Basic Burger Question

"Seamus" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

4) Don't overcook. Good beef can be eaten rare or medium rare. Cooking it
beyond this stage makes it tougher and drier

Only if in step 2 you grind it yourself. Consuming rare GB puts you at
risk of food poisoning otherwise.

But an extremely small risk, only of concern to the dedicated worry-wart.

--
Peter Aitken

Alan S said:

"Day Dreamer" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I recently posted a question in the BBQ neswgroup about burgers sticking
to the grill and received some interesting responses about the way
people make their burgers.

What I usually do, is use lean ground beef (maybe 93%), add some chopped
onion, some breadcrumbs, some A-1 sauce or BBQ sauce or ketchup, a few
spices, maybe some garlic, too. I weigh each one on the food scale to
try and make them all uniform in size (around 5 oz or so) and press them
into perfect little hockey puck looking patties with this little burger
press tupperware do-dad. Cook on George Forman (which come out nicely
but makes a terrible mess) or stovetop in pan, on rare occasion charcoal
grill.

I like mine a little on the pink or rare side, BF lkes his more well
done.

I`m getting a decent burger - but I want a great burger! Curious as to
what advice you fine folks have about burger making. What do you add
INTO your burgers when you`re making them? And does it differ depending
on which cooking method you are going to use - i.e, outdoor grill,
stovetop, George Forman type thing, etc? (I was suprised in the other
group that so many add nothing). The concensus also seemed to be to nix
the breadcrumbs.

I know it`s a pretty basic thing - just making a hamburger - but done
right - it can be fantastic.
Looking forward to any recipes, tips, etc.
Thank you!

A recipe for a truly great burger:

1) Make your bar-b-cue sauce. I have found that an easy, quick way to make
an
amazingly good sauce is get a bottle of cheap bar-b-que sauce for a base and
add the following ingredients to taste:

A squirt of yellow mustard
some Worsteshire sauce (I just shake the bottle a couple of times)
freshly crushed garlic (I usually use 4 or 5 big cloves)
freshly minced onion (around a quarter cup)
Cajun Seasoning or seasoned salt (I don't use much salt so I am light with
this stuff, but
once again, season to taste)
black pepper (I like lots of it)
Tabasco sauce (I use fair amount because I like it hot)
a squeeze of orange juice (if you O.D. on the O.J. it gets to be real tangy
so I usually only use half and orange, hand squeezed)

Make up 2 and a half cups or so and after you have it tasting great, add 1/2
of a cup of Bourbon and a 1/2 of a cup of peach preserves

2) Use 80% to 85% lean beef from a trusted, quality oriented butcher
3) Grab a handful of 1/3 pound or so of meat into your hand and make an
impression into it so you can add stuff to it
4) Add a tablespoon of steak sauce to the burger and sprinkle some
Worsteshire and a drop or 2 of Tabasco sauce into it and mix it up
5) Make patties of your desired thickness gently by hand
6) Lightly dust the patties with a touch of garlic powder, onion powder,
black pepper and seasoned salt
7) Grill until done on a high medium heat, well ashed charcoal fire down
close to the coals. Flip them fairly often because they will burn easily
next to the coals.
8) Add the bar-b-cue sauce to each side at the very end so it doesn't
caramelize or burn

Sometimes I use fresh onion and garlic and mix it in but it tends to
gravitate towards the mini-meatloaf thing when I do that which doesn't
bother me because it still makes a very tasty sandwich. If you only use one
thing for this make sure it's the black pepper. I actually prefer to use a
mortar and pestle to crush up a combination of red, green, white, and black
pepper corns for the best flavor and recommend doing so if you are really
after the greatness but bottom line, pepper is essential for the great
burger. The cooking temp is critical for a good burger and whether you
prefer gas or charcoal, a grill has been the only choice in my experience
simply because of the way it cooks food.

Geeze, with all that glop blended in and poured over you can use Alpo
and wouldn't know any different. A great burger needs nothing but a
great roll... zero, nada, zip... but the ONLY way to achieve quality
burgers, and consistantly, is to grind your own... preground mystery
meat just won't cut it. Of course anyone who would choose to eat
preground mystery meat obviously has their taste in their ass, so a
good burger would be wasted on them... those are fools just like you,
more interested in the condiments than the meat. And regardless the
cooking technique, again it's all wasted on preground mystery meat.
Great burgers begin (and end) with a quality cut of meat (that has
never been frozen), ground yourself (so you'll know with 100% certainty
what/who is in it), and cooked within one hour of grinding... needs
nothing but a bit of s n' p. And meat you grind yourself can *safely*
be cooked as rare as you like.

What's with yoose kitchen kooks, talking burgers but don't own a meat
grinder... you're all sick puppys.

Sheldon

Quoted message said:

Alan S said:

"Day Dreamer" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I recently posted a question in the BBQ neswgroup about burgers
sticking
to the grill and received some interesting responses about the way
people make their burgers.

What I usually do, is use lean ground beef (maybe 93%), add some
chopped
onion, some breadcrumbs, some A-1 sauce or BBQ sauce or ketchup, a few
spices, maybe some garlic, too. I weigh each one on the food scale to
try and make them all uniform in size (around 5 oz or so) and press
them
into perfect little hockey puck looking patties with this little burger
press tupperware do-dad. Cook on George Forman (which come out nicely
but makes a terrible mess) or stovetop in pan, on rare occasion
charcoal
grill.

I like mine a little on the pink or rare side, BF lkes his more well
done.

I`m getting a decent burger - but I want a great burger! Curious as to
what advice you fine folks have about burger making. What do you add
INTO your burgers when you`re making them? And does it differ depending
on which cooking method you are going to use - i.e, outdoor grill,
stovetop, George Forman type thing, etc? (I was suprised in the other
group that so many add nothing). The concensus also seemed to be to nix
the breadcrumbs.

I know it`s a pretty basic thing - just making a hamburger - but done
right - it can be fantastic.
Looking forward to any recipes, tips, etc.
Thank you!

A recipe for a truly great burger:

1) Make your bar-b-cue sauce. I have found that an easy, quick way to
make
an
amazingly good sauce is get a bottle of cheap bar-b-que sauce for a base
and
add the following ingredients to taste:

A squirt of yellow mustard
some Worsteshire sauce (I just shake the bottle a couple of times)
freshly crushed garlic (I usually use 4 or 5 big cloves)
freshly minced onion (around a quarter cup)
Cajun Seasoning or seasoned salt (I don't use much salt so I am light
with
this stuff, but
once again, season to taste)
black pepper (I like lots of it)
Tabasco sauce (I use fair amount because I like it hot)
a squeeze of orange juice (if you O.D. on the O.J. it gets to be real
tangy
so I usually only use half and orange, hand squeezed)

Make up 2 and a half cups or so and after you have it tasting great, add
1/2
of a cup of Bourbon and a 1/2 of a cup of peach preserves

2) Use 80% to 85% lean beef from a trusted, quality oriented butcher
3) Grab a handful of 1/3 pound or so of meat into your hand and make an
impression into it so you can add stuff to it
4) Add a tablespoon of steak sauce to the burger and sprinkle some
Worsteshire and a drop or 2 of Tabasco sauce into it and mix it up
5) Make patties of your desired thickness gently by hand
6) Lightly dust the patties with a touch of garlic powder, onion powder,
black pepper and seasoned salt
7) Grill until done on a high medium heat, well ashed charcoal fire down
close to the coals. Flip them fairly often because they will burn easily
next to the coals.
8) Add the bar-b-cue sauce to each side at the very end so it doesn't
caramelize or burn

Sometimes I use fresh onion and garlic and mix it in but it tends to
gravitate towards the mini-meatloaf thing when I do that which doesn't
bother me because it still makes a very tasty sandwich. If you only use
one
thing for this make sure it's the black pepper. I actually prefer to use
a
mortar and pestle to crush up a combination of red, green, white, and
black
pepper corns for the best flavor and recommend doing so if you are really
after the greatness but bottom line, pepper is essential for the great
burger. The cooking temp is critical for a good burger and whether you
prefer gas or charcoal, a grill has been the only choice in my experience
simply because of the way it cooks food.

Geeze, with all that glop blended in and poured over you can use Alpo
and wouldn't know any different. A great burger needs nothing but a
great roll... zero, nada, zip... but the ONLY way to achieve quality
burgers, and consistantly, is to grind your own... preground mystery
meat just won't cut it. Of course anyone who would choose to eat
preground mystery meat obviously has their taste in their ass, so a
good burger would be wasted on them... those are fools just like you,
more interested in the condiments than the meat. And regardless the
cooking technique, again it's all wasted on preground mystery meat.
Great burgers begin (and end) with a quality cut of meat (that has
never been frozen), ground yourself (so you'll know with 100% certainty
what/who is in it), and cooked within one hour of grinding... needs
nothing but a bit of s n' p. And meat you grind yourself can *safely*
be cooked as rare as you like.

What's with yoose kitchen kooks, talking burgers but don't own a meat
grinder... you're all sick puppys.

Sheldon

Alpo falls apart - you obviously don't know anything at all about cooking
with dog food. You sit there and pontificate about Gaine's burgers? Blech!
EVERYone knows that Gaine's uses their own personally ground meat. The
thought of some idiot dropping his cigar ashes into my dog food as opposed
to buying a perfectly packaged (you know the packaging protects it from
germs and debris) can of Pedigree is disgusting. You REALLY should study up
on your dog food before advising any more puppies (not puppys Sheldon -
details son ... details). Oh, and by the way, that is a very nice sauce if
you ever wanted to actually cook something.

"Alan S" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Alpo falls apart - you obviously don't know anything at all about cooking
with dog food. You sit there and pontificate about Gaine's burgers? Blech!
EVERYone knows that Gaine's uses their own personally ground meat.

Arrrgh... blech!!!!!

--
Muff-So-Soft Shaving Cream
For the smoothest female genitals...
http://tinyurl.com/cwjya

salgud said:

I-zheet M'drurz said:

1/2 lb of about 80% lean ground chuck, ~loosely~ rolled into a ball and
pressed down with a saucer or "side" plate. Should be about 3/8" thick
and 5" wide.

I guess I should have guessed. There's even an exact, correct size for
a hamburger! I used to (yes, used to) have a friend like this. One of
the reasons our friendship ended after about 15 yrs was when we got
together for a barbecue, it had to be at his house because I made the
burgers wrong. They weren't the exact size that he made his burgers to!
I got tired of having to do everything his way. I make my burgers in
varying sizes because.... I might be hungrier one time than the next
and some people there might want a larger burger than others! Wow! But
I keep my eye out for the Burger Police and my ex-friend...

I noticed you said *used* to have a friend. He/she sounds like they
have other issues besides correct burger size. Obviously DH has never
heard of this rule. His patties are huge and not uniform but he pleases
the little ones by making special sized patties just for them. I think
that he makes the ladies' patties smaller as well even though he has
never admitted to it. Most gals can't eat as much as the guys so he is
considerate that way.

Sheldon wrote:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

What's with yoose kitchen kooks, talking burgers but don't own a meat
grinder... you're all sick puppys.

No point owning a meat grinder when our butcher grinds it while you wait 🙂

Quoted message said:

Sheldon

Alan S wrote:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Geeze, with all that glop blended in and poured over you can use Alpo
and wouldn't know any different. A great burger needs nothing but a
great roll... zero, nada, zip... but the ONLY way to achieve quality
burgers, and consistantly, is to grind your own... preground mystery
meat just won't cut it. Of course anyone who would choose to eat
preground mystery meat obviously has their taste in their ass, so a
good burger would be wasted on them... those are fools just like you,
more interested in the condiments than the meat. And regardless the
cooking technique, again it's all wasted on preground mystery meat.
Great burgers begin (and end) with a quality cut of meat (that has
never been frozen), ground yourself (so you'll know with 100% certainty
what/who is in it), and cooked within one hour of grinding... needs
nothing but a bit of s n' p. And meat you grind yourself can *safely*
be cooked as rare as you like.

What's with yoose kitchen kooks, talking burgers but don't own a meat
grinder... you're all sick puppys.

Sheldon

Alpo falls apart - you obviously don't know anything at all about cooking
with dog food. You sit there and pontificate about Gaine's burgers? Blech!
EVERYone knows that Gaine's uses their own personally ground meat. The
thought of some idiot dropping his cigar ashes into my dog food as opposed
to buying a perfectly packaged (you know the packaging protects it from
germs and debris) can of Pedigree is disgusting. You REALLY should study up
on your dog food before advising any more puppies (not puppys Sheldon -
details son ... details). Oh, and by the way, that is a very nice sauce if
you ever wanted to actually cook something.

Excuse me but you are using the wrong tins of food. Our local Chinese
joint makes the best chicken balls out of cat meat and the cats aren't
canned either. Fresh is always better so I'm told 😉 They even have a
sideline business selling the cat fur for Barbie doll clothes. What a
country when you can make so much money while cooking!

Actually it is true this restaurant was caught doing this as sick as it
sounds but in their culture cats and dogs are food. One of their kid's
job was to trap cats. The health inspectors weren't too pleased with
them. It was a big to do here and in all the papers. We won't eat there!

"~patches~" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Actually it is true this restaurant was caught doing this as sick as it
sounds but in their culture cats and dogs are food.

Well, I bet they didn't advertise that fact, did they, so they
knew it was wrong/would not be well received here. Their
culture is no excuse.

Quoted message said:

One of their kid's job was to trap cats. The health inspectors weren't
too pleased with them. It was a big to do here and in all the papers. We
won't eat there!

(laugh) I guess not! They have demonstrated they don't care
what they trick you into eating. Guess what! I don't care to give
you money, happy now?

Well, now I guess I'll have to think of something different for
dinner, suddenly chinese food isn't on the menu.

(smile) nancy

A risk I *might* take on myself, but not my children, wife or guests.
Ever seen what E. Coli can do to a kid ? Not pretty.

Nancy Young said:

"~patches~" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Actually it is true this restaurant was caught doing this as sick as it
sounds but in their culture cats and dogs are food.

Well, I bet they didn't advertise that fact, did they, so they
knew it was wrong/would not be well received here. Their
culture is no excuse.

Quoted message said:

One of their kid's job was to trap cats. The health inspectors weren't
too pleased with them. It was a big to do here and in all the papers. We
won't eat there!

(laugh) I guess not! They have demonstrated they don't care
what they trick you into eating. Guess what! I don't care to give
you money, happy now?

Well, now I guess I'll have to think of something different for
dinner, suddenly chinese food isn't on the menu.

Sorry about that. DH loves Chinese but what happened at this restaurant
really made him leery so I started doing Chinese at home. I make a
pretty good beef & broccoli, stir fry veggies, fried rice, and egg
rolls. I do my own sprouts for stir fry too and chop suey. I did a
nice chicken dish using cubed chicken in a sweet & sour dish but I
couldn't figure out how to do the breading and I don't like breading
anyway. It went over good. So it kind of spurred me into learning
how to cook some Chinese dishes. All was not lost. Funny thing local
people still talk about this place and won't go there either. Only
outsiders eat there so I really don't know how they stay in business.

Quoted message said:

(smile) nancy

"Seamus" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

A risk I *might* take on myself, but not my children, wife or guests.
Ever seen what E. Coli can do to a kid ? Not pretty.

On the other hand, you are almost certainly taking a much
larger risk each and every time you load your wife and
kids up into the family car and take 'em out for a drive...

Bob M.

George said:

Day Dreamer said:

I know it`s a pretty basic thing - just making a hamburger - but

done

Quoted message said:

right - it can be fantastic.
Looking forward to any recipes, tips, etc.
Thank you!

All you need to make great burgers is to use higher fat content beef
and
a grind or two of pepper.

Also the cut of meat, most commercial ground meat is of a lessor
quality. I am reminded of an anecdote about Henry Ford II, CEO of the
automobile company who could never seem to get as good a burger any
where else as he got at his private executive dining room at his
company's headquarters

Eventually the person who wrote his biography got around to contacting
his personal chef and found out the chef used to grind up filet mignon
or perhaps it were sirloin steak, i forget precisely which, to prepare
the 'hamburgers' H. Ford 2 liked.

I once accidentally made a meat loaf with ground sirloin and it was
superb. An Italian restaurant i used to work at made the ground sirloin
burgers and the chef there got rather upset if any one order it well
done, to the point where he would not prepare it well done for his
employees.

On a couple of occasions i have taken Julia Childs advice and added a
lump of blue cheese to the inside of the meat patty, some people like to
take a very lean ground beef and add a lump of herb butter to the
inside.

Some lettuce, a slice of tomato and a bit of cheese with mayo and
mustard and that's all you need IMO though i know a person who makes a
delicious burger using a vinaigrette rather than mayo and mustard on a
French roll.
---
JL

salgud said:

I-zheet M'drurz said:

1/2 lb of about 80% lean ground chuck, ~loosely~ rolled into a ball and
pressed down with a saucer or "side" plate. Should be about 3/8" thick
and 5" wide.

Quoted message said:

I guess I should have guessed. There's even an exact, correct size for
a hamburger!

Yep. A fact obviously lost on you.

Quoted message said:

I used to (yes, used to) have a friend like this. One of
the reasons our friendship ended

Lucky guy!

Quoted message said:

after about 15 yrs was when we got
together for a barbecue, it had to be at his house because I made the
burgers wrong. They weren't the exact size that he made his burgers to!

I'm starting to see some issues here.

Quoted message said:

I got tired of having to do everything his way.

Can we get you a tissue?

Quoted message said:

I make my burgers in
varying sizes because.... I might be hungrier one time than the next
and some people there might want a larger burger than others! Wow! But
I keep my eye out for the Burger Police and my ex-friend...

Geez, and I start with 50 lbs of ground chuck and make 100 of mine
at a time each saturday and sunday at the restaurant, and we get 6.95
each for them and a few fries on the plate, and they are the pefect
size for cooking on an open flame grill. (And they sell right along
side our $24-$30 dinners and $10/dozen wings. Imagine that!)

How fuggin' stupid *are* we???

salgud said:

I-zheet M'drurz said:

1/2 lb of about 80% lean ground chuck, ~loosely~ rolled into a ball and
pressed down with a saucer or "side" plate. Should be about 3/8" thick
and 5" wide.

Quoted message said:

I guess I should have guessed. There's even an exact, correct size for
a hamburger!

Yep. A fact obviously lost on you.

Quoted message said:

I used to (yes, used to) have a friend like this. One of
the reasons our friendship ended

Lucky guy!

Quoted message said:

after about 15 yrs was when we got
together for a barbecue, it had to be at his house because I made the
burgers wrong. They weren't the exact size that he made his burgers to!

I'm starting to see some issues here.

Quoted message said:

I got tired of having to do everything his way.

Can we get you a tissue?

Quoted message said:

I make my burgers in
varying sizes because.... I might be hungrier one time than the next
and some people there might want a larger burger than others! Wow! But
I keep my eye out for the Burger Police and my ex-friend...

Geez, and I start with 50 lbs of ground chuck and make 100 of mine
at a time each saturday and sunday at the restaurant, and we get 6.95
each for them and a few fries on the plate, and they are the pefect
size for cooking on an open flame grill. (And they sell right along
side our $24-$30 dinners and $10/dozen wings. Imagine that!)

How fuggin' stupid *are* we???

Bill said:

Check this out...double click..."The Banzai Burger"...
http://html.redrobin.com/Menu-GourmetBurgers.html

Bill,

Finally tried the Banzai burger for lunch today.

It looked and tasted like a Burger King whopper with some pineapple bits
in it. Soggy and sloppy. Meat patty was only a quarter-pound. I couldn't
taste terraki at all. I could see some pineapple but there wasn't some
in every bite. The tomatoes were cut up and mixed with chopped iceberg
lettuce. It didn't resemble the picture on the menu at all.

Big $8.00 disappointment!

I like the idea and will make a better banzai in my kitchen.

--
Andy

In article <[email hidden]>,

(Day Dreamer) said:

I`m getting a decent burger - but I want a great burger! Curious as to
what advice you fine folks have about burger making. What do you add
INTO your burgers when you`re making them? And does it differ depending
on which cooking method you are going to use - i.e, outdoor grill,
stovetop, George Forman type thing, etc? (I was suprised in the other
group that so many add nothing). The concensus also seemed to be to nix
the breadcrumbs.

After you flip the burger over, add a couple of shots of worcestershire
sauce, then serve with fresh basil leaves.

I've gathered some information and suggestions for a great burger on my
Web site:

http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/bin/show_ingredient.cgi?hamburger

Some burger recipes:

http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/bin/table_of_contents.cgi?burgers

--
Clay Irving <[email hidden]>
Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present
controls the past.
- George Orwell