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What's your favorite burger?
- Thread starter Underseer
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TV and credit cards
Contributor
I think the top’s off for promotional purposes only.
A tall burger is an unruly burger and needs to be cut and rotated ninty degrees to be made manageable but this shouldn’t be the case. Too thick of a patty or heaven forbid a double patty overwhelms the condiments and for my taste then requires dipping.
It’s all so unnecessary. Food should be civilized. I should not need more than one quality paper napkin. Nothing should drop to the table, floor, or shirt while eating. I should not have to worry about schmutz at the corners of my mouth. Finally, no food should run down between my fingers.
WAB
Veteran Member
That reminds me: the other day I bought a chicken caesar wrap at a local grocery store. The dressing was in a little packet I could barely get open, the chicken was dry, and the entire thing fell apart as I tried to consume it. I had to scoop most of the contents up out of the silly plastic container it was sold in. I don't usually get angry at food, but that wrap irritated me.
It didn't look like this one:
I was married to a Mexican woman. She used to say that part of the fun of eating a taco was taking the remains of your first taco (from the plate it dribbled onto) and making another one.
Thomas II
Contributor
T.G.G. Moogly
Traditional Atheist
That got me curious. I discovered that an olive burger means it has olive tapenade of some kind. That does sound delicious, have to give it a try.
Horatio Parker
Veteran Member
The olives were in a sauce, but they weren't finely chopped. Coarsely chopped, I guess.
Underseer
Contributor
I disagree. Good food can make a mess, but there's a limit to how much of that I will accept from a burger.
I like to eat an extra wet Chicago style Italian beef directly over a side salad. A good Italian beef will make a hell of a mess if you try to eat it like a sandwich (not the way it was originally meant to be eaten), and if you make that mess directly on top of a side salad, I promise that you will be rewarded for your troubles.
Underseer
Contributor
That reminds me: the other day I bought a chicken caesar wrap at a local grocery store. The dressing was in a little packet I could barely get open, the chicken was dry, and the entire thing fell apart as I tried to consume it. I had to scoop most of the contents up out of the silly plastic container it was sold in. I don't usually get angry at food, but that wrap irritated me.
It didn't look like this one:
View attachment 18379
I was married to a Mexican woman. She used to say that part of the fun of eating a taco was taking the remains of your first taco (from the plate it dribbled onto) and making another one.
I agree with her, although she's the expert not me.
ronburgundy
Contributor
Although I still love a grilled burger, especially lamb with goat cheese, I've come to love a diner-style smash burger cooked on a smoking hot cast iron griddle. The key is to put it on the hot griddle as a ball, then smash it with a good heavy and stiff grilling spatula. It forms uneven/broken edges that get crispy, and the sear carmelized the fat (75% lean is best). Of course, with thin burgers, to get the right meat:bun ratio you need to have two patties, but that's okay b/c the double cheeseburger is among humanity's greatest achievements. Another benefit to this approach is that a dried out burger is not an issue, so you don't need to (and cannot b/c it's too thin) cook it rare. Which means you don't need to worry as much about how fresh and safely handled the meat is.
With this type of burger, I go with classic, toppings of onion, lettuce, pickle, and "special sauce" (essentially a combo of homemade thousand Island and Russian dressings). It's also the only time I eat American Cheese (though quality stuff like boars head, not that vile plastic wrapped slices stuff). American just melts so nice and creamy and doesn't overpower the flavor of the meat. The bun needs to be light and airy with just enough substance to it to get the burger into my face hole without falling apart.
Another important thing I recently learned is that you should not salt the meat until right before you cook it. Salt dissolves some of the meat proteins, but causes insoluble proteins to bind together, which creates a dense springy texture that is good for making a sausage but bad for burgers.
On a related topic, have you ever noticed that the best smelling burgers are those being grilled a couple houses away?
I have a theory that the more tasty flavor molecules travel further, so a the smell is actually better a bit away that right where they are being cooked.
With this type of burger, I go with classic, toppings of onion, lettuce, pickle, and "special sauce" (essentially a combo of homemade thousand Island and Russian dressings). It's also the only time I eat American Cheese (though quality stuff like boars head, not that vile plastic wrapped slices stuff). American just melts so nice and creamy and doesn't overpower the flavor of the meat. The bun needs to be light and airy with just enough substance to it to get the burger into my face hole without falling apart.
Another important thing I recently learned is that you should not salt the meat until right before you cook it. Salt dissolves some of the meat proteins, but causes insoluble proteins to bind together, which creates a dense springy texture that is good for making a sausage but bad for burgers.
On a related topic, have you ever noticed that the best smelling burgers are those being grilled a couple houses away?
I have a theory that the more tasty flavor molecules travel further, so a the smell is actually better a bit away that right where they are being cooked.
Underseer
Contributor
Two thin patties allows for more browned surface area.
With flame-broiled burgers, the flavor comes from rendered fat dripping onto coals, and the resulting smoke wafting back up to the burger. With grilled burgers, it's all about the Maillard reactions (sugars + high heat [ent]rarr[/ent] brown areas on your food).
With flame-broiled burgers, the flavor comes from rendered fat dripping onto coals, and the resulting smoke wafting back up to the burger. With grilled burgers, it's all about the Maillard reactions (sugars + high heat [ent]rarr[/ent] brown areas on your food).
Underseer
Contributor
I don't live in NY and even if I did, I probably couldn't afford to eat there, but a sushi chef in New York has invented a new way to cook burgers. He had a company in Japan make these cast iron cooking devices just for him, and he uses them to cook the patties over an open flame.
The cooked patties get a big ol' hunk of cheese on them, get cooked some more, then go between pretzel buns (he insists that the burgers should have only cheese and no condiments of any kind), then the whole cheeseburger gets smoked on burning chopsticks.
I haven't tried these burgers and probably never will, but kudos to this guy for creativity.
ronburgundy
Contributor
Definitely creative, though it seems a bit gimmicky. Adding a touch of smoke to the whole burger is a cool idea, but chopsticks aren't the kind of wood that would give the best smoke flavor and they use washed chopsticks that prior customers already used which is a bit gross conceptually even if not really a risk. When they cut it in half (also see yelp pic below) it looks really compact and dense and compact I bet he's salting the patties too and forming them tightly so they hold together through all that handling.
Taleggio is a great burger cheese, however.
WAB
Veteran Member
Definitely creative, though it seems a bit gimmicky. Adding a touch of smoke to the whole burger is a cool idea, but chopsticks aren't the kind of wood that would give the best smoke flavor and they use washed chopsticks that prior customers already used which is a bit gross conceptually even if not really a risk. When they cut it in half (also see yelp pic below) it looks really compact and dense and compact I bet he's salting the patties too and forming them tightly so they hold together through all that handling.
Taleggio is a great burger cheese, however.
I like a rare steak, but when it comes to ground meat, I'd cook that sucker longer.
Underseer
Contributor
Definitely creative, though it seems a bit gimmicky. Adding a touch of smoke to the whole burger is a cool idea, but chopsticks aren't the kind of wood that would give the best smoke flavor and they use washed chopsticks that prior customers already used which is a bit gross conceptually even if not really a risk. When they cut it in half (also see yelp pic below) it looks really compact and dense and compact I bet he's salting the patties too and forming them tightly so they hold together through all that handling.
Taleggio is a great burger cheese, however.
It's funny you mention that. In Japan, there's a whole art and style of cooking that involves grilling over open flame, and the ones who do that are very picky about what wood they use for which applications. That's what makes it hilarious that he's using regular old discarded chopsticks for smoking. He clearly has a sense of humor to go along with his creativity, and is probably the kind of Japanese chef who should be working in New York rather than Japan.
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There's a place just outside of town here called Gabby's. Their specialty is burgers. Fresh quality ground beef from local cattle. Placed on a ciabatta bun. Very reasonably priced.
Underseer
Contributor
When you get beef that's truly fresh, it almost doesn't matter what else you put on it, or if you put anything else on it.
steve_bank
Diabetic retinopathy and poor eyesight. Typos ...
Places around here I like are 5 Guys and Kidd Valley. 5Guys makes fresh fries.
nolongtalk
New member
In and out DOUBLE DOUBLE for me
steve_bank
Diabetic retinopathy and poor eyesight. Typos ...
fresh ground sirloin, Kaiser roll, onions, lettuce, tomato,.