Hamburgers - What makes a goood hamburger?

[woodbowl]

I've been thinking about the hamburger business. Hamburger joints are everywhere. Problem is, nobody makes a good burger anymore. Whatever happened to getting fresh pattied meat....... meat that was thick enough, covered the bun and hung out around the edges? Sometimes you have to cook a pattie in the skillet when your in a hurry, but cooking it on a charcoal grill with a little oak or hickory smoking away makes a burger come alive.

Having to settle for an old dry burger just ruines me for eating another burger for a while. If I'm cooking on the grill, I try to keep the fire low enough to cook the meat done without flipping it. I may flip it at the end just to put a few char marks on the other side, but that's all. A toasted bun sure makes a difference in the way a burger taste too. I like mine all the way. Mayonase, mustard, ketchup, lettuce, tomato, onions and pickles.

Tell me, what is so special about a good burger?  I know ....... Mama made it and it does taste better that way, but what's the best burger you've ever had and what makes it that way?

[beenthere]

Da Roxburger.... 8) 8)

Fresh beef, flattened onto the grill with a spatula, and cooked medium rare....toast the bun, and fry an egg, bacon, and ham and add to burger in the bun ....  all done best by Tom the owner of the Roxbury Tavern. 
Then add the special jalepeno ketchup, and some spiced pickles...... just plain good. 

[mad dog]

Da Roxburger.... 8) 8)

Fresh beef, flattened onto the grill with a spatula, and cooked medium rare....toast the bun, and fry an egg, bacon, and ham and add to burger in the bun ....  all done best by Tom the owner of the Roxbury Tavern. 
Then add the special jalepeno ketchup, and some spiced pickles...... just plain good. 
[/quote cooked on kingsford charcoal ]

[stonebroke]

Make sure you have enough fat in it. Fat will cook off but you will have a much juicier favorful hamburger. this 90% lean stuff just doesn't cut it for a really good burger.

Stonebroke

[metalspinner]

Stonebroke,

I've been trying to get that point across to my better half for years.  Everything she buys seems to be near fat free. :-\  Can't even get a good flame to shoot up for a little excitement.

For me, the simpler the better.  I mix in a bit of Lipton onion soup mix then on to the grill.  Toasted buns are a must for me.

[Norm]

Umm ummm, I do love a good barbqued burger. Like stonebrook says the best are the 80-85% fat meats. I have my own grinder and will buy arm or chuck roasts if they're on sale and grind them into burger. I also like to melt a thick chunk of mozzarella cheese on top just before done with a toasted bun to slap it onto.

Something I've been doing lately for the grill is waiting for the hardwood to burn down to hot coals and then taking a couple of fresh branches off the fruit trees and throwing them on the coals before I cook the burgers. Gives a nice smoked flavor.

[Jeff]

I found that the cheaper the hamburger, the better the flavor. Regular old hamburger will have all portions of the cow in it. Little tid-bits from all around the beef. I hate a burger made from just ground chuck or ground round.  I like my burgers cooked over a hot fire, good and seared and almost blackened on the outside but moist and just cooked on the inside. I dont truck medium rare hamburger unless I grind the meat, but my preferred steak is medium rare. Cook a hamburger from a cold pan and you ruined it.   I like to season my hamburgers well, but use very few condiments. Just a good ketchup and onions.

[LeeB]

Try ground pork instead of beef sometime for your burger. A real taste treat.

[scgargoyle]

We make our burgers from two patties, with a big ole whack o' cheese sealed in the middle. More cheese on the outside, too! If I were gonna open a burger stand, I'd try to sell steamed cheeseburgers, which I've only found in central CT. They steam a wad of ground beef in a rectangular tray, melt about a 1/4" slab of cheddar on it, and serve it up on a kaiser roll. The juice runs down your arms and drips off your elbows. You can actually feel your heart start to labor. :D

[iffy]

ElK!  Mix a little dab of sour cream in it before grilling and it keeps it real moist.

[Mooseherder]

If you want to try something different and delicious.
Mix 3 lbs of Ground Beef with 8ozs. of Horseradish.  Blend in a bowl and make yer patties.
Or you can cut the recipe in half. ;D
Grill on high heat. ;D

[semologger]

Since ive been on this diet we have had ground turkey. It has a lost less calories. We seem to be using it in everything. The burgers on the grill arent that bad either. But turkey dont even come close to good old beef. I just dont feel as bad eating a big tukey burger though.

[limbrat]

I think the most important things are texture, perportion, flavor and apperance.

A fresh bun that is smashed a little and grilled on both sides on the same grill as the patty so that the grease from the patty fries the bread just a little. The meat should also be a little crusty on the outside never soft. It should be about the same diamater as the bun and about 1/5 of the thickness of the total burger. I like the meat heavy and lean after grilling put it in a pan of cool water with werchester and other seasonings throw it back on the grill to warm up before serving. lettuce, onions,tomatoes should be fresh and not shredded. ketchup,mustard and stuff should go on individualy and not mixed, so that they mix in your mouth and help the flavor to evolve while you are chewing. It should all go together so that it looks neat and well put together. When you bite into it each layer should give you a different resistance and sensation. When you chew the flavors should change and merge into something pleasant with no one ingredent over powering the rest. If you bite into it and teeth fall threw it like a donut its not good you shouldnt need to naw it either.
Thats the way i like them.

[Dave Shepard]

Woodbowl, I agree, a bad burger can really ruin your day. I had one Friday night that made a big mac look like a gourmet meal, and this was at what was supposed to be a good restaruant.

We put horseradish in the burger meat sometimes. Last week it was blue cheese, with blue cheese melted on top. A little effort can make burger into a really good meal. I like mayo, mustard, onion and iceberg on my burgers, and maybe some tobasco too.


Dave

[pappy19]

Actually the best burgers are fried not bbq'd. Try taking fresh ground chuck, make at least a 1/2-1/3 lb patty, season with salt and petter, then place on a good griddle or cast iron skillet and cover it with a lid. flip it once and cook until pink. It will be the juciest, tastiest burger you'll ever eat. I mix my elk burger 60-40 with fresh grounf pork and cook the same way for a real treat. My kids and grandkids don't want bbq'd burgers any more, only fried on my Griswold griddle.

[woodbowl]

I believe that there is place in almost every small town in America to have a hamburger .... what would you call it? Not a stand or resturant, maybe just a grill sends the message. Good food is just good food and every now and then I will pay the price for what I want.

There is a place out "slabs" way in DeFuniak Springs Fl. that has been in buisness for about 60 years. All they serve is hamburgers and cheeseburgers, they do have hot dogs, but that's all the hot food, no fries or anything. All they have is a greasy grill, fridge, sink and a bar with about 5 stools that seperates the 12'X18' building right down the middle. Chips and a drink box is to the side and you can serve yourself.

I've seen folks fill up the one half of the building waiting for their burger. Construction workers with concrete dust all over their boots and cloths, and high heeled women on their lunch break from the court house are all standing side by side.

The burgers are good, but they are not the greatest. They are juicy because they use only fresh meat, but the meat is machine pattied. The meat frying on the grill is in plain view and not hidden, only a few feet from the customers. Everyones eyes, including mine are stareing at the meat being cooked. I think things to myself like.... is that one mine or maybe that one, he better flip that one on the end before it dries out. And then someone next to me will say, I hope he doesn't mash the juice out of mine. I know good food is good food, but I can't help but think that the schyo part builds up in us before we sink our teeth in it.
Other times when I go eat somewhere, I don't know what I want and don't care. When I get there I realize I needed the atmosphere more than the food.

Beenthere, what about that mashing down the meat on the grill with the spatula? I've never see that before, but it seems to enforce the teritory of  "this is fresh meat".

[LeeB]

One of the first things I always want to eat when I get back home from work is a good greasy burger from some litle burger shack just like you describe. They have burgers on the chow line over here about twice a month, if you wanta call them that. Just doesn't satisfy the tongue though.

[LeeB]

How come the buns on home cooked burgers fall apart while you eat and the ones you get out to eat don't?

[Mooseherder]

I believe that there is place in almost every small town in America to have a hamburger .... what would you call it? Not a stand or restaurant, maybe just a grill sends the message.

You are so right about that.  There is this little place in Madawaska Maine called Bert's.
It is an old Camper Shell with a Service window on the side with one person manning the grill and fryer. ;)  It stands in between two brick buildings downtown and has been a fixture there for as long as I can remember.
If we ever have a Northern Maine ATV Weekend it will be one of our stops. ;D
He has the best hamburgers ever and uses real potates for fries.  I hope he is still there.

[Slabs]

Try ground pork instead of beef sometime for your burger. A real taste treat.

Back in my Slaughterhouse Tycoon days I would add a quarter to a third of ground pork to my sandwitch burger.  Of course then it was real hamburger made from all the trimmings not ground round or chuck.

[Dave Shepard]

As usual, my ideas on food are different from the masses. : ;D I like my burgers well done, especially if you can taste a little bit of the fire in them. I also like to press the heck out of them, don't want a juicy burger for anything. One of the few things that will make me voice a complaint to the waitress is a bloody hamburger bun when I ordered well done. >:( >:(

I had a cheesburg grinder last night from a pizza shop, and I could tell as soon as I unwrapped it that they used real hand formed patties.


Dave

[stonebroke]

Dave

I know that in Mass. Grinders are what we call subs, But I have never heard of a cheeseburger grinder? Do they make little patties and put them in the long bun?

Stonebroke

[WildDog]

I'm with you Dave, my Burgers are flattened and cooked real well, preferably on a BBQ plate and finnished on the Barby grill, I'm slowly turning my wife around, Nicky likes to cook them thick and with grated carrot for added moisture.

[Dave Shepard]

Stonebroke, no, they make three regular size patties and put them on a foot long sub roll. ;) Sometimes if they are using real hand made patties they will cut a couple of them in half to fit. There used to be a great sub shop in town that did a great triple-cheeseburger. The were just frozen patties but the were good. They used to have a "Supreme" sub, which was double the meat and cheese. Yup, you guessed it, a six cheeseburger grinder. ;D (With bacon, of course!)


Dave

[Furby]

As was said above, the cheap premade burgers are pretty good.
Lots of bits and pieces in them and some even have pork as well.
Lots of fat though, so lots of grease when cooking and I like my meat well done!

One thing I really like with burgers is steak sauce.
Adding a little while cooking them is good, as is a little when they are on the bun! digin1

[Norm]

I'm with Dave and WildDog, my hamburgers are to be well done and I also squish the grease out of them. It's kind of funny because I like my steaks so rare that they moo when turned. ;D

[Dave Shepard]

I think it is because you can taste more beef when they are cooked well done. No steak tartar for me. :


Dave

[Patty]

I like my burgers fried in a HOT iron skillet, crusty on the outside and just a little bit pink on the inside. Tomatoes, lettuce and a tiny bit of onions and I am good to go.  8)

[Engineer]

If I have a restaurant burger, unless I trust the kitchen, I order well done and slightly 'crispy'.  At home, if the meat is from the store less than 12 hours (I don't grind my own) I'll make burgers medium rare to medium, all I put on 'em is a little garlic mayonnaise and a slice of fresh tomato, maybe some red onion if there's some in the house.  Salt and pepper too.  I like 'em best on a very soft roll or an english muffin.

[Furby]

What's with the 12 hour thing?
You have no clue how long that meat has been laying around the store. ;)

[Engineer]

True, but the local chain puts a made-on and sell-by date on the package.  They also claim (under penalty of a lawsuit, I guess) that they grind up to five times a day, in-store.  So if it's good aged meat and I buy it the day they grind it, I guess, I'm ok?  It's not anything except a personal preference.

[Furby]

I can respect that.
At least you know what they are claiming, many folks just buy.

[Weekend_Sawyer]

 I am having my first cookout tonight, and of course it's raining here! Ah well I have cooked in the rain before.

I like to add hickory chunks to the grill. Latley I have been doing it for everything it adds a great flavor. Whenever we take down a nice hickory I cut a bunch of 2" rounds off and stack them in the shed and split chunks off as needed.

Jon

[OneWithWood]

 digin_2

[scgargoyle]

I'm with you Dave, my Burgers are flattened and cooked real well, preferably on a BBQ plate and finnished on the Barby grill, I'm slowly turning my wife around, Nicky likes to cook them thick and with grated carrot for added moisture.

How do you remove the grated carrot before you eat them? :D

[Slabs]

 


This is the Hotdog and Burger stand woodbowl was talking about in an earlier response.  Picture taken today.  The grill was hot and loaded and the smell was delicious.

The original owners were Maggie Davis and Merle Carter.

[woodbowl]

Aeeeey, there it is, H&M hot dog! Thanks Slabs. That little building does an incredible buisness. And the name .... H&M hot dog, you wouldn't think that any buisness with a name like that could survive. It's not fancy and I wonder if maybe that is one of the reasons for their success. Burgers and hot dogs are the only things they cook, but most folks get a burger. There hot, every time. I believe the sign says est 194 .... something.

It's not busy now, but I believe I can safely say that there are well over 100 people in and out of there every day. So what makes a little bitty hole in the wall like this, defy the norm in dining?

[footer]

May sound wierd, but try peanut butter on the burger.  Yummy 8)

[Don_Papenburg]

I like mine well done but juiciey too .  I prefer homemade whole wheat bread to a store bought bun . 
Lamburger  is good also .
  Has anyone made a HAMburger?  Ya know with real smokehouse ham.

[OneWithWood]

I am partial to venison burgers.  Many ways to dress 'em, depending on my mood and liquid libation. 

[iffy]

Anybody ever tried adding osage orange chips or shavings to the grill? Gives a unique smoke flavor that I like better than hickory or mesquite.

[OneWithWood]

No, but I have added liquid that was filtered through maple charcoal to the chef.  Makes everything taste better  8)

[iffy]

 :D :D :D :D :D  smiley_clapping