How do you jazz up your hamburgers?

[babylonsister]

My SO prefers Whataburger, Mickey D's, etc., to the homegrown variety. How do I break him of that? Perhaps I need to buy burgers w/50% fat in them to try to duplicate that greasy mess?
Nah, there's got to be a better way!

[catnhatnh]

1. Oddly enough,try a little soy....

...for home made hamburgers with that "fast food" taste.Locally the Market Basket sells a 10% soy burger in a 5lb pack of quarter pound pattys for about $10.They have that slightly odd, high school cafeteria taste that simply screams "not home made".That said we LIKE them here and while I would never use them for any other recipe they're tops with good old fasioned deep fried potatoes on what we call "What Cholesterol?" nights.

[babylonsister]

5. I have soy at the ready-thanks! nt

[Warpy]

2. Well, I eat Boca Burgers

which are a soy alternative that taste remarkably like the real thing.

I use a spiced cheese, lettuce, grilled sweet onion, and salsa on mine. Tomato would also be good, but it bites me back so I use salsa alone.

No, it's not fast food, and if he craves fast food, you're simply not going to be able to duplicate it, so don't bother trying. Fast food is addictive stuff, producing cravings, and the only way he's going to stop is if he realizes what it's doing to his body and he stops on his own. It's simply not your choice, and there's nothing you can do about it but make it all worse by haranguing him.

The best you can do until he figures it all out is to refuse to eat that crap, yourself. Let him sit there with his bag o grease while you eat something good. You can't do anything about him, but you can do something about you.

[babylonsister]

6. I love my boca burgers also, but he WILL have a burger for

lunch! And he WILL like it!

[Stinky The Clown]

3. Before suggesting anything, what are your SO's general tastes like?

Each fast food chain has its own proprietary meat recipes. Not only is the meat sourced specifically, but the fat content is precise and there may or may not be seasonings added. All this makes for the greaseburgers we all 'love' to eat. Then there's the cooking method. Although it appears they're either grilled or charbroiled, some (McDonald's, for one) actually incorporate some form of steaming into the process. McD does it with their proprietary grill. The grill elevates the patties just enough to create a void below them that steams as well as grills, using the meat's own juices as the steaming medium. Krystal's and White Castle use a grill with a platen that comes down to cover the patties. In essence, the top grill forms a lid to trap the moisture and, effectively, steam the burgers.

A platen grill looks like this:


It simply isn't possible to duplicate a chainburger at home.

So .... back to my original question ..... what kind of taste sensibilities does your SO have? If he likes big flavors, you may think about taking your burgers in a whole different direction. Almost to a meatloaf type mix with onions (or onion powder), maybe garlic. Even some liquid smoke. Herbs, too. Maybe egg into the meat before forming the patties. The possibilities are endless.

In the post above, my hometown buddy catnhatnh suggested using what are essentially cheap-o burgers. The soy protein additive used by various patty manufacturers is likely (but not absolutely) to be flavored and imparts that flavor to the burger. So you may have to try a few that are available to you before you find one that approximates a chainburger.

Here's one last little secret about meat ....... the meat available to the industry is often different than what makes it to retail channels. The industry gets 'heavy' beef while we get 'light' beef. The difference is in the overall animal size before slaughter. Heavy beef and light beef can both grade the same and are both of equal quality when measured against the same standards. The difference is that heavy beef has a richer flavor. And that's why, even if you could develop the same cooking temperature and duplicate all other cooking conditions as your favorite steak house, you couldn't duplicate their product. You and they are using different raw material.

[babylonsister]

4. He's definitely a meat and taters man.

I do put in onion and garlic pwdrs, and usually an egg so the burger won't fall apart (at least that's what Mom always told me/did). I might try a bit of soy and perhaps throw some steak sauce in there. He doesn't like actual onions mixed in anything, so that's out.
Wow, this has been a real meat lesson for me! Who knew, and you're just full of fun facts, H2S! Does a platen grill bear any resemblance to George Foreman's?
I just buy basic chopped meat (usually 95% lean-I try) that I want to doctor, and I don't buy those pre-fab burgers:I don't cook burgers much because he's so touchy. I mention burgers, he counters with tacos:eyes: which are definitely not my favorite.
I do buy the veggie burgers for myself and like them, after I load them with onions, schrooms, all those things the SO won't go near.
Oh, you mentioned White Castle; he loves them (so much for the onion theory above) but we haven't lived near one in many years. I did try frozen WC's once, but they were less than successful.
I'll get to experiment on said burgers in about an hour.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

7. Try this ....

It worked with my kids a long time ago:

The cheapest ground beef available.

No egg.

Nothing but a smidgen of Liquid Smoke, if we're eating inside.

The cheapest hamburger buns available.

Hey, I once ate 24 White Castles, and Little Tavern was always my secret stop on my home after a long night in Georgetown. I would eat them every day, if I didn't think someone would notice.

It's all about cheap.

A friend of mine who's in the food industry told me McDonald's buys up the oldest cows and uses EVERY PART of them, except, of course, the "moo."

Grind, grind, grind.

I love McDonald's, too.

[babylonsister]

9. Well, now that I have 95% lean meat, how does one

make it taste 'cheap'? :shrug:

[OldLeftieLawyer]

13. Add fat

Naw, you can't do anything.

You know it's the fat that gives the burgers their taste, and that's why the cheap burgers really do taste better.

Make chili.

[fortyfeetunder]

25. You remember Little Tavern?

I used to live up the street from one when I was a tyke. The 15 cent hamburgers...yum. Way back when, I would rather have a LT than a Mickey D's any day.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

26. Oh, please..........

No comparison. Mickey D is nothing but a pale imitation. You were SO lucky.

Oh, how I miss Little Tavern and White Tower!!!

I'm so old - and so East Coast - I remember Gino's.



Ever hear of them?

http://members.aol.com/jsf0864/page14.html

I really am old............. ;)

[Stinky The Clown]

27. Gino Marchetti

Hall of Famer ...... he started the chain right here in Bawlamer.

You remember Wetson's? Older than McD ..... 15¢ burgers.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

29. He sure did

Oh, Wetson's were SO good, too. I had forgotten about them. Where I grew up, we didn't see them, ever, but if you travelled a little distance, you would find a Gino's.

Weren't Gino's 15 cent burgers, too?

There was another one around the same time as Gino's - I think. Damn it, but I can't remember the name.

The novelty of 15 cent hamburgers was just overwhelming to a kid like me. Actually, it still is, but those bastards demand their seventy-nine cents, or whatever a Micky D goes for these days.

:::: sigh :::::

And he was ITALIAN, too, so you knew they were good..................... ;)

[fortyfeetunder]

28. Oh yes, I remember Gino's!

Gino's had some of the best milkshakes.

And how about Roy Rogers? I wasn't all that crazy about that food.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

30. I think Gino's became Roy Rogers

I have a Roy Rogers story - my husband arranged for the big marquee outside a nearby Roy Rogers to say, on the day of my law school graduation, "Congratulations, (my first name), JD!" I have the photographs of me, in my white suit, on our way to the ceremony, standing under that marquee, beaming.

That following week, while my announcement was still up on the sign, a robber hit that place late at night, as they were closing up, and killed - as I recall - all five or six people working there. It was horrible.

In all the photos accompanying the stories, there it was - my name and a great big "Congratulations!"

Yeah, Roy Rogers burgers were too big for junk burgers, and, yes, their shakes were absolutely brilliant. They also had a thing called the Double R Bar Burger, and now, as I google, I see they still do:



http://www.royrogersrestaurants.com/

It was really good, if you got it as soon as they put it out - I think that heat-lamp, foil-wrapped stuff just screwed up the burgers.

Remember the old Arby's fries, when they still used beef tallow, or whatever it was?

It's practically dawn here, and I'm going on like this about junk food.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?????

[tishaLA]

31. When I was a wee tot

in the early 80s, Gino's in Philadelphia used to give a free burger, I think, to anyone who presented a ticket from a Philadelphia 76ers game when the 76ers scored 125 points or more.

OK. That sentence sounds confusing.

But it made season tickets to the 76ers so so good.

"Gino's Give You Freedom of Choice!"

[Stinky The Clown]

12. A platen grill is very much like a George Foreman

So is a panini grill. So's your waffe iron, for that matter, and may well do the deed just fine (although I've never tried it).

[Warpy]

8. Thanks for elaborating on why it's impossible to duplicate

fast food greaseburgers. The only comprable home cooking method might be the George Foreman grillers, which sear marks into the meat while they essentially steam it done.

I did break my ex's fascination with fast food, but only through learning to cook food that was ten times as interesting, not trying to duplicate greaseburgers in a more healthy fashion, something I'd always taken for granted was impossible. In any case, he was the one who had to decide it was inferior fare, not me.

I've never been able to tolerate fast food with one exception, the original Hardee's, back in the 60s when they used real charcoal grilling for preparing the burgers. Those things were great. Everything else is pallid in comparison.

[wryter2000]

10. Wacky suggestion

I saw a Donahue once (the good show he used to do out of Chicago) with a woman who duplicated fast foods at home. She suggested adding a bit of veal baby food to burger meat for juicyness.

The other thing, maybe, is that secret sauce tastes to me like "Russian dressing" made out of mayo, ketchup, and pickle relish. Mix some up to taste and put it on his bun.

[babylonsister]

14. Ah, the secret sauce! I'm on it-thanks! nt

[OldLeftieLawyer]

16. Here's the Secret Sauce recipe:

http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/recipedetail.asp?sessionid=&login=yes&id=65&page=

It's similar to Thousand Island dressing, but not quite the same. This recipe has always worked for me, but I'm the only one who like it on burgers.

[eleny]

11. I like mild green chiles on top

The usual ketchup and onion. But I like to get the canned, mild green chiles that aren't chopped and lay a green chile across the top.

The McD's secret sauce is just thousand island dressing, so I use that for plain burgers without the chile on top.

One more thing - I always get chopped chuck for hamburgers and meatloaf. I think it has the best flavor. After tasting that, it might become his gold standard.

Good luck!

[Stinky The Clown]

15. Chuck, for sure, has the best flavor

And the flavor (sorry dieters) is in the fat.

I'd suggest that burgers be made from 80/20 chuck for medium on up and 85/15 chuck for rare. I know this is fussy, but the fat drips out in cooking, so you don't want to lose all the flavor, but with lower temps for rare, the leaner is okay since less fat would come out.

For anything that is loose, unformed ground beef (casseroles, etc.) using a leaner beef is okay.

But for burgers, if you have a mixed crowd (rare to well done) just go with the 80/20 chuck. It really is the best for burgers.

[eleny]

19. I was once watching Julia Child when she talked about chuck

She said that the chuck was a sweeter cut because when the animal is hung upside down, the neck get more blood settling into it. And that affects the flavor.

I wouldn't know enough to know if she was right or not. I'm no expert. But I did once stay at a Holiday Inn Express! :+

[NashVegas]

22. To Keep the Juice In

You want a high temp, to sear the meat and seal it. Even when they get cooked past the rare stage, they'll drip like you won't believe.

And DON'T flatten 'em with a spatula.

[merci_me]

17. Generally I use about 85% beef & an iron skillet

I like the burgers fairly flat as opposed to thick. I turn the gas up medium-high and flatten the burgers. As the skillet starts to dry, I pour in a tablespoon or two of water and de glaze the pan, let it dry another time or two and keep de glazing. By this point, I have a fair amount of crusty bits and when the burgers are done, I make sure there's ajus still in the skillet. That sort of satisfies the craving for "grease on the bun".

My own favorite topping is Phillie and Lipton onion soup. I mix 8 oz of Phillie, a few tablespoons of milk and an envelope of the soup mix earlier in the day. It's thick so it takes longer for the soup to be absorbed. You might want to had a few more drops of milk to thin it a bit. Then I spread it heavily on a steaming hot burger, so the Phillie is nice a creamy and oozes some. Great on whole wheat or a multigrain bun that's just a bit damp on the bottom, from the "grease". Often, I grill the inside of the bun in the skillet. Maybe top it all off with a slice of Bermuda onion, pepperconi and/or tomatoes or just the Phillie.

[wryter2000]

18. For the fries

Ore Ida sells some frozen fries that I think they call fast food fries. They're very much the dimensions of McDonald's fries. Deep fried, they're good for fast food junkies.

As others have said, nothing's going to fool your DH, but you might get him to eat and enjoy your burgers.

[eleny]

20. I love the fries that can be fixed under the broiler

I think they're Ida's. They cut way down on the baking time.

[Tab]

21. Potato chips on top

Sounds weird, but putting a couple of potato chips (preferably Lays or something non-ridged) on top is great.

Other than that, I'm more traditional. Very thin slices of red onion (it's sweeter that way), occasionally relish, cheese of course. I like lettuce and tomato. Sometimes I put a spicy mayo on (e.g.: chipotle mayo).

[NashVegas]

23. A Few Things to Try

Saute some onions in plenty of butter in the pan you're going to use to cook the burgers. Once they're mangly, remove them and grill the bun in what's left of the butter. It will give the bun a wonderful flavor. Put the onions back on the burger if you like 'em that way.

Seasonings you can try -

fresh pepper or McCormick's Broil & Grill seasoning. I don't like to use straight salt, I was always told that toughens meat.

You can also try mixing a pound of hamburger with a couple tablespoons breadcrumbs and hickory-flavored barbecue sauce, for an interesting taste.

[noamnety]

24. Inside out cheeseburgers

I put a slice of cheese inside the meat - it keeps it moist inside.

On a side note, when I had Jordanian friends, they made a "real American BBQ" for my family once. When they were making our burgers, they asked us if we liked a lot or a little cinnamon on our burgers. :)