The Perfect Burger
A while ago a friend sent me a link to an article called Vogue’s 8 Steps to Hamburger Perfection. The article is actually based on an interview with Jeffrey Steingarten, who frequently appears on Iron Chef America, and is highly entertaining primarily because he is just so disagreeable with everyone. He is mesmerizing to watch at times, because he is so inventive in devising ways to crush the spirits of other people.
Anyway, the article goes through and describes how to create “the perfect hamburger,” although it focuses primarily on the preparation of the meat patty. This is only one of many factors in preparing a perfect burger. But, I am also a bit obsessed about perfect hamburgers, and I had never tried grinding my own meat for making burgers, so I decided that it was worth giving this whole thing a try.
The article recommends using a blend of different cuts of beef, and this is similar to what I have heard other people recommend. Chuck is a common component of self-ground hamburgers; it turns out to be a nice, soft, frequently fatty cut that really adds a nice component to the burger.
Steingarten recommends using brisket, short rib, and/or hanger steak. Alton Brown also did an episode of Good Eats (”Daily Grind” episode) in which he ground his own hamburger meat, and he used a 1:1 mix of chuck and sirloin. Now, I am not convinced that I would necessarily notice the difference between chuck/brisket and chuck/sirloin (being a plebeian), but I like to smoke briskets and I knew I wouldn’t use a whole one for this little experiment, so I went with the chuck/brisket combination.
Steingarten’s article is notably short on details, which can be pretty frustrating if you are trying to figure out how to create “the perfect burger.” So, having seen the Good Eats episode about grinding your own burger meat, I tried to follow that process. You cut up your meat into 1″ cubes, then pulse them in a food processor until they are coarsely ground. At least, this is the texture that Alton Brown likes, and this is the only major complaint I had about the entire exercise. I am used to hamburgers having a certain texture, and coarsely ground chunks of beef ain’t it. The burgers reminded me much more of pre-chewed steak than actual ground hamburger meat, which was just foreign enough to turn my stomach quite a bit. It looks like a hamburger, but then you take a bite and you have little chunks of steak in your mouth. “Is this pre-chewed steak?!” you subconsciously ask yourself. Blech.
Next time, that meat is going to be finely ground.
As far as everything else was concerned, it was just great. I got some great, soft, whole wheat hamburger buns, iceberg lettuce (for traditional hamburgers, this is the only choice), good American cheese, thinly sliced onions, pickles and tomatoes, and mayo. That’s really all you need for a great burger.
Of course, you need to assemble it in the proper order too, and for me that order is:
- bottom bun with mayo
- onions, thinly sliced (1/8″ thick is good)
- pickles, also thinly sliced
- burger patty, cheese side down
- ketchup, if any, goes on the top of the patty
-
tomatoes, if any, go on the ketchup (no more than 3/16″ thick)
- NOTE: If you have any love of decency and your fellow man, lightly salt and pepper your tomatoes!!!
- iceberg lettuce on top of the tomatoes
- top bun with mayo
This order has a couple of benefits. First, it’s pretty stable. Each layer has enough traction with the adjacent layers that stuff doesn’t go shooting out of the burger when you take a bite. Second, the most savory stuff is on the bottom of the burger, nearer your tongue, so you get to enjoy the fullness of that flavor. Third, the ingredients under the patty can handle heat the best, so if you want to serve your burgers partially constructed and let your guests do the final assembly, the pickles and onions only get better under the heat, while you wait. Wilted lettuce and soft tomatoes just aren’t that great.
Of course, like I said, this is a pretty traditional hamburger, nothing out of the ordinary (well, besides being totally awesome), but there are a lot of other options when you are making a hamburger. Maybe someday I will go through a few other varieties (or write a “top five hamburgers in the whole wide world” post), but here is one other that I think is just awesome. It is based on a burger I used to get at a local lunch spot back when I used to work in Marina Del Rey. And it is really not traditional.
This burger is really all about mayo and Ciabatta rolls. Well, and capers and garlic. (You can see why I like it.) You start off making this great mayonnaise, by getting a whole bunch of garlic and capers, finely chopping them up, then mixing them into some mayonnaise along with some fresh-ground pepper. I never measure this stuff, so you can figure that out on your own. I usually use approximately equal amounts of capers and garlic though.
Once you have your fancypants mayo mixed up, you can start assembling the burger. I usually toast both sides of the Ciabatta roll since I love that texture and flavor, and then liberally spread that mayo mixture over both halves of the roll. Skimping on this step will only lead to sorrow.
Then you put down the burger patty, then a bunch of baby leaf lettuce. (This is definitely a place where you want to use a more fancy kind of lettuce, because you want something with enough flavor to stand up to the strong flavors of the garlic and capers. Iceberg lettuce would be completely out of place on a burger like this.) And that’s it - nothing else is necessary. If you’re desperate for cheese you could use some Provolone; I’d melt that on the burger patty before assembling the burger though.
That is my other favorite kind of burger to make. But I digress.
Anyway, the entire exercise of grinding your own hamburger meat turned out pretty well, and I suppose that if I were throwing a BBQ for a bunch of people, I would definitely consider going that route, because the hamburgers are simply unforgettable. Plus, medium-rare actually becomes an option.
But, it was a pretty big hassle too, especially with all the cleanup and extra food-safety precautions in the kitchen. So I won’t do that for small parties, but for special occasions it’s definitely a cool idea.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:45 am
donnie,
i too love me a good homemade burger.
i’ve never tried grinding my own meat before, but now that i have a kick ass mixer (thanks to a certain someone), i may have to get one of those fancy grinding attachments. i’m sure that it will come in handy one day. i mean, i do live in idaho, and the chances of making some homemade elk sausage or something at some point are pretty good.
back to burgers-
i read through that link, and i agree with *almost* everything it says. here are my thoughts, in no particular order.
well done- when dealing with most meats, it’s just fine to get the outside hot enough to kill anything that might be there, while leaving the inside cold enough for the blood to give you a chill when you bite into it….if you’re into that sorta thing. me personally, i’m not much of a vampire, but i do enjoy the flavor of cooked blood, especially in something like liver. but, when you’re dealing with a meat that has been ground, you just took all of that surface which was exposed to the air and mixed it all up. now, it’s seems like the logical thing to do is get the inside hot enough to kill anything that may have ended up in there. besides, when i eat a hamburger, i like the taste of cooked meat all the way through. poorly made patties may dry out by the time it’s cooked all the way through, but that brings me to the next thing.
fluids- it mentions adding water to the mix. while i’ve never actually tried water, i can say that i think what i do is much more preferable. i season the meat with a liberal sprinkling of worcestershire sauce. adds the moisture plus a great flavor. when i want something spicy, i add the green tabasco sauce, and maybe a dash of soy sauce or braggs for more flavor and some salt. the article is dead on about salting both sides of the patty before cooking. alton brown, one of my heros, always mentions how when you salt meat before cooking, it does bring some moisture out, but proteins along with it, which give most of the flavor when the meat is cooked/browned.
meat loaf? it’s true, i almost always put a small amount of oats into my hamburger mix. i’m not sure exactly what i like about it, but i think it adds a lot of good texture to the patty. i certainly dont use so much that you can actually notice it. most people have no clue it is in there until i tell them. it’s also good because it soaks up a lot of those extra fluids that i add, storing the flavor in little bursts. i also usually add some finely chopped onions. i keep some fried onions around, and every once in a while i’ll use those instead. not as healthy, but full of flavor.
speaking of onions…..one of my favorite flavors in the entire world is in&out’s grilled onions on their burgers. i usually order it animal style, extra onions, but no pickles. the pickle juice competes too much with the wonderful burnt flavor of the onions. so, it goes without saying that i always want grilled onions on my burgers.
it ain’t easy bein’ cheesy……there’s a local bar and grill here that has a patty stuffed with cheese. it is killer, litterally. talk about bad for you. but soooo good. it can be deadly though, if you dont know about the cheese and attempt to simply bite into the burger. scalding hot cheese explodes out and burns your face! but, if you cut the burger in half first, it’s an amazing experience. i’ve tried to make it at home a couple of time, and the key is making the patty, and then sticking it in the freezer, kinda like what the article was talking about. if you dont, the patty falls apart on the grill and the cheese makes a mess. sometimes i add cheese in tiny cubes to my patty mix, along with the liquids, oats, and onions. but, this certainly does not have as much bang for the buck as the stuffed patty.
bread…..i’ve been REALLY into challa bread lately. there’s a wonderful local bakery that makes this jewish bread once a week on fridays. i use part of the fresh loaf on the weekend for some of the BEST french toast ever (we’ll discuss that some other time) and then as it gets older and crunchier, use it for “texas toast”, hamburger buns, etc. what i like about it is that it has a slight sweet flavor and gets even better when you brown it and toast it on the grill. a pat of butter on a hamburger bun goes a looong way!
well, i think i’d best get back to work, but i’m very glad that i stumbled across your blog in the past couple of days, and i’m even more glad that you wrote about something other than computers!!!
-jason