Cheebugah Cheebugah. The basics. I did some just tonight. To me , the secret’s in the meat ( just like life itself. )
I get a package of “meatloaf blend”, which where I live is lamb/pork/beef. I also get 1 lb. of buffalo, which is sweet but very low in fat content. A few eggs, some bread crumbs and a healthy coupla dashes of BBQ Sauce ( Open Pit, if available ). Add some minced dried onion flakes and a healthy dash or four of thyme and we’re rockin’.
Excellent with melted muenster over kaiser rolls. Mmmmmmmm. Good dinnah.
–Huffily-- That’s the hamburger I grew up with !!! Meatloaf comes in a pan in the oven. Silly.
Have you ever tried making what you call meatloaf, and rolling patties and grilling them? Perhaps it IS a hamburger, and you’ve not as yet discovered it.
I gently kid, but the purist in me insists that’s a meatloaf sandwich. Growing up, my father would make “hamburgers” with stretchers such as bread crumbs or even mashed potatoes. They were yummy, but they had a taste and mouthfeel quite distinct from what I call hamburgers. Basically, hamburgers should be a little crumbly–when you knead them (as you would my father’s hamburger) it becomes a dense hunk of meat. For me, a hamburger is beef, minimally handled, dusted with coarse salt and pepper.
That said, my favorite grilled meat patty sandwich is very similar to yours, a Serbian pljeskavica. It’s ground lamb, pork, beef, mixed in with lots of garlic cloves, very finely chopped onion, a bit of hot paprika, salt, pepper. Combine (usually with an egg), allow to sit for a few hours in the fridge for the flavors to mingle, and fry those puppies up. Serve with ajvar (red pepper-eggplant sauce) and raw onions.
You can still slow cook on the grill (although in-the-bone is better for that). After a quick sear, just set them on the cool side of the grill and leave them covered until tender. Marinating helps, as said.
I do ribs and leave them for a good couple hours and they just fall off the bone
I was going to mention this. I had those when I was a kid, too. Cartooniverse, you were hoodwinked. A real cheeseburger is cheese and burger. It could have been worse, though. At least there was no green pepper in it.
No fresh vegetables or bread products in my burgers but certainly more than salt and pepper. At least Worcestershire Sauce. Often some Tabasco and maybe some mustard in the mix. Oh and adding some cheese to the mix also makes for great burgers.
Grillin’ in the winter is not reserved just for the southlanders. We lived in the Green Bay area for 17 years and the grill was used all winter. True, sometimes it required a little shoveling but it was always worth the effort.
Now we live in Texas and have 3 different grills out back - and I’m eyeballing yet another (it may have to come with a fold out cot if’n you know what I mean )
Lets see: Beef, onions, parsley, bread, egg, baking soda, pepper, and a dash of paprika. The parsley makes them look a bit greenish, which some people find strange.
My wife made some for our Independence Day mangal yesterday. Simply sublime.
Since burgers have worked their way into this thread, here’s my perfect burger:
I start off with extra-lean ground beef - 9x% fat-free.
I take ground beef out of package, and break it apart a bit on a plate, so when:
I pour a hefty dose of Worcestershire sauce over it, the sauce sinks into the meat, instead of just running off onto the plate.
I gently pat the ground beef into patties.
I cook the patties on the gas grill, with the lid closed. I only open the lid to check on/flip/remove the burgers.
(Keeping the lid closed keeps the burgers juicy - even a well-done burger cooked like this stays juicy and moist.)
I cook mine medium rare - pink most of the way through, ideally with a little red in the middle.
When the burgers are almost ready, I toast the buns on the upper rack above the burgers.
If I do cheeseburgers, this is when I put the (sharp cheddar) cheese on.
Condiments: whatever works for you. My preference runs towards a thin spread of lite mayo covering each bun, and a circle of catsup on top of that. The juice from the burger is the main condiment, so I go easy on the added stuff.
Veggies: lettuce (pretty much any kind; iceberg’s fine for burgers) and tomato, sometimes onion. Best if you’ve just picked the tomato from your garden. Sadly, that’s possible in my climate only for a few months each year.
Accompany with Tostitos hint-of-lime tortilla chips, and a side of coleslaw from the Annapolis Seafood Market. Wash down with beer or sweet tea.
Well, for my perfect burger, start with 80% chuck (I don’t like lean ground beef for burgers. It has to be at least 20% fat, and I think chuck is more flavorful than sirloin, which is what the lean stuff usually is). Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Form into patties as loosely as possible. Don’t squish! Cook directly over hot coals. Sometimes I cover the grill, sometimes I don’t. Generally, with a Weber kettle I cover it.
As pulykamell already said, buy the cheapest nastiest ground beef they have (nah, more like 80%, really). Tastes better and the fait will keep the burger moist.
Could you elaborate on “moist”? I don’t cook hamburgers outside. Whether grilled or fried inside, I squeeze them between paper towels to get the grease out. My experience with meat over coals is that fluids will be cooked out.
Thanks.
“Moist” as in juicy. Burgers made from lean meat have a dry texture to them that I abhor. They may not be dried-out hockeypucks, but they have a certain mouthfeel that I don’t like. Heck, they may even still be wet with water moisture, but they don’t taste or feel right. Burgers made with fattier meat have a silkier, softer, and wetter mouthfeel. Plus the fat that hasn’t rendered out (and a lot of it will in the cooking process) is bursting with Pure Meat Flavor.
To me, it’s like the difference between dark meat and white meat, tuna packed in oil v. tuna packed in water, whole milk v skim, butter v. margarine, Guinness v. Bud Light, with the former having a fuller flavor than the latter.
This is why I craft my hamburgers ( Note: not called “meatloafballs” ) with part beef, part lamb, part buffalo. The buffalo is lower in fat but has a sweet taste and mouthfeel.
Mmmmmmmm. Buffalo. Or bison. Whichever.
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) with part beef, part lamb, part buffalo. The buffalo is lower in fat but has a sweet taste and mouthfeel.