There’s a local burger joint (okay, more than one) that grinds its own burger. I know they use boneless short ribs for part of it, and I think they may use a higher quality cut as well. But of course they won’t tell you. They’re some very tasty burgers, though. I haven’t really experimented with grinding my own and just use ground chuck (80/20) from a local butcher. I don’t really care for grilled burgers, as I prefer the whole patty to have a good even caramelization, which you get with a steel/iron pan on high heat.
Short rib is great. It gives you a very unctuous burger. Lots of beef flavor. Lots of of fat, too. It is quite rich. I haven’t ground my own in awhile, but straight up short-rib is pretty decadent. When I used to have a bit more energy and time (meaning, no kids), I would go for a mix of 50% short rib, and then 25% chuck and 25% sirloin or brisket flat, to have that richness but balance it a little bit. But that gets a little fussy buying three different cuts of beef for a burger. So 100% chuck is the best all-around one-cut burger for me. Though I did do 100% short rib from time to time. (I’ve tried 85-15 ground round, but that cut I find just insipid in terms of flavor. Not even worth cutting into the short rib to decrease the richness. Sirloin I find flavorful, but way too lean on its own for my own tastes. But I’ll take a lean sirloin burger over a slightly fattier ground round burger any day.)
Am I the only person around who cannot stand the texture of less-than-well-done ground beef?
I start with 5 kg mince - usually 50/50 premium (low-fat) and cheap fatty mince.
1 loaf cheap wholemeal bread, turned into breadcrumbs
4-6 large onions, minced
5 large teaspoons minced garlic
5 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
5 vegetable stock cubes
5 teaspoons hot paprika
2.5 teaspoons chilli powder
I mix in batches, using the Kenwood, and a final hand mix of the combined result.
170g patties (6oz), in a 9.5cm ring
Cook in the George Foreman grill, and serve with slaw in a home-made multigrain bun.
Keeps us pretty happy on a Friday night.
For anything less than Prime, I agree. My burgers need to be at least medium well done. But with Prime beef all bets are off. I’ve had some amazing beef tartare over the years.
I know plenty of people who only want medium-well to well done burgers, because that’s the way they’ve always had them. And it’s fine. I know people who want their burgers as rare as they like their steaks, ie rare to medium rare.
Since I don’t grind my own, I stick to medium, which preserves a good bit of the actual beefy flavor for me, but mitigates any health risks. But really, just like anything else, it’s personal preference. And especially on thinner burgers, cooking on a griddle or skillet, you’re more likely to over-cook than under. Which is why the rare burgers upthread were done via SV if I recall correctly.
That sounds like a great meatloaf, in individual servings. But I wouldn’t consider it a “hamburger patty”.
We have a meat grinder so we buy sirloin and chuck roughly 60/40 (not lean, it needs some fat to stick together). We grind it up. We mix some with ground onions and lamb for meatballs and the rest becomes burgers.
You take a handful of meat and turn it into a patty about the size of your palm and press an indentation in the top middle of the meat with your thumbs. Salt and pepper both sides and put it in a pan with a little oil. Fry it it 3-4 minutes on each side.
While it’s cooking you can put a small amount of butter on the flat sides of the bun and put that on pan too for a few minutes. And that’s one tasty burger.
I thought I might trigger the purists … 
The breadcrumbs are a hold-over from when we had to stretch food much further - I would probably do without, but my wife insists. As for the onion and other flavours, that is just personal preference - we wouldn’t cook and add onions to a burger on their own, but we like the taste, so it’s convenient to add to the patty.
Eh, it sounds tasty. I would eat that food item. I just wouldn’t call it a “hamburger”.
I like the 93% ground beef, add flour, garlic, onion powder (or grated frozen onion), olive oil, and worcestershire sauce. Mix it up and slap it down. Throw it on a pre-heated iron skillet and cook like any hamburger patty. Good alone like meatloaf or on a bun with cheese and condiments. When my beer-drinking buddies come over to grill, I just use the 70% ground beef. It doesn’t stick to the grill, and it tastes good, like fast food. Lots of condiments.
I prefer my burgers medium. My wife likes them mooing. I usually end up somewhere in between. Same for other meat cuts.
For me, it depends on the burger. If it’s a really thin patty, I like crispy edges, so that generally means it’s going to be well done or damn well close to it. For thick patties (1/3 lb), it absolutely has to be medium rare, err on the side of too rare.
I was at my folks’ house on Saturday dropping off the dog (we were going to Wisconsin with the kids for the long weekend). My mom says to me “hey, dad went to the Polish store and got some tartar, want some?” Oh, hell yeah. They only sell it on Saturdays, so my breakfast that day was about a half pound of tartare and a few slices of head cheese. Low carb breakfast of champions! (Damn, that stuff is so goddamned good.)
80/20 1/2 lb patties 3/4" thick. Seared on the grill with a fire that needs to be dealt with before it’s too late but not TOO early. Cut off the air and let rest, open air vents, flip, repeat. 1/8" strip of red down the middle is when it’s perfect.
I’m not particularly into burgers but caught this video by J. Kenji López-Alt last summer and tried his technique at least once (perhaps twice?). The video’s a little over 11 minutes, far longer than I’d normally watch a hamburger video but he packs it with useful information about protein structures and soots and grills while also not wandering from the hamburger topic at hand.
TLDW: three ounce patties, smashed flat, 3 ounces each. Salt and pepper the surfaces (only!) and grill over charcoal but keep a keen eye on the progress since they cook fast. I found the double burger with cheese on each a bit too cheesy but folks may disagree. Note the amount of salt he adds to the surfaces to the patties, it’s a lot but its the right amount.
Everyone seems to prefer 1/4 pound burgers but personally I prefer the smaller 1/8 burgers like the ones McDonalds serves as its regular hamburger.
Sometimes I buy the 1/4 pound patties, cut them in half, roll them into a ball, and then smash them into smaller 1/8 patties.
I thought McDonalds used 1/10 pound patties.
Yes, the regular patties are 1.6 oz. For my smashburgers, I like somewhere around the 8-to-1 (pound) to 6-to-1 range, and then just make them a double.
I think you are right.
Though depending how lean the beef is a 1/8 pound patty could cook down to closer 1/10 pound by the time it is well down.