Here's my secret recipe to a great burger (ground beef, fennel, mustard)
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I know not everybody will agree with me but my secret to a great burger is adding ground pork to the mix.
I simply can't stand 80/20 ground beef in the markets and hard to find that 70/30 ground beef. So my secret to making the burger taste better and even forms a better crust is to add ground pork. For one pound of 80/20 ground beef, I add about 1/4 lb of ground pork to it. After watching Gordon Ramsay making burgers a few times I also incorporated his method of adding dark mustard it helps spice up the burger and makes it easier to form patties without falling apart.
When you make the patties using a mold or just a ball you can feel the difference that it doesn't fall apart as easy when you use some dark brown mustard. Don't worry about the vinegar smell, it will cook off and help keep the burger moist without using any water. I simply can't stand watch many burger places spray water on my burger, then it comes grey instead of dark brown.
With this method, the burger sears very easily due to the extra fat from the pork. I know some folks are gonna say you can't eat it pink. That's not true, I usually cook my burgers medium with slight pink and pork is quite safe now to be cooked medium temp.
As for the taste and flavor, if you like an extra bite or crunch then this is it. It won't taste as spongy and the patty doesn't fall apart like most 100% beef recipes. You need a lot more fat to make a good burger. 80/20 is really not a great ground beef for burgers that's why high end burger places uses 65-70 beef to fat ratio and some even ground with bacon to get more fat into the meat.
That would work if you can get ground pork. Any ground pork around here is seasoned up with sausage herbs and spices and it is extra super fatty.
My secret to a good burger is to use high quality extremely fresh rolls to serve the burger on, and to use high quality meat that has been properly aged. A good burger is not a cheap meal.
Also, cooked on low heat in a skillet will get you a better burger than grilling the meat over a fire.
You can make your own ground meat using a food processor. The real kind of food processor-- that spins real fast. Use the normal blade and do not over-process it. Obviously, you need to remove any bones first.
Instead of brown I use regular yellow mustard thinned with a splash of Worcestershire sauce. Not too much, just a hint of salt and flavor. The pork+beef mix never worked for me as it’s nearly impossible to combine the two after the meats are ground. I did have some burger meat custom-ground with bacon one time and the taste was interesting, but expensive and too much bother for regular cooking.
We found a source for good ground beef. We buy 85% ground beef. I form it into patties and coat the outside of each patty with Spike seasoned salt. I chill until it goes onto the grill. The burgers are quite nice.
I actually think adding pork to ground beef might improve most ground beef, which I think is awful. No taste! But we are buying a better grade of beef, and our burgers have improved.
My butcher sells “meat loaf mix” which is ground beef, veal, and pork. I use that.
I also make my interpretation of Italian sausage patties with ground pork shoulder using the KitchenAid meat grinder attachment. Lots of crushed garlic. Paprika. Ground fennel. Whole fennel seed. Oregano. I’ve tried it with pork loin but it’s too lean. I was unemployed at the Great Recession and made a game of trying to live off an unemployment check. I figured out things I liked using $2.00/pound meat.
My son is a picky eater, and loves Burgers, but not mine as I am reminded (2 1/2 out of 5 stars) I watched the Gordon Ramsey show and we tried that. Worked better on the grill than on the stove griddle.
When I was a kid, my dad would use BBQ sauce and Ground Beef, and his always came out perfect. I try to duplicate his recipe but cannot seem to
I think the cut of meat has a lot to do with it I am going to try your suggestion of using 1/4 ground pork They have that here unseasoned.
They are here in Florida and will ship frozen meats overnight. I know that is an issue for some, but we grew up in Texas with a side of beef added every year to our deep freeze. It was a Texas Thang Back then When we wanted steak, burgers, whatever, we just thawed it out and cooked it And it always tasted fine.
I like the idea of adding ground pork; however, I prefer my burgers rare to medium rare. Even im not sure I'd take that culinary risk!
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