Cooking your best burger


 
Rich Dahl said:
Barb is the burger queen in our house, she is always experimenting with new ideas and methods. Grilled or griddle, stuffed or not, smoked or no smoke, to just plain old 80/20 chuck roast grind cheese burgers. We have lots of fun trying new ideas.
I now wait for Chuck roast on sale and have it coarsely ground, makes super good burgers.
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There was a time when one could buy whole sirloin tips (back in the 90s) for 99 cents a pound. Many times, I have had them cut up into cube steak, stew meat, and had the butcher grind up the scraps for burgers. However, meat prices got so high, I stopped buying tips. I need to get back into that routine since prices are more reasonable now.
 
Phil Perrin said:
Seasoned with either SPOG or Weber's burger seasoning.
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Salt, pepper, onion, garlic?

I'll have to try a sample of Weber's burger seasoning. As a rule, I've soured on pre-packaged spice mixtures because many of them have a strong hint of either sage or rosemary.
 
Phil Perrin said:
Wayne, I've been grinding my own with the KA grinding attachment for 3-4 years. Will NOT go back to preground meat from the grocery store! I use a sirloin, chuck, short rib mixture. About a pound of each per batch. Seasoned with either SPOG or Weber's burger seasoning.
And a free formed burger is a thing of beauty! I might use a measuring cup to get them equal, but I form them by hand for that, well, hand formed look! ;)
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Sounds like a great mix. I think I need to go to Phil's place for a burger.:D
 
Made the best burgers I have ever made and probably one of the top I have ever eaten last week.

I purchased just over a pound of 90/10 grass feed ground beef then around 1/4 pound of 80/20 regular ground chuck. I also picked up some thick slices bacon and a sweet onion.

I mixed the meat and rolled it into 5 - 1/4lb balls. I cooked the bacon to get it ready to go and sliced the onion into thick slices.

I cooked on my Kamodo grill with a soapstone cook top. I got the grill going as hot as I could get it, done temp was like 700, I imagine the soapstone was at least that hot. I threw the onion slices on the soapstone and cooked them until they were translucent then removed them and let the soapstone get back to temp.

Then put the hamburger balls on the grill and smashed them down into a patty, salt and pepper on the top side and cooked for maybe 2 minutes on the first side then flipped them. After maybe 2 minutes I put on the bacon, cooked onion slices and a thick piece of sharp chedder cheese. I let them cook for around another minute then moved them off the direct heat to indirect heat until they probed at around 140. I buttered some potato buns and gave them a quick toast on the soapstone.

Burger on the bun...... deliciousness!!!
 
Wayne Ficklin said:
I'm starting to get the idea that I need to grind my own. Any recommendations on a grinder?
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I'd like to help but I'm using a 1970s Montgomery Ward grinder that was given to us by my father-in-law, so I have no idea what the new stuff is like. If Mrs. Wayne is a baker you could get a nice KitchenAid mixer that has a PTO for things like grinders, but they're not particularly cheap.
 
I'm surprised there's been almost no mention of proper portioning. Everything else I do with the burgers varies with the batch, but I ALWAYS weigh the portions so they're all the same size and will cook at the same rate. I always go with a 5 oz. patty. When I first started doing this the family thought I was nuts, but they've eaten enough of my burgers to know there must be something to my method.

I prefer using Montreal Steak seasoning. For a while I had trouble finding it and had to use Weber. I don't like the Weber as well. Unlike some of the purists here, I prefer a more heavily seasoned burger. I'll usually lightly dust one side with ground chipotle, then fairly liberally sprinkle on the Montreal Steak, being sure to pat it in so it doesn't fall off. Sometimes I sprinkle on some Worcestershire. The other side gets just Montreal steak.

I vastly prefer fresh to frozen and ground chuck to anything else, though I'm not religious about these. Sometimes frozen Costco 85/15 is what's available. Some of the best burgers I've ever made were from chuck I "ground" myself in the food processor. You really end up with lots of tiny pieces of solid meat rather than something that's been extruded. The burger has a very different tooth feel that I rather like. Kind of a cross between a normal burger and a steak. That ends up being a lot of work though so I don't do it very often.
 
Jay makes a good point. I recently been using a Weber patty maker. One side does 1/4 lb patty's and the other side does 1/2.
I used to always do hand formed patty's and they varied in size and cooking time. Now there all the same size and cook at the same time.:)

Tim
 
If I'm making 2, 4, or 8 burgers I usually just eyeball everything to get burgers that are pretty similar in weight. Any other quantity, though, and the scale comes out of the cupboard.
 
Wayne Ficklin said:
Sizzle-Q is arriving today. I'm going to have a go at smash burgers on the Redhead Genesis this evening. Sorry to dredge up an old post, but it was an informative read.
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Hi Wayne! Glad you dredged up this old thread. Every time I read these boards, I learn something new. I love this thread.

Recently I stopped adding salt to my burgers until they're on the grill. I got this notion from Serious Eats, and I swear my burgers are better for it now. Basically, I grind my own ahead of time and season with nothing but black pepper in the grind. I add a bit of salt on each burger before and after the flip.

I have no doubt that yours are top notch.
 
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Before I started, I took about 10 minutes and "sharpened" my spatula w/ 600 grit water stones. That was pretty slow, so I eventually resorted to the coarse diamond stone I have. I got about halfway to where I wanted to go, but there's 6 of us and momma bear was starting to get hungry.

I lightly seasoned (Weber Gourmet Burger) 60-65-ish gram (a little more than 2oz) balls and put them on the griddle, seasoned side down. After I got all that would fit on, I smashed them, ...which took longer than I expected since I wasn't accounting for the time it takes to get the patty to release from the spatula. (I've seen recommendations for wax paper, but I wasn't prepared for that on this cook.) At the flip, I seasoned lightly with salt and fresh ground pepper. (I should've coarsened the grind a bit.) I flipped earlier than I should've on the first few and didn't get the browning/crust I wanted.

I think my mistake was in not getting the griddle hot enough. (I read littlegriddle's documentation and they suggest the lowest heat possible to get the job done. Everywhere else recommends just shy of nuclear.) I didn't get the caramelization/browning I wanted, but there was really good flavor. The later ones managed to get some good crust, although only one side. I'll need to experiment on technique here I guess.

In all, it was a bit of work for a good burger with a good bit of clean-up I'm not used to when the grease pan on the grill just catches all this stuff that I eventually had to clean out of the griddle. I've already read some suggestions on the cleanup part so maybe I can get a little better on that aspect. I'll be doing it again with improvements from the lessons learned. Also, I need to make sure my grill is level. The griddle makes it pretty obvious when its not level.
 
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I’ve been grinding my own for a few years. 5 parts chuck roast and 1 part pork belly is the current formula. I started out at 50-50 using bacon (like Slater’s). Bacon overpowered the beef so I switched to pork belly. Where I’m at now yields a juicy burger that’s forgiving to cook.

I’m currently experimenting with single vs. double grind. I weigh the patties, 5.5oz, a tad more than 1/3 of a pound. I also use a press. The uniform size and shape simplify cooking. I know some chefs say to minimally handle and not compress the ground beef. I’ve tried it both ways and taste no difference in the final product.

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Its been a burger smashing season this year! Home ground 80/20 chuck for the most part. usually use my 22" Blackstone or my discada for smash burgers. Last night I had to do a combo. Propane hose popped a leak for the Blackstone. So being lazy and not wanting to get out the discada I set up my discada burner with the Blackstone top. Worked great! Homemade buns I made the day before, good stuff!

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I have two burgers that consistently kill it with the critics:

1. Maple-bacon-cheddar burger. SPOG plus 1/4 cup per pound of real maple syrup. Fry some bacon and melt some Vermont extra sharp cheddar.

2. Lamb burgers stuffed with spinach and feta.

I do these on my Kettle with either the Slow N Sear or the Vortex charcoal basket. I prefer the Vortex since it has a higher searing temp, but it's a smaller direct area so if I'm doing more than 4 burgers I go for the SNS.
 
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