favorite home made burgers

[Marquette]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazygood4nothinbum i prefer morningstar's original grillers. the other day i tried a gardenburger with a small order of fries at a burger king per the fast food thread. geeeeerrrrrrrrooooooooooss. was my first time at a fast food in & for a long time. no thank you. i like grillers fried in a touch of olive oil or better on the grill per martha's bocaburger, melted swiss or provolone, served on english muffin or a nice bun with a variety of lettuce (endive is nice & crunchy), onion (sometimes sauted), tomato and ketchup. i've served that to people who otherwise swear they hate vegie burgers and they wind up liking it.

The tomato and basil gardenburger is pretty good. I cook those and serve on a bagel with a fried egg and cream cheese.

Also, the Morningstar spicy black bean are awesome.

Oh, and on a different track...

Morningstar Farms® - Morningstar Farms® Southwestern Style Veggie Cakes

These are really good with some sour cream on top.

edit: Back when I ate beef, there was a great stuffed burger near our house... angus burger stuffed with bacon and sharp aged cheddar.

[Khan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bright eyed Watching the annual build a better burger contest always makes me hungry and inspires me to try a few different recipes. What are your favorites for seasoning the meat as well as toppings. Please also share your cooking techniques, meats, buns etc... I've lazily just thrown in whatever I have in the pantry - some sea salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried onion, soy sauce and seasoned salt...a dash of the above and worcester if i have some. also have done a greek burger with oregano and topped with greek yogurt. love grilled red/yellow peppers and onions and different spreads like olive tapenades. i cook in my trusty cast iron pan. i've been fiddling around with the size of my patties and how thick to make them...haven't found the winner yet.

Laura's Lean Beef (96% Lean Ground Round) Laura's Lean Beef: Lean, natural beef.

spread on lightly toasted real rye/pumpernickel

with a touch of kosher salt

my father liked it topped with a slice of raw onion

[bright eyed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Khan Laura's Lean Beef (96% Lean Ground Round) Laura's Lean Beef: Lean, natural beef. spread on lightly toasted real rye/pumpernickel with a touch of kosher salt my father liked it topped with a slice of raw onion

spread the beef? raw?

[Khan]

You can always slide it under the broiler for a bit to make it crispy on top.

[saluki9]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bright eyed spread the beef? raw?

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

[bright eyed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saluki9 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]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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

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

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

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Achiever51 BTW: I made the Oprah turkey burgers the other day...very tasty!

So now we know what Oprah tastes like...

[Donzo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny 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]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny 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!