Summer is getting closer, and with it the burger season. Appetizing, juicy, fragrant – no one would refuse a good burger? Perhaps this is the only dish that can be found both in countless fast food eateries and in expensive restaurants with a complex concept. And all why? Because burgers are divine. And since they are divine, then you need to treat them appropriately, and only the best should be cooked. How? Very simple.
- Pay attention to temperature. And I’m not talking about the temperature at which we will cook our burgers – I think it’s already clear how important it is. No, I’m talking about the temperature of raw meat, from which we will sculpt cutlets. So, I have two comments on this. First, even if you’re hungry and your ground beef is frozen, don’t give up and don’t cook frozen. Just place the frozen block between a piece of paper and a saucepan filled with warm water. The meat will quickly reach room temperature. And second, when the package of minced meat is thawed, put it in the refrigerator before cooking. Here’s the thing: When you cook a steak, you heat it to room temperature, but the burgers must be at the same temperature as the refrigerator. Only in this way will the fat contained in the mince be in the consistency we need. Otherwise, it will evaporate all during cooking, it will grumble appetizingly in the pan, but the burgers themselves will come out overdried.
- It might seem like any ground beef will work for burgers, but to make the best burgers, you only need to hunt a few specific types of ground beef. First, in terms of the meat / fat ratio, it should be in the range from 70/30 to 80/20. Ground beef Primebeef is a good option. Low fat burgers (5-10%) seem to be healthier, but by choosing them, you are depriving yourself of the recognizable flavor and tenderness of a burger. If you care about your figure, simply make a smaller cutlet instead of sacrificing flavor. Second, choose grain-fed marbled beef whenever possible. This type of meat is best suited to our mission of making the world’s most delicious burger.
- Most people either add salt and pepper to minced meat, or use them only to grate ready-made cutlets, but few do both. For the perfect burger, season the minced meat, stir it, mold the patties, and season them again on both sides. What for? It’s simple: as long as you don’t sculpt the burgers as thick as a sheet of paper, they won’t be thin enough to be soaked in salt and pepper. In addition, rubbing the seasoning on the surface of the patties, you provide them with better browning, and at the same time an amazingly tasty crust. In general, you can do with black pepper and coarse salt alone. However, you can experiment by adding mustard, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, onions, and even mayonnaise to the minced meat.
- Each of us has thought at least once: how do chefs in a restaurant get burgers of such an ideal shape? No more guesswork: just use the lid from a large can (like a can of peanut butter). In shape and size, this lid is ideal for sculpting a burger. And remember: don’t be too zealous when squeezing meat into a mold. Using too much force can damage the meat fibers, and the burger can be too dense and dry.
- And here’s a very simple and useful trick. When sculpting the patties, make a groove with your thumb on one side. In this recess, all the meat juice will accumulate and then be absorbed back, which will try to escape from the minced meat during frying. Otherwise, he would simply hiss uselessly in the pan while our cutlets lose their taste. Flip once – and only once. What’s the hardest part about making burgers? Show patience. We’ll have to watch the juicy cutlet brown appetizingly right before our eyes. You just want to touch it, check its elasticity or turn it over, right? Do not! When you flip the burger, you stop the meat fiber sealing process. To make our burger perfect, you need to caramelize it properly – and this process occurs only with direct contact with a hot surface. If you turn the cutlet over without letting it brown properly, all you will achieve is that all the meat juices will come out of it, and with them – the juiciness. A small note for all cheeseburger lovers. Cover the patties with cheese in the middle, or for of cooking, but not when the burger is already fried, otherwise the melted cheese will dry out your meat.
- Give your burger a break. Remember what I said about patience? It looks like making burgers is the best way to train him. We swallowed drool for ten minutes while we cooked it, and now it is ready – but we need to wait a little longer. Just like the steak, the burger should rest after the grill so that the juices disturbed by the heat will spread over it and make it as divine as we needed it. All of these tips are designed to take your burgers to a whole new level. But maybe you have some other tricks that you use?
