The best cheese for burgers

Uncle_moe

follow this to make the ultimate double double animal style. It's pretty close to the real thing but not quite as good obviously.

http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/07/the-burger-lab-how-to-make-an-in-n-out-double-double-animal-style.html?ref=search

Seaneh

Just on the topic of binding agents and fillers in burgers.

Don't you bloody dare put egg or bread crumb in a burger.

All you need in a burger is beef, salt and pepper. Maybe a small amount of grated onion or some chilli paste or minced garlic or a little cheese if you're feeling fancy.

Take your meat out of the fridge, season it well with salt and pepper, mix it a little with your hands and then just leave it alone for 20 minutes, the meat comes up to room temp, the salt pulls some of the moisture out of the meat and this brings the natural proteins with it, those proteins are all you need to make your burgers bind perfectly.

Form into patties, thinner and wider is always better than thicker. A thick burger will be over cooked most of the way through by the time the centre is cooked, it makes for a ****e burger. A thinner burger can be cooked at a higher heat in a shorter time and still be moist in the middle while achieving really a good millard reaction on the surface, giving you a more flavoursome burger.

If I wanted a 1/2 lb burger I'd always make two thinner 1/4;b patties rather than one fat 1/2 lb patty, they difference is extremely noticeable. The "best" burger places in the US all have one common denominator, they use thin patties.

IN-n-Out, 5 guys, whattaburger, steak and shake, Culvers, etc, they all use thinner 1/2 lb patties than you'd get in the "gourmet" burger places, and to be honest, I'd take a 5 guys or Steak and Shake burger over GBC or any Irish "specialist" burger bar any day.

GoodBridge

Correctamundo. So called "gourmet" burger joints give you a mince ball as if it's a good thing. It's a terrible thing. It sabotages the burger in the same as too many toppings sabotage a pizza (it becomes an open-top pie with mostly steamed toppings... ugh).

I've had fancy burgers in gastro-pubs and even restaurants that were very disappointing even though top-quality ingredients were used. You end up with a big horrible mince ball burger and/or too much bread in a "generously" sized bun and/or too much/little condiments. A burger is about balance. Get it right and it becomes much more than the sum of it's parts. Get it wrong and it's just a plate of stuff.

the beer revolu

Hate burgers that are too thick too.
I reckon no cheese is the best on a burger, though I occasionally go for a bacon cheese burger. Less is more!!

Brian?

In n Out, uses terrible American cheese. I.e. easy singles. I love in n out, it's the place I miss most from the states.

5 guys use the same.

My personal favourite is to melt Provolone on a burger.

GoodBridge

Uncle_moe wrote: »

follow this to make the ultimate double double animal style. It's pretty close to the real thing but not quite as good obviously.

http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/07/the-burger-lab-how-to-make-an-in-n-out-double-double-animal-style.html?ref=search

This is a great article. I think my favourite part is how he comes up with the sauce:

According to the In-N-Out nutrition guideline, replacing the Spread with ketchup results in a decrease of 80 calories per sandwich. I know that ketchup has about 15 calories per tablespoon, so If we estimate that an average sandwich has about 2 tablespoons of sauce on it (that's the amount that's inside a single packet), then we can calculate that the Spread has got about 55 calories per tablespoon (110 calories in two tablespoons of Spread minus 30 calories in 2 tablespoons of ketchup = 80 calories difference in the sandwich). With me so far?

It just so happens that relish has about the same caloric density as ketchup (15 calories per tablespoon), and that mayonnaise has a caloric density of 80 calories per tablespoon. Using all of this information and a bit of 7th grade algebra, I was able to quickly*** calculate that the composition of the Spread is roughly 62 percent mayo, and 38 percent ketchup/relish blend

To calculate the ratio of relish to ketchup, I washed two tablespoons of Spread through a fine mesh strainer, which got rid of the mayo and ketchup, but kept the pickle particles. Two tablespoons of rinsed Spread resulted in 1 teaspoon of strained pickle relish.

So the final Spread formula (rounded to the nearest convenient measure) was: 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons mayonnaise (62 percent), 1 tablespoon ketchup (23 percent), and 2 teaspoons pickle relish (15 percent). Damning the math, I also decided to add a tiny splash of vinegar and pinch of sugar to round out the flavors before moving on to the next phase of the operation.

Bravo

imitation

Seaneh wrote: »

Form into patties, thinner and wider is always better than thicker. A thick burger will be over cooked most of the way through by the time the centre is cooked, it makes for a ****e burger. A thinner burger can be cooked at a higher heat in a shorter time and still be moist in the middle while achieving really a good millard reaction on the surface, giving you a more flavoursome burger.

I agree 100%, one of my favorite burgers is actually a McDonalds Single or double cheese burger, and one of my most maligned and hated is a McDonalds Quarter pounder. I doubt somehow they use different meat in either. I love the peppered flavor you get. I always ask for plain though, the Ketchup is like pure sugar and generally they can be sitting out for up to 20-30 min, but if you ask for plain you get a nice fresh one.

Likewise I hate the impossible to eat giant meat ball you sometimes get in an expensive restaurant, although the larger burgers are much more digestible than the McDs variety.

When I went america I was pretty disappointed with the general quality of junk food, it was awful ! The likes of McDs was bland, salty, very greasy compared to our stuff. Even a high end restaurant had the same problem.

Kevin the Kid

Provolone is an outstanding choice.....great with ranch dressing - counter burger with the shoestring onion rings nom nom nom

Never press a burger when cooking..... it will dry it out and the tasty juice will be lost....... forever.

LoganRice

I think aged cheddar cheese is really tasty on a burger

SweetSand

I always mix beef and pork mince for juiciness and mature cheddar cheese on top, a bit of chopped onions in the mix, just delicious

Kevin the Kid

I was in Bunsen the other night to try their burgers.
It is like a hipsters in-and-out burger- menu is the same. i.e very short - single or double plain or cheeseburger.
The meat was excellent, the cheese was excellent (like american), the bun was excellent - (brioche).

They asked how I liked it cooked. Medium I asked. It came out very rare. - It happens.
The reason I say this is that I have asked for my burger to be cooked medium in many restaurants in Ireland only to be told that "all our burgers are cook 'well done' which is a requirement by European law to protect the consumer". Is this true?

Anyway I'll give it top marks. Its well worth checking out.
I am now torn between bunsen and two other burger makers.

Dial Hard

Kevin the Kid wrote: »

They asked how I liked it cooked. Medium I asked. It came out very rare. - It happens.
The reason I say this is that I have asked for my burger to be cooked medium in many restaurants in Ireland only to be told that "all our burgers are cook 'well done' which is a requirement by European law to protect the consumer". Is this true?

Old thread, but anyway, there's been continual jousting between the likes of Jo'Burger and the HSE for serving burgers cooked anything other than well done. I'm not sure what the specific piece of legislation is, but there's certainly provision there for action to be taken against restaurants serving burgers cooked to order.

kylith

I seem to remember seeing a sign in Eddie Rocket's that all their burgers were cooked medium, and to ask if you wanted it another way.

x43r0

Don't know if it's sold in Ireland but I use this stuff on my burgers and it's magic

Usually make two thin patties and put this in between to melt

StripedBoxers

Whenever I cook cheese burgers, just as soon as the burger is cooked, I take it out, and slice it in half and place a slice of easi-singles cheese and a bit of onion in between the "slices" of burger and then put the two slices of burger back together and put them into the grill for 2-4 minutes and the cheese comes out nice and melted and delicious. Its not the same as the burgers from McDonalds etc. but its lovely all the same.

I don't make the burger mixture myself, I get them from the butchers so I haven't a notion of what goes into them, sorry.

unklerosco

Going a bit OT but I got a mincer attachment for my mixer today with the goal of mincing my own beef for burgers, anybody got any recommendations for cuts of beef that are readily available in decent butchers?

And to keep slightly on topic, a likes a bit of mature cheddar on me burgers.. Aldi Brioche buns, God bless em... burgers haven't been the same since!

GoodBridge

I found a nice melty cheese.



89c in lidl:



it's awesome

GoodBridge

Good news!

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/dermot-desmond-s-sons-to-bring-five-guys-to-ireland-1.2081479

Markcheese

GoodBridge wrote: »

Good news!

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/dermot-desmond-s-sons-to-bring-five-guys-to-ireland-1.2081479

Woohoo burgers for sale in Ireland.. I haven't been this thrilled since I got brought to burger land in cork - aged 4 -

+1 on the pork and beef .dutch Emmental or jarlsberg cheese for your burger -(what the Americans call Swiss)

cookie75

Blue cheese in the burger mixture,only way to go !

Brian?

Has anyone recommended Provolone cheese? Melts beautifully.