A recipe for burgers

Cafe Society
21

I don’t mix stuff into hamburgers but I do sometimes season the surfaces. Black pepper, onion powder, oregano have made appearances. I’ve tried a few spice mixes by Weber that are sold as burger seasoning but they’ve been only fair.
If it’s ground lamb on the menu, I sometimes do a sort of gyros thing with minced onion & garlic, cumin, s&p, thyme, fresh parsley. Those I work a little more and mix in ghe salt because I want a dense patty.

If you mix in some bread crumbs and bake a big batch in a loaf pan, you might end up with something tasty. You could call it beefloaf. I’ll bet a tangy ketchup glaze would be good. :slight_smile:

22

See if I don’t. :yum:

23

Small meatballs are usually called Swedish meatballs, but Italian meatballs are quite large, juicy and flavorful. I make mine with a mixture of beef and pork.

24

I’ve never been a fan of meatloaf. I suppose it’s mostly because there’s often green pepper lurking in it. But even if it’s edible, it’s not a dish I especially enjoy.

25

Oh, yes, that I will do, sometimes more aggressively than other times. Typically, salt and pepper, but I’ve used Slap Ya Mama, Tony Cachere’s, Lawry’s, Montreal Steak seasoning, even Old Bay if I’m in the mood to mix things up a little.

26

A now-defunct restaurant out here would press some finely chopped onion onto the top and bottom the the beef patty before cooking it. It’s delicious this way.

27

Must not have been too good if they is defunct! :stuck_out_tongue:

28

That sounds good, but it it really that different from simply adding grilled onions as a topping? I suppose doing it their way might infuse some onion flavor into the patty.

29

My favorite (one ingredient)

Take the ground beef and form it into patties. Put it over a charcoal fire. Leave the lid open at one point to get a little flareup (not too much).

Serve on some sort of bread (I prefer lavash) with whatever toppings you like (I like mine with lettuce and tomato, plus ketchup, relish, and hot sauce).

You can’t improve the taste of unseasoned ground beef on the grill.

30

Yeah, it’s different. The onions get a little browned, just like the patty. And it’s not a lot of onion like a pile of grilled onions would be.

31

Sounds similar to an Oklahoma onion burger, though those onions are typically very thinly sliced and not diced when they’re pressed into the burger while cooking.

32

You could try this, something I came up with years ago and haven’t made in a while. It’s kinda finicky to cook because there’s a LOT of moisture but pretty darn good, I think.

A tomato, preferably not a grocery store tomato, but if you must, use a couple of Roma tomatos. A variety with a good strong flavor is best. An onion, white or red is my preference, but yellow will do. A bottle of red wine. I think the last time I made this recipe I used a shiraz, but I’m not 100% sure now. A can of sliced pineapple, canned in juice, not water or syrup. 1 or 2 eggs, the number depends on how much meat you’re using, could be more.

Dice up the onion and tomato in amounts to match the amount of hamburger and preference, mix into the meat. Add some red wine (about 1/2 a cup or so) and the same of pineapple juice. Whatever herbs and spices you think will compliment, the egg mix it all well, form your patties and, honestly, these cook best over a grill. I’ve never cooked these burgers over coals though, always over a gas grill. They don’t seem to turn out as well in a pan. If your gas grill has one of those heating racks attached, throw some pinapple slices on there and then serve with swiss cheese melted on the patties.

33

I’m sure there is nothing better than grilled home-made burger. As I’m an expert in grills, I may say a good grill plays very important role.
I may agree the type of meat is extremely important, but the way you cook it is also gives taste to your final dish.

34

Curious about the fat content. The hamburger meat here is mostly < 12%, sometimes we can get <15%. According to some internet sites, 20% fat is ideal for hamburgers.

Thoughts?

35

Confirm. I also cook plain meat, just adding salt and pepper after a side is done. Garlic, diced chili peppers, and herbs go into ketchup to spread on the buns. Not that I frown upon adding seasoning to raw meat, I just don’t do it.

36

I usually get 80% lean (in your measurements, that’d be 20%)

Sometimes it’ll be 15% fat.

37

I’m the kind of cook who tends to go for convenience whenever possible, so my starting point for great hamburgers is getting pre-made patties at one particular store. The range of groceries I shop at ranges from the ordinary neighborhood stores, to a somewhat upscale one, to a really upscale gourmet place. Oddly enough, the best burger patties I’ve yet found are the freshly made ones at the “somewhat upscale” place. I love almost everything in the gourmet place, but the patties at the supposedly “lesser” place are better. They’re pretty hefty, but are nevertheless a little thinner and have a little more fat.

I find that on my particular grill (gas Weber), they do fantastically well in between high and medium-high heat, while another burner remains on medium-low for toasting the buns at the end. They are fatty enough to create a smoky grilling experience with a few brief flareups, which makes for perfect searing and doneness at about five minutes a side.

Then, a thick slice of Kraft processed cheese (I love good fancy cheeses, but give me the plastic Kraft stuff for burgers, TQVM) lots of chopped white onion, ketchup, sliced tomato, and a slice of Strub’s kosher garlic dill pickle – the kind marinated with tons of spices – and we’re done! (I have no requirement for “kosher” in food, but for certain foods like pickles, I tend to associate it with quality and homemade flavor.) Extra-large sesame buns, toasted briefly on the grill, are required here. Lettuce and/or bacon optional.

38

Oooohhh goody… another holy war over what constitutes a True and Righteous hamburger: ::knives out::

Sure you can… you can season it :blush:

For me, if I want the unadulterated taste of meat I’ll skip ground beef completely. Ground beef is usually chuck, so when I’m hankerin’ for some meat I’ll grill up some steaks or do a roast in the smoker. A brisket or a pork shoulder done low and slow in a charcoal smoker is absolutely divine. Hell, just a simple pot roast done in a Dutch oven with some potatoes, carrots, and onions is pretty hard to beat, too.

For hamburgers, the taste of ground chuck by itself is… unimpressive. Personally I’ll take a couple of pounds of ground chuck and add A-1 sauce, Worcestershire sauce, maybe some BBQ sauce, some mined garlic and onion, and maybe some Montreal Steak seasoning. Mix, form into ~1/2 lb patties, and grill on a Weber kettle (the only way to cook a burger) until there’s a light sear on the outside and only the tiniest hint of pink inside. For the last 2 or 3 minutes on the grill add a slice of muenster or sharp cheddar, depending on the pickiness of the eaters. I like muenster, my wife likes cheddar. They come off the grill juicy and delicious. Sometimes I’ll sprinkle some more Montreal and slather on some BBQ sauce when I first toss them on the grill for some extra yumminess. Serve with caramelized onions and a stack of kosher dill slices on a decent potato roll or, better yet, some SF sourdough rolls. I have no use for raw onions, raw tomatoes, ketchup, or mustard and the addition of any of those, especially the onion or tomato, will ruin my burger. I realize this makes me a heretic, but whatever.

Another yummy variation is to smoke your burgers. An hour on the WSM with some hickory makes some world-class – whoops, sorry. Got drool on my shirt. Smoking them requires some advanced planning and an afternoon free especially in a charcoal smoker because you need time to get the smoker temp stabilized. But the results are worth it.

I confess I’ve done that numerous times for big family get-togethers and Boy Scout cookouts and the like. I try to liven the patties up a bit with BBQ sauce and / or Montreal Steak, but in a pinch those pre-made frozen patties that you can simply plop on the grill are sufficient for a quick and easy afternoon BBQ.

39

Just to be clear, these are not frozen patties, they are freshly made from high-quality beef, and are quite different from mass-market boxed frozen patties. I find that they can be frozen without losing noticeable quality, but unlike the boxed mass-produced and frozen kind, intended to be grilled from frozen, I always thaw them first. They’re a bit too thick to cook from frozen, and I have grilling the fresh or thawed-out kind down to a fine art!

40

:pleading_face:
I…I…I just wanted to share. Share something nice, I didn’t mean to start a holy war, honest.

:smiling_imp:

OTOH if I can glean some new recipes to try, let the best burger win