For those of us that can't really get vidalia onions, letting the "normal" onion rings (or slices, bits, however you chop them) sit in cold water while you're cooking washes out a lot of those sulfur compounds and leaves you with sweeter, more mellow and less pungent raw onion. I never ate raw onion until I started doing that, now they're a staple of my burger toppings
There are also red onions that are much milder from the get go. Those are great for people who usually get digestive problems from regular raw onions or who don't like their intensity.
I generally keep the jars my pickles jalapenos come in and leave a few of the peppers in the bottom with the vinegar. Then put my thinly sliced onions in the jar and stick it in the fridge for several days. The onions are perfect for putting on burgers and other sandwiches
I'm with you on not having any pink in my burgers. You can get away with having a pretty rare steak because if there are any pathogens (of which there almost always are to some degree) they're primarily on the surface are killed during cooking. Ground meat mixes it together, meaning whatever was at the surface is now in the center. It's just like sausages, which are also made with ground meat.
This is something that needs a signal boost because the number of times I've been to a "nice" local burger joint where they keep the insides of the patties pink is concerning haha
@@Lyander25 If you get the meat from a reputable butcher and grind the meat yourself/have said reputable butcher grind it for you in a clean grinder, it'll be fine.
@@georgebrantley776 Yeah, at a good restaurant I'm okay with getting my burger with a little pink in it. At home, though, I always want them cooked through all the way. I don't trust my local grocery store's ground beef or frozen patties enough to risk it.
@@georgebrantley776 Oh yes certainly, but whether or not the burger places I dine out at go out of their way to source expensive (by comparison) meats and observe strict guidelines to prevent contamination are matters beyond my control haha. Given the risk involved I'd rather err on the side of caution there.
I remember you mentioning that burgers weren't your strong suit, but I can confidently say that this is a solid burger recipe that I'm looking forward to trying myself
@@smolzeg7446 Which is the very reason we look forward to Adam trying out stuff like apple pie, french fries in an actual frying pan (cut thinner, they take less time) - the things he mentioned are not suited to him, but he eventually found a way to streamline them in an average home kitchen he's in. He had a similar occur with his recent bread loaf - he said it's not as suitable for him yet found a way to do it.
Check out some of Kenji's burger videos. Some of what he says is damn near verbatim what Kenji has to say. (Given how frequently he quotes Kenji, this isn't surprising.)
They're not his strong suit because he doesn't like mayo. It's pretty much impossible to have a succulent burger without things getting soggy if you don't have a lipid layer to keep the juice from soaking into your (cheap) bun.
A trick I learned from my dad for knowing when to flip the first time is to look at the juices coming out the top. They start out red, but when they turn clear it’s time to flip.
I like that he's known the internet long enough to know how to speak to us, with a thicc, juicy burger. Been wanting to get into burgers recently so happy to see this !
The meat texture thing was really eye opening to me. My at home burgers have always been ok, but not great. I think that's because I would normally vacuum seal the beef for burgers and I would press it pretty hard. Thanks for the recipe!
You could grind your own. Par freeze your chosen cut of beef, grind it in a food processor, pour on a little melted butter, then do the same patty forming and cooking you see in this video.
A little hack when you are trying burgers inside in a pan. That usually results in a lot of fat being left in the pan. If you let it cool, scrape of all the fond and freeze it, it's a great thing to use to boost sauces with umami and roasted flavours, almost as if you would be using demiglace.
True, i usually just keep it in the pan for when i make a chilli or bolognese, but i usually put a little less meat in the dish than i usually to balance the extra fat content
but to cook a burger patty to well done (for health reasons AND my preference) that essentially means burning the fond no? oh and the fat is probably very unhealthy too but we are talking about burgers to healthy isnt the priority here obviously
@@dyfx9788 Well, the fat is fat. That's not a good or bad thing inherently. It's perfectly healthy in reasonable doses and is a necessary ingredient in some dishes, but you wouldn't want to use it for all dishes.
I can't get over how in every video the segue into the sponsored segment is always so perfectly done and not a copy and pasted clip like other youtubers do. Adam really puts in effort!
Before I continue watching the rest of this I'd just like to say that 0:05 thank you for using lettuce as a protectant for the bottom bun so it doesn't get soggy. Glad to see someone else nonchalantly doing the smart thing. I will now enjoy the rest of the video. Cheers!
Adam, you have consistently been my favorite gastronomy youtuber for a few weeks now. I absolutely love how you mix recipes, technique, food history and science. Such an amazing content. Thank you for this.
as someone who grew up on big, thick grilled burgers like this you nailed it. We put our buns on the upper rack of the grill (if you have one) about the same time the cheese goes on and they toast and melt at about the same rate
I have never seen vacuum packed ground beef in America. Even the cheapest garbage is shrinwrapped in a tray. Literally no idea what is being referred to here. I shop at Whole Foods and Wegmans primarily but I've never seen ground beef sold other than what is shown in the video.
@@lookoutforchris I have seen it. It's usually the organic or grassfed that are sold that way here, in 1lb sizes. Most of the normal ground beef is loosepacked
Despite having cooked burgers just like this for years now it's very nice to hear your commentary about little details i still haven't confidently settled on since i'm self taught. Cheers for another great video Adam! I know what i'm eating tomorrow...
Hey Adam! Not sure if you'll see this or not but wanted to say it anyway. I'm a middle Georgia guy too, small town about 45 minutes outside Macon, called Eastman. I lived in Macon for a while too, and love that city like no other. I say these things because I'm dang proud of all your recipes, even if they aren't my speed. Keep making Macon food culture the best food culture out there. Thank you so much. Blessings to you and your family!
Hey Adam, a Monday video about the differences between mustards, particularly that strange, much more squeezable stuff that you put on hotdogs as opposed to thicker mustards like English, would be really cool.
@@BigSnipp ok well here in the UK it most certainly isn't the norm, and I was writing from my perspective. These differences would be an interesting topic for Adam to discuss
I think you NAILED this one. What you describe is almost exactly what I got growing up, and me and my sis lovingly described them as "daddy-burgers" (because mom was usually the cook of the house). And yeah, I've tried many recipes that call for more complicated steps and lists of ingredients only to find them far less delicious to my pallet.
One thing i swear by is basting your burgers with really high quality olive oil. Rather than putting oil on the patties, add enough into the pan to be able to baste. It just makes the flavor so much better. Something about the olive oil flavor on a burger is just heaven. Its best in a cast iron, basting along with the juices.
This was easily the best burger I have ever made. I followed your recipe and technique to a tee (I cooked mine in cast iron). The only change I made was to add a tomato along with the other veggies. This is a keeper! Along with some yummy OVEN fries (because who wants the hassle of deep frying, am I right? 😉). Thanks, Adam!
Hey Adam, at 2:20 you season the raw meat, however for myself i've found browning one side, flipping and then seasoning that side works better for me, however i cant tell whether the change in texture for seasoning the raw meat is just my poor perception and bias or if it's actually the case. Did you by any chance do some A-B testing on that for this video? Let me know if you did, thanks (I often make lamb burgers, as where I'm from lamb gets quite cheap around this time, so maybe this is unique to lamb, thanks)
From personal expirience, if you salt the side before frying its gonna brown easier (salt sucks the water from the meat so slightly less heat is needed to properly brown it), but its not a big deal.
@@smartaleckduck4135 I think the same principle applies when directly seasoning a steak like right before you throw it onto the grill/pan. I also don't know if there's any scientific evidence that determines whether salting after browning or before browning is better, though. I tend to do both with steaks (as opposed to when I don't feel like dry brining a steak), but with burgers I've always salted beforehand.
Salting beforehand CAN denature the protein within the ground meat, but don’t quote me on that. However it’s possible that you are experiencing a correlation effect, not causation. A pre-salted patty requires you to mix the ground meat with the salt. This mixing process, if not done carefully, can make the ground meat’s texture more like a sausage then a burger. Try pre-salting and mixing VERY minimally, the texture might come out similarly to if you salt during cooking. Of course if you salt multiple minutes (or hours) beforehand, that’s a different story since water will get pulled out via osmosis and will definitely leave you with a denser chewier texture.
I appreciate the use of regular old sesame seed buns. Way too many burger places these days seem to think that brioche is an automatic upgrade, which I completely disagree with. They're typically way too sweet and rich for me, makes me feel like I've eaten five burgers after just downing one.
Yea, those thick brioche buns are too much bread for me. I actually like the cheapest store-brand basic buns.... light and fluffy. I want to taste the meat (if I've done a good job) and not so much a lot of bread. The bun is the way to hold the hot meat with pickles and ketchup in my hands.
Im with you. Often a brioche bun is the perfect choice however sometimes the burger can taste a little too sweet with that sort of bun and the more traditional sesame bun is far superior.
For thin patties, my favorite meat is striploin steaks. I usually buy the cheapest striploins at my local grocery store (~ 13$/kg) and grind it with the fat cap. I use that to make smash burgers on a non-stick pan and empty the pan after each batch as it fills with melted fat.
I've been grilling and making burgers at home (propane grill and charcoal) and on campfires for a few decades now haha and you addressed the primary rookie burger mistakes: Making the patties too small (not allowing for cooking shrinkage), the need to depress the center so the edges are thicker, and not overworking the burger meat when forming the patties. Other than that all that remains is the quality of the meat and how long you cook it. Burgers couldn't be more simple once you have a feel for these basics, and your video covered them nicely. A lot of people make patties the diameter they want for a finished size, don't flatten them, and wonder why the bun ends up being so much bigger than the little cooked burger ball inside. If the bun for example is 4" dia, I'm gonna make my patties 5" or so.
Seriously I LOVE the chefs knife and the way it just glides through everything! I just used it to prepare all the veg for your pot roast, which has become a family favorite meal!
We've been getting into thin patty burgers at home. Best burgers of my life were cooked on a propane griddle in the middle of woods. Cheap beef, cheap buns, cheap ketchup...something about the fried quality and the fresh air made them magnificent. We cook them at home on a griddle that fits on our induction stove. It's stainless so you need to grease it pretty well to prevent if from sticking, but you really can get a good sear. Also the bacon press, a thing I found out about from YOUR CHANNEL (in the form of a brick wrapped in foil) is a way to get them hard flat against the griddle.
Theres this chef that says "If you can remember your best dining experience, the food is usually the 3rd or 4th thing you remember. Where you were, who you were with, what you were celebrating, usually sits at the top." Pretty cool to see you mention the wood and what you were cooking with!
You experienced a well known effect in my family, EVERYTHING tastes better in the woods. Cheese & crackers (with mustard), subs, hot chocolate and store bought donuts, whatever fits in the cooler. It all just tastes better in the woods.
another note regarding kneading the meat, you also risk it contracting as it cooks and turning into a glorified meatball, in my experience kneading causes it to contract more, I assume because it homogenizes the beef and causes it to shrink as a whole instead of the individual strands of meat shrinking. Learned that the hard way when I first started making burgers at like 14. Ended up with a baseball shaped burger.
i noticed that you put all the seasoning on the patties. personally, i dont season my patties, i season my grill. its really hard to get it nice and flavorful without the salt and pepper falling through the grates.
My family buys a whole bison to split with my uncle, and we get a massive amount of extremely lean meat to grind for whatever we want. Often, we’ll mix on some beef/pork fat with the burger. However, if we don’t, or if you wanted to grind up a chunk of some really nice cut of meat, not chuck, all you need to do is throw 1 egg in per pound, it isn’t the exact same as a fatty burger but it helps keep the burger together really really well, and the flavor is great. Definitely cook to ‘well done’ if you do this, grocer meat is bad enough if it’s pink, add raw egg and you’ve got one scary burger. But for me, I know exactly where my meat and eggs come from and I’m confident they’re safe, so I do a juicy medium and it’s amazing.
I've found that my best non-grill home kitchen results for thick burgers come from my tabletop convention oven, often called a name that rhymes with "fair dryer". They're cooked all the way through every time, and they don't make my stomach hurt the way burgers cooked In a greasy pan do. All options are good, but the tabletop convention oven is super useful for weeknight meals, it only takes like 20 minutes.
I bought one of your knives the day after it came out. I love it! I'm 24 and a bit of a home cook enthusiast, but that is now the best knife in my kitchen; and it's replaced a whole set of Walmart knives.
Hey Adam. Just want to say that young people adore you videos. Me and my friends watch all your vids, especially the ones with deep chemistry in them :).
Hey Adam! I'd love to see the process of you testing out different recipes, making different batches and testing what you like / what you don't like. You're really good at explaining your recipes like you've done it a million times and know exactly what the possible downfalls of making it could be. Not sure if you've done this yet, but could be an interesting video!
I discovered this on accident once because I was using up leftovers. But dicing all your burger toppings is a game changer. You can get them way more evenly distributed and there’s (counter intuitively) less topping squeeze out.
If you want to melt your cheese within 1 minute in the pan: add a splash if water to the pan immediately after you put the cheese on the burger and put on a lid. The steam melts the cheese really fast without ruining your crust.
whenever I butter and toast a bun, I do it first and then let it dry out in an off toaster while I cook the meat or other filling. I find they hold up way better getting a couple minutes to cool. warm buttered buns seem to want to steam themselves if they go straight on the plate
My mum was searing off some beef for a stew while I was watching this and for the briefest moment it was like I could smell Adam’s burger 10/10 would recommend
my mom has added 25% grated red pepper to her burgers since the 2008 recession, because we were broke and then got used to it, so like 14 years. It's really good, it makes the meat taste meatier and keeps them moist and soft. but ONLY ONLY grated red pepper, meat, and salt. anything else is a meatloaf.
I found that leaving the edges ragged and somewhat uneven helps tremendously with preventing the center from bunching up. You have lots of little points bunching up around their own little centers, pulling the burger in a bunch of different and unpredictable directions, as well as fissures that can relieve tension as the meat cooks inwards, and it all averages out to a relatively even burger at the end. Plus, you get that heterogeneity that keeps each bite interesting.
i made quite a snarky comment quite a while ago when you said something about the uk that i thought i disagreed with and you replied i know you might not see this or remember but i want to apologise, your an amazing educator and i love your stuff man.
I favor smashed/thin burgers over thick ones since, in my experience, almost always thin burgers taste better and are juicer. The main problem with this burgers is the luck you need to not activate your fire alarms when searing them 😂. This recipe seems great! Might try it. Thanks Adam!
A restaraunt tip for the proper cheese melting is to spray your grill/griddle with a little water as the cheese goes on, and then immediately drop a deep lid on top to trap the steam. It almost instantly melts the cheese. Normally for stove cooking there's another pan on the side with a matching lid preheated so you can get steam without any splashback from the grease. If you ever have a burger go back for the wrong cheese, we secretly steam it off the same way and send it back out, and that's the secret to how it gets "fixed" so quickly.
Pro tip: If you have the gene that makes cilantro taste good (and not like soap or copper), swap out the lettuce for fresh cilantro. Holy heck, the flavor profile goes up to a whole new level of deliciousness. It's almost like you ought to be eating the burger on fresh handmade tortillas, or maybe pita bread.
for melting cheese, add like a half-shot of water to the pan after you crank the heat for like 20-30 seconds and it'll sizzle really aggressively but it'll make a lot of steam which, if you throw on a lid or some foil, will melt the cheese like a champ with he bonus that once the water evaporates you'll end up with fried cheese on the edges of the burger where it drips into the pan, as long as you don't have too much fat left in the pan which is why i mop up most of it with a paper towel before cheesing
9:16 might not be a good idea on a gas stove but I like to place a wooden spoon/spatula above the pan and then put a paper towel on top. This way you can catch most of the flying fat, trap some of the steam but most of it can pass and there is no more excess water in the fatty pan
Hi, i've been experimenting with burgers myself lately, one of the strange things i found is, when you toast the bread first in a pan and then do the meat in the same, it will taste so much better. The butter will get a little brown, ofcourse dont use much when toasting the bread first. But your burger will taste so much better. Also try browning your unions in the same meat fat for a little while before building your burger, its awesome.
Caramelised onions are much more popular here in Australia than raw ones. Pretty much a staple at any bbq too. We also aren't huge on pickles, so perhaps we use the Browned onions as our sweetness alternative to the pickle.
I usually cook the onions with the burgers at the same time. Onions cook a lot faster, so when I get my first flip in and the pan is loaded with oil and meat juice, I drop my onions in and they usually get done right as my burgers are finished resting for 2 - 3 minutes.
I'll spend 8 minutes toasting the buns to dark golden perfection before throwing the patties in. Dunno why you would skimp on the butter though. I'll use half a stick for two burgers lol
If it’s too cold or rainy to grill outside then I would suggest investing in a George Foreman grill. My stepmom bought one for me like ten years ago and I still use the thing exclusively to cook burgers indoors. 7-8 minutes per burger without flipping is perfect, it’s almost as good as grilling outside. Just takes longer if you don’t buy one that can do several Pattie’s at once.
I made burgers tonight, thick like these, before I saw this video. I even got on UA-cam to find something to watch whilst I eat. I have 3 more patties made, and 3 more buns. -- Experimentation time! :3
This goes against almost event I've learned about making burgers, but I'm still gonna try it. I'd like to see you try thin burgers, cause my kids love burgers but I always make them too thick.
@@jakovage9480 I'm curious as well. Pretty much I've heard most of this before, besides favoring veggies on the bottom. Disagree with Adam with burgers bring too juicy. I favor my burgers on the rarer side though.
i really thought i’d never go back to burger patties after discovering the wonders of smash burgers but damn does that burger look good. I’m definitely doing this a treat meal, like whenever i feel like eating something big and tasty, or when i want to do the same for someone else.
Very informative and entertaining, as usual. Everyone has their favourite toppings. Mine are real cheese, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions, lettuce and tomato. If I use a sauce, it has got to be BBQ sauce. No mustard or ketchup allowed. No processed cheese slices either. I am a loud and proud cheese snob. Cheers, Adam.
One thing I've found that catapulted my burgers from mediocre to delicious was chopping up some fresh garlic and adding chipotle chili powder. It goes against what Adam suggested in the video, but I incorporated it into the patty as I formed it. Still turned out incredible!
1:42 Concave lenses are a thing! Etymologically-speaking "lens" does come from the word "lentil," but there are plenty of lenses that aren't lentil-shaped. So it's totally okay to refer to the pressed patty as "lens-shaped." Just make it clear that it's a concave lens.
The best burger to me is on cast iron because of that amazing crust. If your meat sticks and is hard to flip then A) it wasn't hot enough when you put the burgers in B) you tried to flip the burger too soon before a crust formed and C) you didn't apply enough oil or nonstick spray initially (to the pan, not the meat - the oil has to be hot). I don't know why or how these things work, I've just observed them working. I've never had to scrape a burger off the pan to flip it and my pans are on the bottom end of 'well seasoned'. Hope this helps someone out there. cheers also, for melting cheese, my pans have lids and that radiates the heat down onto the cheese and makes it melt about 4 - 5x faster. but I know not everybody has lids for their cast irons. can't wait to see your video on thin burgers, they're my favorite. more crust ratio. I throw a ball of ground beef in the pan, lay a cut square of wax or parchment paper on top and then flatten it thinly with a tool I inherited from my grandmother, a metal potato masher. Not the squiggle kind, the flat one.
Thank you for the tip on making burgers from the butcher ground "worms," as opposed to the "brick." Generally, I've been buying the brick for all uses. That leads to a question: I buy a "brick," and make 3 patties. I cook one (stovetop), and freeze the other two. "Burger Night," is on Saturday. By the physics of cooking, is freezing the more loosely packed "worms," for one-two weeks, apt to have an undesirable impact on my patties?
For burgers (and steaks) that I cook inside in a stainless steel skillet, I don't add oil. Yes the oil causes it to fry/brown more, but it dilutes the 'meaty' taste. Set the temp closer to low than medium, let it cook. When it breaks free, it's good to flip (about 10 mins for a thick steak or burger). Fewer added flavors means more meaty flavor.
I keep SPG (Salt, Pepper, Garlic) as a mix ready to go, even if its something like meatballs where I'm going to add a few others, its a base I use so often it saves loads of time grabbing 1 jar and sprinkling it in vs 3.
@@sikinsokin honestly, equal parts. I find myself tasting to season on most dishes, but beef has always come out great 33/33/33 for me. : ] Soups I taste and adjust. I go light handed to start because you can always add more.
Since I love helpful comment sections so much I want to add on my own little Burger Hack courtesy of Internet Shaquille. He recommends getting your ground beef in a way so that when you make your patties, the fibers of the meat (referred to by Adam as the worms) are vertical, not horizontal. I personally haven’t tried this but if your local grocery store has a butcher I don’t see why you couldn’t ask for it to be ground this way. You do this to improve the texture- the beef breaks apart super cleanly between your teeth which is obviously desirable. Internet Shaquille also introduced to me the concept of sous vide burgers. Wrapping up a log of ground beef and then cooking it beforehand. You slice off patties from the log as needed and cook them to your liking. Might attempt this at my next bbq so people aren’t waiting on the burgers to finish.
Thank you Adam. Everyone praising smash burgers (which I can see the appeal) don't understand the benefits of a bigger burger. Especially being able to source higher quality meat that is no issue cooking to a pink interior. I suppose if people were ultra worried they could sous vide their patties and that would help pasteurize their burger. The smash burger to me is creating flavor because meat prices and convenience were the primary objective. Having all the time in the world while being stuck at home during lockdown I would have expected the artisan steak burger to come back.... it has not. I wonder why that is? I know you're being cautious about the foods you eat these days, but 70/30 to me is the perfect meat to fat ratio on a burger.
My roommate is a professional cook, and we have tried burgers both ways. He cooked be the best non smash burger I have ever had in my life. It had an amazing crust, was super well seasoned, a little pink in the middle, it was amazing... and both of us still preferred the smash burgers. For the sake of variety, I like to still have burgers this way, but smash burgers are just better and easier.
I just started making burgers a lot lately, and I have what I think is the perfect topping/condiment: "onion jam". 2 parts ketchup, 2 parts maple syrup, 1 part balsamic vinegar. Fry up some onions with butter, then after those are nice and tender, throw the sauce in the pan and lower the heat a bit until it gets thick. i just put that and some lettuce on my burgers, and it really is perfect in my opinion. Credit where credit's due, I got the recipe from Chef's Plate meal delivery. I am the kind of person who likely very plain food, I eat my hot dogs with nothing on them, and burgers almost always with nothing but either onions or a barbeque sauce. This onion jam really is exactly what I've been looking for as a condiment.
Personally I have toppings on the top of the patty in my burger, mostly because I find it easier to bite through all of my burger when my bottom teeth are used for the patty and the top teeth the toppings. I also typically sauce both toasted buns with a burger sauce, because on the bottom it flavors the meat and on the top it wont leave it dry.
If it helps you or anyone else, Coleman makes a kinda oval gas grill for camping/tailgating. It has a very flat inside area and not much airspace, and that sucker gets HOT. My wife likes Pittsburgh blue steak, and it will definitely do it. Gets miles hotter than the big typical gas grill. You can't do a big family worth of cooking in one go, but whatever. Obviously not really a thing with burgers, but since you mentioned the heat issue with gas grills I figured I'd mention it. It needs an adapter for a twenty pound tank (it's set up for a little camp tank), but those are cheap.
I always appreciate Adam's thoughts on cooking. I consider myself a bit of a burger making connoisseur and some good ideas in this vid that I'm looking forward to trying, especially around how to put the burger together.
Made burgers this way (indoor/pan) 2 days ago, and FINALLY got a properly sized, tasty burger! I definitely overcooked it so it wasn't quite juicy, but that's user error and easily corrected next time. The toppings saved it, lol. Thank you.
To avoid components from bunching in the middle I try to use as little of small cuts as possible, so the only small pieces I’ll have in my burgers are the pickles, everything else is in one piece, one pice of lettuce (no shredded lettuce), one onion slice (if I’m using raw onions), and one tomato slice (if I’m using tomatoes)… sauce is always on the bun before lettuce (and only there, I hate extra sauces in sandwiches in general)… nothing on top of the cheesy burger patty except for caramelized onions, bacon or fried sunny-side-up egg (if I’m using any)… Great Video Adam!!! 👍🏼
I tried out this technique and the texture and juiciness of the thick boy can't be beat. I used minimal handling of the beef, just enough to spread it out to the right thickness, then used a 5" wide coffee cup as a cookie cutter and that's it, didn't handle the patty at all after it was cut out. However, seasoning before the cook left the beef underseasoned and bland. And I was not stingy with the salt pre-cook, used same amount as shown in the video. Maybe juice carried away some of the salt? On another try, I salted both before AND after the cook, in addition to ground pepper and garlic powder applied after the cook, and that worked great.
Adam, one technique I saw from J Kenji. When frying burgers indoors, use a tiny pan, barely enough to fry one burger. That fat that pools on the bottom gets deeper, allowing more of a deep fried effect. Goes deeper into the grooves, more browning
For years I made lousy burgers. I mean like 30 years. I bought a black stone when covid hit. I now make the best smash burgers in three states lol I've always wanted a thick burger until I figured out that just stack as many smash burgers as you if a caramelized burger is what tastes best it makes perfect sense to stack your burgers. You're the boss Adam...
For those of us that can't really get vidalia onions, letting the "normal" onion rings (or slices, bits, however you chop them) sit in cold water while you're cooking washes out a lot of those sulfur compounds and leaves you with sweeter, more mellow and less pungent raw onion. I never ate raw onion until I started doing that, now they're a staple of my burger toppings
There are also red onions that are much milder from the get go. Those are great for people who usually get digestive problems from regular raw onions or who don't like their intensity.
I generally keep the jars my pickles jalapenos come in and leave a few of the peppers in the bottom with the vinegar. Then put my thinly sliced onions in the jar and stick it in the fridge for several days. The onions are perfect for putting on burgers and other sandwiches
@@bernieburton6520 Great tip
Are you out west? Walla Walla onions are similar to Vidalia onions. They aren't as sweet, but will do when you can't get the real thing.
@@zimmejoc If you're asking me, no. I live in northern Norway so regional foods from the US aren't exactly very common here
The low key non-pretentious way the food science and chemistry is woven in is probably favorite parts of your videos. Thank you.
Goat
Wtf. Why are you here
Johnny Harris the Adam Ragusa simp.
Jk in all seriousness you make amazing videos.
yo
Paid shill
Ive literally been waiting for you to do an actual burger recipe for 3 years thank god
Me tooooooo
Fr. Pretty sure in an Ask Adam it was mentioned
Yeah smashburger doesn't exist as a concept in my country and barely any famous cooking youtubers do burger vids with regular fat ones
Same lmao
dude... tell me you didn't go that long without a burger.
I'm with you on not having any pink in my burgers. You can get away with having a pretty rare steak because if there are any pathogens (of which there almost always are to some degree) they're primarily on the surface are killed during cooking. Ground meat mixes it together, meaning whatever was at the surface is now in the center. It's just like sausages, which are also made with ground meat.
This is something that needs a signal boost because the number of times I've been to a "nice" local burger joint where they keep the insides of the patties pink is concerning haha
@@Lyander25 If you get the meat from a reputable butcher and grind the meat yourself/have said reputable butcher grind it for you in a clean grinder, it'll be fine.
@@georgebrantley776 Yeah, at a good restaurant I'm okay with getting my burger with a little pink in it. At home, though, I always want them cooked through all the way. I don't trust my local grocery store's ground beef or frozen patties enough to risk it.
@@georgebrantley776 Oh yes certainly, but whether or not the burger places I dine out at go out of their way to source expensive (by comparison) meats and observe strict guidelines to prevent contamination are matters beyond my control haha. Given the risk involved I'd rather err on the side of caution there.
ground meat is fine to eat a bit pink if done right, so have a butcher you trust or do it yourself with clean equipment and good meat
I remember you mentioning that burgers weren't your strong suit, but I can confidently say that this is a solid burger recipe that I'm looking forward to trying myself
evolution of ragusea
@@smolzeg7446 Which is the very reason we look forward to Adam trying out stuff like apple pie, french fries in an actual frying pan (cut thinner, they take less time) - the things he mentioned are not suited to him, but he eventually found a way to streamline them in an average home kitchen he's in. He had a similar occur with his recent bread loaf - he said it's not as suitable for him yet found a way to do it.
Check out some of Kenji's burger videos. Some of what he says is damn near verbatim what Kenji has to say. (Given how frequently he quotes Kenji, this isn't surprising.)
It’s extremely thicc for the required process
They're not his strong suit because he doesn't like mayo. It's pretty much impossible to have a succulent burger without things getting soggy if you don't have a lipid layer to keep the juice from soaking into your (cheap) bun.
A trick I learned from my dad for knowing when to flip the first time is to look at the juices coming out the top. They start out red, but when they turn clear it’s time to flip.
Yo my dad taught me the exact same thing
That dad knowledge lol
Thanks
I like that he's known the internet long enough to know how to speak to us, with a thicc, juicy burger.
Been wanting to get into burgers recently so happy to see this !
"Get into"
@@redred7674 i assume they mean “get into” making them
Been wanting to eat MORE burgers? Never heard that one before lol
"I hate soggy buns"
-Adam
@@clag1109 Yeah that's what I meant. Sorry English isn't my native language
The meat texture thing was really eye opening to me. My at home burgers have always been ok, but not great. I think that's because I would normally vacuum seal the beef for burgers and I would press it pretty hard. Thanks for the recipe!
You could grind your own. Par freeze your chosen cut of beef, grind it in a food processor, pour on a little melted butter, then do the same patty forming and cooking you see in this video.
Yeah, that would be my first thought too. Maybe I'll just stick with meatloaf...
I find Panco to be the only option when it comes to that vacuum-packed crap. Yeah, it kinda pushes the meat towards meatball/salisburry steak side....
A little hack when you are trying burgers inside in a pan. That usually results in a lot of fat being left in the pan. If you let it cool, scrape of all the fond and freeze it, it's a great thing to use to boost sauces with umami and roasted flavours, almost as if you would be using demiglace.
True, i usually just keep it in the pan for when i make a chilli or bolognese, but i usually put a little less meat in the dish than i usually to balance the extra fat content
but to cook a burger patty to well done (for health reasons AND my preference) that essentially means burning the fond no? oh and the fat is probably very unhealthy too but we are talking about burgers to healthy isnt the priority here obviously
@@dyfx9788 you really shouldnt be burning anything when cooking, all depends on your skills
Awesome tip tbh
@@dyfx9788 Well, the fat is fat. That's not a good or bad thing inherently. It's perfectly healthy in reasonable doses and is a necessary ingredient in some dishes, but you wouldn't want to use it for all dishes.
I can't get over how in every video the segue into the sponsored segment is always so perfectly done and not a copy and pasted clip like other youtubers do. Adam really puts in effort!
Before I continue watching the rest of this I'd just like to say that 0:05 thank you for using lettuce as a protectant for the bottom bun so it doesn't get soggy. Glad to see someone else nonchalantly doing the smart thing. I will now enjoy the rest of the video. Cheers!
Adam, you have consistently been my favorite gastronomy youtuber for a few weeks now. I absolutely love how you mix recipes, technique, food history and science. Such an amazing content. Thank you for this.
Glad you finally made a burger recipe. I remember you saying your “hardest to cook” meal was a burger. you’ve learned after the past few years!
as someone who grew up on big, thick grilled burgers like this you nailed it. We put our buns on the upper rack of the grill (if you have one) about the same time the cheese goes on and they toast and melt at about the same rate
"...but I don't especially like mayonnaise, so I prefer to..."
My man. I knew I sensed a kindred spirit in Adam.
I absoloutely love how accessible the ingridients you use are. Probably the most beginner/lazy person friendly cooking channel I know
I’m glad to hear someone advocating cooked burgers
As a Brit, that kind of minced beef is basically all you can get here. Never seen the vacuum packed mush you usually use in recipes!
Same in Germany, it's always that loose from what I've seen
I have never seen vacuum packed ground beef in America. Even the cheapest garbage is shrinwrapped in a tray. Literally no idea what is being referred to here. I shop at Whole Foods and Wegmans primarily but I've never seen ground beef sold other than what is shown in the video.
@@lookoutforchris search up the Adam Ragusea Meatloaf video. That's the stuff most American UA-camrs seem to use.
@@lookoutforchris I have seen it. It's usually the organic or grassfed that are sold that way here, in 1lb sizes. Most of the normal ground beef is loosepacked
Despite having cooked burgers just like this for years now it's very nice to hear your commentary about little details i still haven't confidently settled on since i'm self taught. Cheers for another great video Adam! I know what i'm eating tomorrow...
Hey Adam! Not sure if you'll see this or not but wanted to say it anyway. I'm a middle Georgia guy too, small town about 45 minutes outside Macon, called Eastman. I lived in Macon for a while too, and love that city like no other. I say these things because I'm dang proud of all your recipes, even if they aren't my speed. Keep making Macon food culture the best food culture out there. Thank you so much. Blessings to you and your family!
Hey Adam, a Monday video about the differences between mustards, particularly that strange, much more squeezable stuff that you put on hotdogs as opposed to thicker mustards like English, would be really cool.
oooo i second this!
Strange? That's normal mustard, bruh.
@@BigSnipp ok well here in the UK it most certainly isn't the norm, and I was writing from my perspective. These differences would be an interesting topic for Adam to discuss
@@henryhill7932 Fair enough. It's the standard in the U.S.
@@BigSnipp That's exactly why it's always intrigued me
I think you NAILED this one. What you describe is almost exactly what I got growing up, and me and my sis lovingly described them as "daddy-burgers" (because mom was usually the cook of the house). And yeah, I've tried many recipes that call for more complicated steps and lists of ingredients only to find them far less delicious to my pallet.
One thing i swear by is basting your burgers with really high quality olive oil. Rather than putting oil on the patties, add enough into the pan to be able to baste. It just makes the flavor so much better. Something about the olive oil flavor on a burger is just heaven. Its best in a cast iron, basting along with the juices.
This was easily the best burger I have ever made. I followed your recipe and technique to a tee (I cooked mine in cast iron). The only change I made was to add a tomato along with the other veggies. This is a keeper! Along with some yummy OVEN fries (because who wants the hassle of deep frying, am I right? 😉). Thanks, Adam!
Hey Adam, at 2:20 you season the raw meat, however for myself i've found browning one side, flipping and then seasoning that side works better for me, however i cant tell whether the change in texture for seasoning the raw meat is just my poor perception and bias or if it's actually the case. Did you by any chance do some A-B testing on that for this video?
Let me know if you did, thanks
(I often make lamb burgers, as where I'm from lamb gets quite cheap around this time, so maybe this is unique to lamb, thanks)
From personal expirience, if you salt the side before frying its gonna brown easier (salt sucks the water from the meat so slightly less heat is needed to properly brown it), but its not a big deal.
I don’t know if there’s any scientific reason for this, but I think the burger tastes a little better when the salt kind of fries into the crust.
@@smartaleckduck4135 I think the same principle applies when directly seasoning a steak like right before you throw it onto the grill/pan. I also don't know if there's any scientific evidence that determines whether salting after browning or before browning is better, though. I tend to do both with steaks (as opposed to when I don't feel like dry brining a steak), but with burgers I've always salted beforehand.
Salting beforehand CAN denature the protein within the ground meat, but don’t quote me on that.
However it’s possible that you are experiencing a correlation effect, not causation. A pre-salted patty requires you to mix the ground meat with the salt. This mixing process, if not done carefully, can make the ground meat’s texture more like a sausage then a burger. Try pre-salting and mixing VERY minimally, the texture might come out similarly to if you salt during cooking.
Of course if you salt multiple minutes (or hours) beforehand, that’s a different story since water will get pulled out via osmosis and will definitely leave you with a denser chewier texture.
Lamburgers!
I appreciate the use of regular old sesame seed buns. Way too many burger places these days seem to think that brioche is an automatic upgrade, which I completely disagree with. They're typically way too sweet and rich for me, makes me feel like I've eaten five burgers after just downing one.
I'm a big fan of potato bread for hamburger buns.
@@HuginMunin I like those too. Nice middle ground
Yea, those thick brioche buns are too much bread for me. I actually like the cheapest store-brand basic buns.... light and fluffy. I want to taste the meat (if I've done a good job) and not so much a lot of bread. The bun is the way to hold the hot meat with pickles and ketchup in my hands.
Im with you. Often a brioche bun is the perfect choice however sometimes the burger can taste a little too sweet with that sort of bun and the more traditional sesame bun is far superior.
I find, just your nice, CRUSTY bread roll, does a good burger!
For thin patties, my favorite meat is striploin steaks. I usually buy the cheapest striploins at my local grocery store (~ 13$/kg) and grind it with the fat cap. I use that to make smash burgers on a non-stick pan and empty the pan after each batch as it fills with melted fat.
I've been grilling and making burgers at home (propane grill and charcoal) and on campfires for a few decades now haha and you addressed the primary rookie burger mistakes: Making the patties too small (not allowing for cooking shrinkage), the need to depress the center so the edges are thicker, and not overworking the burger meat when forming the patties. Other than that all that remains is the quality of the meat and how long you cook it. Burgers couldn't be more simple once you have a feel for these basics, and your video covered them nicely.
A lot of people make patties the diameter they want for a finished size, don't flatten them, and wonder why the bun ends up being so much bigger than the little cooked burger ball inside. If the bun for example is 4" dia, I'm gonna make my patties 5" or so.
Seriously I LOVE the chefs knife and the way it just glides through everything! I just used it to prepare all the veg for your pot roast, which has become a family favorite meal!
Literally waited 2 years for a burger recipe. Finally
We've been getting into thin patty burgers at home. Best burgers of my life were cooked on a propane griddle in the middle of woods. Cheap beef, cheap buns, cheap ketchup...something about the fried quality and the fresh air made them magnificent. We cook them at home on a griddle that fits on our induction stove. It's stainless so you need to grease it pretty well to prevent if from sticking, but you really can get a good sear. Also the bacon press, a thing I found out about from YOUR CHANNEL (in the form of a brick wrapped in foil) is a way to get them hard flat against the griddle.
Theres this chef that says "If you can remember your best dining experience, the food is usually the 3rd or 4th thing you remember. Where you were, who you were with, what you were celebrating, usually sits at the top." Pretty cool to see you mention the wood and what you were cooking with!
You experienced a well known effect in my family, EVERYTHING tastes better in the woods. Cheese & crackers (with mustard), subs, hot chocolate and store bought donuts, whatever fits in the cooler. It all just tastes better in the woods.
@@jasonreed7522 We need to get you on a Yacht ;)
another note regarding kneading the meat, you also risk it contracting as it cooks and turning into a glorified meatball, in my experience kneading causes it to contract more, I assume because it homogenizes the beef and causes it to shrink as a whole instead of the individual strands of meat shrinking. Learned that the hard way when I first started making burgers at like 14. Ended up with a baseball shaped burger.
i noticed that you put all the seasoning on the patties. personally, i dont season my patties, i season my grill. its really hard to get it nice and flavorful without the salt and pepper falling through the grates.
underrated comment
The memes that keeps on memeing!
My family buys a whole bison to split with my uncle, and we get a massive amount of extremely lean meat to grind for whatever we want. Often, we’ll mix on some beef/pork fat with the burger. However, if we don’t, or if you wanted to grind up a chunk of some really nice cut of meat, not chuck, all you need to do is throw 1 egg in per pound, it isn’t the exact same as a fatty burger but it helps keep the burger together really really well, and the flavor is great. Definitely cook to ‘well done’ if you do this, grocer meat is bad enough if it’s pink, add raw egg and you’ve got one scary burger. But for me, I know exactly where my meat and eggs come from and I’m confident they’re safe, so I do a juicy medium and it’s amazing.
The absolutely smooth transition to the sponsor, Adam strikes again!
Nobody on UA-cam is as good at ad segues as Adam and you can’t convince me otherwise.
I was genuinely shocked to see this as I've waited for your take on any kind of burger for years. Great video as usual.
I've found that my best non-grill home kitchen results for thick burgers come from my tabletop convention oven, often called a name that rhymes with "fair dryer". They're cooked all the way through every time, and they don't make my stomach hurt the way burgers cooked In a greasy pan do. All options are good, but the tabletop convention oven is super useful for weeknight meals, it only takes like 20 minutes.
6:51 lol This was an awesome video! I'm very inexperienced on the grill and find it a little intimidating, so I really appreciate the walk through.
The time has come. Adam has made a cheeseburger. It’s been 2 years since I’ve prayed to the food gods.
I tried these techniques on my grill about an hour ago and I can report that it was the best thick burger I've ever made!
I bought one of your knives the day after it came out. I love it! I'm 24 and a bit of a home cook enthusiast, but that is now the best knife in my kitchen; and it's replaced a whole set of Walmart knives.
1:05 at my work we use the lid from the ricotta cheese container to make the patties round
Hey Adam. Just want to say that young people adore you videos. Me and my friends watch all your vids, especially the ones with deep chemistry in them :).
You’re my thick burger Adam
Nah wth💀
Your vocabulary is exceptional my friend. One of the reasons I watch your channel
When I grill I like to add some oil directly to the grates, this prevents those flareups you are afraid of but makes the meat easier to get off.
This is a good tip I use a paper towel to oil the grill before lighting
Nice to see a person likes a fully cooked burger, not raw in center like you see on tv :)
Hey Adam!
I'd love to see the process of you testing out different recipes, making different batches and testing what you like / what you don't like. You're really good at explaining your recipes like you've done it a million times and know exactly what the possible downfalls of making it could be. Not sure if you've done this yet, but could be an interesting video!
I discovered this on accident once because I was using up leftovers.
But dicing all your burger toppings is a game changer. You can get them way more evenly distributed and there’s (counter intuitively) less topping squeeze out.
If you want to melt your cheese within 1 minute in the pan: add a splash if water to the pan immediately after you put the cheese on the burger and put on a lid. The steam melts the cheese really fast without ruining your crust.
whenever I butter and toast a bun, I do it first and then let it dry out in an off toaster while I cook the meat or other filling. I find they hold up way better getting a couple minutes to cool. warm buttered buns seem to want to steam themselves if they go straight on the plate
I love lettuce, pickles, and mustard. Those flavors are so good.
Onion mustard for me with pickle and pepperchini on the side
My mum was searing off some beef for a stew while I was watching this and for the briefest moment it was like I could smell Adam’s burger 10/10 would recommend
I just made them and they were delicious! Cooking them with non-squished patties was the key.
my mom has added 25% grated red pepper to her burgers since the 2008 recession, because we were broke and then got used to it, so like 14 years. It's really good, it makes the meat taste meatier and keeps them moist and soft. but ONLY ONLY grated red pepper, meat, and salt. anything else is a meatloaf.
I found that leaving the edges ragged and somewhat uneven helps tremendously with preventing the center from bunching up. You have lots of little points bunching up around their own little centers, pulling the burger in a bunch of different and unpredictable directions, as well as fissures that can relieve tension as the meat cooks inwards, and it all averages out to a relatively even burger at the end. Plus, you get that heterogeneity that keeps each bite interesting.
I smash my burgers between 2 glass mixing bowls. It causes this to happen. It provides more surface area to brown and fry up.
i made quite a snarky comment quite a while ago when you said something about the uk that i thought i disagreed with and you replied
i know you might not see this or remember but i want to apologise, your an amazing educator and i love your stuff man.
I favor smashed/thin burgers over thick ones since, in my experience, almost always thin burgers taste better and are juicer. The main problem with this burgers is the luck you need to not activate your fire alarms when searing them 😂.
This recipe seems great! Might try it. Thanks Adam!
A restaraunt tip for the proper cheese melting is to spray your grill/griddle with a little water as the cheese goes on, and then immediately drop a deep lid on top to trap the steam. It almost instantly melts the cheese. Normally for stove cooking there's another pan on the side with a matching lid preheated so you can get steam without any splashback from the grease. If you ever have a burger go back for the wrong cheese, we secretly steam it off the same way and send it back out, and that's the secret to how it gets "fixed" so quickly.
Pro tip: If you have the gene that makes cilantro taste good (and not like soap or copper), swap out the lettuce for fresh cilantro. Holy heck, the flavor profile goes up to a whole new level of deliciousness. It's almost like you ought to be eating the burger on fresh handmade tortillas, or maybe pita bread.
for melting cheese, add like a half-shot of water to the pan after you crank the heat for like 20-30 seconds and it'll sizzle really aggressively but it'll make a lot of steam which, if you throw on a lid or some foil, will melt the cheese like a champ with he bonus that once the water evaporates you'll end up with fried cheese on the edges of the burger where it drips into the pan, as long as you don't have too much fat left in the pan which is why i mop up most of it with a paper towel before cheesing
Lamb burgers are underrated, need more representation
9:16 might not be a good idea on a gas stove but I like to place a wooden spoon/spatula above the pan and then put a paper towel on top. This way you can catch most of the flying fat, trap some of the steam but most of it can pass and there is no more excess water in the fatty pan
Hi, i've been experimenting with burgers myself lately, one of the strange things i found is, when you toast the bread first in a pan and then do the meat in the same, it will taste so much better. The butter will get a little brown, ofcourse dont use much when toasting the bread first. But your burger will taste so much better.
Also try browning your unions in the same meat fat for a little while before building your burger, its awesome.
Caramelised onions are much more popular here in Australia than raw ones. Pretty much a staple at any bbq too. We also aren't huge on pickles, so perhaps we use the Browned onions as our sweetness alternative to the pickle.
I usually cook the onions with the burgers at the same time. Onions cook a lot faster, so when I get my first flip in and the pan is loaded with oil and meat juice, I drop my onions in and they usually get done right as my burgers are finished resting for 2 - 3 minutes.
@@dorkwell caramelized onions (and beer) are proof God exists
I'll spend 8 minutes toasting the buns to dark golden perfection before throwing the patties in. Dunno why you would skimp on the butter though. I'll use half a stick for two burgers lol
Honestly, I prefer raw onions for a greasy burger (or BBQ). The sharp taste is a great contrast to the rich meat.
If it’s too cold or rainy to grill outside then I would suggest investing in a George Foreman grill. My stepmom bought one for me like ten years ago and I still use the thing exclusively to cook burgers indoors. 7-8 minutes per burger without flipping is perfect, it’s almost as good as grilling outside. Just takes longer if you don’t buy one that can do several Pattie’s at once.
I hope you do the thin burger patties at some point. I've watched just about everyone else do it but I'd be very interested in hearing your take.
smash burgers are the superior burger by far.
I made burgers tonight, thick like these, before I saw this video.
I even got on UA-cam to find something to watch whilst I eat.
I have 3 more patties made, and 3 more buns. -- Experimentation time! :3
This goes against almost event I've learned about making burgers, but I'm still gonna try it.
I'd like to see you try thin burgers, cause my kids love burgers but I always make them too thick.
i’m curious to what you’ve learned that goes against what adam said haha
@@jakovage9480 I'm curious as well. Pretty much I've heard most of this before, besides favoring veggies on the bottom. Disagree with Adam with burgers bring too juicy. I favor my burgers on the rarer side though.
@@jakovage9480 cooking burgers well done is a bit of a war crime in my household but everyone should cook for their taste, obviously
These are exactly the answers to burgers I’ve been looking for. Topping order, patty width, grilling instruction. Fried bread. Genius
Did you do something different for the color grading on this video? Everything looks so vibrant and all the colors on the food really pop. I love it.
That transition from showing the burger to square space is flawless 10:37
i really thought i’d never go back to burger patties after discovering the wonders of smash burgers but damn does that burger look good. I’m definitely doing this a treat meal, like whenever i feel like eating something big and tasty, or when i want to do the same for someone else.
All the little tips you give are golden. The law of continuous improvement--1% better every step of the way
I would love to see you making burger buns as well! I’ve been thinking about doing that because I think it would really improve the taste of it.
Very informative and entertaining, as usual. Everyone has their favourite toppings. Mine are real cheese, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions, lettuce and tomato. If I use a sauce, it has got to be BBQ sauce. No mustard or ketchup allowed. No processed cheese slices either. I am a loud and proud cheese snob. Cheers, Adam.
One thing I've found that catapulted my burgers from mediocre to delicious was chopping up some fresh garlic and adding chipotle chili powder. It goes against what Adam suggested in the video, but I incorporated it into the patty as I formed it. Still turned out incredible!
No-knead, concave patty Burger! Love your passion and subtle, self-deprecating humor, very tongue in cheek, awesome! Keep up the good work.
1:42 Concave lenses are a thing! Etymologically-speaking "lens" does come from the word "lentil," but there are plenty of lenses that aren't lentil-shaped. So it's totally okay to refer to the pressed patty as "lens-shaped." Just make it clear that it's a concave lens.
The best burger to me is on cast iron because of that amazing crust. If your meat sticks and is hard to flip then A) it wasn't hot enough when you put the burgers in B) you tried to flip the burger too soon before a crust formed and C) you didn't apply enough oil or nonstick spray initially (to the pan, not the meat - the oil has to be hot). I don't know why or how these things work, I've just observed them working. I've never had to scrape a burger off the pan to flip it and my pans are on the bottom end of 'well seasoned'. Hope this helps someone out there. cheers
also, for melting cheese, my pans have lids and that radiates the heat down onto the cheese and makes it melt about 4 - 5x faster. but I know not everybody has lids for their cast irons.
can't wait to see your video on thin burgers, they're my favorite. more crust ratio. I throw a ball of ground beef in the pan, lay a cut square of wax or parchment paper on top and then flatten it thinly with a tool I inherited from my grandmother, a metal potato masher. Not the squiggle kind, the flat one.
Thank you for the tip on making burgers from the butcher ground "worms," as opposed to the "brick." Generally, I've been buying the brick for all uses.
That leads to a question:
I buy a "brick," and make 3 patties. I cook one (stovetop), and freeze the other two. "Burger Night," is on Saturday. By the physics of cooking, is freezing the more loosely packed "worms," for one-two weeks, apt to have an undesirable impact on my patties?
@Aunt Shawna should be ok if it’s sealed
For burgers (and steaks) that I cook inside in a stainless steel skillet, I don't add oil. Yes the oil causes it to fry/brown more, but it dilutes the 'meaty' taste. Set the temp closer to low than medium, let it cook. When it breaks free, it's good to flip (about 10 mins for a thick steak or burger). Fewer added flavors means more meaty flavor.
Great timing, I was thinking of making burgers this weekend!
The way Adam simplifies food science to provide evidence for why he cooks the way he cooks is why I watch every one of his videos.
I keep SPG (Salt, Pepper, Garlic) as a mix ready to go, even if its something like meatballs where I'm going to add a few others, its a base I use so often it saves loads of time grabbing 1 jar and sprinkling it in vs 3.
What is the ratio you use?
(I apologise for my English, I don’t know how to word this question correctly.)
@@sikinsokin you worded that just fine!
@@sikinsokin honestly, equal parts. I find myself tasting to season on most dishes, but beef has always come out great 33/33/33 for me. : ]
Soups I taste and adjust. I go light handed to start because you can always add more.
I love thick burgers, especially stuffed with cheese.
Since I love helpful comment sections so much I want to add on my own little Burger Hack courtesy of Internet Shaquille.
He recommends getting your ground beef in a way so that when you make your patties, the fibers of the meat (referred to by Adam as the worms) are vertical, not horizontal.
I personally haven’t tried this but if your local grocery store has a butcher I don’t see why you couldn’t ask for it to be ground this way.
You do this to improve the texture- the beef breaks apart super cleanly between your teeth which is obviously desirable.
Internet Shaquille also introduced to me the concept of sous vide burgers. Wrapping up a log of ground beef and then cooking it beforehand. You slice off patties from the log as needed and cook them to your liking. Might attempt this at my next bbq so people aren’t waiting on the burgers to finish.
Thank you Adam. Everyone praising smash burgers (which I can see the appeal) don't understand the benefits of a bigger burger. Especially being able to source higher quality meat that is no issue cooking to a pink interior. I suppose if people were ultra worried they could sous vide their patties and that would help pasteurize their burger.
The smash burger to me is creating flavor because meat prices and convenience were the primary objective. Having all the time in the world while being stuck at home during lockdown I would have expected the artisan steak burger to come back.... it has not. I wonder why that is?
I know you're being cautious about the foods you eat these days, but 70/30 to me is the perfect meat to fat ratio on a burger.
My roommate is a professional cook, and we have tried burgers both ways. He cooked be the best non smash burger I have ever had in my life. It had an amazing crust, was super well seasoned, a little pink in the middle, it was amazing... and both of us still preferred the smash burgers. For the sake of variety, I like to still have burgers this way, but smash burgers are just better and easier.
Maybe people just like smash burgers and they dont need to be talked down to about how they're not cultured enough to appreciate other burgers.
I just started making burgers a lot lately, and I have what I think is the perfect topping/condiment: "onion jam". 2 parts ketchup, 2 parts maple syrup, 1 part balsamic vinegar. Fry up some onions with butter, then after those are nice and tender, throw the sauce in the pan and lower the heat a bit until it gets thick. i just put that and some lettuce on my burgers, and it really is perfect in my opinion. Credit where credit's due, I got the recipe from Chef's Plate meal delivery.
I am the kind of person who likely very plain food, I eat my hot dogs with nothing on them, and burgers almost always with nothing but either onions or a barbeque sauce. This onion jam really is exactly what I've been looking for as a condiment.
Personally I have toppings on the top of the patty in my burger, mostly because I find it easier to bite through all of my burger when my bottom teeth are used for the patty and the top teeth the toppings. I also typically sauce both toasted buns with a burger sauce, because on the bottom it flavors the meat and on the top it wont leave it dry.
If it helps you or anyone else, Coleman makes a kinda oval gas grill for camping/tailgating. It has a very flat inside area and not much airspace, and that sucker gets HOT. My wife likes Pittsburgh blue steak, and it will definitely do it. Gets miles hotter than the big typical gas grill. You can't do a big family worth of cooking in one go, but whatever. Obviously not really a thing with burgers, but since you mentioned the heat issue with gas grills I figured I'd mention it. It needs an adapter for a twenty pound tank (it's set up for a little camp tank), but those are cheap.
7:13 jesus Ragusea
I used your technique last night and my burgers came out PERFECT! Thank you so much for your video!
I always appreciate Adam's thoughts on cooking.
I consider myself a bit of a burger making connoisseur and some good ideas in this vid that I'm looking forward to trying, especially around how to put the burger together.
Made burgers this way (indoor/pan) 2 days ago, and FINALLY got a properly sized, tasty burger! I definitely overcooked it so it wasn't quite juicy, but that's user error and easily corrected next time. The toppings saved it, lol. Thank you.
To avoid components from bunching in the middle I try to use as little of small cuts as possible, so the only small pieces I’ll have in my burgers are the pickles, everything else is in one piece, one pice of lettuce (no shredded lettuce), one onion slice (if I’m using raw onions), and one tomato slice (if I’m using tomatoes)… sauce is always on the bun before lettuce (and only there, I hate extra sauces in sandwiches in general)… nothing on top of the cheesy burger patty except for caramelized onions, bacon or fried sunny-side-up egg (if I’m using any)…
Great Video Adam!!! 👍🏼
I tried out this technique and the texture and juiciness of the thick boy can't be beat. I used minimal handling of the beef, just enough to spread it out to the right thickness, then used a 5" wide coffee cup as a cookie cutter and that's it, didn't handle the patty at all after it was cut out. However, seasoning before the cook left the beef underseasoned and bland. And I was not stingy with the salt pre-cook, used same amount as shown in the video. Maybe juice carried away some of the salt? On another try, I salted both before AND after the cook, in addition to ground pepper and garlic powder applied after the cook, and that worked great.
Crazy to think that this is his first burger video ever despite having nearly 2 million subscribers.
Adam, one technique I saw from J Kenji. When frying burgers indoors, use a tiny pan, barely enough to fry one burger. That fat that pools on the bottom gets deeper, allowing more of a deep fried effect. Goes deeper into the grooves, more browning
For years I made lousy burgers. I mean like 30 years. I bought a black stone when covid hit. I now make the best smash burgers in three states lol I've always wanted a thick burger until I figured out that just stack as many smash burgers as you if a caramelized burger is what tastes best it makes perfect sense to stack your burgers. You're the boss Adam...