Your Best Burger

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

What is your best beef burger recipe? In a few days, when I go back to my daughter's house, I want to make her and her husband burgers better than Five Guys. My limitation isor I only have a stove top, with a cast iron pan, orthe oven/broiler to works with. What is your recommendation for ground beef, as in ground chuck, ground sirloin, ground round?

The burger can be stuffed, or not. They can also e seasoned But I'm not making Salisbury steak, or a meatloaf burger. I want this to be a proper burger.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[Rocklobster]

Many places swear by a combination of chuck and brisket..I think the fat content should be at about a medium ground...I have had the good fortune of having access to large amounts of steak trim from rib eye and strip loin for years so I add that..Not sure if you have grinding capabilities, but if you know a butcher they may be able to sell you trim before it goes in their grinder. Then do an 80-20 mix..we only add a bit of salt and garlic powder to our burgers at the deli..Then I sprinkle some pepper on the while they are cooking..
I have decided that I prefer the small, soft supermarket burger buns..more gourmet style buns can be too hard, which can cause all of your ingredients to go squishing out the back end(did I just type that?) when you bite into it.. The mechanics are just as important to the over all experience.
Like my pizza, I just like classic toppings so you can enjoy the flavour of the simple ingredients

 

[WhateverYouWant]

I'm not a half pound burger guy. I like my burgers to fit the bun, about 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick when cooked. This is usually just under 1/3 pound raw.

I grind both chuck and sirloin, about 60/40 mix. Mix it carefully by hand and don't over work... you want to keep that shaggy fresh ground texture.

Get your cast iron rippin' hot, and get something substantial to press the loosely formed patty (seasoned on both sides generously with kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper) into the pan (I use a bacon press). Add a little high temp oil and smash it down hard so the diameter is slightly wider than the bun. Cook to the temp of your choice... I don't like burgers with a lot of pink so that is usually 2-3 minutes per side.

When you flip you should have a beautiful seared crust on the flipped side. Smash the flipped burger down again (a little lighter force this time so it is the same diameter of the bun), and then immediately add cheese. Cook for a couple more minutes to perfection.

As for fixins, my two favs are:

1.) Good American cheese, iceberg lettuce leaves, fresh ripe tomato slice (if you can get it), white onion slice* (preferably Maui), mayo, ketchup, and DelMonte sweet relish, on a toasted onion bun.

2.) Jack cheese, mayo, shredded iceberg, chopped onions*, VeryTeriyaki teriyaki sauce (or a good, fairly sweet home made one), and fresh, ripe slice of pineapple on a toasted whole wheat or King's Hawaiian bun.

Really sweet well caramelized onions are also a great substitue on both of these.

 

[Vinylhanger]

Well, if Five Guys is your goal, shouldn't be too hard.

That being said, we just buy whatever is on sale. Salt, pepper and smash them.

Burgers are easy. Hard to make a bad one.

 

[taxlady]

DH puts a bit of salt, about 1 tsp of liquid smoke, and 1/4 tsp of baking soda in our burgers. Sometimes he adds some garlic powder. He mixes up about 500 grams (approximately a pound) of ground beef with the above. The baking soda makes them brown faster and more. These are really good.