favorite home made burgers

[bright eyed]

What? Never had it? I like mine with capers, lemon squeeze, and some chopped sweet onion.

i'm not a fan of raw meat - only recently have i started to like meat less than well-done! not a fan of sashimi to the horror of my parents, bleh!

 

[Rambler]

I like to mix a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch mix and some dried onions in a pound and a half or so of ground beef (~15% fat), grill as usual, top with your favorite cheese (cheddar is great, gruyere is better). Add your favorite condiments, enjoy!

R

 

[Achiever51]

I like to mix a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch mix and some dried onions in a pound and a half or so of ground beef (~15% fat), grill as usual, top with your favorite cheese (cheddar is great, gruyere is better). Add your favorite condiments, enjoy!

R

Yum! My mouth is watering as I type this....

BTW: I made the Oprah turkey burgers the other day...very tasty!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

BTW: I made the Oprah turkey burgers the other day...very tasty!

So now we know what Oprah tastes like...

 

[Donzo]

So now we know what Oprah tastes like...

Like chicken?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Thats only because the machines dont know what she really tastes like.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Okay...put some whole peeled garlic cloves in a small pan (go ahead and cheat and use the ones in the jar), cover with olive oil and set to simmer at your lowest heat until soft. Fish out of the oil. Use the oil for a salad dressing or to rub on some other meat product.

Mash the garlic, mix with 80% ground chuck, some breadcrumbs, a little worcestershire, salt and pepper.

Cook until medium, put on very slightly toasted split pita bread or a toasted sandwich size thomas's english muffin with a slice of red onion, tomato and lettuce, several slices of thick cut dry cure bacon and some crumbled stilton. The not-quite-crisp pita bread is brilliant. Lets you get away with a thick burger and some toppings without having created something too thick to eat. I've seen some 'mediterranean flatbreads" at trader joes that would also do. a halved focaccia bread warmed up might also be interesting.

If you wanna go nuts, make some homemade mayonnaise with the garlic olive oil in a blender. One whole raw egg, whirl, add a teaspoon or two of vinegar or lemon juice, whirl, and then with it running drizzle a cup of the garlic olive oil in the cover opening until it sets up as mayo, then stop adding oil or it'll break. Salt and pepper to taste. Extra mushy garlic also goes well as an addition to the mayo. You may also add dry mustard and some finely diced sundried tomatoes to the mayo to get an all-in-one condiment.

My experience is that chuck makes the best burgers. Its not rocket science to grind your own in a food processor. Trim and cube some nice chuck steak and pulse until you've got a coarse mixture. Way better than spooged supermarket ground beef. The little bit of breadcrumbs helps retain some moisture but dont overdo it or you'll end up with crumbly meatloaf. Some pork or sausage mixed in can give some good flavor.

Another trick is to add just a half teaspoon to a teaspoon of plain unflavored gelatin to a pound or so of ground beef. The gelatin provides a tenderness and adhesion quality to the patty. The natural gelatin in veal is why its commonly called for as a meatloaf ingredient.

The mushy garlic gives a nice sweet flavor that brings out the beef, without kick-boom-bam garlic flavor.

Another interesting trick is to rub the raw burgers with a little bit of prepared horseradish...not the cream sauce stuff. Let it stand a while and grill. Horseradish on beef turns golden and sweet when cooked just like garlic does but has a somewhat different flavor.

One of my favorite dishes is english short ribs rubbed with plenty of horseradish and then braised for about 3 hours. YUMMMMMeeeeYY!

 

[bright eyed]

i knew you were holding back...

ummm soft garlic! i've been lazy and used the powder or frozen cubes

but am now motivated to try the soft...mmm!

might even poke around for a food processor - grinding my own has always been a consideration but i'm so lazy...(recurring theme here!)



you didn't include cooking method, heat/time and how size of your pattiy's

 

[Khan]

Khan burgers(tm)

Take 2 slices of good dense bread (pumpernickel, rye...)
lightly toast
spread raw lean ground beef on 1 slice
place thin slice of raw vegetable (onion, tomato, summer squash...) one other slice - topped with a slice of cheese
slide both under broiler until cheese is melted and ground beef is crispy browned
apply a bit of mustard to beef side and flip cheese side onto beef side
cut into quarters and serve with red microbrew

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

The oil roast garlic is just so easy. You put it on low (if you're seeing bubbles in the oil LOWER!) and just check it every 5 minutes after its been in there a while. It takes about 45 minutes on my stove on the lowest setting.

Nice to spread on toasted bread. Thats my garlic bread...I add a little salt is about it.

Cooking method is either on the grill or in a hot cast iron pan with a 50/50 mix of butter and oil. The butter gives flavor and the oil stabilizes the butter and inhibits burning.

Between a third and a half pound is about right. Smaller than that sucks and larger than that is just too hard to manage and not many people can eat a 1/2lb+ burger.

If you spin your own in the food processor, just strip off the fat from the meat, make sure you remove any connective tissue and silverskin or other non-good-eats, get a 4-5:1 ratio of meat to fat, spin the meat first until almost the desirable texture and then add the fat. The fat will crumble much faster than the chuck and thats why commercial ground beef is so slimy/greasy.

 

[bright eyed]

The oil roast garlic is just so easy. You put it on low (if you're seeing bubbles in the oil LOWER!) and just check it every 5 minutes after its been in there a while. It takes about 45 minutes on my stove on the lowest setting.

exqueeze me - 45 minutes!

can you do ahead of time (a lot) and keep it somehow/somewhere? (fridge?jar?)

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yeah, like I said, its slow and easy. If you wanted to watch it closely you could probably do it in 20 minutes. Slow roast garlic in the oven can take an hour and a half!

You can absolutely do it ahead of time, let it cool off and then store it covered in its own cooking oil, almost indefinitely, in the fridge.

And while I'd love to exqueeze you, I'm afraid to have to tell you that I'm a member of the clergy and thats just not allowed. And I simply wont be tempted.

 

[samclem]

I'm afraid to have to tell you that I'm a member of the clergy and thats just not allowed. And I simply wont be tempted.

You need to find (or found) a new denomination. Maybe set up a compound in Texas. It's not "temptation" if it's under the direction of the almighty!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Maybe when i'm done with this remodeling project...

Cook's Country - Recipes That Work

 

[bright eyed]

mmm bacon infused burger, another to add to my list!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I'm thinking you throw the bacon, cubed cheese, and the rest of it in the food processor with your chuck cubes and pulse until the meat is 'ground' and the rest of the ingredients are shredded and incorporated. Might take a few small batches to figure out when to add things so that the bacon isnt pureed before the cheese shreds, but...thats half the fun!

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

Oh, and on a different track...

Morningstar Farms® - Morningstar Farms® Southwestern Style Veggie Cakes

These are really good with some sour cream on top

based upon your recommendation i tried them. love'm! perfect with sour cream as you said. also now my store has a ginger/teriyaki veggie cakes with embedded edamame instead of black beans. very nice. i add a little extra kikkoman teriyaki sauce after cooking.

i might try to make these from scratch if i should ever get ambitious enough. but for now, what a perfect lazy meal. thanx marquette.

 

[thefed]

y'all are gonna love this

i buy my burgers 20 at a time, in the frozen section at super wal mart for $11. if you cook em right,you cant beat it for a quick meal. OVERcook it though,and you're in trouble

 

[Dawg52]

A good old Aussie burger requires the usual slab of beef plus an egg done on the barbie, throw on a slice of pineapple and a generous helping of beetroot. Hmm my mouth is watering.

Kangaroo beef?

 

[HFWR]

Is that a joey in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

 

[bright eyed]

i just made another batch today, nothing fancy - but finally used the focaccia bun-sized bread i had picked up a few weeks ago (and stored in the freezer). They were GREAT! my favorite bun so far - i took them out of the freezer, let thaw while the meat cooked, split and put in the toaster oven for a minute for a light toasting...

The outside of the bun was slightly toasty, inside was soft and held up well to the burger...i highly recommend them if you find them in your local TJ's!

 

[Cattusbabe]

start with meat loaf mix (beef,pork,veal), add chopped onions and green peppers, 1 egg and seasoned breadcrumbs, until mix sticks together, form pattys and grill, add slice of cheeze 2 minutes before removal from fire, place on bun and top with your favorite condiments.

My brother has a variation of this recipe. He starts with with this part of your recipe
"meat loaf mix (beef,pork,veal), add chopped onions and green peppers, 1 egg and seasoned breadcrumbs, until mix sticks together, form pattys"

but then he takes feta cheese, the seasoned kind, and stuffs each burger with a ball of it and then grills. The cheese melts through out the burger making it juicy and flavorful. They are to die for. Bonus they freeze and reheat well also.

 

[Moemg]

BOCABURGER on the hibachi.

I'm also a fan of the Flame grilled Boca burgers . Great for lunch as long as you add tomato but when we are cooking on the grill it's real meat . Yum !