks of onion *shudder*.

Adam

 

[Yumi]

[SIZE=no]Chinese Burger!!:star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

Chinese Burger is qutie different from yours.But I'd like to say it tastes as great as some of yours.I can make hamburger the way you make it. I have learned it from one of my foreign friends who is from the States.
I think the big difference between Chinese way and yours is the way of cooking the meat. You use ground beef and fry it . We use roasted meat. And cut it into pieces.
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