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Great Burgers


tomgates

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6 hours ago, CHILLIN said:

My favorite burger is medium ground beef 70%, then coarse ground pork belly, 30%. When seared over high heat, the pork chars nicely and greatly enhances the flavor. I sold my meat grinder, trying reduce meat consumption, and the carniceria is reluctant to switch out grinding blades when they are busy.

This sounds interesting.  Do you use just ground pork or seasoned ground sausage.  I sometimes mix seasoned ground sausage with hamburger meat to make meat loaf.  

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3 hours ago, Ian Greenwood said:

Xenia...firstly Toms original post was “ great burgers “ , secondly I don’t cook burgers , I was explaining what  the industry standards are for the preparation of a high end $ 10 - $ 15 burger in the U .S .  There is no great haste  on my part to be disagreeable...I have only 118 posts in the last few years , not 4000 like yourself...that’s haste . I tend to limit my posts to subjects I have an actual knowledge of . Do l have an “ attitude “ ....obviously .

Great burgers (like bad attitudes) are in the eye of the beholder. However, you once again missed the point of a post — this time the OP’s. He never said anything about “great burgers,” just as HappyJ said nothing about his being the perfect burger. The OP was commenting on a new restaurant in West Ajijic and their innovative burgers and macaroni and cheese. You offered the industry standard for high end U.S. burgers as though imparting a useful piece of information. 

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I quite understand, where you come from will influence your taste for many things including hamburgers. People from Canada and Northern United States have different tastes for many foods than people from southern United States like me.  Ian Greenwood is correct it starts with the beef.  When you put pineapple, mushrooms, sauces, etc on the meat you have altered the real taste of a hamburger. I ate at the Food Container Restaurant two weeks ago.  Several people had said on this forum they had great hamburgers.  The menu showed, I believe 7 different topping hamburgers.  I really wanted to taste a real hamburger so I ordered a simple grilled one.  I didn't even eat half of it.  The waiter asked if there was something wrong with the hamburger and I said yes.  The meat is no good.  He asked why and I told him.  If I had eaten one of the topped up hamburgers I might have thought it was good since the patty was of a good size.  This being said, what makes a great hamburger will as Xenia said be in the  eyes of the beholder.  I have probably sold more hamburgers than anyone on this forum and we only used salt, pepper and a good grade of beef.    

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Well I also vote for Cocinart's very competent and well priced burger with a second to Bruno's very excellent one.  If recollection serves me it is 140 pesos and cooked over hickory like the steak.

Just took our midwestern visitors to Bruno's for a Beisbol Fillet, they absolutely loved it, said it was the best steak they've ever had.  Their beef is Sonoran.

As for local prices, we've found GDL to be a lot higher.  Tapatios are probably adding to the cost push in restaurants here.  We were in Tampa this summer and frankly found a number of decent dining options that were little or no more expensive than what it has become here.  12 years ago it was much cheaper to eat out here than NOB.

My take on this is the basic problem here is most restaurants simply don't have enough tables to generate the revenue needed to pay the rising rents and costs of food and help.  I suspect in the future we'll see fewer mom and pops and more places like Tango or the bigger places in Chapala.

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On 12/9/2019 at 10:39 PM, Ian Greenwood said:

Unhappy Jillian ...your description of the perfect burger bares little or no resemblance to the the real thing ....woodysy  cooking sauce....?....Hys seasoning salt ...Lawrys seasoning junk...Kirklands powdered chemical garlic ,sounds like some kind of well done Salisbury steak ...all it’s missing is “ mushroom gravy “   The  “ real deal “  all American  hamburger is somewhat  near an 80 / 20 mix of various secondary cuts but great tasting  quality beef ...it’s all about the beef....never less than  an inch thick ..only seasoning on the exterior.... so it doesn’t dry out the meat  ( fact ) .. seared ..but most of all... never ...ever cook it past medium. .even that’s a push . Anything else fast food  junk ., .  Cocinart does a good job for about 100 pesos  , When  it comes to beef  etc. we should probably be listening to rafter , most food knowledge does not come from books...it’s called ..experience !

 

I  am happy as a pig in doo when it comes to bbqing my superior cheese burgers and so are a great many people that have had them. What I meant about not remembering about eating burgers around here is I just don't do it and haven't for years because I prefer mine and when I go to a restaurant I like to have something that my wife and I  don't regularly produce at home.   I have done them here twice for 50 people en mi casa. What part escapes you when I said i use the ingredient's lightly on the raw burger not the interior of them.. The Woody's helps to sear in the juices since I do the meat well. Apparently you with your never past medium suggestion and some others that eat rare are not familiar with the fact that the nature of ground meat is that when used for burger patties,etc. has many surfaces that may have been exposed to nasties that can make you sick and even kill you. A steak for example only has 3 surfaces which are seared and the nasties killed none of which are in the interior. I like to bbq beef and lamb blue rare or rare. Pork, medium or well done. You have claimed to only speak  of which you know from doing, yet you have admitted to not doing burgers.Any brand of garlic powder I  have used has only garlic in it. Hy's Salt is Canadian and was developed by Hy's Steakhouse which is one of the best in Canada.I wouldn't go to your restaurant because you have admitted to using copious amounts of salt for enhancement of your [ahem] creations. As to what cut's of beef in burger meat, your "80/20 mix of various secondary cuts" seems rather nebulous.  By the way there is no difference to the all American, or  shall  I say, as a flag waving, Canadian, burgers.

really happyjillin

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No, certainly not the same. I also use garlic powder, sometimes Lawry's Seasoned Salt, sometimes smoky liquid flavouring. Garlic powder is fantastic stuff. It can impart an overall flavour quickly and evenly (like ginger powder in other dishes) without the chunks. The science of garlic is, as I am sure you know, the more surface area exposed, the more flavour. So squashing garlic and chopping it up is very effective, but it leaves bits and pieces in the ground meat.

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21 hours ago, ComputerGuy said:

No, certainly not the same. I also use garlic powder, sometimes Lawry's Seasoned Salt, sometimes smoky liquid flavouring. Garlic powder is fantastic stuff. It can impart an overall flavour quickly and evenly (like ginger powder in other dishes) without the chunks. The science of garlic is, as I am sure you know, the more surface area exposed, the more flavour. So squashing garlic and chopping it up is very effective, but it leaves bits and pieces in the ground meat.

Get somebody to bring you down the 1 liter container of Hy's msg free. It's the best and I've been using it for 30 years. The woodys has smokey flavouring been using it for 30 years too.

 

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People seem to like Trip's. He now has several outlets in Guadalajara. He is even using remote devices to alert you when your food is ready (although since people tend to sit within 15 feet of the outlet here, that hardly seems necessary. Still, a good sign that he isn't resting on his laurels).

So I gave it a third try today, since he's been open.

There is absolutely nothing about his cheeseburger to recommend. It is tasteless and boring. The 25p burger in San Antonio is better, by far, in every way. Oh, maybe one thing: really nice paper napkins.

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3 hours ago, ComputerGuy said:

People seem to like Trip's. He now has several outlets in Guadalajara. He is even using remote devices to alert you when your food is ready (although since people tend to sit within 15 feet of the outlet here, that hardly seems necessary. Still, a good sign that he isn't resting on his laurels).

So I gave it a third try today, since he's been open.

There is absolutely nothing about his cheeseburger to recommend. It is tasteless and boring. The 25p burger in San Antonio is better, by far, in every way. Oh, maybe one thing: really nice paper napkins.

Who sells this 25p burger? Location?

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I can never remember the  name. Standing in front of Mario's in SAT, look right, walk several doors, and go across the street. Only open in the evenings. Hours, who knows. Cenaduria. At first glance it looks like only tacos, but they have three families cooking different things. Tried the pozole... it was pretty poor. So are the tacos. But the burger... yep, decent.

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From Tom Gate's original post it appears that only six responses have any reference to the restaurant recommended.  After all that's what this forum is all about.  Opinions good or bad about restaurants.  The "herd" of other responses go everywhere from the responders patio barbecue to the feedlot.  Truth of the matter, it might be really beneficial if the moderator were to intervene far more frequently when posts are obviously being highjacked but those who've nothing better to do.  One thing for sure.  In a herd of cattle there's lots of steers and lots of B.S. ..........just like in many of the responses prior to mine. 

Great initial post.......but only three responses actually endorse the post!  And as an aside.....Are there actually any people who care about the colour of the cow who donated the beef?

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34 minutes ago, Carnivore said:

From Tom Gate's original post it appears that only six responses have any reference to the restaurant recommended.  After all that's what this forum is all about.  Opinions good or bad about restaurants.  The "herd" of other responses go everywhere from the responders patio barbecue to the feedlot.  Truth of the matter, it might be really beneficial if the moderator were to intervene far more frequently when posts are obviously being highjacked but those who've nothing better to do.  One thing for sure.  In a herd of cattle there's lots of steers and lots of B.S. ..........just like in many of the responses prior to mine. 

Great initial post.......but only three responses actually endorse the post!  And as an aside.....Are there actually any people who care about the colour of the cow who donated the beef?

The title of the post is “Great Burgers.” If you are sitting around with friends or at a party and someone mentions a place where they got a great burger, after some comments about the place, someone will offer where they got a great burger, and someone else will say they prefer to make burgers at home, and then someone will ask how do they make their burgers at home, after which someone else offers their thoughts on which beef combo makes the best burgers, leading to someone talking about the best beef cattle breeds, then it goes to the worst burgers in town, until a vegan says how can you condone cow murder, and everyone else begins to drift away. It is called conversation. If you are in that group do you insist that the only acceptable responses are those about burgers at the restaurant first mentioned? Do you tell everyone else they are hijacking the topic with BS because they have nothing better to do? 

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4 hours ago, ComputerGuy said:

I can never remember the  name. Standing in front of Mario's in SAT, look right, walk several doors, and go across the street. Only open in the evenings. Hours, who knows. Cenaduria. At first glance it looks like only tacos, but they have three families cooking different things. Tried the pozole... it was pretty poor. So are the tacos. But the burger... yep, decent.

Only open on weekends from about 6 pm to maybe 10 PM and yes the burgers are very good as are the tacos and the pozole. 

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17 hours ago, Carnivore said:

From Tom Gate's original post it appears that only six responses have any reference to the restaurant recommended.  After all that's what this forum is all about.  Opinions good or bad about restaurants.  The "herd" of other responses go everywhere from the responders patio barbecue to the feedlot.  Truth of the matter, it might be really beneficial if the moderator were to intervene far more frequently when posts are obviously being highjacked but those who've nothing better to do.  One thing for sure.  In a herd of cattle there's lots of steers and lots of B.S. ..........just like in many of the responses prior to mine. 

Great initial post.......but only three responses actually endorse the post!  And as an aside.....Are there actually any people who care about the colour of the cow who donated the beef?

Why bother the moderators when the self-appointed Topic Police are already here?

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19 hours ago, Carnivore said:

From Tom Gate's original post it appears that only six responses have any reference to the restaurant recommended.  After all that's what this forum is all about.  Opinions good or bad about restaurants.  The "herd" of other responses go everywhere from the responders patio barbecue to the feedlot.  Truth of the matter, it might be really beneficial if the moderator were to intervene far more frequently when posts are obviously being highjacked but those who've nothing better to do.  One thing for sure.  In a herd of cattle there's lots of steers and lots of B.S. ..........just like in many of the responses prior to mine. 

Great initial post.......but only three responses actually endorse the post!  And as an aside.....Are there actually any people who care about the colour of the cow who donated the beef?

I hear they're looking for Mods. You sound like the perfect fit for this board (Roberts Rules of Order). Send your resume to the Admin.

Happy hunting.

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On 10/17/2019 at 10:41 AM, Mainecoons said:

Cocinart is the gold standard for quality and reasonable price in Ajijic and most of the area IMHO.  We seem to be emulating the wild inflation in restaurant pricing that has happened NOB.  What is it about this business that causes it to raise prices so rapidly?  You would think the level of competition around here would exert some pressure on prices.  Apparently not.

 

 

perhaps fixed costs are rising , as in rent. talked to a few well known restaurant owners who are treading water because of how high the rents have gone up for them. Also many variable costs I would assume have risen. The food is probably the cheapest part of the bill..

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