How to make beef taste better? (specifically, ground beef for hamburgers)

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crashtech

Lifer
Jan 4, 2013
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The biggest improvement we ever made to our beef eating experience was to find a 4H kid that raised his own steer, and bought into it with others in our family. A well cared for animal that is then professionally butchered and dry aged locally is basically incomparable to anything in a store, more like what 4 and 5 star restaurants commission for high-end dining.

At that point, all you need is some salt to make it taste better than anything you have ever had.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
50,721
6,756
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ooooh a dry aged beef burger grind. now that would be one interesting burger.

I had BurgerFi's 28-day dry-aged beef; I wasn't overly excited about it. Saltier & a bit more beefy, but not really in a way I wanted in a burger. I liked the straight-up burger better myself.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
50,721
6,756
136
The biggest improvement we ever made to our beef eating experience was to find a 4H kid that raised his own steer, and bought into it with others in our family. A well cared for animal that is then professionally butchered and dry aged locally is basically incomparable to anything in a store, more like what 4 and 5 star restaurants commission for high-end dining.

At that point, all you need is some salt to make it taste better than anything you have ever had.

Yeah, that's how my in-law's beef is - they buy half a cow off a farmer every year and it's wicked awesome!
 

Screech

Golden Member
Oct 20, 2004
1,203
7
81
Best burger ive had was a homemade patty where we added salts (i think lawrys seasoning salt plus maybe mccormick steak seasoning) to the ground beef, then mixed in chopped bacon, and made patties with blue cheese in the middle. But needless to say that was a bit of work. Still extremely tasty.
 

Imported

Lifer
Sep 2, 2000
14,679
23
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I had BurgerFi's 28-day dry-aged beef; I wasn't overly excited about it. Saltier & a bit more beefy, but not really in a way I wanted in a burger. I liked the straight-up burger better myself.

Hmm.. apparently this BurgerFi is opening a Napa location in the spring. Going to have to stop there on my next visit. :cool:
 

akahoovy

Golden Member
May 1, 2011
1,336
1
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The best burger meat I've had in my area is to buy 80/20 Angus. I pretty much only use McCormick's burger seasoning lightly on each side. I haven't had to use any additional oil or a butter cube and they come out plenty moist on a propane grill. After reading through this thread, I am interested in trying a blend of sirloin, chuck, and brisket. That could be really good.

I have tried the butter cube and I can't say for me it made much difference.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
50,721
6,756
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Hmm.. apparently this BurgerFi is opening a Napa location in the spring. Going to have to stop there on my next visit. :cool:

They are excellent! Just get their standard double patty to start out with, it's the best imo. Don't order their bucket of fries, it's half the size of a meal tray (seriously ridiculous amount). The fries are so-so, I'm not a big fan of limp fries (these are the kind that are a bit thicker and oilier in terms of being soft, not crispy), but order the Cajun flavor because those are the best (not really spicy, they just have some flavor to them). But the burgers are phenomenal. I went twice in one day during Christmas shopping :biggrin:

Their concretes (like a blended DQ Blizzard or McFlurry) are also supposed to be pretty good (secondhand feedback, also have a dairy allergy lol). Anyway, I like their burgers WAY more than 5 Guys, which is all the rage in Connecticut right now. Not that 5 Guys is bad, but all of the hardcore 5 Guy burger enthusiasts I've taken to BurgerFi have converted, haha.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
50,721
6,756
136
The best burger meat I've had in my area is to buy 80/20 Angus. I pretty much only use McCormick's burger seasoning lightly on each side. I haven't had to use any additional oil or a butter cube and they come out plenty moist on a propane grill. After reading through this thread, I am interested in trying a blend of sirloin, chuck, and brisket. That could be really good.

I have tried the butter cube and I can't say for me it made much difference.

One of my favorite formulas:

Ground Bison + McCormick's Burger Seasoning + Charcoal

Incredibly good :wub:
 

HeXen

Diamond Member
Dec 13, 2009
7,835
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What I do is mix my ground angus with mustard, ketchup, season salt, pepper, touch of sweet relish and liquid smoke and just mix it altogether really well and cook on a charcoal grill with some apple wood chips. If I had a grinder I would add in bacon to the mix but I love this method, just don't care to do it too often. I would like to get a meat grinder though.
 

Vinny N

Platinum Member
Feb 13, 2000
2,277
1
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Try this to see if you like it...

80/20 ground chuck, season with salt and pepper, form into extremely flat patties, fry in pan with small amount of bacon fat (or beef fat from previous burgers or steak). Flip only once (twice if bleeding), do not chop or poke in any way, it should naturally recede into a thicker form from the flat patty. Should have some nice gold crispness on each side (think Maillard effect on a burger). If there's any residual crunchies in your pan, carefully scrape and top the burger with these as well! (best sliders I ever had were from a street grill making sure I got all the crunchies from the patty!)

Lastly top with the smallest amount (pretend you're spreading thermal compound on a heatsink or cpu :p) of ketch-up and real mayo (no low or fat free, Duke's if possible). Try raw or fried red onion as well (tends to overtake the burger, but you may like this).
 
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crashtech

Lifer
Jan 4, 2013
10,681
2,277
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And if you are not a freak about saturated fat, you can always top it with melted butter... Mmmmm.... hehe
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
50,721
6,756
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And if you are not a freak about saturated fat, you can always top it with melted butter... Mmmmm.... hehe

I don't mind saturated fat in moderation, unfortunately I've got a dairy allergy in addition to gluten, and margarine just isn't the same :biggrin:
 

Tiamat

Lifer
Nov 25, 2003
14,068
5
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Mix in pork like bacon, beef short rib, ox tail. The best burgers use ox tail and short rib beef.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
50,721
6,756
136
In extreme emergencies, make Kenji's Flood Burger.

http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/02/the-burger-lab-presenting-the-flood-burger.html

EDIT: I see that you haven't even tried making them with different cuts of beef. Start with Kenji's blend. The oxtail is a huge pain in the ass but at least you'll know what it tastes like.

Woooooow that is a serious burger!

The author of the article has it all wrong - 'those who prefer Shake Shack-style thin burgers vs. the thick, juicy ones' - why not both? :biggrin:

http://i.imgur.com/c7NJRa2.gif
 

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,920
2,161
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There's a lot of strange and outright false information here (which is typical of ATOT).

For burgers, fattier mixes are better. The leaner the mix, the more bland and drier the meat will get. Julia Child always said "If you're eating hamburger, you're not dieting, so do it right!" :) The flavor in beef is in the fat, so you'll want a well mixed patty

70/30 ground beef is the best for patties, but I wouldn't go any higher than 80/20 (ground chuck). Bison, for example, is very lean and therefore inhearently bland. To getting it tasting good requires a good cooking technique.

Proper tasting beef requires three things:

1. A high heat surface
2. Salt
3. Pepper

First generously salt (I like coarse salt for this) and pepper both sides of your patties and let them sit for 10-15 minutes to get to room temperature. You can safely let beef sit for 1-2 hours if it just came out of the refrigerator. Try to avoid frozen beef as freezing tends to make the texture "mealy".

The number 1 mistake people make when frying hamburger is not having their cooking surface hot enough. No matter if you're using a pan, a cook-top, or a grill, you need to get the heat right. Otherwise the meat will steam rather than fry (resulting in a gray, flavorless experience).

A good way to tell if your pan or grill is ready is to wipe it with some peanut oil (groundnut oil for all you UK people). The second the oil starts to smoke, plop on on your patty. If you're using a pan, don't cook more than two patties at a time or you'll take the heat down too much.

Finally, just WAIT. This is hard...everyone wants to flip the patty as soon as they start to see some color. LEAVE IT. In a couple of minutes, you should get that unique "seared steak" smell. When you smell that, it's time to flip.

Cook the other side for a couple of minutes as well until you reach the desired doneness. A perfect burger should be cooked medium to mid-rare, but never go beyond mid-well (the beef will continue to cook for 5 minutes or so after removing it from the heat, resulting in 1 step up in doneness. Mid-rare will result in medium, medium will result in mid-well, etc. If you cook a patty to well, it will be a hockey puck by the time it rests).

That's all there really is to it. High heat, salt and pepper. There's no magic, no technique, no secret ingredients. Just get that cooking surface HOT and keep it there.