www.sausagemaking.org

I had to try Oddley's bonza burger with all the great reviews it got.

My wife bought a chuck roast with the intent of putting it in the crock pot. It hit the meat grinder before she got home today.



Spices, bread crumbs, and onions



On the keg with some of the rolls I made the other day



Made some fries to go with it



The taste of the burger was great. The texture was a little more dense than normal. I think it because I mixed the spices in by hand and worked it till it got sticky like I would for sausage. When I make burgers from ground beef I normally just grab a chunk and form it into the patty.

I think next time I would add the spices and bread crumb to the cubed chuck before grinding. Grind it together, lightly mix in the onions and then make the patties.

When I posted this on the keg forum one person offered this link as to why the burger was dense. Mine looked just link the dense picture in this link. I suspected it may be due to overworking the meat but maybe its due to salting before mixing?

http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/200 ... -beef.html

Thoughts?

Great looking stuff! I know some here don't agree, but I prefer them without the breadcrumbs. You should try it.

Looks good!

I'm a purest too....I agree with Grisell, burger with bread crumbs is "meatloaf".

I think the denseness may be due to over-working, but it's more likely due to the chuck being too lean.

This link has some theory on the denseness.

http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/200 ... -beef.html

Need to test it. Hard to believe that salting and then mixing would cause that. Seem to me it would be the mixing itself and not the salting. But what do I know.

Yes, I read that article several months ago...I do agree with it too a point.
But, It is possible to pre-salt burgers and then form them without getting the denseness.
But it must be done immediately after salting and without overworking.
From his pics, it looks like he seriously overworked the meat after salting.

You'll also notice in that article that he's using very lean beef, which as I said above, greatly contributes to the denseness.

Good burgers need to be in the 30-35% fat range, IMHO!

I form the burgers and them season the outside about an hour before cooking.
That way they're seasoned properly without the danger of becoming too dense.

SausageBoy wrote:Yes, I read that article several months ago...I do agree with it too a point.
But, It is possible to pre-salt burgers and then form them without getting the denseness.
But it must be done immediately after salting and without overworking.
From his pics, it looks like he seriously overworked the meat after salting.

I form the burgers and them season the outside about an hour before cooking.
That way they're seasoned properly without the danger of becoming too dense.

I tend to agree with what you say. This was my original thoughts too before I read that link. I need to try it again to see if I'm right. Based on Oddleys direction I worked the meat quite a bit to mix it. Normal burger I season on the outside and don't work it at all.

More burger testing is required.

The grind also makes a difference.
I grind just once thru a 1/4" plate.

They look great, I've never met a burger I didn't like

I made these again last night. THis time I used skirt steak instead of chuck. I also mixed very lightly instead of mashing the meat really good like I would to make sausage. I think the mixing made a difference in how dense the burger was. These were much better than last time. Flavor was great.

Skirt ground and mixed.



Patties



Just ketchup and mustard. Very very good. I ate 3.

Great!!!

Looks good!