Thursday, September 4, 2014

Quarter Pound Burgers

A couple of years ago I bought a patty press to make breakfast sausage patties (a guilty pleasure of mine is a sausage patty on an english muffin sold at a famous fast food restaurant). I used the press pretty much exclusively for that until recently, when I starting pressing my own quarter pound hamburger patties.

I prefer a simple burger, meat, seasoned as I throw it in a cast iron pan or on the grill, so my burger recipe is simply:

Ground beef
salt
pepper

I have a meat grinder and have experimented in the past making my own sirloin patties out of sirloin roasts but they were too lean for my tastes. I have wanted to experiment with adding some brisket/chuck/short rib to the mix but have been too lazy recently and I've been making them from lean ground beef. My supplier of ground beef has just the right amount of fat in it and the price is right, so, I go with it.

I have a gram/ounce digital scale, which takes any guess work out of the assembly. I use deli film, I place a sheet on the scale, weigh out a 4 ounce meatball, fold the film over the meat and then press. 
I can whip off 25 patties in about 20 minutes, I stack them in a cylindrical storage container I got at the Dollar Store which is the perfect size for the patties, freeze them and have them ready for when the burger mood strikes.

I prepare the grill by cranking it as hot as it will go, I then place the patties on the grill, season them, and then sear them until juice appears on the top of the patties. I then flip and wait for the juice to appear on the second side.

I usually add american cheese to my burger patties while they are on the grill (one of two times I prefer to use cheese slices, the other being grilled cheese) to get a good melt.

I prefer to keep the buns simple as well, a soft white roll, untoasted. I will on occasion butter and griddle the middle sides of the bun if I have time. My choice of toppings is usually lettuce, onion, pickle and mayo, that's it.


1 comment:

Unknown said...

How strange that the two of us as brothers from the same household have such completely different tastes in burgers. I prefer mine at least 8 Oz, with eggs and a binder, medium rare, cooked on a fry pan or flat-top, and lettuce onion tomato ketchup and mayo. Pickles on the side....