Great burgers are the stuff desires fabricated from a superbly cooked and seasoned patty sandwiched among a secure bun, the juices from the meat creating a delicious mess, and memories of summertime barbecues lending a subtle notice of nostalgia. So whether you like your burger topped with just a few traditional substances or opt to be more experimental, in terms of making a prime burger, you’ve got to nail the basics ― specifically the all-vital patty. To help us out, HuffPost requested a few industry experts to share their pinnacle guidelines.
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For the floor beef, an eighty-20 meat-to-fats ratio is excellent.
Experts interviewed for this tale differed within the cuts of red meat they like to use. However, they agreed on the eighty-20 ratio for floor beef to gain the proper balance of moisture and taste.
“It’s vital that the meat has a terrific ratio of fats content within the grind,” Terry Chandler, outlaw chef of Fred’s Texas Café in Fort Worth, Texas, informed HuffPost. “You don’t need whatever leaner than 20% fats ― any less, and the meat will be dry and break off into your mouth as you devour it. The reality is there’s greater red meat taste inside the less expensive cuts of meat, like the chuck or brisket than choicer and more costly cuts.”
Chandler defined that fat and collagen contribute most to the flavor of pork, and while the first cuts get their taste from fat content (that is often called marbling), the chuck carries an excessive percent of both collagen and fats. “When floor into a burger, all the collagen and fats are blended with the tilt muscle to deliver that exceptional flavor you are trying to find in a burger,” Chandler said.
Ratios and cuts of beef aside, Anya Fernald, co-founder and CEO of Belcampo, emphasized the importance of sourcing floor red meat from reliable purveyors that prioritize human health and the environment. “I think that chefs were leaning on claims approximately all of the exceptional cuts they use to masks the larger question of wherein the beef comes from,” Fernald said. “A lot of humans are making high-priced burgers out of reasonably-priced meat and pronouncing what the cuts are to distract people from that fundamental trouble.”
Patty length will vary depending on what cooking surface you operate.
Recommendations on size also range relying on which chef you ask, starting from as small as four oz (“something extra may be too large for the bun,” Ashley Abodeely, executive chef of The Firehouse Hotel in Los Angeles, explained) to ten ounces (encouraged by Chandler ― the whole thing’s bigger in Texas, right?).
“When cooking on a griddle or plancha [at a lower heat], I use no extra than 4 oz of beef,” Alvin Cailan, chef of The Usual in New York City, stated. “For the grill, I like a 6-8 ounce patty, so the outside is satisfactory and seared, and the indoors is perfectly red and juicy. When pan-searing, I like a 7-ounce pork patty. It holds nicely to the high warmness and is difficult to overcook due to its thickness.”
When forming the patty, keep away from overworking the mixture and use chilled meat.
Less is more about shaping burger patties. “If I am at home, I just grab a ball of meat the dimensions of a pool ball and lightly flatten it out,” Adam Biderman, chef/owner of The Company Burger in New Orleans, said. “Do now not mess with it an excessive amount of as you want to keep it unfastened-packed so that when it chefs, it stays juicy.”
Working with chilled meat will assist hold you from overworking it. “When forming the patty, the less warm the beef is, the less difficult it’s far to paintings with, and the patties live collectively higher,” Chandler said. “I need the beef like bread a bit to paste it together; then I form it right into a ball before flattening it right into a patty the use of my fingers to preserve the quality of the edges and easy.”
Don’t season the red meat before you shape the patties.
“Do now not season the meat before forming the patties; the results will become dense like hockey pucks!” Cailan said. It’s the sort of mistake that, once cooked, will provide your burgers a meatloaf-like texture ― not perfect.
“The salt or seasoning will draw out the moisture from the beef, and the meat will stick collectively like glue,” he explained.
I’ve always loved food and I’ve always loved sharing my love of food with the world. This love led me to become a professional foodie, opening my very own restaurant called The Great American Cafe and writing a blog called Foodieso.com, where I’ve been able to share my recipes, ideas and thoughts about food.
