Hamburger Preference Poll

[PabloMack]

Hi All,

I've heard it said that hot-dogs are America's favorite food. I beg to differ. Just off the top of your head, list the number of hotdog fast food chains you can think of and then compare it to the list of hamburger joints you can think of.

When I was a kid, my mom would make hamburgers from bulk raw ground beef. She didn't put much effort into making the patties and I ended up with what they call the "golf ball burger". Over the years I refined my skills at making my own and I've made a few observations. The more fat that is in the ground beef, the more of the fat that cooks out of the patty. The patty shrinks and I have a lot of beef fat to pour out. I've recently watched some videos about Wagyu beef. Some people call it Kobe but that is just the city where the industry is centered around in Japan. At up to and over $100 per pound, its quite expensive. And come to find out it is just because of the marbling. Well it seems to me that if you take some low cost beef that has quite a bit of fat in it and grind it up, you would get the same thing as Wagyu ground beef but for a LOT less money.

I love hamburgers but lots of sources say that I should cut down on my intake of red meat and especially the fat. Sounds like rich guys can spend a lot on good Wagyu steaks. But if you just want a hamburger, sounds like a good way for a poor guy to get the same thing for a lot less money. I live in Texas and a lot of my countrymen like burgers with patties so thick that you have to dislocate your jaws (like an anaconda) just to get your teeth around them. I, for one, love burgers with fresh onion, lettuce and tomato. That mix of flavors is just satisfying to me. Even if I just get a little of everything together in my mouth at once, it puts a smile on my face. If the patty is too thick it tends to make the sandwich unmanageable and I have to squash the bun. It just doesn't give me the same experience. Besides that, it is just too much meat to be eating. I do like to get some meat in every bite and that I can't do with a golf ball burger. The problem is that, even if you make a patty that is big enough to get on your bun raw, it will shrink as it cooks. If you use one of those hamburger presses (I have two of them) that make a patty just the right size if you are going to eat one raw. But after you cook it, it is too small and it doesn't cover the bun unless you get those tiny buns for kids. Well, I'm a full grown man and I demand a man-sized bun. So the idea is to make a patty that is not very thick, but is over-sized in area so that it will shrink down to just the right size that will cover my bun after it comes off the grill (and maybe just a tad more). Since I am cutting down on red meat, the least I can do is to guarantee that I get some beef in every bite.

Another question might be whether you prefer a round or squarish patty. We poor or stingy (whatever the case may be) fellows know that slices of square bread are usually cheaper than round buns. So I have decided to make two molds that will produce aids for making your own hamburger patties; one for round patties and one for squarish patties. What do you prefer?

I added the 1 inch option and you can change your vote. But the poll ends in one week.

[WAS]

I have to go with 3/8th too thick, and you're doing a well done outside, to cook the inside.

But with beef, and even pork, fat = flavour, and that's really all there is to it. Lean meats will always taste inferior, and be cheaper. We eat for flavour, not sustenance. While it's true we should eat for sustenance, and get the best diet, we are creatures of pleasure. And that is one of the great pleasures in life, food.

A lot of people don't like it, but you can also cut your ground beef, so it doesn't shrink as much. I use stuff like malt-o-meal, or often bread to stretch out some beef, for one, but to also preserve my patty sizes. It's just filler, takes up the taste of the meat, and if anything adds a heartiness.

P.S., doing ground beef out of good cuts is amazing, we used to do that when we had a meat grinder (thing was from the 1800s too, so cool). I haven't done it in awhile, but I'll pick up ground chuck, or sirloin if it looks fatty. Otherwise it'll be too dry and tough.

PS, I think that bit about the US being a hot dog nation is just outdated. It definitely was the #1 fast food during and after the Great Depression. However, hamburger places started to pop up in the 50s, and that all changed. It is true that there was places selling hamburgers a lot older than the 50s, but it was sorta a different thing, and wasn't the fast food deal, but a sandwich melt type deal.

[PabloMack]

P.S., doing ground beef out of good cuts is amazing, we used to do that when we had a meat grinder (thing was from the 1800s too, so cool). I haven't done it in awhile, but I'll pick up ground chuck, or sirloin if it looks fatty. Otherwise it'll be too dry and tough.

PS, I think that bit about the US being a hot dog nation is just outdated. It definitely was the #1 fast food during and after the Great Depression. However, hamburger places started to pop up in the 50s, and that all changed. It is true that there was places selling hamburgers a lot older than the 50s, but it was sorta a different thing, and wasn't the fast food deal, but a sandwich melt type deal.

Thanks for the feedback and other info WAS. It is appreciated.