Preventing a burnt burger patty when pan frying

Question

So when I cook the burger patties on a frying pan (I lack fancier methods of cooking them), the bottom tends to get burnt pretty black. Yet when I bite into the burger, you can see that it's only a thin layer of burntness outside, but the inside was medium-rare.

Is there a way to prevent them from being burnt too dark? I'm not sure if eating too much burnt stuff is good for the body. Perhaps it's a different oil that I must use? (I'm using canola oil atm).

Asked by kamziro

Answer

You shouldn't need any oil when frying a hamburger, but you definitely need to lower the heat. I fry my hamburgers on Medium-Heat in a stainless skillet. Depending on the size of the patty*, I put the patty into a heated up pan and flip after about 6 minutes, then flip again after another 6 minutes, then again after 2 and then it should be done 2 minutes later. This will make a medium-well burger with a little exterior char, but still juicy and tasty.

*I usually do about a 1/3rd pound patty and I let the meat marinate in a generous amount of Worcestershire sauce before hand.

Answered by Jacob G

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How do you grill a perfect burger?

Question

I'm a pretty good griller (gas barbeque). I can turn out perfect steaks, fish, duck breasts, and even an entire leg of pork. The one thing that eludes me is the simple burger. Even with lean beef, I get constant flare-ups and greasy black smoke. What's the trick to grilling the perfect burger? (fresh meat, hand pressed, not a recipe question)

Edit: Definition of a perfect burger

1. Cooked through with just a suggestion of pink in the center.
2. Juicy on the inside - Your bun should soak up lots of beefy goodness after it's been bitten

Asked by Chris Cudmore

Answer

Honestly, don't grill.

Don't run away!

Hamburgers were originally cooked in pans, not on grills. One of the reasons for this is thta with grilling you lose any fat and moisture that comes out of the burger.

So I use Heston Blumenthal's method now. While I tend to ignore the preparation elements (I have neither the time nor the money to hand-grind my burgers with a specific ratio of this cut to that cut to the other cut), the cooking method is flawless:

Make your burgers.

Over very low heat, place a pan with just a little oil (or bacon/duck fat, which is lovely). introduce burgers to pan. As soon as they release easily from the surface, flip. Thirty seconds later, flip. Repeat until cooked through. (fifteen to twentyish minutes).

This will give you the juiciest, most tender burgers you have ever had in your life. I promise. Essentially what you're doing is basting the burgers in their own fat.

Alternatively, if you have an immersion circulator, cook your burgers sous vide and then just mark on the grill when done. I've had burgers done this way and they are excellent.

Burgers will flare on the grill--that's all the fat (and therefore flavour) being squeezed out by the action of cooking and burning away.

Answered by n/a

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Are meatballs different from Hamburgers other than in terms of size?

Question

The recipes in for meatballs and hamburgers have their variations, but a lot of overlap. Many look almost the same. Other than the cooking method and size, is there a fundamental difference that sets them apart?

Asked by Vass

Answer

In the US, hamburgers are usually flat patties weighing somewhere between 3 and 8oz. and typically 100% ground beef. Many variations are possible, including mixing spices and other ingredients into the meat, but binders such as egg and breadcrumbs are not common. The defining characteristics of a proper hamburger for most Americans are the shape (flat), approximate size, beef as the primary ingredient, and sandwich-style presentation. A ground meat patty not made from beef is likely to be named differently (lamb burger, turkey burger, etc., even though the name 'hamburger' has nothing to do with ham).

Meatballs are smaller (maybe 0.5 to 3oz), roughly spherical, more likely to be seasoned, much more likely to contain eggs and/or breadcrumbs as binders, made from just about any kind of meat, cooked differently, served differently.

Also, the cultural traditions surrounding each are completely different. Spaghetti with meatballs and tomato sauce is classic comfort food; spaghetti with hamburger is unthinkable. Meatballs are usually served in a sauce of some kind; burgers (beef or otherwise) are served on a bun or bread with mayo, ketchup, mustard, melted cheese, lettuce, tomato, and so on. Many people like their hamburgers (beef) cooked rare or medium rare, but meatballs are always fully cooked. Meatballs can be held at temperature for a long time, or even cooked, chilled, and reheated; only cafeterias and other low-quality, high volume restaurants would pre-cook and reheat a hamburger -- at home or at a good restaurant the burger would be served as soon as possible after cooking.

Answered by Caleb

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Can I cook hamburgers in the microwave oven?

Question

What would be the main differences between frying hamburgers and cooking them in the microwave oven?

I'm stuck in a hostel with only a microwave oven and a water cooker.

Answer

In short, kind of, but only with the proper accessories/equipment. You'll never match a grill or griddle but you can get surprisingly close.

As was mentioned in other answers, what you're going to lose most is the sear.

I was given a Corningware Microwave Browning Dish a while back and found that it actually works pretty well when you're stuck with only a microwave. They were apparently popular when microwaves were new and exciting, but people didn't know how to use them well and they faded into oblivion. I've seen them on sale on eBay so you might be able to find a good price there if you're going to be stuck in the hostel for a while.

The basic idea is, there's a special kind of microwave-safe metal inside the base of the casserole. You heat this with nothing on it for 3 minutes to get it nice and hot. When you drop the patty on, it immediately sizzles. You use the microwave function to heat the inside, while the hot surface sears the outside. Although you're likely not going to get a perfect burger, you do get a real nice Maillard reaction on the outside of both sides (assuming you flip halfway) and if you play with the cooking time and power (to reduce that rubbery texture from overcooking), you can get something that's (in my opinion) a good 75%-quality burger compared to a griddle or grill. I actually burned pork chops on it once, that's how hot the surface gets.

As a bonus, similar to a nice Boos block, there is a gutter around the outside and the plate is slightly concave, so the juices run off into the reservoir and the burger won't sit in fat during the cooking.

After reading the other answers (ElendilTheTall's specifically), I would think if you combined the steaming method to cook the burgers, with the microwave browning dish to sear, you could probably get a really good result. If the burgers were fully cooked via steaming you could probably heat the dish and sear the burgers without even turning the microwave on (except to heat the casserole initially).

I believe Alton Brown did an episode where he talked about a specific type of brick that you can find at most hardware stores which is microwave-safe for the same searing purpose, but I can't find that info right now.

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Why do hamburger patties have ridges on one side?

Question

Why do hamburgers have one streaked/furrowed and one smooth side? Which side should be cooked first in a pan?

I'm talking about their shape, not their color or anything similar. If you look at a raw patty from its side it looks like the drawing below.

---------------------------
|  _   _   _   _   _   _  |
|_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_|              

You can see the ridges I'm talking about on this photo.

Answer

The main reason that your burger has these ridges on only one side is simply manufacturing. The ridges are put into the patties to prevent it from the middle coming up on you like bologna does sometimes when you fry it, and to also promote even heating and cooking. The only real reason most companies have for putting it only on one side, is that one flat side is the side they use to move the unfrozen patty around. There is a spatula type device that moves them around during production. If they slide something under the side with ridges before the patty is frozen it would mess it up before it was frozen. So you only see the pattern on one side on most of your mass produced frozen patties. Secondary reason is smaller but, some companies place pieces of wax paper between patties for easier separation after freezing, and the smooth side is the side that the patty rests on during or after freezing because it sticks to the wax paper more easily.

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Why wouldn't you strain hamburger grease after cooking?

Question

So I've got a friend who makes many dishes involving hamburger but doesn't ever strain it. The grease is added to a dish like Shepard's pie which to me just seems very gross. I see alot of posts about how to strain but nothing to discuss why you should/shouldn't strain and what you should do as an alternative if the grease must be used.

Answer

Well, all I can say is 'it depends on the dish'. If the dish calls for fat to be added otherwise, you can keep that fat and count it where you would add some later. If the dish is just adding hamburger and no more fat - I agree, discard it.

That said - I don't find hamburger fat particularly flavorful and nearly always strain it and add another kind of fat I like better.

It also depends on the fat percentage. If I'm using lean 97/3 hamburger, there's hardly any fat to drain.

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What's that scum at the sides of my home-made burger when I cook it?

Question

When I do home-made burgers, my mix is as follows:

• ground beef
• bread-crumbs or grated potatoe
• egg
• parmezan cheese
• salt, pepper, sweek paprika
• dijon mustard
• a bit of olive oil
• sometimes pieces of ham and some other cheese
• sauteed onion and garlic

I take a handful, make a patty and drop it in a hot skillet. In time, I see some gray scum coming mostly from the sides of the patty (which I dutifully separate with a spoon). At the end, the burger's texture is pleasant, so...

• What is this scum?
• Am I doing something wrong?

thanks!

Answer

This scum is made from proteins. Meat contains muscle fibers (the proteins actin and myosin) as well as some loose proteins swimming in the fluids within the meat (the cell plasma). When you cook meat, the protein-rich fluids are expelled (that's why overcooking makes meat dry). Under hot temperature, the proteins in the fluid coagulate, making it firm. It is especially noticeable in your burger, because there is more liquid flowing out quickly from your cut-up meat, but it also happens with whole pieces of meat, albeit more slowly. It is also very noticeable when cooking stock, because the stock is cooked for a long time and the liquid has time to come out from the meat.

The coagulated liquid can form a single piece (as it does with steak on a slightly oiled pan), but when it flows into water or oil, it mixes with it without dissolving, creating small loose particles. They float to the top, creating the frothy scum you describe.

The process is perfectly natural, you're not doing anything wrong. You can in fact eat the scum without any ill effects, but the taste isn't that great. So it is better to fish it out from the oil (or water when making stock). In dry cooking (aforementioned steak) it is exactly this stuff (after getting nicely browned on the hot pan) which makes gravy taste so well, together with the dripped fat.

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Grilling burgers: flip once, or keep flipping?

Question

When grilling burgers I usually flip several times, but have recently been advised to cook forever on once side, flip once, cook and be done.

Is that the best way to do it?

How do you know when a burger is ready to flip?

Answer

I'm solidly in the flip as often as you want camp. As long as it's not over (or under) cooked I find that you get better results flipping often. Plus you can rearrange things to make more room as you flip.

To tell how cooked a burger is poke it with a finger or something else that's not too sharp; just like a steak the more cooked it is the more firm it will be. You just need to learn how "squishy" you like them.

Also, as fun as it is, don't press the whole burger into the grill! All that happens is that the delicious juices are forced out.

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Is ground/minced beef bad if it turns brown in the fridge?

Question

I bought some ground beef around 2 weeks ago and used half of it, putting the rest in a freezer bag in my fridge (not the freezer). It has since turned brown (not red, as when I bought it).

Is it safe to use to make hamburgers?

Answer

I'm not going to comment on whether or not it is safe, because that could be any number of issues other than the brown coloring of the meat. However, the brown in and of itself is not an issue. When meat is exposed to air it turns a brown color. This does not effect the falvor of the meat, but the color turns a lot of people off. Grocery stores will actually throw this meat away, not because it is bad but just because people won't buy it. Terribly wasteful.

From the USDA: Optimum surface color of fresh meat (i.e., cherry-red for beef; dark cherry-red for lamb; grayish-pink for pork; and pale pink for veal) is highly unstable and short-lived. When meat is fresh and protected from contact with air (such as in vacuum packages), it has the purple-red color that comes from myoglobin, one of the two key pigments responsible for the color of meat. When exposed to air, myoglobin forms the pigment, oxymyoglobin, which gives meat a pleasingly cherry-red color. The use of a plastic wrap that allows oxygen to pass through it helps ensure that the cut meats will retain this bright red color. However, exposure to store lighting as well as the continued contact of myoglobin and oxymyoglobin with oxygen leads to the formation of metmyoglobin, a pigment that turns meat brownish-red. This color change alone does not mean the product is spoiled

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How can I make home-made veggie burgers stay together so I can grill them?

Question

I tried this weekend to make veggie burgers to cook on the grill, with fake ground beef (maybe Gimme Lean or something like that), egg, breadcrumbs, spices, and they totally fell apart.

Is there a secret to home-made veggie burgers that can be cooked on the grill? All grilled veggies instead of fake meat? Just a proportion issue? Can't be solved?

Thanks!

Answer

I second the recommendation for Lukas Volger's Veggie Burgers Every Which Way. I've been working my way through it and have made several of the recipes so far, all of which have been good. However, I would say that not all of the recipes in the book work well for the grill.

I've been doing everything vegan from the Volger book with mixed results. Many of the recipes use eggs, but you can do them with just breadcrumbs and water as the binder. They come out pretty delicate that way and are better in a skillet and then baked, as Volger recommends. His tofu and chard burgers use some tofu that has been browned then pureed as binder. This works ok, but the burgers came out quite delicate (but still delicious).

Eggs are by far the most common binder as they may be the best edible binder there is, since they are basically liquid protein, but obviously not vegan.

For delicate burgers, I use this cooking grid on the grill, which works great. You can find something similar at most kitchen stores.

Another binder option is steamed rice, prepared like you would for sushi. It gets sticky and makes a great binder, though they'll still be a bit delicate. I've been making the beet, brown rice and black bean burger recipe from Volger's book. I add bbq sauce and a paste of pureed rehydrated prunes, similar to the veggie burger at Hillstone/Houston's restaurant and they come out really great. They work fine right on the grill, though refrigerating them overnight makes them a little sturdier.

Another option is adding vital wheat gluten and water, aka raw seitan dough. This is what is done in the Veganomicon black bean burger recipe. I tried these straight on the grill also and they stayed together perfectly, as well as any commercial veggie burger. However, they were a little bland and could use some more seasoning.

I haven't tried any of these in burgers, but some common binders in vegan baking are peanut butter, apple sauce and Ener-g egg replacer. I bet peanut butter would work well in a burger with flavors that work with peanut, like Thai flavors or chipotle.

Falafel-style burgers also don't need any binders, they stick together pretty well and can be grilled, though you may want to use a grill grid or something similar.

Lastly, you can put a cast iron skillet or pizza stone on the grill - it's common know for grilled pizza and will work for delicate burgers.

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Getting the lighter fluid taste out of burgers, after the fact

Question

My burgers came off the grill tasting and smelling like lighter fluid. Are there any ways to reduce or remove the taste and smell from the leftovers? In the future I'm using one of those charcoal chimney starters, so I won't need any lighter fluid at all.

Answer

If they're really thick burgers, like my dad used to make, it's possible that the inside isn't as bad if you slice off the outside. (and then maybe warm up, and break it up into something strongly flavored, like a tomato sauce heavy on the garlic) ...

... but it's likely that it's just a loss. Just remember -- learn from your mistakes, and be thankful that at least you didn't burn down anything (the house, a stove, etc.)

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Making patties from half-cooked ground beef

Question

My roommate decided to store a sizable purchase of ground beef in the freezer. For reasons I don't entirely understand, he would thaw it as needed at cook temperature in the microwave, then refreeze.

Quite a bit of this beef remains, and it's been in the refrigerator since I discovered his shenanigans, but unfortunately it's difficult to make patties out of the meat because it's partially cooked. I don't want it to go to waste, so what might I use to hold it together while making burgers that still taste like burgers?

Answer

For my part, I suggest you explore the wonders of Spaghetti, and that most American of dishes, the "Sloppy Joe."

You can try adding binders like egg and/or peanut butter (or bananas if you're vegan, har har) in order to firm up your beef for pan frying (forget the grill, it ain't happenin), but, while that will help, it'll definitely change the flavor...possibly for the better. I've been known to add those things to regular ground beef (Also, applesauce, which will not help your problem here, but is quite tasty).

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