I don’t know what this has to do with hamburgers, but who (BoS’s and Club) won the Hurricane Blow-Off?
My fault for the threadjack, sorry. I don’t think anybody in CFHB won any BoS awards jeffy and I’m not sure which club won it (I don’t think it was us).
“I’m not sorry! Want a hambugga?”
OK, so… suggestions for eating out. Who’s got the best burger in your area?
Around Seattle?
-Red Mill Burger
-Blue Moon Burgers
-Dick’s
Any others I forgot/I don’t know about?
Wimpy is the man!
As far as chains go, I love Five Guys. We have a great local place here in Pocatello, called Toms. And, one back in Ohio, just a little diner. Their burgers rock! They have one called the Full Back. Its’ three 1/2 patties, Tons of cheese, Smothered in chili, good old fashioned skin on fries, onion rings, and jalapinos. It’s on bad boy!
First rule for me is good meat. But for the love of pete don’t buy wagyu or kobe or prime rib or filet mignon or some such crazy thing and GRIND IT.
My blend is: 50% well-marbled chuck, 23% oxtail, 25% sirloin, 2% pork belly (raw, uncured). If I can’t get pork belly I use hickory or maple-smoked slab bacon (thick cut, meaning ~1/2" sections, one slice typically).
Good buns are impossible to find out here - how I miss thee, Martin’s Potato rolls - so the best place to go for buns is… McDonald’s. You can buy a regular hamburger ‘nature’ meaning it has nothing but bread and meat. Because they’re special order, they’re always made super fresh so they have’t been sitting around for a while. Usually parents get them for picky eater kids. Anyway I keep the buns and if I had a dog I’d feed him the meat, but we just throw it out. The buns are pre-toasted which is nice, and they have a nice squish to them that supermarket buns don’t. Also I hate sesame seeds on my buns.
Grinding: SUPER SUPER COLD meat grinder. Everything goes in the freezer; meat is cubed and put on a single layer on a baking tray and put in the bottom of the fridge (or kegerator, it’s usually colder and has more even cooling). Grind once, keep already ground meat in a mound in the fridge as you go. You’ll have to stop every pound or so of meat because the grinder warms up, and you don’t want that - the meat’ll get mushy. Put everything in the freezer for 30 minutes and drink a beer.
Cooking: 8-ounce patties, about 6-7" in diameter, sprinkled with médon sea salt and a lot of freshly cracked black pepper. Freshly cracked is the important part, because pre-ground pepper tastes like death.
Vacuum-pack with a foodsaver and put into the boil kettle with a PID attachment set to heat the water oven to rare, I think that’s about 160 F? Let 'em sit in the water oven for about an hour, but not longer than 90 minutes or so. Yes, this is a health “risk” because it’s in the “danger zone” for temperature but: 1. I sanitize my grinder before use, and the meat I use is from farms near me and is usually super, super fresh. Because I’m grinding myself there’s less risk for nasties. Plus, life has risks. I don’t let it worry me.
The water bath is great because it lets me take my time in doing everything else - the burgers won’t overcook because the cooking medium is the same temperature as the meat.
Finally, I’ll set the BGE to “T-Rex,” around 600 * F. Depending on how people want there burgers done, I’ll leave them on for a little while or a long while. Do one side, flip, put on cheese, bacon, whatever other ‘hot’ condiments need to go on, then put on a bun with whatever people want. I always put my ‘moveable’ condiments underneath the slice of cheese so they get melted to the burger patty and aren’t as easy to move around.
Sides are usually cole slaw and beans, but sometimes (like this Saturday) I’ll do sweet potato fries seasoned with powdered cinnamon and powdered chipotle (or ancho, depends on the crowd).
My favorite burger is either: sharp cheddar, ‘shake sauce’ (google it), pickle, lettuce, tomato OR stilton blue cheese, extra pepper on the meat, roasted garlic, onion confit.
OK, that sounds really hard core. But delicious. Taking the time and effort to do your own custom grinds sounds like fun; I’ve seen it approached that way at some commercial places.
About the only thing I’d question is the water bath. The temps seem off, unless burger temps are higher than beef in general. Rare is in the low 120s (F) for a steak. I never take the temps of burgers, though. Also, it’s not in the danger zone if your meat and grinder are chilled (below 40F) and you are cooking it above 140F and/or storing the meat below 40F. It’s also not a danger if all this is done within 2 hours.
Did you find that you can’t cook to the right temps otherwise? Seems like you’d need 3-4 minutes a side without doing the water bath.
Burger Lab did a piece where they tried to come up with the best mixture for grinding your own, I remember it also had oxtail in it. They said if just go with one cut (best compromise), use chuck. That sous vide part is pretty hardcore…the things we’ll do for that ‘perfect’ burger!
Oh my temp quoted above was just me not remembering what it actually was. 120 or 130 sounds right.
SpanishCastleAle, yeah my blend is the same as Burger Lab but with MOR BACON
Didn’t want to fill the page quoting you back, but wow. You really get into it.
Do you prefer an electric or hand-crank grinder? I have a couple of old hand-crank ones. I have never ground my own meat for a burger, but you’ve inspired me. I will before this summer is out. Preferably before this month is out! 
In PDX I liked both Higgins and Concordia. Higgins serves the burger in the bar (and they don’t call it a burger, the description is obvious enough but I went there a few times without noticing that there was a burger on the menu). Both happen to have a lot of good beer, so hashtag winning and all that.
KC has a lot of “burger and beer” type places now, I don’t know if this is a national trend. I don’t like any of them as well as the two above but they are fine. Blanc is the best.
Five Guys to me is just a fast food burger. It might be a good fast food burger but it is still dry and brown in the middle. No better than In-and-Out and more expensive. People rave about it, maybe the one by my office is just crap.
Never tried oxtail, I have tried a lot of different things and the fat ratio is way more important than what cuts you use, IMO.
I’m pretty much a Ruhlman disciple so rather than describing in phillamb168 detail what I do, I will link to the source.
http://ruhlman.com/2009/08/hamburger-technique.html
The key technique from Ruhlman’s post, IMO, is grinding twice with the large die. The burgers hold together well and the texture is great.
I assumed you were suggesting too much blue cheese. You can never have too much bacon. I had the Blue Cheese Burger at Rock Bottom one day and learned that you can have too much blue cheese. IHMO a 3/4" thick burger with a 1/2" full slice of blue cheese was a little over powering. 8^)
Paul
It’s better than the generic fast food places, but not a lot. I can’t stand their fries. Greasy and limp, but they try to make up for that by giving you five pounds of them. Decent tasting burger but agreed that it’s too dry. Nice char, ok to eat as long as you don’t put 27 ingredients on top of it.
Looking forward to having an In-and-out double double in San Diego. It’s been years. If you think of it as a fast food burger, then it’s good. If you think of it as gourmet, then you’re disappointed.
I’ll be up in Seattle at the end of the year; I’ll save that list of places. Or I’ll just have Tom make me one.
OK, Weaze, where’s the place in Ohio?
As for the best burger in this area? BeeBop’s has been voted Best Burger in Des Moines for many years and agree.
They only have a drive through lane and one walk up window with outdoor seating all year round. The burger is a wide, thin patty. Chain broiled and set on a soft bun with lettuce, tomato, onion, catsup and mayo dressing mixture that’s to die for. It’s messy as all get out and you can’t eat it while driving.
The perfect food on the way to my daughter’s softball games.
Paul
hey what size (pre cook) do you guys make your patties? I’ve been doing 1/3, but its hard to keep from over cooking at that size - 1/2 lb maybe?
Size? Something that fits on the buns you are going to use. I don’t weigh them. Just do it by hand until it looks right. But I’m not making them for sale, so it doesn’t matter much to me. My daughter complains if they’re too thick, so I make hers thinner.
I’d guess 6 oz, maybe. Half pound seems like a big burger. I guess I’d rather have two smaller burgers than one bronto burger.
Overcooking using what method? I think it’s hard to overcook in a cast-iron pan. On a grill you might have to have two heat zones, depending on your flames.
I’ve been overcooking lately on both methods (grill and skillet)
For cast iron, do you use high or medium flame? I’ve been using high, but I seem to wait too long for that perfect crust and wind up overdoing it - closer to well done than medium which is what I’m targeting.
For grilling, I’ve been trying to hit it with a high flame for ~1 min to get a nice char and then move to the low flame side to finish cooking, but again I seem to wait too long.
This thread has prompted me to make burgers tomorrow night - I might make one using each method.
I have an early 1900’s hand-crank grinder that’s in excellent condition. I think I’m going meat shopping on my way home this Saturday and until then I’ll be chilling the grinder & the grind attachements in the freezer. :)
I have a 12:30 - 2:00 appointment on Saturday and I’m brewing Saturday afternoon, so I guess that makes Sunday burger day!