hamburger

[Victoria]

Ragu spaghetti sauce, original. If you put 1 1/2 or 2 TBSP in the meat and then mix and form balls it is good. There is not enough sauce to really taste what it is but enough to be different. It is very good, not overwhelming and I have always had people comment on my burgers that they are really good. I add a touch of garlic and some onion flakes too.

 

[Rustler9]

RAB,
You beat me to it but I agree whole heartedly. Longhorn beef is excellent, the hamburger patties are great and I've never had one fall apart when grilling. When we grill them we sprinkle them with some garlic powder, fresh gound pepper and McCormick's Season All seasoned salt. They don't need anything else except maybe a cold brew to wash them down.

 

[KNERSIE]

RAB,
You beat me to it but I agree whole heartedly. Longhorn beef is excellent, the hamburger patties are great and I've never had one fall apart when grilling. When we grill them we sprinkle them with some garlic powder, fresh gound pepper and McCormick's Season All seasoned salt. They don't need anything else except maybe a cold brew to wash them down.

I have to dissapoint you, but it will be hereford beef, I don't think there is even one longhorn in SA. Burgers isn't as popular here as in the USA, so no-one really makes their own. Most burger patties can be bought for cheaper than my cost of making them, you can only guess the percentage beef in that. Granted that is meant for a completely different market.

I am glad to hear that most of you just use pure ground beef, that is by far my preference. Now this brings on the next question, what size screen do you use when grinding? And do you ground the meat once or twice. For the boerewors (traditional spicy beef sausage) I make, which is really my speciality, I grind the meat twice through an 8mm screen.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

RAB,
You beat me to it but I agree whole heartedly. Longhorn beef is excellent, the hamburger patties are great and I've never had one fall apart when grilling. When we grill them we sprinkle them with some garlic powder, fresh gound pepper and McCormick's Season All seasoned salt. They don't need anything else except maybe a cold brew to wash them down.

I have to dissapoint you, but it will be hereford beef, I don't think there is even one longhorn in SA. Burgers isn't as popular here as in the USA, so no-one really makes their own. Most burger patties can be bought for cheaper than my cost of making them, you can only guess the percentage beef in that. Granted that is meant for a completely different market.

I am glad to hear that most of you just use pure ground beef, that is by far my preference. Now this brings on the next question, what size screen do you use when grinding? And do you ground the meat once or twice. For the boerewors (traditional spicy beef sausage) I make, which is really my speciality, I grind the meat twice through an 8mm screen.

We don't mess with trying to grind our own. We slaughter a young Longhorn bull each year and our local processor does all of our meat cuts, packaging. We ONLY use the "good" parts for ground beef that we don't package into steaks, roasts. We absolutely don't keep any organ meat...the processor keeps all that junk. Due to our preferance for a lot of ground beef to eat, we usually have about 50% of our bull made into ground beef. Have no idea what type or size of grinding screen processor uses; however, it comes out as a real smooth ground and not "pelleted" like some grinders have.

 

[msscamp]

I need a bit of help.

A very good American style restaurant has asked me for samples of different hamburger. They want to create a unique product, but without use of commercial binding agents and preferably little or no egg.

Has anyone got a proven recipe I can try to give the lady more options, she is really after a neutral beef taste with a nice texture (slightly coarse) with just a little something to make it unique. It needs to be able to freeze well and also last a week in the cold room when thawed.

Any advice will greatly be appreciated.

I don't understand - why would you use binding agents in hamburger, or eggs for that matter? What is wrong with just straight hamburger?

 

[Jogeephus]

Knersie, I can't recall the plate size but I do recall my butcher saying something about not grinding hamburger twice. I can ask my cousin, he was a butcher for 30 some odd years.

 

[mnmtranching]

Binding agents are something new to me. We have cows butchered to fill hamburger orders, when we do it's the whole critter steaks and all go into burger and never organs. We only use cows in good flesh like 6 or better have it ground 90% lean and only the good fat is used. On fed cattle all steaks and roasts, the short ribs, some brisket are not ground, and still the burger is 90%.
Can't tell the burger apart from the grass fed and grain fed.

The burger is ground like medium and I don't know if it's ground once or twice, never thought about it.

 

[Bez+]

I need a bit of help.

A very good American style restaurant has asked me for samples of different hamburger. They want to create a unique product, but without use of commercial binding agents and preferably little or no egg.

Has anyone got a proven recipe I can try to give the lady more options, she is really after a neutral beef taste with a nice texture (slightly coarse) with just a little something to make it unique. It needs to be able to freeze well and also last a week in the cold room when thawed.

Any advice will greatly be appreciated.

I don't understand - why would you use binding agents in hamburger, or eggs for that matter? What is wrong with just straight hamburger?

Actually nothing is wrong with straight burger - but in a commercial application there are other factors besides the actual hamburger.

Binding agents are used by the restaurant trade to keep the burger together while cooking - it is not something the person at home might do - or for that matter even worry about.

It is my belief that this is done to make the cooking faster and easier - allowing the burger to stay together while being cooked, flipped and so on.

Quality of the meat is probably not as high as what we might see at home when buying from a restaurant or fast food joint - therefore the shrinkage from fat and water loss would probably be somewhat higher - causing breakage unless some type of food grade binder is used.

Time is also a factor - and having the burger remain solidly in one piece allows a brisker motion to handle while cooking.

The person at home would not likely worry about this and therefore, binding agents do not become an issue.

Just my uniformed thoughts.

Bez+

 

[msscamp]

I need a bit of help.

A very good American style restaurant has asked me for samples of different hamburger. They want to create a unique product, but without use of commercial binding agents and preferably little or no egg.

Has anyone got a proven recipe I can try to give the lady more options, she is really after a neutral beef taste with a nice texture (slightly coarse) with just a little something to make it unique. It needs to be able to freeze well and also last a week in the cold room when thawed.

Any advice will greatly be appreciated.

I don't understand - why would you use binding agents in hamburger, or eggs for that matter? What is wrong with just straight hamburger?

Actually nothing is wrong with straight burger - but in a commercial application there are other factors besides the actual hamburger.

Binding agents are used by the restaurant trade to keep the burger together while cooking - it is not something the person at home might do - or for that matter even worry about.

It is my belief that this is done to make the cooking faster and easier - allowing the burger to stay together while being cooked, flipped and so on.

Quality of the meat is probably not as high as what we might see at home when buying from a restaurant or fast food joint - therefore the shrinkage from fat and water loss would probably be somewhat higher - causing breakage unless some type of food grade binder is used.

Time is also a factor - and having the burger remain solidly in one piece allows a brisker motion to handle while cooking.

The person at home would not likely worry about this and therefore, binding agents do not become an issue.

Just my uniformed thoughts.

Bez+

Interesting. Thanks for the thoughts, I appreciate them! I learn something new everyday - sometimes 2 or 3 things! :lol: :lol: