Chin Diesel
Power of Love
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2011
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Only in America. There is National Cheeseburger Day which is in September and National Burger Day which is on Memorial Day. Go figure.
Traditional kickoff of summer.
Breaking down the burger in to sections: Meat, cheese, toppings, bun. And then we can talk cooking method. Get any of them wrong and you kill the overall result.
Meat: Simply picking up some 80%-85% lean from the supermarket is a safe way to make sure you get enough juice (fat) without having a hockey puck. For those who like to mix it up I've heard plenty of recipes with chuck, sirloin, brisket and a few other cuts. Key to me is to keep enough fat from drying out the burger. I will not ever mix bread crumbs, eggs or any fillers in to the meat. Then it becomes meatloaf patties.
Seasoning: I keep it simple with some salt, pepper and garlic powder. Just enough to enhance the meat. Montreal seasoning works well if you don't want to worry about ratios.
Cheeses: Anything that is gooey without be too stringy. Classic American cheese works great; also a fan of havarti, provolone, and muenster. Not as much of a fan of mozzarella or cheddar. I love blue cheese but you have to get it right with quantity and temp. You don't want crumbles falling all over the place. Method of working the blue cheese in to the meat mixture works well. I prefer the style of putting it on the burger the last 30-45 seconds to start the melt. Not a fan of putting it on cold after they're off the grill; not a fan of having the cheese completely melted all over burger. I'm fine with the stick some cheese between the two patties while cooking.
Veggies: I'm a fan of lettuce, tomato, pickles and avocado (not guac or avocado spread, real avocado). I'll put out some white and red onion but that's not my style. I prefer the kosher style pickles over sweet or bread and butter style. I can have them as the long, flat spear style or chip style. Just don't want them too thick. Same with tomatoes. Obviously fresh local grown are way better than store bought tomatoes which are basically tasteless. Nice single slice but not too thick.
Condiments: Ketchup, mustard, mayo other spreads. I'm basic with ketchup and yellow mustard. I'll consider some of the brown mustards but they can over power very quickly if you put on too much. Never understood mayo for anything (and this include miracle whip) so that's a non-starter. All sorts of other spreads out there from thousand island, avocado spreads, etc. Not a big fan of them.
Other toppings: Bacon and eggs. Bacon, you can cook it a bunch of ways to your liking for breakfast; for a burger it has to be crispy. No way a person should be pulling on their burger because the bacon is undercooked. A nice fried egg can add some richness to a burger. Never do that option when cooking for a group, but for a family night or at a restaurant I'll entertain it.
Buns: I'm ambivalent so long as the bun isn't way bigger than the burger. Usually too big either in circumference or in height ratio. I'll do traditional buns, kaiser buns or potato buns. Kaisers generally hold up well. I don't mind them dusted, I can handle some amount of sesame seed. Not a fan of poppy seed, onion seed, or having cheeses baked in to the bread topping. Less is more with the bun. If you ever have a burger where the bun was the star, you had a dud.
Grilling: We'll have several threads during the summer over cooking methods, grill types and everything else. For the purposes of burgers I'll go two ways. Cooking for myself or just the family? Cast iron skillet on the range. Can't beat the sear and the nice crusty coat you get from the skillet. All standard rules apply, make sure the skillet is seasoned and make sure it's hot before the meat hits the iron. Larger parties, you need a grill and I'll leave that debate. Biggest thing is to know your grill, know your hot/cold spots and don't overwork the meat. Start on one side, one flip and move to a cooler location for the final cooking and cheese melting. When you have a bunch of burgers going you have to stay at the grill. This isn't the time to start swapping stories with buddies. An unattended grill loaded with burgers quickly can get out of hand. Yes, a spray bottle is a handle tool. When cooking at home, I'll cook to medium rare and let it set to finish somewhere between medium rare and medium. The 2-5 minutes rest time, like for any meat, is crucial. Personal preference for how long you let it rest.
So for me? Meat seasoned with salt and pepper, cooked to medium rare to medium. About 6 oz post-cook weight. Put it on a kaiser bun with some melted cheese. Lettuce, tomato, pickle, avocado, ketchup, mustard and I'm a happy burger eater.
Traditional kickoff of summer.
Breaking down the burger in to sections: Meat, cheese, toppings, bun. And then we can talk cooking method. Get any of them wrong and you kill the overall result.
Meat: Simply picking up some 80%-85% lean from the supermarket is a safe way to make sure you get enough juice (fat) without having a hockey puck. For those who like to mix it up I've heard plenty of recipes with chuck, sirloin, brisket and a few other cuts. Key to me is to keep enough fat from drying out the burger. I will not ever mix bread crumbs, eggs or any fillers in to the meat. Then it becomes meatloaf patties.
Seasoning: I keep it simple with some salt, pepper and garlic powder. Just enough to enhance the meat. Montreal seasoning works well if you don't want to worry about ratios.
Cheeses: Anything that is gooey without be too stringy. Classic American cheese works great; also a fan of havarti, provolone, and muenster. Not as much of a fan of mozzarella or cheddar. I love blue cheese but you have to get it right with quantity and temp. You don't want crumbles falling all over the place. Method of working the blue cheese in to the meat mixture works well. I prefer the style of putting it on the burger the last 30-45 seconds to start the melt. Not a fan of putting it on cold after they're off the grill; not a fan of having the cheese completely melted all over burger. I'm fine with the stick some cheese between the two patties while cooking.
Veggies: I'm a fan of lettuce, tomato, pickles and avocado (not guac or avocado spread, real avocado). I'll put out some white and red onion but that's not my style. I prefer the kosher style pickles over sweet or bread and butter style. I can have them as the long, flat spear style or chip style. Just don't want them too thick. Same with tomatoes. Obviously fresh local grown are way better than store bought tomatoes which are basically tasteless. Nice single slice but not too thick.
Condiments: Ketchup, mustard, mayo other spreads. I'm basic with ketchup and yellow mustard. I'll consider some of the brown mustards but they can over power very quickly if you put on too much. Never understood mayo for anything (and this include miracle whip) so that's a non-starter. All sorts of other spreads out there from thousand island, avocado spreads, etc. Not a big fan of them.
Other toppings: Bacon and eggs. Bacon, you can cook it a bunch of ways to your liking for breakfast; for a burger it has to be crispy. No way a person should be pulling on their burger because the bacon is undercooked. A nice fried egg can add some richness to a burger. Never do that option when cooking for a group, but for a family night or at a restaurant I'll entertain it.
Buns: I'm ambivalent so long as the bun isn't way bigger than the burger. Usually too big either in circumference or in height ratio. I'll do traditional buns, kaiser buns or potato buns. Kaisers generally hold up well. I don't mind them dusted, I can handle some amount of sesame seed. Not a fan of poppy seed, onion seed, or having cheeses baked in to the bread topping. Less is more with the bun. If you ever have a burger where the bun was the star, you had a dud.
Grilling: We'll have several threads during the summer over cooking methods, grill types and everything else. For the purposes of burgers I'll go two ways. Cooking for myself or just the family? Cast iron skillet on the range. Can't beat the sear and the nice crusty coat you get from the skillet. All standard rules apply, make sure the skillet is seasoned and make sure it's hot before the meat hits the iron. Larger parties, you need a grill and I'll leave that debate. Biggest thing is to know your grill, know your hot/cold spots and don't overwork the meat. Start on one side, one flip and move to a cooler location for the final cooking and cheese melting. When you have a bunch of burgers going you have to stay at the grill. This isn't the time to start swapping stories with buddies. An unattended grill loaded with burgers quickly can get out of hand. Yes, a spray bottle is a handle tool. When cooking at home, I'll cook to medium rare and let it set to finish somewhere between medium rare and medium. The 2-5 minutes rest time, like for any meat, is crucial. Personal preference for how long you let it rest.
So for me? Meat seasoned with salt and pepper, cooked to medium rare to medium. About 6 oz post-cook weight. Put it on a kaiser bun with some melted cheese. Lettuce, tomato, pickle, avocado, ketchup, mustard and I'm a happy burger eater.
