Lets talk about Burgers

Muahahaha

Muahahaha wrote: »

Also got a packet of their Tesco Finest Potato Rolls which Ive yet to try. But am wondering is a potato roll the same as an Amish one that Bunsen use?

Finally got around to trying these Tesco Finest potato rolls last night and I have to say they are very nice and similar to what Bunsen use. Lovely flavour and texture on them and they hold their structure very well and dont get sloppy. They're twice the price of other burger buns but think I'll stick with them from now on as Ive become a bit tired of brioche

shadowmouse

One thing that I think is really important, but most people overlook, is burger construction. You should take advantage of waterproof layers to prevent the buns from getting soggy. You should also use condiments to help keep things in place, like glue.

Primarily, you have 2 waterproof layers- cheese and lettuce. At least one of these needs to go under the patty, to catch the juices. I flip flop over which I prefer, though atm, I like lettuce because the grooves and concavity helps catch those juices.

Then, on top of the burger, you should go alternating condiment/topping. This way, everything is held together. Flat, wide toppings should go first to provide a better base for the stuff on top. Finally, the cheese should then be melted to the top bun. Something like

-Top bun
-Cheese (melted on to top bun)
-Onions (sliced into short strands and not rings)
-ketchup
-pickles
-mayo
-tomato
-mustard
-patty
-lettuce
-bottom bun

This way, your burger retains integrity- it doesn't fall apart in your hands. The buns (properly toasted, of course) retain their crunch and texture, and all the toppings stay on the burger. The condiments are spread out among the toppings so there is more surface area for them to adhere to, preventing the dreaded sauce drip.

That, to me, is a perfectly constructed burger.

Muahahaha

All good points, construction is important. I always go with mayo, lettuce & onion on the bottom with then cheese melted into two pattys. I top that with about six chopped up pieces of crisped streaky bacon pressed into the melted cheese so it stays there. Then some relish on the top bun. Sometimes a couple of jalapenos on top of the bacon too, its nice to get that kick of heat out of a couple of bites of the burger.

tolow

Hi All,

Gonna make some burgers tonight and was planning on heading to the butchers to get some meat minced. What is the best cut to ask for?

Cheers!

Muahahaha

Not sure how well stocked your butcher is but if he can make you up a mince of both chuck steak and short rib in a proportion of about 70/30 that will make for a delicious burger. It might be something he needs a day or twos notice on though.

The chuck is really beefy and the short rib fatty and combined in those proportions will deliver a mince with about 25% fat. Dont be afraid of the fat, burgers are supposed to be indulgent so avoid any lean minces with 4% fat.

the beer revolu

tolow wrote: »

Hi All,

Gonna make some burgers tonight and was planning on heading to the butchers to get some meat minced. What is the best cut to ask for?

Cheers!

Make sure you don't get round steak.
Pretty much anything else will be ok.

martinr5232

When i make burgers i go about 60/40 beef mince and pork mince they are lovely and moist. As was said above you dont want low fat content lower the fat content the drier the burger will be.
Another thing i do is smoke my burgers low and slow for an hour then sear them. Best thing to do is play around with them adding different ingrediants till you find what works.

odyssey06

Has anyone tried these Wagyu Irish beef burgers from Super Valu?
Just stumbled on them on the website, 2 burger pack of 320 Grams for €5.00.

rubadub

odyssey06 wrote: »

Has anyone tried these Wagyu Irish beef burgers from Super Valu?

https://shop.supervalu.ie/shopping/product/1611490000

this is €15.63 per kg and it does not tell you the cut, so probably the worst bits. For that money you could be buying aged steaks and making your own.

Seems a bit of a gimmick to me, so people think they are being fancy eating wagyu beef, they have made their wagyu steaks and now just charging a premium for the leftovers on the carcass.

I have seen guys on youtube making wagyu burgers but are usually making htem from premium cuts like ribeye. They are also often cooking them rare which would not be advised for these premade ones minced many days ago.

They are 20% fat which is a good amount so I have no doubt they would be nice, but imagine for a tenner a kilo you would not tell the difference, and for the same €15.63 you might get better burgers from non-wagyu beef.

I'd keep an eye out for them in the reduced section when/if they don't sell!

Muahahaha

Yeah they seem pricey for what they are but if I come across them I'll give them a try for the novelty value.

Had one of Lidls deluxe Angus burgers with chilli cheese melt last night. Only picked them up on impulse as they were discounted to 2 euro for a pack of 2 x 200g burgers. Thought they would be decent but it was really poor flavourless meat, I wouldnt be bothering with it again. Aldis rib steak burgers with cheese on top were decent the couple of times I tried them.

The Nal

Back from FXB. Have some nice fatty brisket and chuck to mince up later. Will make sure theyre cold enough this time as opposed to the last time when they turned out like the slime from Ghostbusters 2.

Edit - OK they worked out great. Very very nice. So much nicer than any store bought or just standard mince. No comparison really.

Also discovered that the reason the last batch turned to mush was because Im an idiot and had the blade attachment on backwards.

Muahahaha

Are you using a dedicated mincer or one attached to a stand mixer? Mince from different cuts is much better than regular supermarket mince, theres a noticable difference in flavour.

The Nal

Muahahaha wrote: »

Are you using a dedicated mincer or one attached to a stand mixer? Mince from different cuts is much better than regular supermarket mince, theres a noticable difference in flavour.

Dedicated mincer/meat grinder. Yeah theres no comparison with the taste. Couldn't go back to normal mince now.

RasTa

odyssey06 wrote: »

Has anyone tried these Wagyu Irish beef burgers from Super Valu?
Just stumbled on them on the website, 2 burger pack of 320 Grams for €5.00.

Tried the British ones last night, was alright. £3 over here. A lot of fat came out, burger was still pink in parts which doesn't bother me. Not worth a fiver anyway

No seeded Brioche buns all week

Muahahaha

A tip that might be worth trying

No thick burgers
Don’t insult your guests by serving them thick burgers. Christian Stevenson, author of The Burger Book, has seen a huge uptick of people cooking his smashburgers: thin patties squashed down on to the heat with a spatula. “I’m so over thick burgers”, he says. “I tried to make thick burgers for my kids, and they’re like: ‘I want McDonald’s, dad.’ So I thought: ‘Why don’t I do thin patties but double, triple, quadruple them up like at McDonald’s, so my kids eat them?’.” Smashburgers require cooking fast and on the hottest surface possible. Stevenson recommends brushing a little American yellow mustard on one side of the burger, then flipping it over and cooking it in. “The yellow mustard hack will take your burger to the upper echelons of tasty town”, says Stevenson.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jun/22/chefs-top-10-barbecue-tips-cook-meat-fish-veg-lockdown-rules

The Nal

The Nal wrote: »

Dedicated mincer/meat grinder. Yeah theres no comparison with the taste. Couldn't go back to normal mince now.

Brisket (40%), chuck (40%), pork chop (10%) and short beef rib (10%).

Blacktie.

Just curious for people who do grind their own mince does cost of meat go up considerably? Wonder as mince seems to be one of the lowest price meats to get. I know the quality is probably considerably higher doing it yourself but looking at the price of steaks etc. it would appear your costs would also greatly rise. Please correct me where I'm wrong here and convince me to get a meat grinder

rubadub

Blacktie. wrote: »

Just curious for people who do grind their own mince does cost of meat go up considerably?

You would not be putting in ribeyes or fillet, most will also want 20% fat or more for the mix so that could bring it down.

If you want to experiment you could try cutting up your own really finely, it would be time consuming but let you know if getting a mincer is worth it.

The Nal

Blacktie. wrote: »

Just curious for people who do grind their own mince does cost of meat go up considerably? Wonder as mince seems to be one of the lowest price meats to get. I know the quality is probably considerably higher doing it yourself but looking at the price of steaks etc. it would appear your costs would also greatly rise. Please correct me where I'm wrong here and convince me to get a meat grinder

A kilo of 18% fat mince in Tesco is €4.

Above weighed 1.1kg (enough for about 8 burgers) and cost about 7 quid but fat content would've been well over 30%. Maybe more and much much more taste in the patty.

Meat grinder also great for hotdogs/sausages and meat sauces. Bolognese will never be the same again. You can make steak tartare, meatballs etc too.

TheKBizzle

Do you grind that just once or twice for uniformity?

The Nal

TheKBizzle wrote: »

Do you grind that just once or twice for uniformity?

Thats ground once above. I ground another batch twice but it went a little too uniform and mushy. Started with the wrong size fixture though, too small.

Above, it mixed very well when you start handling it so you don't really get any fatty random bits.

Muahahaha

The Nal wrote: »

Dedicated mincer/meat grinder. Yeah theres no comparison with the taste. Couldn't go back to normal mince now.

The Nal wrote: »

Brisket (40%), chuck (40%), pork chop (10%) and short beef rib (10%).

That looks class Nal, although I shouldnt be licking my lips at the sight of raw mince I am actually licking my lips

Whats your routine, would you mince a kilo to get 8 burgers and then cook a couple and freeze the rest? I had thought of getting my own mincer before but havent because of the whole thing of having too many kitchen gadgets. But that picture is quickly convincing me

Muahahaha

Blacktie. wrote: »

Just curious for people who do grind their own mince does cost of meat go up considerably? Wonder as mince seems to be one of the lowest price meats to get. I know the quality is probably considerably higher doing it yourself but looking at the price of steaks etc. it would appear your costs would also greatly rise. Please correct me where I'm wrong here and convince me to get a meat grinder

I think it depends on the butcher really. The odd time I get burger mince made up in the Village Butcher in Ranelagh, I dont live anywhere near it so its only if Im in Dublin for other reasons and have time to swing by on my way home. I order 70% chuck and 30% beef short rib for which he charges me a tenner a kilo. Then a few months back I ordered the exact same mix from my local butcher and he charged me 14 euros a kilo, when he went to set the price on the till I could tell he was just pulling it out of his arse.

Its funny the way the cheaper cuts can work. Years ago I lived in Australia where every bar/restaurant menu would have lamb shanks on it, back then you would get a lamb shank roast with spuds and veggies for about $8. Had never come across it in Ireland before but when I got back here I used to order it from the butchers. For years and years I was getting lamb shanks for 2 euros each. I used to wonder what would happen them in Ireland otherwise, probably frozen and sold to foreign markets or maybe just used in stuff like dog food, Im not sure.

Anyway about 4-5 years ago TV chefs like Donal Skehan and Nevin Maguire (aka Eoin McLove) started popularising them to Irish audiences. Next thing I knew lamb shanks went up in price when butchers realised more and more people were buying them, IMO its typical of the rip of culture we see in Ireland- a product getting popular is followed by sellers jacking the prices up Nowadays 4-5 euros seems to be the price for a single shank in butchers which is a bit joke for a so called cheap cut of meat. Even Aldi are selling two for 8 euro. So what was a cut that wasnt even in demand has actually more than doubled in price in the last few years.

The Nal

Muahahaha wrote: »

That looks class Nal, although I shouldnt be licking my lips at the sight of raw mince I am actually licking my lips

Whats your routine, would you mince a kilo to get 8 burgers and then cook a couple and freeze the rest? I had thought of getting my own mincer before but havent because of the whole thing of having too many kitchen gadgets. But that picture is quickly convincing me

I bought a load of meat. Made burgers and then meat sauce with the rest. You could just buy enough for two burgers and mince that no problem. Above photo looks deceivingly fatty because I ground the pork chop last so thats on top.

Burgers Friday, huge amount of meat sauce Sunday and froze the rest. Think Ill do hotdogs at the weekend.

Blacktie.

Think I'll start looking for a meat grinder so!

The Nal

Blacktie. wrote: »

Think I'll start looking for a meat grinder so!

This is the one I have. Don't think its available anymore but maybe base the specs off this. Cheap enough and does the job perfectly.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Andrew-James-Grinding-Attachment-Function/dp/B0063CF80G

It seems to be like this one but just rebranded.

mafitz

Hi, anybody know where you would get the paper to seperate burgers, we would like to freeze some?

Wanderer78

mafitz wrote:

Hi, anybody know where you would get the paper to seperate burgers, we would like to freeze some?

Parchment paper will do the trick, most shops sell it

tangy

Or if you want pre-cut ones, lots on Amazon. Look for "burger paper".

rubadub

Tesco firepit buns are back in, I have not tried these ones and they appear to be brioche as it has egg & milk. They are down to €1.39 now, they used to be €1.79 (and did not seem to sell well at that price)

4 Smoked Grill Burger Buns

The Nal wrote: »

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Andrew-James-Grinding-Attachment-Function/dp/B0063CF80G

It seems to be like this one but just rebranded.

The second one has a more powerful motor.

I was saying people cut the meat finely themselves to see if they think it is worthwhile. Of course you can just ask the butcher nicely too.

I remember thinking of getting a bread maker and somebody warning me that they just ended up eating loads of bread! same might happen if I got a grinder.