PrintAre These the Ultimate Beef Burgers?
I am a rabid—as in foaming at the mouth—fan of Cook's Illustrated. While it can be pedantic at times, the magazine's quest for perfection reliably yields delicious, easy-to-reproduce recipes.
In a fit of curiosity, I signed up to test out recipes that may or may not appear in the magazine. You're given a recipe and asked to submit your thoughts on the results by a particular date. Typically, the time frame passes before I have a chance to try it out, so I toss the recipe. But when a recipe for the Ultimate Beef Burger came along—a West Coast–style burger no less—I held onto it after the window had closed and thought I'd share the results with you all instead. If you're like me, your quest for the perfect burger continues into your kitchen.
The recipe calls for a mixture of sirloin steak tips or flap meat and boneless beef short ribs. Well, I couldn't find either, so I got short ribs on the bone and a thin, flat sirloin steak. (To be honest, the sirloin I used may not have been exactly what was called for, but I don't think it hindered the results much.) Removing the meat from the bone wasn't a big deal, but I would recommend getting rid of some of the fat from the top layer. Too much of the fat resulted in chunks of gristle in the final product.
Grinding the meat in a food processor was new for me and frustrating at first—mostly because I put in too much at once. I'd recommend only filling it up halfway, otherwise the meat won't grind uniformly. In the end, I may prefer this method to the grinder as you do get a much coarser, more loosely packed patty. I also thought quickly freezing the one-inch cubes of meat prior to processing was a great idea, as it keeps the meat from going to mush.
So how did it all turn out? The toasted bun and the burger spread was right on, and the burger was tasty. But I made a couple mistakes that I'll correct next time I prepare this. First, my patties were just a touch too thick, and I didn't have the pan hot enough. After browning the buns on medium-high heat, I forgot to crank it up to high so I could get a nice char on the meat. And if I'm going to make it hotter, I'd need it to be a bit thinner so I can get it to medium-rare without overdoing the crust.
In the end, the mix and quality of the meat is what separates this from the great burgers. I did get Prime short ribs, but I chinzed on the sirloin, getting only Choice. Also, I don't think the short ribs give enough beefy flavor. I'm not sure what else I'd want to add, but I might add brisket next time.
Making burgers at home can be as simple as buying ground chuck and throwing it on your skillet, but if that's all you wanted, you wouldn't be reading AHT. Despite my complaints and faults, this is a fantastic recipe to use as a base. There's room for improvement and personalization, but you'll be happy and full if you stick to the script.
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it pleasant. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
12 Comments:
Grind yer own! I heard this rallying cry on Alton Brown's Good Eats, and have never looked back since. Definitely better than buying it pre-ground, plus you get to experiment with various meat flavors. I personally love to throw a little lamb and pork into the mix. For the ultimate beefy flavor experience, try grinding up some dry aged prime ny strip or rib eye...
seyo at 3:10PM on 01/21/08
No lettuce or tomato?
kathryn at 3:35PM on 01/21/08
They look delicious. Good work!
Lauren Krueger at 4:07PM on 01/21/08
wonderful idea, freezing the beef prior to grinding. Try top round (defatted as much as possible) It can add tremendous flavor.
fewteeth at 4:38PM on 01/21/08
Looks fantastic! Grinding your own meat, that's the ultimate step in burger making!
SundayNiteDinner at 8:55PM on 01/21/08
Hi Matt, this is Kenji, the developer of that hamburger recipe. I am a rabid - as in foaming at the mouth - fan of AHT (check it daily), so you can guess my surprise and pleasure when I opened it up and said to myself, "wait a minute - those look like my burgers!"
In answer to a couple of your questions - I tried using brisket in my burgers, which actually did quite well. Great flavor. The only problem was that it happened to be one of the few cuts that were so tough and stringy that the food processor couldn't handle it. Not all of the time, but enough times that the recipe wasn't fool-proof (one of the many requirements of recipes in our mag). I'd definitely recommend trying it out for yourself though.
Also, flap meat (or sirloin tip) is quite different from a sirloin steak. Flap meat is very beefy, and has quite a robust texture. Sirloin steaks tend to be a little milder, and have a mealier, more livery flavor. If you can't find flap meat or sirloin tip, I'd give flank, skirt, or hanger a shot as a replacement.
As for shortrib and beef flavor, it's really a matter of personal taste. Short rib is pretty fatty, so makes the burger juicy, while the flap meat has a bigger beef flavor, but less fat. You can play around with the ratios until you find your own optimal flavor/fat combo. Of course, if you have access to good suet, you can skip the short rib, pick the beefiest tasting cut of meat you can, then add as much fast as you want to it.
Definitely the two most important parts of the recipe are:
1) not picking up the meat when forming the patties - you want it to be as loose and porous as possible
2) getting the pan really hot - the thin patties cook quick, so they need a really hot pan to get the nice crunchy sear on them.
p.s. its not in the recipe, but I like to actual put the onions directly on the meat (under the cheese) as it cooks, to let them soften/juice up a little bit. Slices of pastrami or smoked tongue added under the cheese are also good variations.
kenjialtci at 1:47PM on 01/22/08
If you have a KitchenAid mixer, the meat grinder attachment is well worth the money. It will grind brisket pretty easily.
PhotoKirk at 9:15AM on 01/23/08
I like grinding my own, the KitchenAid does a great jobI also will add spices and fresh onion and garlic while grinding, incorporating it through the patty.
Now, do you consider it cheating to dust the patty with a little bit of bouillon powder?
If you ask the butcher nicely, (when it's slow) they'll sometimes throw you some fat for free.
Pegasus at 7:37PM on 01/27/08
Is the full recipe available somewhere? I think I might be able to recreate from the photos but maybe easier if it's written down?
blueskyman at 11:34AM on 02/01/08
Hi Blueskyman: We originally had a version of the recipe here, but Cooks got riled and we had to remove it. Understandably, they don't want their test recipes discussed until they perfect them, and we didn't want to step on their toes by leaving it up. Apologies for less-than-complete coverage. Hope you understand!
Adam Kuban at 11:42AM on 02/01/08
A fresh grind mix of chuck roll and brisket. I really don't see a need for PRIME for burger meat. Grind it, pat it into shape, lightly, and GRIDDLE it. Maybe, MAYBE I can be talked into a wood fired grill being used for a fresh ground burger, but a griddle is far, far superior, IMO.
Don't make them too fat. Season with s and p or a homemade seasoning salt you like and go for it. I think the most important aspects are:
1. Fresh ground
2. Minimum of 20 fat. 25% is just about perfect. Places that tout their
"lean" burgers drive me nuts.
3. Handle LIGHTLY. If you go to town with the patting down proccess, you
get a texture similar to meatloaf.
4. Real hot GRIDDLE.
5. Soft, FRESH, white bread or potato bread roll. It must be soft. It must
be toasted in butter. I don't understand the use of other types of bread.
Like ciabatta, english muffins, hard rolls. Use white, cheap, FRESH
toasted hamburger rolls.
6. While I stand firm on the above stuff, condiments are up to you. I like
ketchup, a touch of mustard, pickle slices, raw onion. However, I was
introduced to fryed onions, fried dark. And OMG, it was outstanding.
Yep, burgers, IMO, are one of the Worlds classic dishes.
gabagool at 6:58PM on 06/14/08
One question...
Can you taste the Special fresh ground meat with All the Condiments?
I think not.
Also an English muffin works well with Juicy burgers, it is Bland but it is Tough and does not fall apart.
phauxtoe at 9:12PM on 06/14/08