The Perfectly Elusive Perfect Burger

[skinsmarydu]

at the turn this thread took there for a minute...

 

[RedWolf]

The Perfectly Elusive Perfect Burger

Love this thread, I'm also a big fan of burgers.

www.bgobsession.com

It was twenty years ago when I started a similar thread on ES. But I've been working on this for longer than that.

Sorry mate but if you are looking for a perfect burger after 20 years something is wrong

 

[Skinsfan1311]

Sorry mate but if you are looking for a perfect burger after 20 years something is wrong

The thrill is in the chase!

 

[Mark The Homer]

I've got a bunch of burger recipes - I cook the one I'm in the mood for... they're all good in their own way.

This one I call the Motz burger. This is extremely similar to skinsfan1311's post waaaaaaay back on page 1, post #20.

George Motz claims this is an historical burger.

Toast buns.
Smash two (2.5—3 oz) patties of ground chuck on a hot griddle
Flip
Add (American) cheese to each patty.
Place mustard, pickles and onions on the bottom bun.
Build burger.

That’s it! Its beauty is in its simplicity. There is not much to mask the smell and flavor of the beef. And that’s what makes it great.

Personally, I would prefer something besides American, but that's just me.

So I just made this one, the Motz burger aka the skinsfan1311 burger. And ate it too! I've done it before, of course, but not lately. Two 2.7 ounce patties. I smashed and smeared it and tabled it the Motz way. Toasted brioche bun. Just mustard, onions, and pickle slices. Two slices American cheese, but I used the Kraft deluxe deli white. And s&p on the burger. A little pepper on the cheese for presentation. Great burger. Lot of crunch and I'm not talking about the pickles and onions. Plenty of juice (grease). Lots of beefy flavor. I would have liked it better with just one AM cheese plus a provolone or cheddar. But I wanted to do it the straight Motz way. Very nice. Here are two angles.

 

[skinsmarydu]

Yep, it's gorgeous! I'm a straight up onions, pickles, dip my mustard on the side. (I also use deli white cheese, even for grilled sammiches.) It's just a tad saltier.

 

[Boone]

It's not about 'overthinking it'. Part of the fun of cooking is tweaking, altering, trying to get it perfect. I love this thread.

 

[Skinsfan1311]

Mark The Homer found 'em!

 

[Mark The Homer]

Prepare to be amazed! Those are Kaiser's, I usually get the club rolls. I've actually never seen those in Aldi's. I would try them if I could. Be sure to toast them according to what it says on the back label.

 

[Chris]

I see your burgers and raise you a chopped cheese. 😋

 

[Skinsfan1311]

Prepare to be amazed! Those are Kaiser's, I usually get the club rolls. I've actually never seen those in Aldi's. I would try them if I could. Be sure to toast them according to what it says on the back label.

Shee-it! I didn't buy 'em, but I will the next time I make pit beef. They had the sub rolls too, and maybe the club rolls...

 

[Mark The Homer]

Yes - I've had the sub rolls and the club rolls. Both are excellent, but the sub rolls make a much bigger sandwich, so I prefer the club rolls. You can stuff a lot of pit beef in a club roll. Re the Kaiser's, they might be very nice for a burger, I've just never had the opportunity to try those.

 

[Mark The Homer]

This is a pic of me that just came up on FB that my daughter DLSF took and put on her FB acct - me on my birthday in summer 2020. In fact, you gave the post a like. I was gonna put this in the show-me thread, but this is relevant because it shows the sunshine burger. That's what you do when you live three miles away from Sunshine and it's your birthday - you go git yourself a sunshine burger for lunch. Look how happy I am. We're sitting on one of the two picnic benches outside. That's Damascus Rd. in the background. You can see they put the toppings on the bottom. Also of note, they actually use a burger king whopper bun. But you can't buy them in the grocery store, and they're not actually made by BK, it's some baking company, can't remember the name. But Sunshine will sell you the buns for like 75 cents each. But the BK whopper buns are good because they're thin and wide. That's what you want for a half pound burger with toppings. It's really hard to find a good bun that's wide and thin and will hold together like that. You want something you can get your mouth around. One of the many secrets of the world-famous, internationally acclaimed, globally-renowned Sunshine burger. Check that ball cap out. I call that my hillbilly good ole boy hat. Everybody needs a hillbilly good ole boy hat you can sweat in and get dirty and you don't have to worry about messin' up.

 

[Mark The Homer]

Marty Hall Oklahoma Onion Burger -

This is my take on the classic Marty Hall Oklahoma Onion smash burger which was originally known as a depression era burger, although the original onion smash burger was made in 1922. The idea with this burger patty is half the volume is ground beef and half is grilled shaved onion. This classic onion burger includes pickles, and mustard, and that’s it. Marty has been flipping burgers in El Reno, Oklahoma since 1969 and estimates he has cooked in excess of five million burgers - and he’s still cooking burgers today! To this day, he uses a cement trowel to pound onions into the raw meat patty and flip burgers.

Get griddle hot - around 375 F. Shave half an onion as thin as possible - a mandolin is a good tool for this. Place about 75 grams (2.25-3.0 oz) of ground chuck formed into a patty on griddle. Top with all the thin onion slices from that half onion, then aggressively smash or pound the onions into the raw beef best you can with a strong spatula. Add salt to the onions. Allow burger to cook about 2-3 mins until you see the edges on the bottom becoming brown. Then, flip patties so that the onions are now face down in the griddle. Add salt & pepper to the patty. Optional but not classic: Place slice of cheese on top of patty (note the original onion burger did not include cheese). Place untoasted top bun (on top of cheese) on top of burger while it is cooking, and place untoasted bottom bun on top of top bun. The idea is, you want the buns to catch and absorb the airborne onion and burger steam rising from the frying onions. Placing a melting dome (or piece of foil) over this as it cooks will help melt the cheese if you’re adding cheese. After about a minute or two, when you see the edges of the onions beginning to turn brown, place buns face down onto griddle to absorb some of that onion juice and allow the buns to become slightly toasted (originally, the buns were not toasted). After another minute or two, remove buns, and slide spatula under onions and flip burger onto bottom bun so that onions are on top. If melted cheese in included, the melted cheese would be on the bottom. Serve open face with both pickle slices and mustard on the side. Since there’s only about one sixth of a pound of beef in these, you might consider making two. This is a tasty burger!

 

[skinsmarydu]

Fuckin perfect.

 

[Mark The Homer]

This is my take on the Dovie burger in Tomkinsville, Kentucky which opened in 1938 and has been famous since then.

I did this yesterday for lunch. The burger is named after the founder’s sister. The founder has passed but a grandson owns it now.

Fill a large pan with about a quarter inch of soybean oil and heat to about 250 F. While it’s heating, smash two 75-gram balls of ground beef (about 2.6 ounces each or one-sixth of a pound each) onto a cold dry surface. Smash them very flat. When oil is hot, carefully lay one of the patties in the oil. The patties should not be completely submerged. It will shrink quickly, making room for the second patty which you can now lay in the oil. Allow to cook. After about four minutes, flip carefully. After about four more minutes, move patty to a cast iron pan which has a little oil in it and which has been heated to about 375 F. This pan is to brown your burger. Flip after a minute or two. Meanwhile, get your untoasted buns ready. Use smaller buns such as slider buns. Place secret sauce (I like Mambo, but the secret base sauce at Dovie’s is “catsup, mustard, and pickle juice” with chopped onions in it too) onto bottom bun. You can make your burger “squizzed” or “unsquizzed”, so press down on the patties if you want them “squizzed.” I recommend unsquizzed. Add cheese. You can drizzle hot oil onto cheese to help melt cheese if you want. After a minute or two, stack burgers on untoasted bottom bun which already has secret sauce. Crown with untoasted top bun. Place an onion slice and a bunch of pickle slices on top of top bun and serve immediately. That's it! Sounds weird but it's actually pretty good! A lot of the burger fat gets cooked out of the patty and the patty becomes kind of soaked in soybean oil which has a nice flavor and is a lot healthier than soaking it in burger fat, right? The burger shrinks up quite a bit.

 

[Mark The Homer]

Here's my take on the Juicy Lucy - the burger that made Minneapolis famous.

This is a low & slow cook.

This is normally a half-pound burger but I like to make it with two sixth-pound patties (one-third pound burger). Smash two 75 gram patties onto a cold surface using parchment paper. Take one slice of high quality American cheese (Kraft Deluxe Deli White American) or a slice of your favorite melty cheese, fold it into quarters, and place all four quarters in the center of one patty leaving plenty of room on the edges. You can fan them out a little at the corners. Place second patty on top of first, then take your time and pinch or press the sides carefully all around the patty so the cheese pocket is completely sealed. Heat griddle to 375 F, then place patty on griddle. Place a light weight (such as a chef’s press) on top of cold patty to promote sear. Immediately turn down heat to low so that the griddle will slowly make its way down to 250 F. Cover griddle loosely with foil or with a melting globe and be patient as it cooks slowy. After it’s been cooking about a minute, remove weight. After a few mins, when the internal temp of the burger is about 80-90 F, gently flip the burger. Poke a hole in the top of the burger with your instant read or a toothpick. This will give the steam and air pressure which will build up inside a place to vent and will keep the burger from bulging. Crank the heat again for about 30 secs, then lower it back down to low. Apply your favorite dry burger seasoning (e.g. s & p). Toast your buns and apply whatever toppings and condiments you like. Wait. A melting dome will help it cook faster. When the internal temp of the burger (i.e. cheese) reaches at least 140 F, remove patty and place on bun. Allow to rest for at least two minutes, which will bring the internal temp up to about 150 F and ensure the cheese is thoroughly melted. Enjoy. This is a tasty burger!

 

[Mark The Homer]

Here is my take on the Butter Burger!

I did this a couple days ago for lunch.

There are a lot of so-called butter burgers out there. Some say if you butter the toasted buns, it becomes a butter burger. Some say if you put a pat of butter on top of the patty, it's a butter burger. Some say if you hide a pat of butter inside the patty like in the Juicy Lucy above, it's a butter burger. Some say you should saute onions in butter, then put the buttery onions on the burger, and that's a butter burger. But I like Matt Pittman's version on Meat Church.

Put a stick of salt-free butter in the freezer and give it a couple hours to freeze nice and hard.

I like to make 1/3 pound patties of 80/20 ground chuck. You want about four teaspoons of grated salt-free butter per 5.3 ounces (150 grams) burger patty. Use rubber gloves because the butter will melt when it touches your bare skin. Use a bowl and knead the frozen grated butter into the cold 80/20 ground chuck until it is incorporated evenly into the meat. Form patty and put dimple in middle of patty to reduce swelling of burger while cooking. Heat griddle to about 325. Place patty on griddle. You can do this outside on the Weber if you want, but I'd use a griddle on the Weber because the patty may try to fall through a stock Weber grate. If you have one, place a cake ring around patty to encourage juices from flowing away from burger and to keep patty simmering in its own fatty buttery juices as it slowly cooks. Toast buns. Place dill pickle slices on bottom bun. Apply yellow mustard to top bun. The idea is to add acid to the fat which will result in a more appealing tastier final product. When internal temp hits around 85-90 F, carefully flip burger and reinstall cake ring. Continue to cook. When burger hits about 130F, season with your favorite dry burger seasoning, then place your favorite cheese slice onto burger. If it's convenient, spoon some of that rendered melted buttery fat on top of the cheese. Cover with melting dome. When cheese melts, place burger onto pickled bottom bun, crown, and enjoy. This is a really tender burger, as well as a tasty burger, and doing this at a backyard bbq will blow everybody's minds.

 

[Mark The Homer]

Here is an improved butter burger which popped up in my YT feed last night.

"If you got a beard and you're on a first date, better to go with something else."

This butter burger is similar to above, but with fried onions.

Slice up a medium sized yellow onion thin, use a mandolin if you have one. Form ground chuck patty with butter shavings. season both sides, heat up a little tallow in a small pan, when tallow is hot, add patty, cook slowly medium heat, flip gently, let it cook a while, add cheese, use melting dome, when cheese is melted, place patty on some foil and rest. I rested mine in my toaster oven at 150F. Toss onions in the hot tallow & butter & fat which is in the pan. Stir them around a bit. Cook for seven minutes. During those seven minutes, toast brioche buns. Add the condiments and sauces you want to the buns. With seven minutes done, place burger on bottom bun. Use tongs to place pile of onions on burger. Crown. Serve. Enjoy.

/shorts/31DZGvdeUNI

 

[Ashburn Dave]

We've recently gotten into smash burgers and those are my favorite burgers now. I didn't have the space for another grill like a Blackstone griddle, so I bought this portable griddle top to add to my current grill.

 

[Boone]

That's a cool accessory. I don't have a griddle. I do have a cast iron griddle plate I occasionally use for smash burgers which does a decent job.