Hamburger Patties Are Directional - Like Cables

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You've Been Making Hamburger Patties Wrong Your Entire Life

Julie Zeveloff - MSN Business Insider
June 10, 2015

You may have the perfect recipe for hamburgers — but chances are, you've been making the patties wrong your whole life.

Most home chefs dump their ground beef into a bowl and knead in all the fixings: chopped onion, ketchup, red pepper flakes. Then they roll the dough into balls and flatten them with their hands before tossing them on the grill.

But this method has some major drawbacks.

In a 2007 episode of the short-lived BBC show "In Search of Perfection," Michelin 3-star chef Heston Blumenthal spent six months using science to create the "perfect hamburger." His biggest revelation was that in order to achieve an "open," juicy texture, the grains of ground meat should all fall in the same direction. There are two benefits to keeping the grains of meat running straight: The first is to avoid the release of proteins that could act as binding agents, and the second is to keep the strings from becoming intertwined. Either could lead to a denser and drier patty.

This is when the famed chef's method really veers off the path of the traditional burger patty. Instead of forming patties with his hands, he rolls the entire pile of ground beef into a sausage-like tube using plastic wrap.

He refrigerates the roll for at least half an hour, and then slices it like a sushi chef, ensuring that each patty's meat grains stand parallel to one another, and that each is a consistent thickness all the way through, allowing for even cooking.

Blumenthal, whose burger blend is 50% chuck, 25% short rib, and 25% brisket, prefers to grind his own meat and have a sous chef pull the grains out of the grinder, to keep them parallel.

Blumenthal's other big trick is to treat his pan like a rotisserie instead of a grill. He flips the burger every 20 or 30 seconds, a method he says "drives a much more even temperature through the meat," resulting in a burger that's "nicely colored on outside, but evenly cooked through the middle."

http://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/cookingschool/youve-been-making-hamburger-patties-wrong-your-entire-life/ss-BBkU7de#image=5





Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country!

Comments

  • Moose68Bash
    Moose68Bash Posts: 3,842
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    DK,

    Only you would come up with this "tweak" to a common practice -- i.e., grilling burgers! :)

    Interesting idea that I may try. I do happen to have a meat grinder of my own.

    What do you do to get all those "fixin's" in your burgers?
    Family Room, Innuos Statement streamer (Roon Core) with Morrow Audio USB cable to McIntosh MC 2700 pre with DC2 Digital Audio Module; AQ Sky XLRs to CAT 600.2 dualmono amp, Morrow Elite Speaker Cables to NOLA Baby Grand Reference Gold 3 speakers. Power source for all components: Silver Circle Audio Pure Power One with dedicated 20 amp circuit to main panel.

    Exercise Room, Innuos Streamer via Cat 6 cable connection to PS Audio PerfectWave MkII DAC w/Bridge II, AQ King Cobra RCAs to Perreaux PMF3150 amp (fully restored and upgraded by Jeffrey Jackson, Precision Audio Labs), Supra Rondo 4x2.5 Speaker Cables to SDA 1Cs (Vr3 Mods Xovers and other mods.), Dreadnaught with Supra Rondo 4x2.5 interconnect cables by Vr3 Mods. Power for each component from dedicated 20 amp circuit to main panel, except Innuos Statement powered from Silver Circle Audio Pure Power One.

  • BlueFox
    BlueFox Posts: 15,251
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    This is all cooking myths. All burgers taste the same. :)
    Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
    Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
    Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes

    Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
    Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
    Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables

    Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
    Three 20 amp circuits.
  • DarqueKnight
    DarqueKnight Posts: 6,765
    edited July 2015
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    What do you do to get all those "fixin's" in your burgers?


    I make mine the "wrong" way. Since Chef Blumenthal didn't mention how he puts the "fixin's" in his burgers, I assume he adds them externally after they are cooked.
    Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country!
  • Moose68Bash
    Moose68Bash Posts: 3,842
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    What do you do to get all those "fixin's" in your burgers?


    I make mine the "wrong" way. Since Chef Blumenthal didn't mention how he puts the "fixin's" in his burgers, I assume he adds them externally after they are cooked.

    And we all know they taste better mixed in; so I'm sticking with the traditional technique.

    There is a difference between burgers and cables!
    Family Room, Innuos Statement streamer (Roon Core) with Morrow Audio USB cable to McIntosh MC 2700 pre with DC2 Digital Audio Module; AQ Sky XLRs to CAT 600.2 dualmono amp, Morrow Elite Speaker Cables to NOLA Baby Grand Reference Gold 3 speakers. Power source for all components: Silver Circle Audio Pure Power One with dedicated 20 amp circuit to main panel.

    Exercise Room, Innuos Streamer via Cat 6 cable connection to PS Audio PerfectWave MkII DAC w/Bridge II, AQ King Cobra RCAs to Perreaux PMF3150 amp (fully restored and upgraded by Jeffrey Jackson, Precision Audio Labs), Supra Rondo 4x2.5 Speaker Cables to SDA 1Cs (Vr3 Mods Xovers and other mods.), Dreadnaught with Supra Rondo 4x2.5 interconnect cables by Vr3 Mods. Power for each component from dedicated 20 amp circuit to main panel, except Innuos Statement powered from Silver Circle Audio Pure Power One.

  • Jimbo18
    Jimbo18 Posts: 2,314
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    I haven't tried his method but I KNOW mine tastes better anyway. Why spend the extra money on a meat grinder when the burger from the store is just as good? I think we need a double-blind taste test to prove it out.
  • decal
    decal Posts: 3,205
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    The secret is cryo treating the meat to get that "jaw dropping" flavor.
    If you can't hear a difference, don't waste your money.
  • Moose68Bash
    Moose68Bash Posts: 3,842
    edited July 2015
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    decal wrote: »
    The secret is cryo treating the meat to get that "jaw dropping" flavor.

    Not to mention that special crunch of broken teeth!
    Family Room, Innuos Statement streamer (Roon Core) with Morrow Audio USB cable to McIntosh MC 2700 pre with DC2 Digital Audio Module; AQ Sky XLRs to CAT 600.2 dualmono amp, Morrow Elite Speaker Cables to NOLA Baby Grand Reference Gold 3 speakers. Power source for all components: Silver Circle Audio Pure Power One with dedicated 20 amp circuit to main panel.

    Exercise Room, Innuos Streamer via Cat 6 cable connection to PS Audio PerfectWave MkII DAC w/Bridge II, AQ King Cobra RCAs to Perreaux PMF3150 amp (fully restored and upgraded by Jeffrey Jackson, Precision Audio Labs), Supra Rondo 4x2.5 Speaker Cables to SDA 1Cs (Vr3 Mods Xovers and other mods.), Dreadnaught with Supra Rondo 4x2.5 interconnect cables by Vr3 Mods. Power for each component from dedicated 20 amp circuit to main panel, except Innuos Statement powered from Silver Circle Audio Pure Power One.

  • mrbigbluelight
    mrbigbluelight Posts: 9,267
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    I'm going green and sticking with pemmican,
    Sal Palooza
  • Msabot1
    Msabot1 Posts: 2,098
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    Well..I have found that a good burger begins with the quality of the meat that you make them out of.....next is not handling the meat as much as possible..and the fire temp when grilling them...