Describe your perfect hamburger. Not from a fast food joint, but cooked at home.
Fried, baked, grilled, barbecued, boiled (Boiled?!) microwaved, whatever.
Mine is thus:
1/2 pound of ground meat.
Mix in a bowl with a dash of Accent, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
Flatten into two 1/4 pond patties.
Slice a big piece of raw red onion and place between the two patties along with a slice of cheese.
Put the patties together and pinch the edges to contain the juices.
Drink a beer.
Broil until you’re happy.
Slightly toast an English muffin, and slather (love that word) with margarine.
Put the meat on the bun with whatever condiments you like. (Me? I like tomato, lettuce ketchup,
and pickle relish.
Scarf! (with a beer)
Chase with the rest of the beer.
I love burgers cooked on the grill, especially if there’s some wood to throw in with the charcoal. Gas grills are easier to operate, but charcoal grills give a better flavor. If I don’t feel like firing up the grill for a patty or two, though, I’ll panfry the burger. I prefer chuck, about 80/20, and I usually only season with a little garlic or onion powder, plus either salt or hickory smoked salt or Worcestershire. If the meat is of good quality, I prefer to taste the meat. Sometimes I panfry some onion and/or mushroom slices, too. Sometimes I top with some cheese. Generally I don’t put the burger on any sort of bread, because I have to limit my carbs per day and per meal. When I do choose bread as my carbs, I prefer hamburger buns, with some mustard and mayo, and either pickle relish or sliced dill pickles.
-Meat, with stuff added before bbqing, or not, because I have yet to meet a homemade hamburger patty I didn’t like but I do prefer a bit of spice to it so I guess at least add some jalapenos in there.
-grilled buns and again I’m not picky
Then add condiments.
-bacon
-pineapple
-pickles
-tomato
-red onion
-fat slice of chedder
-bbq sauce
It should be too tall for me to put in my mouth so that I have to mush it down. This ensures all the flavors mix nicely.
80/20 chuck, mixed 75/25 with hot or sweet Italian sausage. 1/3 pound patties, dimpled in the middle. Patties seasoned with a little salt and fresh black pepper. Cooked medium to medium well and served on a sesame-seeded roll, garnished with mustard, relish, diced onion and perhaps a touch of BBQ sauce. Served with fries and a cold beer.
80-20 chuck or fatter. Freshly ground if possible. Ground short ribs are fantastic, too. No filler, no onions mixed in, nothing like that. (Although I have burger variants I enjoy with various spices, onions, garlic, etc mixed in. Still, this is for my perfect classic hamburger.) Loosely formed patties (just pack it enough so it holds together into shape, no more–this light, airy texture is key to a perfect classic hamburger.) Generous kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper on the outside. If I’m doing it on the grill, then form a 1/2 pound patty and grill to medium rare, no further. Indoors? Blazingly hot cast iron pan with a 1/4 pound or thinner patty (these usually end up on the side of medium or medium well due to their thinness.) Melt muenster, cheddar, Maytag blue or Stilton on the patty.
Serve with pickle slices, onions, mustard, ketchup on bun of choice (nothing too thick and substantial. Light, fluffy buns are preferred.)
edit: Oh, and if feeling decadent, top with a fried egg, with a runny yolk, of course.
I’ve been on a bleu cheese binge lately, so mine is the same as ouryL, but with bleu cheese crumbles, no mustard or mayo. Maybe a slice of beefsteak tomato.
Bison or beef, coated with Dizzy Pig’s Raising the Steaks seasoning (like Montreal, only better), grilled medium-rare. Topped with blue cheese crumbles, sauteed mushrooms, and crispy bacon. Perfection requires a bun with the split inside toasted in butter, but I don’t really eat bread anymore except special occasions. On the side, a caprese salad with fresh mozzarella, and sliced tomatoes and basil fresh from the garden.
Ground beef, 80/20 is about right, and 4/10 of a pound (my store usually has packages about 1.2 pounds, which I divide into thirds).
Form into a patty (slightly thicker around the edge so that when it swells during cooking, it comes back to a uniform thickness).
A little salt and pepper just before it goes into a pre-heated skillet. 4:15 each side. DON’T press down to get that sizzling noise, all that’s doing is squeezing out the juice and will make the burger dry. While it’s cooking, prepare the condiments.
Drain, and assemble. From the bottom up; bun, burger, ketchup, dill pickle slices, thin slice of onion, shredded lettuce, bun.
I have been grilling burgers silenus style for a couple of years. I prefer mine with brown mustard, dill slices, lettuce, tomato and red onion on a lightly toasted Kaiser roll
Another 80/20 or 75/25 fan. No bullshit to make it into a meatloaf. Lightly formed into a patty. Salt, pepper, fry on a blazing hot skillet until medium. Condiments of choice on a ciabatta roll. I recently had a killer burger right here in my neighborhood at one of the ubiquitous food carts. It had pancetta on top of it and was out of this world. I have to go back and see what it is they put on there, as it was a perfect flavor blend of condiments.
Thanks, everyone. You’ve posted some great recipes!
One thing I forgot to add to mine: A slice or two of red beets (out of the can)
I could live on burgers, fries and beer. Probably not for very long, but what a life while it lasted!
My one taste sacrifice goes into the fat quotient – yes, 80/20 tastes slightly better, but I go with 93% lean. The taste is close enough and this is a lot healthier.
So then – Hal’s Burgers of Awesomeness™
One pound of 93% chop meat
About a 1/4 cup of finely minced onion
Four good shakes of McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning
Two shakes of Bacon Salt
Mix it all up very thoroughly, make a big-ass burger for me, a medium one for my wife and a little one for my daughter. Grill to perfection, top with mozzarella cheese. Enjoy with a beer. Burp massively.
I’ve had to cook two burgers three times a week for 25 years, so I can’t really share the Joy of Burgers here. A BK Whopper is my favorite fast food, though. (tried duplicating it at home, it’s always just OK). When I crave a burger, I have a few Doritos Late Night Cheeseburger flavor.
My preference is a burger done outdoors on the grill or over a campfire, but where I live now, that’s not practical, so I use a hot, cast iron skillet.
80/20 ground chuck, about 1/3 pound loosely formed, kosher salt, cracked black pepper and a little garlic powder on the outside, cooked all the way through if the meat is commercially ground, slightly pink in the middle if I do it at home and a slice of smoked greyere cheese on top.
Grilled whole grain bun, a little brown mustard (with no horseradish in it), grilled onions and baby portabella mushrooms loaded just high enough to be messy. Mmmmmm!
80/20 ground chuck, 1/3 lb. slightly shaped with a dimple in the center. Salt a very hot cast iron skillet, pepper the patty, cook to medium rare, add a slice Land of Lakes white on it. Place this goodness on a toasted ciabatta roll, with a two pieces of iceberg lettuce, slice of beefsteak tomato, and some Trader Joe’s mayo.
Thomas’ discontinued their sandwich size muffin around these parts. I’m really pissed, so I no longer buy any of their products.
Anyway, I no longer trust ground beef.
I saw this PDF on America’s Test Kitchen a while ago and it was quite good.
