/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.13455051]

What's the secret to maintaining a nice shape for homemade burger? More breadcrumbs? Mine taste pretty good but always end up looking like a fucking dried brain with cracks in it.

[Anonymous No.13455061]

>>13455051
>breadcrumbs
It's a burger, not a meatloaf, man. Don't tell me you put egg and onions in it, too.

[Anonymous No.13455069]

>>13455061
I don't, I just put salt and pepper in it but people who make more aesthetic burgers than me say they use eggs, breadcrumbs and that kind of stuff

[Anonymous No.13455081]

>>13455051
create a patty that will grow the same way yours normally do, then account for that when you shape your patty.

[Anonymous No.13455087]

>>13455069
I mean, if you're okay with cheating and not worry about meat-to-fat ratios, you can always pulverise some instant rice and mix a tablespoon of that into your lean meat with some instant beef stock. Cheap and easy, and works every time, but not really much of a traditional burger..

[Anonymous No.13455095]

>>13455051
Get a burger press. They're cheap and take up little storage space. Compress that meat well, then in the fridge overnight if possible.

[Anonymous No.13455119]

You amerifags are sooooo retarded

[Anonymous No.13455121]

damn you guys have a lot of great ideas, i usually don't plan too far in advance so my ground meat is always frozen so i have to thaw it in hot water which makes it really juicy and water and also really slimy

huh

[Anonymous No.13455127]

>>13455051
There's a kind of technique. Hard to describe, but here goes...
There's a tossing from palm to palm with a bit of force action just from the "throw" to the other palm, to soften out some of the grinding "brain" pattern you're talking about. It's the lightest of packing, if any at all.
Between the 3 or 4 times you pass it from cupped hand to cupped hand, your thumb is pressing in the sides, moving along the edge like a little circling tool, til the finishes. Edges are not fully smoothed, just are pushing in the extending uneven parts, but has a consequent of thickening the patty in the center each time your thumb presses in a side, whereas your palms are flattening it.
So, your burger is having this movement from all sides back and forth, inward and up, then back downward as you move palms.
It's not much manipulation at all, and nearly hands off, and it's quick, so not much warming up of the meat, and you can even dip your hands in cold water beforehand to prevent any fat from sticking and to keep the meat cold.
I finish with a little thumb indentation in the center, because I'm a well done person most of the time. This indentation is so when it puffs on the grill, the middle ends up the same level as the edges, in the end.
A really good burger, like steakhouse kind, will be more coarser ground meat which does help a lot on the graininess and brain pattern stuff, and maybe a blend of 3 cuts of beef, a bit of good fat from like a ribeye, and some of the flavor of a sirloin, etc. It's typically not overpacked, so take it easy, so there needs to be just enough room between the grinds of meat for fat to stay put, and be juicy. I've made burgers using cubes of good cuts, right in my food processor pulsing. It's possible.

[Anonymous No.13455133]

>>13455127
I'm guessing you spend a lot of time tossing things with your palm.

[Anonymous No.13455138]

Sounds like the issue could be with the cooking step. Make sure that you only flip once and don't press down on it while it's cooking or anything like that.
Also breadcrumbs are completely unnecessary, they'll just make your burger worse. All you need in your burger is the meat itself.

Also, what beef are you using for the patty? 80/20 ground chuck works well for me, I put a depression in the middle of one side which seems to help it be uniform once cooked

[Anonymous No.13455139]

>>13455119
Huh?

[Anonymous No.13455606]

just make patty and put big dent in middle

[Anonymous No.13455739]

>>13455051
it has to look like pic related.
if it falls apart that's OK, it's all about the number and variety of toppings, no-one gives a shit about the shape.

[Anonymous No.13456539]

Fucking Europeans

[Anonymous No.13456550]

>>13455051
>breadcrumbs
You already missed the long bus.

[Anonymous No.13456560]

>>13455051
Smash and steam in a pan my dude, use a cookie cutter if you're particular about shape

[Anonymous No.13456787]

>>13455121
>so i have to thaw it in hot water
You're going to get food poisoning.

[Anonymous No.13456804]

>>13455095
or just press them with the bottom of a plate and save the money. chilling does help tho

[Anonymous No.13456823]

I find that when I over work the patties when I am forming them, thats when they get all dry and crumbly. Be more gentle with your burger mix as you make your patties.

[Anonymous No.13456890]

>>13456823
This. For some reason people seem to think there aren't fibers and connective tissues in their meat. The "grinder" only mixes them so much, you don't need to go stirring the grains in all different directions.

[Anonymous No.13457193]

>>13455051
S M A S H

B
U
R
G
E
R

[Anonymous No.13458591]

>>13455739
>le ebin sky scraper tall burger xDDDDDDD

[Anonymous No.13459573]

>>13458591
i unironically hate burgers you can’t fit in your mouth , it ruins the burger cause you don’t get to taste every ingredient at once , as a burger is intended to be tasted

[Anonymous No.13459907]

>>13455051
>breadcrumbs

[Anonymous No.13459929]

>>13455739
yum! i love beets, pineapple, and fried eggs on my burgers!!!

[Anonymous No.13460121]

>>13455051
>only beef salt and pepper
> (i also use beef powdered beef stock, onion salt and garlic powder)
>drop that bitch in a medium-medium high temp. pan with a little of your favorite cooking fat
>cover it, let it go until blood comes out on top, dont let your pan become too hot, medium should be ok.
>flip it, let it cook on the other side for some minutes, depending if you like it rare or well done.

with this method you will achieve perfect juicy burgers because you never put pressure on them, all the juice stays right in the patty.

[Anonymous No.13460135]

Just make a depression in the center with your thumb.

[Anonymous No.13460158]

>>13459929
Fried eggs are unironically based as a burger topping, though.

[Anonymous No.13460160]

>>13456560
Steamed hams?

[Anonymous No.13460168]

>>13455051
real men don't care how the burger looks as long as it taste good.

[Anonymous No.13460176]

>>13456560
>Smash and steam
fuck off troll