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Hi

I run a fast food business, but with a difference, we have sausages made for us from a family business of well over 100 years, this seperates us from the normal rubbish sold in this sector. They are now retiring and have given me the recipe for their sausages so I can continue the good work!!!

We also sell beef burgers but unfortunately the mass produced type. It seems that you can purchase a gadget that fits onto a sausage power filler to enable you to make your own. Please post what you think to be 'the best' burger recipe mix for me to try. At present we use a 4oz, 80% burger so that it does not shrink too much, we use cinders caterer bbq's and gas griddles to cook them. Any thoughts appreciated, I really want to stand out from the crowd with both sausages and burgers like no other.

Thanx

Sounds good, do you have some sausages recipes for us then ?

Dave

hi trotters
you might take a browse through this thread and see what recipes might interest you.
http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=1754&highlight=hamburger

IMHO best burgers are just good quality beef, freshly ground, with a bit of salt added (1%), and maybe some pepper. If your beef is of good quality - why add anything else?

hi, this is my take on a good burger. 1kilo minced beef, 13grams of onion granules, 10grams of salt, 2grams of pepper. simple but so tastie.

I agree with Aris. Good beef, (and 80%VL or 80% exact lean is fine) cooked over medium high heat (wood or flame) with perhaps a little salt is the best.

Thanks for all your comments, very much appreciated, if anybody else has any recipes then please post on this thread, very kean to hear your thoughts on the subject.

What cut of beef would you recommend to mince? also find it interesting that some people leave without adding anything and other recipes have extra ingredients, will try all and decide for myself which is the winner!!!

hi trotters independant, i use a lot af beef brisket for burgers, lorne sausage, pot roasts, curries, mince. very versitile cut of meat. cheers.

Thanks Hoggie

Geees I hope you are not up at that time of the morning making burgers, if so think I will forget the idea right now!!!!! [/quote]

To me, a good burger is also about texture. If I were to make a gourmet burger for myself, it would be:

1) Freshly ground sirloin with a generous amount of fat (say 20%). By freshly I mean ground within the past hour.

2) Lightly mix in salt and pepper. One thing I hate about burger bar patties is that they are so dense. Probably because they have been over mixed, and then pressed by machine - and then frozen. I like a nice texture (but not too light).

3) Form patty by hand- make it about 1 inch thick.

4) Cook on BBQ - preferably on charcoal (or hardwood burned down to coal) - until just slightly pink inside. Allow to rest for 5-10 minutes, and serve on a fresh roll, with fresh lettuce/tomato/shallots - and (optional) a nice mild cheese sauce.

Perhaps a bit much for a burger bar - but if I were going into a nice restaurant to eat a burger - that's what i'd want.

aris wrote:To me, a good burger is also about texture. If I were to make a gourmet burger for myself, it would be:

1) Freshly ground sirloin with a generous amount of fat (say 20%). By freshly I mean ground within the past hour.

2) Lightly mix in salt and pepper. One thing I hate about burger bar patties is that they are so dense. Probably because they have been over mixed, and then pressed by machine - and then frozen. I like a nice texture (but not too light).

3) Form patty by hand- make it about 1 inch thick.

4) Cook on BBQ - preferably on charcoal (or hardwood burned down to coal) - until just slightly pink inside. Allow to rest for 5-10 minutes, and serve on a fresh roll, with fresh lettuce/tomato/shallots - and (optional) a nice mild cheese sauce.

Perhaps a bit much for a burger bar - but if I were going into a nice restaurant to eat a burger - that's what i'd want.

Thanks for the description Aris, now I've got to wipe the drool off my keyboard.

For me, I prefer to eat my meat joined up rather than in a jigsaw so grinding up a nice sirloin steak would not be my idea of great fun.

I also think that a good burger should contain a small amount of diced onion and some fresh herbs from the garden (when availiable). But hey, thank god we are all different

Cheers WW

I totally agree with you there, I hate the jigsaw effect of a burger so a finer grind for me too. Also when cooking so many and on a commercial bbq they must not break up

My description of the ideal burger is the pinnacle (IMHO) of a good burger. You basically start from there and go down

Most commercial burgers need to be stiff - yes - so they do not fall apart. They also should not shrink much. Many of the commercial frozen burgers you buy for fast food outlets have fillers, and some phosphates so they don't 'move' i.e. shrink too much.

At the end of the day, you get what you pay for

Another variety by an interesting chef-

Alton Brown's "burger of the gods" recipe. The best thing about it is how easy it is to memorize the recipe.

Buy equal amounts of chuck roast and sirloin roast. Cut into 1.5 inch cubes. Put a small handful of each in equal amounts in your Cuisinart and pulse 15 times to grind. Once you've ground up all the meat, mix in some kosher salt by hand. Measure out 5 ounces of ground meat, form into a patty. Cook.