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Burger Throwdown - Let's Build a Better Burger

3K views 22 replies 13 participants last post by  planethoff 
#1 ·
Share your favorite burgers - cooking method, ingredients, tips and tricks. What ingredients do you use?  Toppings & buns/rolls?  What puts your burger over the top?
 
#4 ·
This could have been posted in several relevant threads, decided to put it here. Did bacon cheeseburgers for dinner.

The Players


Had a bit of leftover chuck that needed to be cooked today, and found a small hunk of brisket in the used meat bin.


If you are making bacon cheeseburgers, you need bacon, sad to say store bought in this case, and cheese. This is a mix of mild cheddar and some Mexican quesadilla.

The Procedure

The beef was cut into chunks and stashed in the freezer for a bit. Starting the grind:


Just the beef, then back into the freezer while I do some other stuff, like par cook the bacon:


The bacon is removed from the pan and drained, then broken into bits. A couple of garlic cloves are peeled and chunked. The bacon and garlic get mixed into the beef and go through the grinder once again.

Assembly was a bit messy:


Two lovely looking patties were formed. I failed to get the charcoal started before Karen got home, decided to pan fry.


The Product


This one is mine, with roasted bell pepper and red onion, side salad of red leaf lettuce, avocado, hard cooked egg and canned ( sigh) olives. Karen opted to top hers with lettuce, dill pickle chips and ketchup.

That was a TASTY burger!
 
#5 ·
Now that's what I call a boiga.

Has anyone tried the Ramen Burger?

Do you like the Diner style Juicy Lucys/Jucy Lucys?

I know some folks like them plain (as I sometimes do); but sometimes I like to "dress" them up or keep them lean, i.e.

Spanakopita burgers - ground turkey, spinach, feta cheese, onion or scallions, egg and bread crumbs.

What floats your burger boat?
 
#13 ·
I've heard of putting crushed ice or dissolved gelatin in the meat to moisten it. Any experience with that? 

My grandmother's burgers were a version of what she ate in her Russian childhood called cutlets. Basically, chopped beef with moistened bread, chopped onion, salt, pepper, egg. Because we are Jewish, there was no mild to make what would be a panade, but the soaked bread did the trick. My mom soaked it briefly in broth if I remember correctly. The burgers where then fried in a skilled.

We used to grind our own hamburger from boned chuck, portion and make it into patties, then freeze the patties. When we were ready to cook them we'd heat up the pan on medium high heat (usually an old Revereware skillet, so it was heavier than today's version) into which we'd sprinkle a liberal amount of salt, then lay the frozen patties- not too many so as not to crowd them. When they were good and browned we'd salt the tops, turn them over and finish cooking them. They tasted as if they'd been cooked on a flat top grill.
 
#16 · (Edited)
My burgers are not "Perfect."  ;-)  @ordo, etal, the recent thread about a "meatier" burger (and just using beef), inspired me to start a thread about creative/unique burgers.  A similar(?) thread has been pointed out.  Sorry, if my post was redundant. On any forum, I'm sure there will be similar threads. 
 
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