You Know What Really Grinds My Gears? Now with 3x more gears...

[Titan2]

For TorqueDog and Cecil, I have been hoist in part, by my own petard. My regular spurt of posting has become much more inconvenient with all the scrolling. I hope you are happy!!

[Titan2]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Ground meat and a bun.

Not gonna lie but my mental image of PF is a lot closer to Rob Lowe than it is to Ron Swanson.

Is that skewed? Am I rushing to judgment based on almost, literally, no information?

No. It is the children who are wrong.

[Titan2]

Maybe I do need to get a hobby.

[Locke]

I will say though, in all humility, Fuzz makes a strong burger.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Locke

I will say though, in all humility, Fuzz makes a strong burger.

They were delicious, but the reality is it was the frozen stack of Costco burgers, and I sprinkled some seasoning salt and ground pepper(sorry again about the spice level) on them. I make good burgers for myself. For guests? Kirkland unless you are special.


That being said, those patties are very serviceable. Good blend of fat, not compressed, just beef, no fillers or anything.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

They were delicious, but the reality is it was the frozen stack of Costco burgers, and I sprinkled some seasoning salt and ground pepper(sorry again about the spice level) on them. I make good burgers for myself. For guests? Kirkland unless you are special.


That being said, those patties are very serviceable. Good blend of fat, not compressed, just beef, no fillers or anything.

I know, I wasn't expecting saffron or anything, and those Kirkland burgers are good. thats the thing about burgers, they dont need to be complicated.

I was more astounded that the buns didnt taste like ash.

Good burger experience overall.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

They were delicious, but the reality is it was the frozen stack of Costco burgers, and I sprinkled some seasoning salt and ground pepper(sorry again about the spice level) on them. I make good burgers for myself. For guests? Kirkland unless you are special.


That being said, those patties are very serviceable. Good blend of fat, not compressed, just beef, no fillers or anything.

I agree we keep some of the Kirkland ones on the freeze as a "phuck what should we have for dinner" emergency.

Also good with some Worcestershire sauce on them.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

I agree we keep some of the Kirkland ones on the freeze as a "phuck what should we have for dinner" emergency.

Also good with some Worcestershire sauce on them.

Oh yeah, everyone has a few of those options in ye ol' freezer.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by GGG

That’s meat loaf not a burger.

The key to any burger is freshly ground fatty meat and loosely assembled together so that it is barely holding together, never squished into a patty. You want the individual strands to be able to crisp up.

Fair, but if one has to ask, they likely would benefit from a binder to hold it all together.

That being said, barely holding together is fine, but a burger where the meat just crumples apart due to lack of binder and lack of appropriate sear to keep the meat together is a terrible burger IMO.

Juicy is great, but if it leaks everywhere and behaves like a sloppy joe and turns bun and fries into slop a few bites in, that's not right.

Originally Posted by Sliver

Panko for the binder is where it's at.

Best thing is a little slice of garlic butter you put in the centre of the patty so it melts into the whole burger from the inside. Nom nom nom

I stopped making stuffed burgers. I always get too greedy adding stuff to it and then the whole thing just turns into a mess. Basically slop within a few bites vs holding a burger shape.

I went to Naina's/N9NA's and thought to myself, "I can do basic burgers, I should be able to do this" and... it was a disaster.

But maybe, one I learn "less is more", it'll be awesome. I'll experiment and one up your garlic butter and try making a cowboy butter to go in the middle of a burger! (Am I being too greedy again and going to fail the burgers again?)

[undercoverbrother]

While we are on the topic of burgers and meat loaf

We have started making meat muffins.

Same as meat loaf, but cooked in a muffin tin. Taste great and cook in no time at all.

Also super easy to take for leftovers and I have also thrown them between a bun when we had some old ones that needed eating.

[Shazam]

Binder in hamburger patties. Jesus.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Fair, but if one has to ask, they likely would benefit from a binder to hold it all together.

That being said, barely holding together is fine, but a burger where the meat just crumples apart due to lack of binder and lack of appropriate sear to keep the meat together is a terrible burger IMO.

Juicy is great, but if it leaks everywhere and behaves like a sloppy joe and turns bun and fries into slop a few bites in, that's not right.

What benefit would the binder have when the sear holds it together? It doesn’t hold fat, reduces crisping and generally doesn’t add anything. You can press the meat together if you want to make the burger not as good texture wise but hold together better. The fat in the meat makes everything sticky. Assuming you are using a regular ground or grinding up 25% - 30% fat content beef.

I agree with your second two paragraphs.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Titan2

For TorqueDog and Cecil, I have been hoist in part, by my own petard. My regular spurt of posting has become much more inconvenient with all the scrolling. I hope you are happy!!

Did you put this into a pirate filter in ChatGPT before posting? It appears to be English but not a version I understand.

[Fuzz]

I don't think garlic belongs in a burger. And if you are adding butter, freeze it, then grate it into the meat. I only had extra lean GB one day, and needed to add some fat. I tried this, and it worked very well.


Speaking of meatloaf, if you want to up it a bit, caramelized onions are the ticket. Just chop them up finely after caramelizing so you don't get a stringy piece. Add it to the raw beef mix. So good.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

While we are on the topic of burgers and meat loaf

We have started making meat muffins.

Same as meat loaf, but cooked in a muffin tin. Taste great and cook in no time at all.

Also super easy to take for leftovers and I have also thrown them between a bun when we had some old ones that needed eating.

Ooo... I've done that. But I used to add puff pastry to the bottom so that the juices aren't lost or wasted.

I stopped when it got too complicated. Someone got angry at me and said I should be using cabbage instead of puff pastry to make a sort of cabbage roll in a muffin tin and others would say I should convert it to mini Shepard's pies or that it resembled a soggy sausage roll or that it's technically an ugly meat ball with weird pastry outside etc.

Basically it was fun, until it wasn't fun. At that time, I would sometimes do half mini meat pies (or ugly meat balls) and half egg bites too. Baking savory foods in muffin tins is pretty underrated.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I don't think garlic belongs in a burger. And if you are adding butter, freeze it, then grate it into the meat. I only had extra lean GB one day, and needed to add some fat. I tried this, and it worked very well.


Speaking of meatloaf, if you want to up it a bit, caramelized onions are the ticket. Just chop them up finely after caramelizing so you don't get a stringy piece. Add it to the raw beef mix. So good.

Yeah carmalizing onions up first is key. People ruin meet loaf with raw onions.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by GGG

What benefit would the binder have when the sear holds it together? It doesn’t hold fat, reduces crisping and generally doesn’t add anything. You can press the meat together if you want to make the burger not as good texture wise but hold together better. The fat in the meat makes everything sticky. Assuming you are using a regular ground or grinding up 25% - 30% fat content beef.

I agree with your second two paragraphs.

The binder is unnecessary if the sear holds it together. We are in agreement.

I am saying that many people do not have the skills necessary to do a sear that holds the burger together. Thus the "cheat code" or aid of a binder is necessary to overcome that issue and maintain a passable burger.

(ie: like using a little bit of white vinegar as a cheat code/aid to poach an egg nicely).

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Ooo... I've done that. But I used to add puff pastry to the bottom so that the juices aren't lost or wasted.

I stopped when it got too complicated. Someone got angry at me and said I should be using cabbage instead of puff pastry to make a sort of cabbage roll in a muffin tin and others would say I should convert it to mini Shepard's pies or that it resembled a soggy sausage roll or that it's technically an ugly meat ball with weird pastry outside etc.

Basically it was fun, until it wasn't fun. At that time, I would sometimes do half mini meat pies (or ugly meat balls) and half egg bites too. Baking savory foods in muffin tins is pretty underrated.

When people start telling you how to do your recipes, you just say "that sounds great, I look forward to you making it one day so I can try it."

But really if they recommend cabbage on the bottom of meatloaf perhaps you should be showing them the door. Also, meat loaf is far better on a roasting pan so it crisps on all sides, not in a loaf pan boiling in meat juice.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

When people start telling you how to do your recipes, you just say "that sounds great, I look forward to you making it one day so I can try it."

But really if they recommend cabbage on the bottom of meatloaf perhaps you should be showing them the door. Also, meat loaf is far better on a roasting pan so it crisps on all sides, not in a loaf pan boiling in meat juice.

I've done this. It backfired horribly.

Once, it smelled like an animal died in a rotting log for like 2-3 days in my house afterwards. I do not know how they screwed up muffin tin cabbage rolls so badly. I didn't even see the end result. It was already in the green bin. That smell though...

Another, it smelled like a grease fire in the house for a few days when the contents caught fire because broil was "temporarily used" to address the excess moisture.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

I've done this. It backfired horribly.

Once, it smelled like an animal died in a rotting log for like 2-3 days in my house afterwards. I do not know how they screwed up muffin tin cabbage rolls so badly. I didn't even see the end result. It was already in the green bin. That smell though...

Another, it smelled like a grease fire in the house for a few days when the contents caught fire because broil was "temporarily used" to address the excess moisture.

Having grown up with Polish parents where cabbage is a relatively big component of various dishes I can tell you that it shouldn't be surprising that someone can easily screw up cooking with cabbage. It is a fickle leaf and when it goes wrong it really stinks.