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

[Howard]

There's a lot of strange and outright false information here (which is typical of ATOT).

You got that right.

 

[postmortemIA]

as others have said: mix with ground pork.

something else: grass feed beef tastes better, but that is subjective

 

[Tsavo]

There's a lot of strange and outright false information here (which is typical of ATOT).

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.

LOL. You post one thing chiding people for being wrong, then you are wrong yourself.

Flipping frequently decreases char and increases fat retention...both of which make for a better burger.

 

[MagickMan]

4 parts ground chuck, 1 part ground pork, garlic salt, and a little pepper. Great hamburgers.

 

[crashtech]

You could always do what my brother-in-law does, which is to smash all the juice out of them with the spatula until they are nice and dry.

 

[Fritzo]

LOL. You post one thing chiding people for being wrong, then you are wrong yourself.

Flipping frequently decreases char and increases fat retention...both of which make for a better burger.

That's opinion.

I've had 10 years of experience as the head chef for a catering company, 18 months of experience as a line cook at a few fairly decent restaurants, and actually have a culinary certificate from The Midwest Culinary Institute.

That's experience.

With beef, if you don't get a crust forming on it, you get a greasy, bland product. If you don't overcook it, you're not going to have a problem with "fat retention" or other crap that Alton Brown told people is important.

 

[Howard]

That's opinion.

It's not opinion, and you can flip frequently and still get a crust (I'd do it in a two-stage method if I had to, though).

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes....ting-meat-and-char-from-electric-grills/?_r=0
http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/07/...urgers-multiple-times-for-better-results.html

 

[Fritzo]

as others have said: mix with ground pork.

something else: grass feed beef tastes better, but that is subjective

That brings up another subject. There are a lot of variations on burgers like this, but they never seem to sell as well as the classic.

I tried a lot of experiments over the years- mixing pork, onions, egg, breadcrumbs, and parsley and making a "meatball burger". Mixing fresh tomatoes and ground mustard and topping with fresh pickle relish making a "picnic burger"...I think I even experimented with an artichoke burger at one point.

It's fun to experiment, but you always end up going back to the classic in the end

 

[Tsavo]

That's opinion.

I've had 10 years of experience as the head chef for a catering company, 18 months of experience as a line cook at a few fairly decent restaurants, and actually have a culinary certificate from The Midwest Culinary Institute.

That's experience.

You could have 10000 years of "experience" and still not know what you are doing. That's not an opinion, but a fact.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Someone will toss rocks at me but I had a tasty burger made by adding a little oyster sauce. I suppose it's a umami thing. IMO this is one of those ingredients where quality matters and I much prefer Lee Kum Kee premium oyster sauce over others I've tried. Needless to say add sparingly.

 

[stargazr]

We use a spice called Tex-Joy that we "import" from my brother-in-law in Texas.

I'm going to have to try that. We use this stuff -

 

[EliteRetard]

*snip*
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).

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.

YES.

450-500f

Don't fuck with the meat or press it.

Just crisp it, flip it, eat it.

If you're using a teflon pan and/or olive oil you're doing it wrong (they burn at 350f).

I don't alter the beef after its ground either, I hate it when it's squished tightly together into a solid paste. It's so much better with the loose crispy threads.

 

[M0RPH]

Or you could just stop being such a pussy and eat the bun. The vast majority of people who think they have food allergies actually don't.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/consumer-reports-food-allergies-are-not-rampant-and-they-can-change-over-time/2011/11/29/gIQAuXpcLQ_story.html

 

[Fritzo]

You could have 10000 years of "experience" and still not know what you are doing. That's not an opinion, but a fact.

LOL. Whatever dude.

 

[Kaido]

as others have said: mix with ground pork.

something else: grass feed beef tastes better, but that is subjective

Yeah, sometimes I just get a meatloaf mix from the grocery store and use that, makes for some tender & tasty burgers.

But specifically, I'm trying to find out how to replicate the taste of the super-meaty-flavor beef-only burgers. Ground chuck & a trip to a butcher are on my to-do list for the weekend :biggrin:

 

[Kaido]

Or you could just stop being such a wuss and eat the bun. The vast majority of people who think they have food allergies actually don't.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/consumer-reports-food-allergies-are-not-rampant-and-they-can-change-over-time/2011/11/29/gIQAuXpcLQ_story.html

I would like to invite you to be the same room as me after I eat something containing my allergens. I hope you don't have a strong sense of smell :awe:

 

[Kaido]

Someone will toss rocks at me but I had a tasty burger made by adding a little oyster sauce. I suppose it's a umami thing. IMO this is one of those ingredients where quality matters and I much prefer Lee Kum Kee premium oyster sauce over others I've tried. Needless to say add sparingly.

Based on your posts here, you have quite a bit of knowledge about food & cooking processes, so I'll give this a shot! Do you mix it into the meat or coat it on the outside?

 

[Kaido]

It's not opinion, and you can flip frequently and still get a crust (I'd do it in a two-stage method if I had to, though).

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes....ting-meat-and-char-from-electric-grills/?_r=0
http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/07/...urgers-multiple-times-for-better-results.html

And there's also a lot of ways to make burgers. As I've gotten more into grilling, I've learned more techniques for making burgers. In the past, a burger was a burger and it was either "good" or "not great". But now I do charcoal-grilled bison burgers, pan-fried Asian turkey burgers, gas-grilled meatloaf burgers, cast-iron Smash Burgers, etc. The variety definitely helps spice up the menu!

 

[Kaido]

4 parts ground chuck, 1 part ground pork, garlic salt, and a little pepper. Great hamburgers.

There's a Connecticut chain here called Plan B that makes a burger called "The Squealer" - it's not mixed meat, but rather a slightly thinner pork patty pressed together with a slightly thinner beef patty and then cooked with spicy mustard. It's incredibly good :wub:

 

[Kaido]

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.

If 70/30 is the best, why wouldn't you go higher than 80/20? I don't think I've ever had anything higher fattier than 80/20 (to my knowledge) but I want to give it a shot. Would something other than ground chuck be better for a 30% fat patty?

 

[Kaido]

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.

There's a local farm just north of me that sells beef direct for a pretty reasonable price; I may have to pick up a 10-pounder to try out farm-fresh. That would last me an awfully long time too; I usually do 1/2 pound patties when I do beef (unless I'm doing something thinner like Smash Burgers) so that would probably last me months haha.

 

[sourceninja]

My new favorite way to cook any kind of beef is cast iron. I stick it under the broiler and get the pan as hot as possible. Take it out, put it on the range, sear the meat well, then place it back in the broiler until cooked to my liking (medium for burgers, medium rare for steak).

 

[EliteRetard]

If 70/30 is the best, why wouldn't you go higher than 80/20? I don't think I've ever had anything higher fattier than 80/20 (to my knowledge) but I want to give it a shot. Would something other than ground chuck be better for a 30% fat patty?

Uh...I think you got it backwards.

70/30 is 30% fat. 80/20 is only 20% fat.
If you go 90/10 you'll only have 10% fat and your burger could be dry.

I personally like a leaner meat, so I'd never want more than 20% fat...but you do need some if you want a "juicy" burger. I also happen to have a method to cook both sides of a burger at the same time so I loose less "juice" and get a good crisp on both sides.

 

[EliteRetard]

My new favorite way to cook any kind of beef is cast iron. I stick it under the broiler and get the pan as hot as possible. Take it out, put it on the range, sear the meat well, then place it back in the broiler until cooked to my liking (medium for burgers, medium rare for steak).

Cast iron FTW!

I use a set of cast iron pans that fit nice together and can place a ~15-18mm burger between and bury it in coals for a good quick hot roast.

 

[Kaido]

Uh...I think you got it backwards.

70/30 is 30% fat. 80/20 is only 20% fat.
If you go 90/10 you'll only have 10% fat and your burger could be dry.

Oops, I mis-wrote "higher fattier" haha. Yeah, I typically do 80/20 for burgers. I haven't tried 70/30 but I'd like to give it a shot!