The Perfect Burger ??

twerg_85

If you really want breadcrumbs could you not buy a sliced pan or small bread roll (even a savoury scone) between now and tomorrow ?

F.

the beer revolu

All a good burger needs is beef, salt and pepper.
Keep sauces, onion bread etc for the outside after it's cooked.

jlm29

Dijon mustard...? Yum!

Claude Burgundy

Go to the shop and buy what you need ?

Otherwise a small amount of brown sauce, i never use breadcrumbs just an egg to bind.

Jonti

Teaspoon of crushed garlic
Teaspoon of grated ginger
1 large egg
1 Oxo beef cube
1 onion diced into small pieces
Bread crumbs
pinch of mixed herbs
plain flour.

Yum, Yum

vicwatson

Claude Burgundy wrote: »

Go to the shop and buy what you need ?

Otherwise a small amount of brown sauce, i never use breadcrumbs just or an egg to bind.

FYP;)

No need for breadcrumbs or egg in a burger, don't mind Jamie Oliver !! Just use mince with at least 10% fat for juiciness and salt and pepper. All other flavours go outside the burger imo.

The Hill Billy

As we are just going back over the same tips, I've merged the 'breadcrumbs/sauce' thread with the 'perfect burger' thread.

tHB

Tree

The Hill Billy wrote: »

As we are just going back over the same tips, I've merged the 'breadcrumbs/sauce' thread with the 'perfect burger' thread.

tHB

Needs to be added to the charter:

"nothing actually needs to be added to a beef burger when you're forming them, so whisht the lot of ye"

(seasoning only folks, everything else is overkill (but optional, but certainly not essential))

rubadub

Maybe we need more tips on making & flipping them, I never have trouble with them falling apart and wondered what people do different that they have to resort to binders (though some might like the binders).

I compress the meat really well, some do not like touching meat and seem to make them fairly loosely. It can be messy, I scrape any fat/meat stuck to my palms off with a butter knife and wipe it on a kitchen towel before washing my hands.

I make sure it is pretty well cooked before flipping, you can stick a lid or plate on the frying pan so it sort of steams and cooks the top layer more so it is more set and does not fall apart.

I use a wide spatula for very big ones. On a BBQ I spread the mince out on tinfoil really thin and put it on the BBQ, I wait until it is clearly set and flip the whole thing over with the tinfoil, then peel the foil off.

Subcomandante Marcos

I find the reason most people resort to bonders is because they either use a cut that is too lean and this causes the meat to dry out when cooked so they add bread crumbs to hold moisture or they don't season the meat before forming and don't work the meat enough. and end up loose strands of mince instead of a coherent patty.

Taking the meat out of the fridge for at least 15 minutes before you make the patties and then give a good generous seasoning of salt and pepper and let it sit for 5 or 10 minutes before forming the patties so that the salt can draw some of the proteins out of the meat fibres which will help it bind.

digitaldr

I agree that you need at least 10% fat but the wife won't allow it! So I end up having to use the extra lean 5% stuff and my burgers used to be dense, dry chewy pucks but then I saw Heston Blumenthal's how to cook the perfect burger and got a really good tip - compress the meat as little as possible. I just plop the 500g of mince out of it's pack and cut it into quarters and very lightly flatten them to the desired thickness - end up with squarish burgers!

Then I follow the advice in the post above - lots of salt really helps boost the beefy flavour. Cooking wise a few squirts of spray oil on the pan, preheat until really hot, sear both sides quickly to get a nice char, turn the heat down to half, cover the pan with foil (seal loosely around the edges) and cook both sides until done.

The burgers don't fall apart but I'm often left with a few delicious charred, salty beef crumbs - make a great topping!

I like mine with a bog standard lightly toasted sesame seed bun (brioche and butter = an abomination), some melted cheddar (not too much though), fried onions and Heinz ketchup.

RainyDay

Dont be at yourself wrote: »

I don't add anything to the patties. I make two small balls of mince, place them between two sheets of cling film and squash them down until they're a few millimetres thin. Fry 'em on the pan, stick an easy single in between, and stick it on a sweet, seedless bun. Add a slice of onion, lettuce, ketchup and Mayo, and it's perfect!

Have you considered using cheese?

L1011

RainyDay wrote: »

Have you considered using cheese?

Actual cheese won't melt without significant effort. If you want the melted cheese affect you need processed crap. Long since given up on using good cheese in burgers

katydid

L1011 wrote: »

Actual cheese won't melt without significant effort. If you want the melted cheese affect you need processed crap. Long since given up on using good cheese in burgers

Try swiss cheese.

L1011

katydid wrote: »

Try swiss cheese.

I've used emmenthal, it still lacks the melt and adhesive properties.

katydid

L1011 wrote: »

I've used emmenthal, it still lacks the melt and adhesive properties.

Gosh, that's strange. I use it all the time and it melts fine. You seem to have a particular liking for the "adhesive properties" of what my dad used to call "plastic cheese".... :pac:

Subcomandante Marcos

Lots of the best burger chains in the world use easy singles or "american cheese" on their burgers. It just works better for some reason.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

katydid

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

Lots of the best burger chains in the world use easy singles or "american cheese" on their burgers. It just works better for some reason.

That's NOT a recommendation for cheese or burgers...

Subcomandante Marcos

katydid wrote: »

That's NOT a recommendation for cheese or burgers...

I disagree entirely. So do some of the world's best chefs.

Muahahaha

L1011 wrote: »

I've used emmenthal, it still lacks the melt and adhesive properties.

I found a great trick a few weeks back for getting perfect melted cheese- when cooking the burger a couple of minutes after you've flipped it over place the cheese on top of the patty and then place a small metal bowl upside down to completely cover the burger in the pan. The bowl will fill full of steam and this then melts the cheese perfectly into the meat.

I've never tried it with emmenthal but reckon the method of using steam would melt any cheese due to the high temperatures

Tree

Has to be processed cheese on burgers for me. Easi singles did a mature version for a few weeks, but it seems to have disappeared off the market.
Rare to use unadulterated cheese as it doesnt usually melt right, sometimes it's good for flavour properties.

There's lots of recipes availble to process your own cheese with some extra liquid and some sodium citrate. As soon as shipping drops on the stuff, I'm planning to make some. You should be able to turn a non melting cheese into an easy single.

katydid

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

I disagree entirely. So do some of the world's best chefs.

Some of the world's best chefs endorse McDonalds and Burgerking? Tell me more...

the beer revolu

katydid wrote: »

Some of the world's best chefs endorse McDonalds and Burgerking? Tell me more...

To be fair, he said some of the best burger chains, not the two biggest.

rubadub

Muahahaha wrote: »

n place a small metal bowl upside down to completely cover the burger in the pan. The bowl will fill full of steam and this then melts the cheese perfectly into the meat

I do this too, if you have no bowl or lid for the pan just stick a large plate over it.

katydid wrote: »

Some of the world's best chefs endorse McDonalds and Burgerking? Tell me more...

He never even mentioned McD or BK! it is that many chefs recommend "adhesive melty cheese" for burgers

Heston has a recipe for burger cheese

http://www.insearchofheston.com/2014/05/how-to-make-hestons-perfect-cheeseburger-recipe-from-in-search-of-perfection/

Chefs will also use lots of other things big chains do, like pickles, onion ketchup. I do not like unmelted cheese on burgers, it would seem some places do it on purpose presumably to distance themselves from the likes of mcdonalds, probably a snobby view on the whole thing.

Subcomandante Marcos

katydid wrote: »

Some of the world's best chefs endorse McDonalds and Burgerking? Tell me more...

Well Gordon Ramsey has admitted he loves whoppers so there's one.

But I never mentioned McDonalds or Burgerking, I said "some of the best burger chains" not the biggest. Bunsen, WowBurger, In-n-out, Five guys, and on and on and on all use easy single/american cheese type slices.

Riverireland

Ah no way re the processed cheese!!!! Place the cheese on the bun under the grill to melt it. Even pop it in the microwave on a plate on its own for 10 second stints until it just right. Processed cheese...... What a waste of a burger or a toasty, I could almost weep...

rubadub

Tree wrote: »

Easi singles did a mature version for a few weeks, but it seems to have disappeared off the market.

I got this in tesco just now, loads there, on offer 20 for 2 euro until 24th nov. I had one on a cracker and thought there was very little difference, as did someone else in the house, though we were not tasting the normal ones at the same time.

http://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=289148849

Tree

Oh deadly cheers, we reckoned they were slightly cheesier but with the same properties as our beloved easy single

katydid

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

Well Gordon Ramsey has admitted he loves whoppers so there's one.

But I never mentioned McDonalds or Burgerking, I said "some of the best burger chains" not the biggest. Bunsen, WowBurger, In-n-out, Five guys, and on and on and on all use easy single/american cheese type slices.

Fair enough. I never heard of those, but I'll take your word for it. :-)

I had thought swiss cheese was quite common on American style burgers.