Making home made burgers for a dumby...

readyletsgo

Wondering if someone could give me some tips on making nice burgers for this evening.
I have some angus mince at home and would like to make some burgers out of it. But I dont want to make big thick burgers, kinda more like the size of mcdonalds one or just twice as tick maybe.

Only new to cooking meat lately, love my non-stick frying pan as of late

What are the things I need to make them? Would I be right in thinking of adding a little fried onion into the mix?

Thanks for reading!!!

BailMeOut

I swear by this method. Always juicy, never dry and always tasty. Seems odd when you read and try process but it does work.

500g mince beef
1 slice white bread
1/2 tablespoon Brown sauce (YR)
pinch sea salt
pinch ground pepper
pinch garlic powder
2 tablespoons milk
Directions:

1 Crumble bread into mixing bowl.
2 Add milk 1/2 Tbsp at a time and mash with fork until a paste-type mixture is formed. This may require an adjustment to the amount of milk, we mostly just eyeball it.
3 Once paste is formed, add the mince meat, brown sauce, salt, pepper and garlic power and mix thoroughly.
4 Form into 4 burgers and fry in non stick pan or BBQ outside. Top with cheese at end and let melt

Serve on warm toasted bun with your favourite condiments.

PS: The bun should be the same diameter (or smaller) than the burger itself. Nothing worse than biting into a burger and only getting bread!

mikom

readyletsgo wrote: »

Wondering if someone could give me some tips on making nice burgers for this evening.

Avoid the horse meat.

Happyman42

Chop a medium sized onion finely and fry gently until golden and soft. Allow to cool (important)
Place 500g of steak mince in a bowl, crush a clove of garlic into it, some breadcrumbs , salt and a good twist of pepper.
Whisk one egg and add to mixture, add cold onions.
Mix together well, (using your hands is best) and press/form into patties.
Tasty burgers!

readyletsgo

Haha horse meat, Sure that just added to the flavour wouldnt it?

A question on cooking it in a pan. how hot? full heat med heat? How long would I cook the meat for, seeing as I would like to make them like mcdonalds size(ish)

Thanks for all replies so far!

Toast4532

Susie Q's burgers are fabulous. Utterly delicious, they have never let me down.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=79167232&postcount=2

Happyman42

readyletsgo wrote: »

Haha horse meat, Sure that just added to the flavour wouldnt it?

A question on cooking it in a pan. how hot? full heat med heat? How long would I cook the meat for, seeing as I would like to make them like mcdonalds size(ish)

Thanks for all replies so far!

You would need the heat high enough to seal them almost as soon as they hit the pan, flip them over, seal and then turn down the heat to medium and let them sizzle away until done. I periodically press down on them with the flat of the spatula too. 3 or 4 minutes a side I would say, then let them rest in a warm oven until ready to serve.

Toto Wolfcastle

Mince, shaped into burgers, salt and pepper on them just before frying and turn them once. Hot pan. I have no idea how long I cook them for, I just keep an eye on them.

readyletsgo

Bobblehead Panda wrote: »

Mince, shaped into burgers, salt and pepper on them just before frying and turn them once. Hot pan. I have no idea how long I cook them for, I just keep an eye on them.

So you dont use an egg to bind it all together? I did it once years ago without egg and they just fell apart :rolleyes:
Remember my mam would use a little bit of flour in the mix too and they would be big thick burgers, not into them, just slim ones.

As you all can guess, I am not a cook, I dont really know what I am doing, making these for my dad so would like not to poison him

Happyman42

readyletsgo wrote: »

So you dont use an egg to bind it all together? I did it once years ago without egg and they just fell apart :rolleyes:

Doing it that way and cooking them too quick makes them fall apart.

Toto Wolfcastle

readyletsgo wrote: »

So you dont use an egg to bind it all together? I did it once years ago without egg and they just fell apart :rolleyes:
Remember my mam would use a little bit of flour in the mix too and they would be big thick burgers, not into them, just slim ones.

As you all can guess, I am not a cook, I dont really know what I am doing, making these for my dad so would like not to poison him

Nope, I've never had a problem with them falling apart. Don't handle them too much and don't move them around too much in the pan. Nothing wrong with adding things to the meat though, I just prefer them with nothing added, so if you had problems with them falling apart before then maybe go with one of the other methods above.

readyletsgo

Ok shopping list is

Burger buns
Mince
2 tablespoons of milk
Some salt and pepper
Clove or two of garlic
Slice of bread (brown bread is in the house at the moment)
Small onion (cooked and cooled before mixing with mince)

Cook for 3/4 mins each side on high heat, let rest for a min or two before serving.

Bit of chedder cheese etc.

Sounds easy enough. I shall give it a shot and tell you all how I get on.

Thanks so much for all the replies and advice!!!

Happyman42

readyletsgo wrote: »

Ok shopping list is

Burger buns
Mince
2 tablespoons of milk
Some salt and pepper
Clove or two of garlic
Slice of bread (brown bread is in the house at the moment)
Small onion (cooked and cooled before mixing with mince)

Cook for 3/4 mins each side on high heat, let rest for a min or two before serving.

Bit of chedder cheese etc.

Sounds easy enough. I shall give it a shot and tell you all how I get on.

Thanks so much for all the replies and advice!!!

Make sure they are Thorough Bread Buns!!

A2LUE42

readyletsgo wrote: »

Ok shopping list is

Burger buns
Mince
2 tablespoons of milk
Some salt and pepper
Clove or two of garlic
Slice of bread (brown bread is in the house at the moment)
Small onion (cooked and cooled before mixing with mince)

Cook for 3/4 mins each side on high heat, let rest for a min or two before serving.

Bit of chedder cheese etc.

Sounds easy enough. I shall give it a shot and tell you all how I get on.

Thanks so much for all the replies and advice!!!

You also need oil for the pan.

deelite

When I've made the mixture I roll it up into a "Swiss roll" shape and wrap tightly in cling film and put in fridge for an hour or so. (don't know why, or where I got the idea from but I didn't think it up myself).

A2LUE42

deelite wrote: »

When I've made the mixture I roll it up into a "Swiss roll" shape and wrap tightly in cling film and put in fridge for an hour or so. (don't know why, or where I got the idea from but I didn't think it up myself).

sounds like what Heston did on his show where he compared different methods of making the burgers.

Dizzyblonde

I have a burger press and it's really good for shaping them. I make my burgers then let them rest in the fridge for a while before frying them and they never fall apart.

emaleth

I started doing them like this after seeing Heston's take on burgers (on his show and on Aussie Masterchef).

Put your minced beef in a bowl. Break it up with a fork, following the grain of the meat, so you're essentially dividing the strands of minced beef, not mashing them together. Add table salt, about a teaspoon per pound of beef, and fresh cracked black pepper. I usually throw in some Old Bay, which is an American spice mix, but I'm not sure it's available here. You could add a crumbled Oxo cube, bearing in mind they're pretty salty, or powdered garlic or onion, or anything that takes your fancy. Smoked paprika might be nice. Anyway, mix the seasonings in with the fork, again trying to keep the strands of beef intact by turning and lifting the meat, akin to folding beaten egg white into cake batter. Form into patties with your hands, firmly but kindly like they're your little beefy pets, and put them on a plate in the fridge for an hour or so. They'll be nice and firm when they come out, the salt tightens them up. Either fry them or do them on/under the grill, but DO NOT MOVE THEM for the first three or four minutes.

The difference between this method and the mash-it-all-together-with-your-hands method is phenomenal, in my experience.

loveisdivine

I just wanted to add that the most important thing for making burgers, in our house anyways, is that they are nice and pink in the middle. So tender and soft and delicious.

Once I ate a medium rare burger in Paris (yes yes horse meat blah blah) I've never gone near a well done burger again.

Happyman42

loveisdivine wrote: »

I just wanted to add that the most important thing for making burgers, in our house anyways, is that they are nice and pink in the middle. So tender and soft and delicious.

Once I ate a medium rare burger in Paris (yes yes horse meat blah blah) I've never gone near a well done burger again.

Extremely dangerous cooking for the susceptible (youngsters and oldsters) if you are buying in your mince, I would have thought? Grand, if you are controling the meal from start to finish., eg. running fresh meat through a mincer.

I make burgers all the time. I always put in a hint of Cumin to the mix. Not a lot - just enough to make sure it is there in the back ground - but it always adds depth and joy.

the beer revolu

Happyman42 wrote: »

Extremely dangerous cooking for the susceptible (youngsters and oldsters) if you are buying in your mince, I would have thought? Grand, if you are controling the meal from start to finish., eg. running fresh meat through a mincer.

Not to start a big debate or anything (been done before;)) but I think it is important to distinguish between the cooking level that is determined by the food police to be safe and the cooking level that most people in Ireland (amateur and professional) cook their burgers to - just to be sure.

So, I would claim that a burger with a touch of pink is perfectly safe to eat (even by the food police' standards).
The bone dry, hard, thick things, with a crunchy, lumpy surface that pass as burgers so often in Ireland should be made illegal.

I also much prefer a thinner burger because you can cook it through quite quickly without ending up with a hockey puck!

hardCopy

A handy way to make thin burgers is to roll the mince out on a counter top to McDonald's-esque thickness and cut patties from the slab with the top of a pint glass.

Then just scoop up the remnants and make one last burger with it.

I find if you try and flatten them individually they can fall apart when they get too thin.

loveisdivine

Obviously people should exercise common sense and all that. I dont know if I would class it as extremely dangerous though. But thats just me.
I buy organic beef mince and we always have it medium to rare and we have had no problems so far.

I'm also of the opinion that you shouldnt put too much stuff in the burger mix. However we got a burger press for christmas, that comes with a little attachment for making stuffed burgers. we stuffed them with cheese and it was amazing!

DyldeBrill

500g mince beef
Corriander
1 chilli pepper
1 onion finely chopped
2 tbsp chilli powder
Salt+Pepper

Simple burger to Make

1.Put mince in bowl, add a small bit of flour
2.Chop onion, corriander and chilli into fine slices.
3.Add salt , pepper and chilli powder (Sometimes I find a small bit of Garam Masala can be nice) and roll burgers into your preferred sizes

cook for about 4 mins each side and BOOM.....Dinners made

Happyman42

the beer revolu wrote: »

Not to start a big debate or anything (been done before;)) but I think it is important to distinguish between the cooking level that is determined by the food police to be safe and the cooking level that most people in Ireland (amateur and professional) cook their burgers to - just to be sure.

So, I would claim that a burger with a touch of pink is perfectly safe to eat (even by the food police' standards).
The bone dry, hard, thick things, with a crunchy, lumpy surface that pass as burgers so often in Ireland should be made illegal.

I also much prefer a thinner burger because you can cook it through quite quickly without ending up with a hockey puck!

Have no problem with that in terms of actual meat, I like mine slightly rare too. I just think it is different with a minced product, if you don't know it's origin and journey to the plate.
Different strokes for different folks I suppose but well cooked mince has it's own particular charms for me, especially BBQ'ed.

readyletsgo

Jaysus, some great advice from you all on here, thanks very much!
Decided to leave making these burgers for the weekend.

But another question for ya. Since there is a lot of mince in 500g, can i, say, make 4 thin burgers and with the rest of the mix, make them and freeze them for another time?
What way do you guys do this?

Elegant Chaos

The quality and fat content of the mince is really important of course. It can be tempting to go for the "best" quality mince e.g. the one with the least fat, but the flavour can take a hit if you do that. One option that I like is to fry some lardon (Lidl or Aldi are ok), cool, chop and add to your mix. You don't need a huge amount but it lifts the flavour.

And definitely a dash of Worcestershire (sp?) sauce...

hardCopy

loveisdivine wrote: »

Obviously people should exercise common sense and all that. I dont know if I would class it as extremely dangerous though. But thats just me.
I buy organic beef mince and we always have it medium to rare and we have had no problems so far.

I'm also of the opinion that you shouldnt put too much stuff in the burger mix. However we got a burger press for christmas, that comes with a little attachment for making stuffed burgers. we stuffed them with cheese and it was amazing!

I had feta stuffed burgers on the barbecue last summer, they were awesome. Fresh from the butcher that day, home made MaryRose, lettuce tomato, brown baps.

Can't wait for a bit of sun now to get the grill out!

Happyman42

readyletsgo wrote: »

Jaysus, some great advice from you all on here, thanks very much!
Decided to leave making these burgers for the weekend.

But another question for ya. Since there is a lot of mince in 500g, can i, say, make 4 thin burgers and with the rest of the mix, make them and freeze them for another time?
What way do you guys do this?

Absolutely, I make 20 or so at a time and freeze in batches of 4 (Family of 4)
Make sure to seperate them with greaseproof paper though before freezing.

Happyman42

hardCopy wrote: »

I had feta stuffed burgers

:eek: now there's an idea! :cool:

DyldeBrill

Elegant Chaos wrote: »

The quality and fat content of the mince is really important of course. It can be tempting to go for the "best" quality mince e.g. the one with the least fat, but the flavour can take a hit if you do that. One option that I like is to fry some lardon (Lidl or Aldi are ok), cool, chop and add to your mix. You don't need a huge amount but it lifts the flavour.

And definitely a dash of Worcestershire (sp?) sauce...

Worcestershire sauce is a must! I like to add some into Greek Yogurt and use it as a sort of sauce for the burger.Goes great with pickles

Happyman42

Try this with the left over burger mix;
Loosen the mixture with a little milk so it resembles a paste.

Get a sheet of filo or puff pastry from the freezer and lay out on worktop, smear mix over sheet and roll up like a swiss roll. Chill it in fridge for an hour or so.
Heat oven and cut 'swiss roll' in thin slices and lay on a greased baking tray. Cook until pastry looks cooked, 20 mins or so (I think) and enjoy delicious mini bitesize, all in one, burgers. Great kids party food.
Make up a mix of wholegrain mustard and mayo and apply a small dollop on the centre of each bite for the adults!

Halloween Jack

How much horse are people adding, as a rule?

Seaneh

Ignore all previous recipes.

Never put bread, eggs or any other other fillers or binders in your burger, or I'll hunt you down.

Take your minced beef (15% fat, at least) and dump it in a big mixing bowl.

Season it with plenty of salt (like, more than you think you need) and a few pinches/grinds of black peper.

I like to add a bit of grated onion, dont try finely dice it, grating actually breaks down the cell walls a lot more than slicing/dicing and will give you uniform tiny pieces that are soft.

And that's it, give it all a good mix and then leave it aside for a good 20 minutes.
This does 2 things.

1) brings your meat up in temp a little which means it will cook more evenly (cooking meat from cold is silly)
and
2) allows the salt to draw the proteins from inside the meat out, it is these proteins that will be your binding agent, no need for eggs or bread which I honestly think is a bloody sin to add to a burger.

I like to make 1/3rd lb patties which I like to keep pretty thin, about 1/2 inch is perfect. This way, the burger will cook more quickly and the outside will have a nice level of browning but not be over cooked and the inside will still be moist and juicy but fully warmed through, it will still stay moist even if you're a fan of well done burgers.

I have at times added a little extra like a bit of sriracha or bbq sauce or something, but I'd only add about 1/2 a teapoon per burger.

A burger should taste of beef, not 5bazillion added flavours, let the meat stand out, save the flavours for the toppings (make a flavoured mayo or something to go with it).

the beer revolu

Seaneh wrote: »

Ignore all previous recipes.

Never put bread, eggs or any other other fillers or binders in your burger, or I'll hunt you down.

Take your minced beef (15% fat, at least) and dump it in a big mixing bowl.

Season it with plenty of salt (like, more than you think you need) and a few pinches/grinds of black peper.

I like to add a bit of grated onion, dont try finely dice it, grating actually breaks down the cell walls a lot more than slicing/dicing and will give you uniform tiny pieces that are soft.

And that's it, give it all a good mix and then leave it aside for a good 20 minutes.
This does 2 things.

1) brings your meat up in temp a little which means it will cook more evenly (cooking meat from cold is silly)
and
2) allows the salt to draw the proteins from inside the meat out, it is these proteins that will be your binding agent, no need for eggs or bread which I honestly think is a bloody sin to add to a burger.

I like to make 1/3rd lb patties which I like to keep pretty thin, about 1/2 inch is perfect. This way, the burger will cook more quickly and the outside will have a nice level of browning but not be over cooked and the inside will still be moist and juicy but fully warmed through, it will still stay moist even if you're a fan of well done burgers.

I have at times added a little extra like a bit of sriracha or bbq sauce or something, but I'd only add about 1/2 a teapoon per burger.

A burger should taste of beef, not 5bazillion added flavours, let the meat stand out, save the flavours for the toppings (make a flavoured mayo or something to go with it).

Yes!

CelticRambler

Good man, Seaneh! :-)

@readyletsgo, seeing as this is your first burger adventure, keep it simple. Keep the bread for your sandwiches and the milk for your tea. Leave all the weird and wonderful spices for another day, until you've figured out how to make a really good, 100% beef burger. As Seaneh points out, the salt is not just a flavour enhancer - it helps to change the physical characteristics of the meat (like a kind of marinade) and makes for more of a "burger" not just a lump of meat-bits squashed together.

lg123

Toast4532 wrote: »

Susie Q's burgers are fabulous. Utterly delicious, they have never let me down.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=79167232&postcount=2

This recipe looks great. I always use whole grain mustard in mine, great stuff.

A few weeks ago I tried a Gordon Ramsay recipe with a load of blue cheese mixed into the meat, they were pretty damn good.
100g of cheese to 1kg mince, I think I was a little more generous than that. They also had a little red onion, chives, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt n pepper. Funnily they didn't taste anything like blue cheese.

rubadub

BailMeOut wrote: »

PS: The bun should be the same diameter (or smaller) than the burger itself. Nothing worse than biting into a burger and only getting bread!

I hate the rise of those extra large rolls, always end up getting these saucer size buns with a meatball in the middle.

I like them really thin burgers too. Mine would only have mince, salt & pepper, -no oil, mince of 15%+ fat should have enough oil. I squish it together than squash it out on tinfoil, really wide. The thinner the burger is the more shrinking occurs when cooked. I then leave the mince on the tinfoil. I heat up a pan (no oil) and turn it upside down. I then put the mince up to it and flip it over. So now the mince is cooking and the top of the burger is covered in foil. I leave the foil on as it sort of steams it and makes it mind very well, otherwise thin burgers are hard to flip. After a bit of cooking you can peel the tinfoil off easily, this can be reused and is nice & oily. Then flip it, I only try and flip burgers once ever.

This tinfoil trick works on BBQs too, but I put it tinfoil side down onto the grill, since turning the BBQ upside down is too difficult
On the BBQ you will see it cooking and shrinking on the tinfoil. If you put skinny burgers on a harsh BBQ grill as it shrinks it pulls itself apart, since it sticks on the metal rods but shrinks between them.

cookie75

lg123 wrote: »

A few weeks ago I tried a Gordon Ramsay recipe with a load of blue cheese mixed into the meat, they were pretty damn good.
100g of cheese to 1kg mince, I think I was a little more generous than that. They also had a little red onion, chives, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt n pepper. Funnily they didn't taste anything like blue cheese.

Love those blue cheese burgers found it very hard to eat any other kind after making these they are delicious, lumps of Cashel blue cheese melting inside the burger a little peace of heaven !!