Great hamburger recipes

[Monique1]

I have a lb of lean ground beef thawing for tomorrow - any good moist hamburger recipes here? Mine are always too dry

[Tesha]

1. ya' know...

there are some really great recipies out there for burgers,
but I really believe that the real key to a juicy burger is technique.


We're pretty happy following these rules:
Don't mix it too much, add some liquid, freeze it before cooking, and never press your burger while cooking.

[pengillian101]

3. What does freezing do?

"Don't mix it too much, add some liquid, freeze it before cooking, and never press your burger while cooking."

I don't know this trick.

Thanks for explaining it further!

[NashVegas]

5. Freezing

I think it makes it easier for trapped juices to leak out of the meat during the thawing process. Bring home a pound of fresh hamburg and there's not too much seepage, right?

Last weekend I brought home some local grassfed beef. It was vacuum-sealed and frozen (two strikes). When thawed it lost at least two-three tablespoons of juice. When I went to make a burger, the texture was not hamburger so much as hamburger beef meal.

Pressing your burger while it's cooking, again, will rid you of lovely juices.

[The empressof all]

8. I share your belief about freezing ruining the flavor of beef

I think it adversely impacts texture of steak and dilutes the flavor of hamburger even if it is properly defrosted prior to cooking. I can tell the difference between a burger frozen prior to cooking and one made with fresh meat. The best burger I've ever had was a freshly ground mixture of brisket, chuck and sirloin.

[Tesha]

10. About freezing...

I've found that if we grill, the partially frozen burger holds together better,
keeps the juices in, and remains rare in the middle.

Oh, and when you form the burger, press a dimple in the middle.
Then when it starts to cook, you don't get that bulge that usually happens.

[NashVegas]

13. Ah ...

Now I get ya. Don't think I've ever tried that.

[The empressof all]

2. I agree with the not playing with it too much

I'm also a believer in serving it pink inside.

If you want to play around with some flavors try adding a tablespoon or two of Marsala to the meat and serve it with Provolone, sauteed Mushrooms and a slice of prosciutto. I do that with Turkey burgers for Turkey saltinbocca burgers. Works great for beef, pork or chicken as well. You also can add sauteed onions and or mushrooms directly to the meat with a little bit of Progresso Italian bread crumbs and the wine. You can even add an egg if you want to stretch it.

[grasswire]

4. I made some hamburger steaks last week that were really good.

I gently mixed into the meat 1/4 cup of red wine (a shiraz), some grated parm, and a tablespoon of ranch dressing. They were MOIST and just delicious. Oh, and I put some mushrooms into the pan as the meat was cooking, and they were yummy too.

[NashVegas]

6. Try Adding

A couple tablespoons hickory-flavored bbq sauce and breadcrumbs for each pound of meat.

[noamnety]

7. I fold a piece of cheese into the center of each burger

and kind of form it around that. As it melts it keeps things moist. I've heard of mixing in crushed ice as well, though I haven't tried that.

[hippywife]

9. I agree about not pressing while cooking.

And I make mine with an egg per pound, parm cheese, salt, pepper, garlic. You can also add a TBSP or so (not too much) per pound of tomato paste.

[Monique1]

11. I took some of your advice and remembered reading some info

What I did was put the ground beef in a bowl with a beaten egg, threw in some crushed ice, mixed it lightly and put it in the fridge for over an hour. I took the ground beef out of the fridge, lightly tossed it because not all the ice melted. I made loose thick patties and actually fried them in a pan. I did not use oil, I did not need oil because the water from the ice brought out some of the juice but the juice surrounded the burger while cooking. I used extra lean ground beef and they were not dry. I guess you can add whatever you want to the meat but as you said do not overwork the meat. I formed the patties loosely.
They were fantastic. I made 4 thick patties with about 1.45 lbs of lean gr beef

[TommyO]

12. Fresh meat, not frozen

80/20 is the best for burgers, you don't want the meat too lean, otherwise you'll have dry burgers.
The best burgers I've ever had were from meat I ground myself from boneless beef ribs that I get at Costco.
When you form the burgers, do not, repeat, do not compact the meat too much.
Get your grill nice and hot.
Clean the grates
Use a non-stick spray meant for grills, like the Weber Grill'N Spray
Place the burgers on the grill
Don't move them until you flip them
Only flip them once
DON'T PRESS YOUR BURGERS, DON'T SQUEEZE THEM, IN FACT, DON'T TOUCH THEM UNTIL YOU FLIP THEM, OR MOVE THEM TO A BUN
If you're going to put cheese on them, do it on the grill, the cheese should coat the entire burger and be running down the sides
Before the burgers are done, toast your buns
When they're done, the burgers need to go from grill to bun, not an intermediary plate.

Most importantly, don't overcook your burgers, medium rare, or if you must, medium, but never well done, grey burgers are dry, overdone burgers.
If you have qualms about rare meats, get irradiated ground beef (I get mine at Wegmans)

[flamin lib]

14. First, don't buy factory processed ground meet.

Meat processing plants are filthy and EVERYTHING left over goes into ground meat. That's why everybody says to cook burgers well done--yuk!

When chuck roast goes on sale ask the butcher to grind it into burger for you. It has the right fat/lean mix and you can serve it medium or even rare if you like. I like ground brisket myself. Shop right and you can get a better meat a lot cheaper than regular ground beef.

Then follow all the great advice in this thread.