CAST IRON CHINESES BURGER PRESS.....

[Rik vonTrense]

I have been searching everywhere for any mention of the cast iron burger press that I bought in February......I wasn't sure where I bought it from until I checked my paypal account and found I had purchased it from Franco.

I decided to use it today as I had a good load of straight pork sausage with ordinary spices and I thought it would be good for the kids to have a decent pork burger for tea. I already had it screwed down on a wooden cutting board.

Well I made half a dozen 6 oz burgers and I won't be making any more with that press.

It is obviously a Chinese copy in cast iron of the American burger press which has a larger capacity and makes one pound burgers but that is made from cast aluminium and is non stick coated.

Sadly the Chinese one is a very rough casting that has been tinned afterwards, but the tolerances are shameful. There is an eighth of an inch gap all round in the screw down press part of it which allowed at least three ounces of the burger meat to find it's way behind this screw plate and into the chamber above it.

The screwed thread was not a good one and the silly fluted knob was not enough to wind down to compress the meat if you had to.

Again burger papers are either 4 or 5 inches in diameter so neither fit 4.5 inch forming plate and box that the Chinese uses. Maybe the 5 inch ones would be better and there would not be so much meant loss.

I found that the press had to be thoroughly cleaned after each burger was formed and that to me is a pain in the arse.

The design of it on the threaded shaft it has an adjuster in the middle I assume to give you the thickness of the burger......but this has to move every time as the only way to extricate your burger from the upper section is to screw it down fully until you can reach the top plate.

I have spotted a square one that will suit me as it will do for Lorne sausage and it's operation is simple yet idiot proof and it will leave the burger on the working surface on it's square piece of paper.

In the mean time I will list it on ebay with a start price of 99p. .mind you the post is dear because it is very heavy.


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[Paul Kribs]

Rik

I didn't know Franco sold burger presses.. I have seen them on e-bay being sold by sausagemaker-uk in Godstone. 4 3/8" diameter.

I got a plastic one from Lakeland, along with the correct size wax disks. I have used it to make literally hundreds of burgers and it is still like new. I did still experience the mix working its way past the plunger, but I just dismantled it (one twist of the plunger top), retrieved the mix and made another burger. After a wash in soapy water and a warm water rinse then dry, and as I say, good as new. I did have reservations with it being made of plastic but have had no problems.
In fact there's one on ebay now at �3.99 + p&p. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Beef-Burger-maker-press-by-Lakeland-Ltd_W0QQitemZ4448729417QQcategoryZ20649QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Regards, Paul Kribs

[hmmm sausages]

Rik,

Try http://www.scobiesdirect.co.uk

they have a wide range of burger presses, papers and just about everything else you need for home butchery, not bad prices too.

Hope that's helpful, Rob

[Rik vonTrense]

hi Rob.....

Yes I have a round one and a square one on their way....do you know their online shop is only compatible with Explorer. ?