Lets talk about Burgers

Ryath · 05-04-2020 10:24am

Posted them in the dinner thread but worth sharing in this one I think courtesy of cefh17's recommendation.

cefh17 wrote: »

I followed this lad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTGSUYMu6Ns

Made them yesterday really good buns, well worth the effort. I'll adjust the quantities next time though to make 8 or just double it to make 12. Might leave off the egg wash too. Don't think they really needed it.

Bassfish · 05-04-2020 1:23pm

I almost always make my own burgers because most of the ones you buy and up shrinking to half their size and swimming in grease but there's a butcher in Cork (Bresnans) that do 6oz Ribeye burgers and they are incredible! I also went against all of my instincts yesterday and used Aldi easy singles, two in fact and... Damn..... They just work!

rubadub · 05-04-2020 1:36pm

Bassfish wrote: »

Aldi easy singles, two in fact and... Damn..... They just work!

I use the bunsen method, see 25seconds in here

2 slices on top of each other, top one rotated 45 degrees for more coverage and no sauce on the top so it sticks better to the bun. I don't always bother to steam the bun with the cover, steam from the pan softens it a bit anyway.

I have been using tesco giant white baps now that I cannot get to aldi, these used to be stupidly big but are thinner now. I am not a fan of the tesco brioche.
https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=255231572

They are 95g each which is still big so I use bigger burgers.

Bujo are selling burger kits with raw meat, I would like to see the cooking instructions, they grill over flames in the store
https://bujo.ie/home.html

Muahahaha · 07-04-2020 8:30pm

rubadub is that the Firepit brand baps in Tesco or another one? I used to always use Tescos giant white floury baps but I think they discontinued them for a while when their Firepit brand hit the shelves. I dont have a Tesco locally so am not in there all that often, are they back? They were 79c for four iirc.

rubadub · 07-04-2020 8:58pm

Muahahaha wrote: »

rubadub is that the Firepit brand baps in Tesco or another one? I used to always use Tescos giant white floury baps but I think they discontinued them for a while when their Firepit brand hit the shelves.

as its no longer BBQ season they seem to have rebranded them as "finest" potato buns. They look the exact same size & same price. The photo here is still the old firepit one which would further suggest its identical. The new pack is a similar size but is not black, possibly green or beige and a clear window

https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=303705659

The firepit stuff never sold well, it was always in the "going off discount pile". I wouldn't be surprised if they stick with this name, though people see "potato bun" and thing WTF is that. People see "finest" and think its worth the bit extra, the firepit stuff just seemed expensive.

Muahahaha · 07-04-2020 9:36pm

yeah I was annoyed at Tesco when they discontinued their own brand giant white floury baps. They were great burger buns and a bargain at 79c too but then they got replaced with the Firepit brand which were 1.79. A classic case of wrap something in black and double the price.

rubadub · 07-04-2020 9:48pm

Muahahaha wrote: »

yeah I was annoyed at Tesco when they discontinued their own brand giant white floury baps.

Mine still has "large white baps" at 79c, they are not as thick as the old giant floury ones, and not floury but otherwise similar and more suited to burgers IMO -the old ones were very thick.

https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=255231572

They are 95grams each

Muahahaha · 07-04-2020 9:58pm

ah right, had never seen those ones before on the few occasions Im in Tesco, Had looked for the giant ones a few times after they stopped them and at that time all they had was the Firepit brand so I just switched to using Aldi bricohe which Ive gotten a bit tired of lately.

edit -I just put three of them in my Tesco online basket and of 16 products I already had in it 8 of them are now unavailable :eek: I dont think I'll be using Tesco in the short term anyway now

Muahahaha · 07-04-2020 10:09pm

the beer revolu wrote: »

I don't know why this never occurred to me before but I have discovered my perfect burger topping.

Kimchee.

It's a bit sour like a pickle.
It's a bit spicy like a chilli sauce (a bit of sirracha amps it up)
It has some salad texture.
I think a lettuce leaf with it would be good but I didn't have any.

Here's my new, perfect burger construction.
Bun, lettuce, Kimchee, burger, sirracha, bun.

Anyone tried this?

It's perfect.

I must give this a try, any particular brand you recommend or are you making your own? Ive been meaning to pickle some red onions for use as burger toppings, Chimac on Aungier St do this on their chicken burgers and its a great additional flavour to have.

Someone back up the thread recommended Marks and Sparks 'Special Burger Sauce' as being a clone of Big Mac sauce. Bought a bottle of it a few weeks back and it is decent enough but isnt an exact match, I think it is missing some vinegar and pickles. Still a good sauce though.

the beer revolu · 08-04-2020 10:38am

Muahahaha wrote: »

I must give this a try, any particular brand you recommend or are you making your own?

Mrs Beer makes it in almost industrial quantities!
And she's become very, very good at it.:D

Prior to that, we used to get pouches of Korean kimchee in a local Asian shop.

Twee. · 09-04-2020 12:10pm

Ryath wrote: »

Posted them in the dinner thread but worth sharing in this one I think courtesy of cefh17's recommendation.

Made them yesterday really good buns, well worth the effort. I'll adjust the quantities next time though to make 8 or just double it to make 12. Might leave off the egg wash too. Don't think they really needed it.

What flour did you use? Never quite sure what "bread flour" is in this part of the world.

The Nal · 09-04-2020 12:16pm

Twee. wrote: »

What flour did you use? Never quite sure what "bread flour" is in this part of the world.

Bread flour, strong flour, 00 flour. All do the same job.

Twee. · 09-04-2020 1:11pm

Will have a look in the shops on my next trip! Got the last bag of cream flour yesterday, but they seem to be restocking fairly well. I got yeast in Lidl, if anyone is looking!

Ryath · 09-04-2020 1:23pm

Twee. wrote: »

What flour did you use? Never quite sure what "bread flour" is in this part of the world.

The Nal wrote: »

Bread flour, strong flour, 00 flour. All do the same job.

Yep just Strong flour. Was actually a bag from aldi but I got it about a month ago!

Twee. · 09-04-2020 1:30pm

Sound, will check Aldi if none in SuperValu. I'm doing smash burgers on Saturday and am determined to make the buns as well.

The Nal · 09-04-2020 2:54pm

Tescos seem to be wiped out of flour but my local SV has loads.

rubadub · 09-04-2020 8:41pm

The Nal wrote: »

Tescos seem to be wiped out of flour but my local SV has loads.

I wondered if all tescos were going short. I only shop late at night usually, but it was cleared out in the morning too.

All the panic hoarders should have got their fill by now, and there is loads of bread, even at night, so it makes no sense to me that people would still be buying up every scrap of it, bar the stupidly expensive tiny bags of fancy organic stuff that is dearer than cocaine per gram.

pixelburp · 09-04-2020 8:45pm

rubadub wrote: »

I wondered if all tescos were going short. I only shop late at night usually, but it was cleared out in the morning too.

All the panic hoarders should have got their fill by now, and there is loads of bread, even at night, so it makes no sense to me that people would still be buying up every scrap of it, bar the stupidly expensive tiny bags of fancy organic stuff that is dearer than cocaine per gram.

The lack of flour isn't down to hoarders, it's that everyone's bored and taking up baking. I'm being serious too, can think of at least a half dozen folk in my spheres who are baking bread, buns, scones etc etc; I think in the absence of any other options folks are doing indoorsy hobbies.

rubadub · 09-04-2020 8:51pm

pixelburp wrote: »

The lack of flour isn't down to hoarders, it's that everyone's bored and taking up baking. I'm being serious too.

Yes there is an increase, I was baking myself, but no friends or family were that I heard of, and I was telling them I was baking so guess they would mention it. Also it seems to be just really tesco that are wiped out, in the baking threads people are getting it fine in aldi or lid, not sure about dunnes. Yeast is the real difficult thing to get apparently.

The flour section in my tesco would bake a ridiculous amount of bread. In other events like the last big snow the flour was left fairly untouched, and bread wiped clean. This might have gone on longer alright so might be a hobby but still does not explain why aldi/lidl are OK.

I got tesco brand wholemeal bread, and there were a good few ones left, everything else gone. With the lack of yeast wholemeal should be OK for soda bread with buttermilk.

the beer revolu · 10-04-2020 8:58am

Burgers?

Mystery Egg · 10-04-2020 2:50pm

the beer revolu wrote: »

Burgers?

and their buns!

rubadub · 22-04-2020 5:41pm

I added some water to the mince as I had read it in a few places. Not sure if it only works with the smash technique, I suppose it depends on how much you add. I did not keep track but will do it again. I was doing really wide burgers so wanted it to be able to spread out a lot and the more pliable meat did squash out far easier. It still browned well and stuck to the pan.

It also seemed to cook quicker, when I lifted off my smasher there was barely any pink. I guess the extra water means it steams more. It was more tender and some might think too tender. It also shrank more so in future I will squash them even wider than normal.

This woman did 20% water and it was a failure, did not brown properly. Then did what she guessed was 5-10% and it was better.
https://blog.ideasinfood.com/ideas_in_food/2016/06/water-burger.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IdeasInFood+%28IDEAS+IN+FOOD%29

another
https://www.finecooking.com/article/the-science-of-grilling-burgers

If you want a juicy hamburger, it helps to restore some of that lost moisture. The easiest way is to add water or some other liquid to the burger mixture. We’ve found that 2 to 3 tablespoons of ice-cold water mixed into a pound of ground beef greatly increases the juiciness of grilled burgers.

A tablespoon is ~15ml so 30-45ml. A pub shot glass is 35.5ml. That range per pound is 6.6%-9.9%

I also want to try leaner mince with butter mixed in. The other thing would be beef stock instead of plain water, I have some of those knorr stock pot things.

Tree · 22-04-2020 10:18pm

Ideas in food also do cream instead of the water for some of their burger recipes...

(and frying eggs in cream, which i should* get around to trying)

*shouldn't

The Nal · 23-04-2020 9:39am

This smash burger stuff is the new avocado on toast.

rubadub · 23-04-2020 1:07pm

rubadub wrote: »

I have been using tesco giant white baps now that I cannot get to aldi, these used to be stupidly big but are thinner now. I am not a fan of the tesco brioche.
https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=255231572

They are 95g each which is still big so I use bigger burgers

I have been cutting these buns now, once to make a big mac style burger and then another where I just ate the middle bit separately like it was a regular slice of bread. I do find the bread ratio too much unless the burger is really thick.

I use a method like this device. Skip to 50second mark.

Instead I used a chopping board which is about 12mm thick and a wooden spoon handle which is similar diameter. So put the bun in the middle and lay the knife onto the chopping board and the spoon on the side nearest me, press on the bun and cut. So the base of the bun is now 12mm high.

I might try doing this on those ready cut buns you get to take a sliver off them, as I find them too thick. The remaining slice might be too thin to use properly so could save it for making breadcrumbs or something.

Cazale · 26-04-2020 8:11pm

I use 18% fat beef mince with about 180-200g per burger. Think my method is similar enough to a few people on here.

Take the mince straight out of the packet and quickly form it into a ball.
Roll them quickly in ground salt and pepper and place them on a square piece of grease proof paper.
Heat the pan on medium with a bit of oil and when ready grab the meat and put into the pan with the grease proof paper facing up.
Squash the meat down with a spatula and hold for 15 seconds.
Remove the paper and flip the burger back and forth until it's cooked. Usually about 5-7 mins depending on preference.
Place two slices of cheese in a star shape on top and then the top of the brioche bun.
I use a deep frying pan with a lid with a stream vent and I use a shot glass to put about 25ml of water in the pan then immediately put the lid on.
The water and the oil steams the burgers and I leave it for 60-90 seconds for the cheese to melt.
Have the bottom of the bun prepared with ketchup and mayonnaise.
Place the burger on top.

Muahahaha · 26-04-2020 8:48pm

My method is more or less identical Cazale except I put the heat up full blast for the initial smash and then lower it down to medium, Im cooking on induction so heat changes are almost instant. I dont flip it constantly though, just the once. I know with cooking steaks some chefs will say to flip constantly and others just the once, there doesnt seem to be consensus. Recently I've been going for 2 90g patties over one 180g one. I place the smashed sides one upwards and the other down. That way when you bite through you get that lovely crust flavour from both the top and the bottom. Have a slice of cheese between them and another on the top one too.

rubadub wrote: »

I have been cutting these buns now, once to make a big mac style burger and then another where I just ate the middle bit separately like it was a regular slice of bread. I do find the bread ratio too much unless the burger is really thick.

I got the Tesco floury white baps, I dont think they are as good as the previous iteration. I cant put my finger on it but somethings missing. I got a packet of Bundys Sourdough burger buns, thought they were awful, there was no proper sourdough flavour from them and they tasted like they were pumped with preservatives to give them a long shelf life. I have two out of the packet in the freezer and Im not even sure I'll use them.

Also got a packet of their Tesco Finest Potato Rolls which Ive yet to try. But am wondering is a potato roll the same as an Amish one that Bunsen use?

And does any supermarket sell kaiser buns? Havent seen them but they're another good bun for burgers.

rubadub · 27-04-2020 10:55am

Muahahaha wrote: »

I got the Tesco floury white baps, I dont think they are as good as the previous iteration. I cant put my finger on it but somethings missing.

The previous ones were softer and more squishy. They were so big I used to cut them like it was a regular loaf. They new ones are more like large burger buns but a bit softer. When I toast the middle bit from them its just like regular bread, it would break if you bent it before toasting, the previous softer ones would not have.

I prefer the new ones for burgers, but like the old ones for ham sandwiches.

I got 4x4packs of brioche buns in aldi, the BB dates are 8th of june. I was in late last night and there were loads of them, while other breads were sold out.

Muahahaha wrote: »

Also got a packet of their Tesco Finest Potato Rolls which Ive yet to try. But am wondering is a potato roll the same as an Amish one that Bunsen use?

IN one of the videos the owner discusses them, I think he says the bunsen is a cross between amish and brioche.

The tesco rolls look very similar to the one mentioned all the time in US videos, Martin's brand
https://www.eater.com/2017/3/1/14751564/martins-potato-rolls-burger-bun

Muahahaha wrote: »

And does any supermarket sell kaiser buns? Havent seen them but they're another good bun for burgers.

Kaiser buns are meant to be crusty, so not sure if that is what you want, probably not. Aldi do (did?) large seeded burger buns which are not crusty and have the kaiser type design on top, they call them brioche but they are not anything like their other brioche, its more like a cross between brioche and regular hamburger bun.

They are similar to the ones supermacs use for "gourmet burgers"
supermac-s-is-opening-six-new-restaurants-across-ireland-in-2018.png

supermac-s-is-opening-six-new-restaurants-across-ireland-in-2018.png

I think I saw similar in tesco before, they were branded and expensive.

Muahahaha · 27-04-2020 7:08pm

With the Tesco white baps I think what Im missing is the dusting of flour on top. I know you're not a fan but I liked it.

I tried to get Martins Potato rolls before but couldnt find any in the UK. I think Amazon there did sell them at one stage but now it comes up as a dead link. Pity as they seem to be very popular in the US and the burger bun to use. I've been getting a bit tired of brioche lately which is why I want to find something different.

Mystery Egg · 28-04-2020 8:46am

I had to google smash burgers.

This is how I have always made home made burgers! Handful of mince on a hot pan with a sprinkle of salt. It's what I saw them do in Eddie Rockets who really do produce a consistently good burger imo.

Lets talk about Burgers

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