My (2) New Burger Secrets ... What Are Yours???

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My burger secrets are more about technique. I usually add a medium raw egg to the ground beef. This prevents the pattie from shrinking and helps it retain moisture (makes it juicy and tender). I season simply with salt, and smoke.

This next part may seem heretical to some, but I assure you that it creates a better burger.

Divide each pound of beef (after the egg is mixed in) into four equal portions. Pick up one portion and work it with your hands, gently pressing between you palms, turning slightly while smoothing the sides with your thumbn, until you have a 1/8 inch circle. Repeat this until you have used all of the ground beef. Heat your charcoal grill until the fire is very hot. Place the patties on the grill, leaving about a half inch between them. Cover and open all vents fully. Lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook no more than three minutes per side.

Because they are covered, the intense heat will lock in much of the meat juice. The dripping fat will produce volumes of smoke that become trapped by the lid and help flavor the meat. The burgers cook fast in a covered barbecue as they are both roasted by the hot air, and grilled byu the intense infr-red emanating from the charcoal.

Remove and serve immediatley on your favorite bun and with your favorite condiments.

You can also season the beef in any way. But use the same cooking technique.

This technique works best outside. Using a grill-pan, or heavy cast-iron skillet to duplicate it indoors with smoke up your house.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North :cry:
 
LOL...I have inadvertently done this a number of times. My gas grill only works on scorch right now so I tend to have very well done burgers if I am not careful. I am glad to know that this method is used by others on purpose...it seems to work OK as long as I get the burgers off quickly!
 
I use a mix of one pound sirloin and one pound ground chuck. I make 5 burgers with this. Seasoned with salt,pepper,and onion powder.
 
Wish we could get really fresh meat like Alix, but we always grind our own.

Buy a piece of beef, cut up and remove gristle, and grind in a hand or electric grinder, or use the grinding feature of a KA, or use your food processor (just pulse, and be careful, or you are going to have a pureed mess).

It is IMHO the only way to have ground meat.
 
I may be a little late in jumping in here, but I add a small pat of butter to the center of the patty. Keeps it very moist and yummy. Will harden my arteries and kill me shortly, but what a way to go!
 
could you do the same thing by adding a bit of sunflower Oil , or EVOO to the ground beef before shaping into a pattie? Wouldn't be so hard on the arteries, but should moisten teh meat.

Just a thought. Also, hydrated TVP will add moisture, and improved texture to very lean ground beef. But, contary to what is said by many advertizers, it is not neutral in flavor, and not all that great. It must be used in a ratio of more than two parts ground beef, one part hedrated TVP. Also, I would add either an egg, or egg-white to the mix to bind the ohter ingredients.

TVP works phenominally well in pork breadfast sausage. Just grind your own chicken or pork (as lean as you can get it) and add the TVP as in the ground beef ratio. Add yout spices and you can't tell your healthy sausage from the fatty stuff on the store shelves. :D

Oh, and for those who don't know, TVP stands for textured-vegetable-protien (usually soy, but sometimes gluten).

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North
 
:D Hi....

I season the meat with worchestire, garlic and onion powders and S+P. Don't overwork the meat {it makes it tough, same holds true for meatballs} If I want a treat I will put a small cube of havarti inside seal it well or the cheese will leak out.
 
Burgers

I grind my own hamburger, and if making a burger, I add roasted garlic clove and shallot mushed together into the meat, and add fresh ground multi-colored pepper. I flatten it and put some crumbled gargonzola cheeze and make into a patty. Grill and serve on whatever your favorite bread/roll.



:mrgreen: :LOL: DUCKS #3 in the PAC10, #23 Nationwide
 
In the center of each burger I put a roasted garlic clove and shallot and about 1 tsp of gorganzola. But must make certain to entirely enclose in center or it leaks out. This is my favorite with only thinly sliced raw onions and wasabi mayo on it, sometimes I add grilled mushrooms.

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:roll: GO DUCKS
 
sorry if someone posted this already, but bleu cheese burgers are great. a little splash of worcestershire and some freshly-cracked black pepper and you're good to go!
OOPS! the post before me mentioned gorgonzola. oh, well. can't erase posts on here, so i'll just leave it up. sorry!
 
There are things I do for a juicy flavorful burger.

First, I never use lean meat. Lean meat usually makes for a dry burger, especially if you follow the guidelines and cook your burgers medium well, for safety's sake. I'll use anthing between 70 and 80 percent lean. When cooking, the fat will drain out and leave you with a tender moist flavorful burger. I have a freezer full of 73% lean ground beef. It was on sale, so I bought 25 pounds of it. If you cook it carefully, most of the fat comes out. Did you know that it's the fat that gives meat its flavor? Without the fat, you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between pork and beef in a blind taste test.

Second, I shape them into a pizza shape. In othe words, I make the edges thicker than the center. Helps the patty cook evenly.

Third, the smoother you make the surface, the juicier the inside will be. If you are careless and leave cracks in the patty, these cracks will allow too much moisture to escape. You end up with a drier burger.
 
PsiGuy, you know your burgers. You are a burger making king. The only thing I do different, is that as I am forming the patty, I turn it with each pressing and firm the edges with my left thumb to produce a uniform edge. I also turn the patti about an eith of a turn with each pressing until I get teh burger flattened properly and slightly thinner in the center.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North
 
Goodweed of the North said:
PsiGuy, you know your burgers. You are a burger making king. The only thing I do different, is that as I am forming the patty, I turn it with each pressing and firm the edges with my left thumb to produce a uniform edge. I also turn the patti about an eith of a turn with each pressing until I get teh burger flattened properly and slightly thinner in the center.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

I think I get what you're saying. Pretty much what I do, I think. I form my patties as though I were turning a steering wheel, but I firm up the edges of the patty with the palm of my left hand and use my thumbs to put pressure in the center to make it thinner.

BTW, when I grill them, I use a lot of charcoal. The hotter the fire the better. I love it when the outside of the burger is well seared. I use my Weber kettle, so there is no problem with flare ups. I season twice. I season the outside just before cooking and I find I need to season again while cooking because a lot of the seasoning washes out with the dripping fat.

The perfect burger is when it drips down my chin when I bite into it.

Oh yeah. I forgot one thing. When the beef is really lean, such as when I find buying better than 80% lean beef is cheaper, I add water to the ground beef. Lean ground beef needs the extra moisture. I add about 1/4 Cup of cold water to a pound or two of lean ground beef. If you add too much water, the patties will fall apart.

I don't add anything else to the beef. I don't want anything but salt and pepper on it. I just love that beefy flavor.
 
Psiguyy said:
Goodweed of the North said:
PsiGuy, you know your burgers. You are a burger making king. The only thing I do different, is that as I am forming the patty, I turn it with each pressing and firm the edges with my left thumb to produce a uniform edge. I also turn the patti about an eith of a turn with each pressing until I get teh burger flattened properly and slightly thinner in the center.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

I think I get what you're saying. Pretty much what I do, I think. I form my patties as though I were turning a steering wheel, but I firm up the edges of the patty with the palm of my left hand and use my thumbs to put pressure in the center to make it thinner.

BTW, when I grill them, I use a lot of charcoal. The hotter the fire the better. I love it when the outside of the burger is well seared. I use my Weber kettle, so there is no problem with flare ups. I season twice. I season the outside just before cooking and I find I need to season again while cooking because a lot of the seasoning washes out with the dripping fat.

The perfect burger is when it drips down my chin when I bite into it.

Oh yeah. I forgot one thing. When the beef is really lean, such as when I find buying better than 80% lean beef is cheaper, I add water to the ground beef. Lean ground beef needs the extra moisture. I add about 1/4 Cup of cold water to a pound or two of lean ground beef. If you add too much water, the patties will fall apart.

I don't add anything else to the beef. I don't want anything but salt and pepper on it. I just love that beefy flavor.

I know whatcha mean! If the meat is very lean, I also will add an egg-white to the raw meat and work it in. This helps it hold together and adds virtually no flavor. The burgers shrink less and hold their moisture better as well. And when grilling, like you, it's the Webber Covered Kettle with lots of charcol. There is no substitute, unless camping and cooking over an open fire. :D Then, you just gotta havae a good cast-ioron pan, or one of those grills that csose over the food so you can flip in over the food, grill and all.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North
 
I think I like your egg white addition better than my using water. At least it will help hold the burger together just that much better and more protein won't hurt.
 
I've tried a few different things, and never really have yet perfected a good burger. Laurie, my other half, likes to use Broiled Steak Seasoning on the burgers, and cook them until done.

If I'm going all out, some a couple strips of bacon, some sauteed onions, then melted cheese, lettuce, pickles, ketchup & mustard on a toasted bun are what I do.
 
I like to mix italian dressing to my hamburger meat, and season with onion and/or garlic salt, and cracked pepper before grilling. The hamburgers have a great flavor.
 
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