Hamburgers

[ComputerGuy]

Not easy to find a great hamburger here, and those that are favoured are getting really expensive. A friend who works for the paper and I have discussed doing a series on hamburgers lakeside, but I don't know if that will ever happen. Partly because neither of us wants to poo-poo the poor ones. The great thing about restaurant burgers is you can usually make a "great" one by adding a ton of toppings, effectively masking the lack of flavour in the patty.

I've tried a number of brands of frozen burgers, too, and some are pretty tasty. Marketside at WalMart has arrechera-flavoured, prime-rib flavoured (although when you look the ingredients, the word "flavour" is much bigger than the actual type of meat), and so on. But it's hard to get a good cook on the patties, because they need to be done from frozen. If you thaw them, they turn to mush. And a frozen-cooked patty usually has a really weird texture.

For those among us who love a good burger and are always curious about the best way to make them at home, I stumbled across this Epicurious series called "4 levels". This particular clip is "4 levels of hamburger", and showcases the talents of an amateur home cook, a home chef, and a professional chef, followed up by a scientific conclusion.

 

[Xena]

Excellent! I am lucky enough to have a friend who is a Frank level cook. I am not.

[ComputerGuy]

The interesting thing about that video is they all loved their own burgers. I would have liked to see them try each others'.

[Xena]

1 hour ago, ComputerGuy said:

The interesting thing about that video is they all loved their own burgers. I would have liked to see them try each others'.

That would be excellent. I bet Frank would have choked on Emily’s burger.

[tomgates]

A good burger is easy. Start with good meat, Tony's is the best lakeside. Don't overwork the meat or add anything to it. Form a loose ball with 5-6 oz of meat and carefully form a burger. Make a divit in the middle so when cooking it doesn't swell up. On a griddle or gas/charcoal grill, get it really hot, especially the grill grate. Salt the burger patty, and put it on the grill. DO NOT EVER MASH DOWN ON THE BURGER.  If your patty is about 3/4" thick, grill for 5 minutes and then turn and cook for another 4-5 minutes. This would be a good time to add a slice of cheddar cheese and cover the grill or put a pan over the burger if on a griddle. Enjoy.

[pappysmarket]

And the so called burger experts I have read online all say...never put catsup on a burger or anything similar that is sweet as it masks the flavor. Mustard and onions are the suggested condiments.  Wow, that's how Whataburger serves them. The original burger chain that was around before Mickey D. Never catsup from them, hmmm.....   And the only time you can "mash it down" is if you begin with that ball of ground meat and throw it on the flat top and mash it down to start the cooking process as they claim it was always done "back when". Oh, and never from frozen ground beef, only fresh ( Hello, Wendy's?)

[ComputerGuy]

I can only imagine there are as many variations and warriors as in the pizza world. Probably Websites, too. It was interesting to note on a recent episode of MasterChef, that Ramsay complained vociferously when a cook did not put her spices into the meat before making the pattys. I was surprised, because I always do. Since then I've seen any number of videos and recipes that specifically call for flavouring during the process. Ramsay would have you only adding salt during cooking. There are as many opinions on that as there are... opinions. Of course, Ramsay practically uses wagyu beef for his burgers, so bunches of seasoning would be like adding A1 sauce to a ribeye.

I use all kinds of stuff in my burgers, depending on my mood. The regular 80-20 ground around here is just not that spectacular. In fact, my taste test at a restaurant has always been a bite of the patty all by itself.

When cooking on a flattop, or in a cast iron pan, putting a weight on the burger is a good thing, AFAIC. It forces the meat to caramelize, giving you that ultra-desirable brown crunchy seared taste that a BBQ grille never can.

[rafterbr]

In the old days they would put suet on the griddle and cook the hamburger meat in it.  Just before the meat was done, they would brush melted butter on the bun and briefly place buns on the griddle.  With lettuce and tomato this made a great tasting greasy hamburger which will kill you.  In Australia most hamburger meat is around 90% lean.  When you order a hamburger you order it with a salad (lettuce, tomato, onion.  Most people order a hamburger with the lot.  A hamburger with (the Lot) has the meat, salad, slices of beet root and on top a fried egg.  I don't like beets but I grew to like this burger.  In one of my restaurants I had the best burgers in this part of the country.  I have a cattle ranch so I would have ground up a whole cow for hamburger meat.  From a 1200 pound cow you get around 400 pounds of hamburger meat.  Our hamburgers were 1/3 pound. Each morning we would hand form the meat in balls and place in wax paper.  When ordered we would form into patty and as it was cooked we used a bacon press to flatten it a little for the bun.  As soon as the meat was no longer pink inside we served it with fresh lettuce, tomato, onions.  I only used salt and pepper on the meat so as to not dilute the taste.   Hamburger meat should be hand formed and around 90% over 90% it will be to dry and not juicy.  The 80% meat has to much fat in it for a good burger. I have thought of opening a restaurant in Ajijic with burgers and a limited menu with things like Indian Tacos with real fry bread but I am getting to old to want to work anymore.

[pappysmarket]

Wow!  Fry bread, I haven't heard  that in a long time.  Delicious for Navajo Tacos. I might have to plan a trip to lakeside if you change your mind.

[tomgates]

I forgot to mention that I recently bought some prime grade ribeyes at Costco. Had half of one for dinner and I ground the other half in my Kitchenaid meat grinder attachment (just like in the video). Just a guess but maybe 75/25 ratio or 70/30? THAT was some burger! A recent article in Saveur magazine suggested using ground brisket. This will be the next project....

[Alpha1]

3 hours ago, tomgates said:

I forgot to mention that I recently bought some prime grade ribeyes at Costco. Had half of one for dinner and I ground the other half in my Kitchenaid meat grinder attachment (just like in the video). Just a guess but maybe 75/25 ratio or 70/30? THAT was some burger! A recent article in Saveur magazine suggested using ground brisket. This will be the next project....

I can't bring myself to grind a ribeye, it should be eaten as is. It is so very good...IMHO.

[CHILLIN]

22 hours ago, pappysmarket said:

Wow!  Fry bread, I haven't heard  that in a long time.  Delicious for Navajo Tacos. I might have to plan a trip to lakeside if you change your mind.

Arlene's magical fry bread (from Smoke Signals movie).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB60S9WVgbs

[pappysmarket]

5 hours ago, tomgates said:

I forgot to mention that I recently bought some prime grade ribeyes at Costco. Had half of one for dinner and I ground the other half in my Kitchenaid meat grinder attachment (just like in the video). Just a guess but maybe 75/25 ratio or 70/30? THAT was some burger! A recent article in Saveur magazine suggested using ground brisket. This will be the next project....

Most of the major food chains in Texas carry frozen burgers that claim to be from Ribeye or Brisket. Somehow I don't trust them, probably just me.

[ComputerGuy]

I was getting the frozen "ribeye" burgers at WalMart until I read the ingredients, which said nothing about the meat, but did say "ribeye flavouring". Whatever that is...

[rafterbr]

1 hour ago, pappysmarket said:

Most of the major food chains in Texas carry frozen burgers that claim to be from Ribeye or Brisket. Somehow I don't trust them, probably just me.

I agree,  With ribeyes at $10 a pound and hamburger $5 a pound, I don't quite see them using ribeyes for hamburger meat.  Supposedly some hamburger meat comes from sirloin steaks a much cheaper steak.  However some fat must be added to the sirloin as it is a lean cut of meat.

[CHILLIN]

The secret ingredient to tasty beef burgers and steaks is Koji Kin rice. This is sweet rice which is then fermented with a very specific spore. It adds a rich umami taste, very similar to dry aged beef. I have enough spores to make fifty lbs of Koji rice but I haven't started yet. Google koji hamburger recipes or koji  steak recipes. This really taken off now in the culinary world.