USVI-On-Line

beef in a tube? heh?

I like rosemary and sea salt with my turkey burger thank you. and next time I'm putting a hunka goat cheese in the middle. I think the grill dries out the turkey burger as well so I pan fry or grill pan. but that's just me.

pipanale wrote:Funny thing for me is that, since moving to NC, we've made very few burgers from ground beef. It comes in a tube for the most part and scares us.

Yikes! that would scare me too. I can practicely wave hello to my future hamburgers from my office window. We loves us some beef!

Put me in the more-fat-the-better, needs to be 80/20 club.

I also think minimal fuss and handling of the meat makes a difference. Form the patties and be done with it. No extra pressure or squeezing.

Sear on high heat and leave them alone.

Husband agrees, he handled the meat (no jokes from the pervs out there ) way too much, pounding, forming, and reforming and had some sort of OCD thing with poking and pressing them while grilling.

Now he knows better and his burgers are awesome.

PA Girl wrote: Husband agrees, he handled the meat (no jokes from the pervs out there ) way too much, pounding, forming, and reforming and had some sort of OCD thing with poking and pressing them while grilling.

Yeah, I had the same problem, then I got married, and now I can't even find time to...........oh, wait, you said no jokes.....sorry

-Bert

CariBert wrote:

PA Girl wrote: Husband agrees, he handled the meat (no jokes from the pervs out there ) way too much, pounding, forming, and reforming and had some sort of OCD thing with poking and pressing them while grilling.

Yeah, I had the same problem, then I got married, and now I can't even find time to...........oh, wait, you said no jokes.....sorry

-Bert

Hee hee!

I went to college with a guy whose family owned a butcher shop. The shop t-shirts said "Noboby Beats My Meat" across the back. EVERYONE at school had one.

DELETED

I'm sorry but did Pipanle say something about tube steak?

If you make these, I promise you will not be disappointed. They are excellent with ground turkey as well, but when made with turkey, let them marinate for several hours and you will have the best turkey burger you've ever eaten. Make sure you make the orange chipotle mayo, as well. Just pare down the recipe a little. A cup of mayo is an awful lot! Really, give this recipe a try.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/ ... ise-107083

Lisa

I worked in the meat dept of a local groc chain for to many years. Almost all burger sold in the store comes in a tube. It is ground at a plant somewhere( Nebraska in our case), then reground and sold at our stores here. During the process of cutting meats all day you do create some trim that is ground and sold, but for the most part it comes from a tube.
I usually buy a chuck roast or steak and have it ground
twice at the store, once just isn't really enough.Sometimes I may have them cut out some of the bigger fat area's. I'm not sure if this would be an option on St.John, but I would check and see, as it makes a big difference in my opinion. Also if the store has a course plate for their grinder I get sirloin tips course ground once for cheese steak subs or chili. Good Luck!!

I second the panade approach. For 1 lb ground beef, use 1 slice white bread w/o crusts, cube it small, mix in a little milk, salt, pepper and garlic (pressed), mix to a loose paste, add to ground beef.

Make your patties thick, then use your thumb to put a little dent in the middle. Thick burger = juicy but tough to get done in the middle, so the dent makes the middle a little thinner and it cooks through better.

Sear over high heat, reduce heat to finish cooking.

tjwgrr wrote:Recipes aside, here's my cooking technique:

Bring burger patties close, or up to room temp before grilling.

Grill until juice just starts to ooze out of the burger, flip, wait for juice to just start to ooze again- your done. (I prefer burgers medium & slightly pink- never had a problem.)

Remove from heat and let rest a few minutes before serving, otherwise the juices will be lost.

Grill steaks the same way, except judge "doneness" by firmness. Very important not to cut into a steak right after it comes off the grill- needs to rest.

I worked as a short order cook a very long time ago and the oozing juice and flip/once technique was the way I was taught, and have used the method for many years without complaint.If you flip as soon as juice comes through on each side, the burger will be rare. Using this method you get pretty good at judging doneness reliably.80/20 is also my choice. I personally like to dice up onions and fold them into the meat when making the patties. Salting ahead of cooking tends to draw juices out of the meat, making for a dryer burger..

This is how we do it (JB's cheeseburger in paradise on Emeril):

Ingredients
28 ounces fresh USDA choice beef chuck, diced
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon garlic salt
1/2 tablespoon onion salt
1 teaspoon celery salt
8 slices American cheese - 1 slice if any other kind of cheese
4 sesame hamburger buns, toasted
8 leaves iceberg lettuce
4 slices tomato, 1/4-inch thick
4 slices red onion, 1/4-inch thick
4 toothpicks
4 pickle spears
2 pounds Idaho potatoes, peeled, cut into fries and fried until golden brown
Directions
Using a meat grinder with a 3/8-inch plate, grind the meat. Change to a 1/8-inch plate, and grind a second time. Shape the ground meat into 4 (7-ounce) patties. In a mixing bowl, combine the kosher salt, pepper, garlic salt, onion salt and celery salt. Mix well. Place burger on a hot grill and season with the seasoning salt. Cook the burgers halfway to desired temperature and flip over and finish cooking. Place cheese on the burger when it is 3/4 of the way cooked and melt. Place bottom bun on plate. Place burger on bottom bun. Place lettuce, tomato and onion on top of the burger. Cover with top bun and secure with a toothpick. Place pickle next to the burger. Place fries on the plate.

I like to make a Southwest Burger:

1 pound ground beef (80-20 mix is a good idea);
2 tablespoons taco seasoning ;
Your favorite salsa (about 1/2 cup);
Kosher salt.

Grill burgers. Top with hot pepper/monterey jack cheese and homemade guacamole.

Don't be scared of beef in tube-like packaging! (No I'm not talking about tube steak!)

My understanding is that it's more eco-friendly than those stupid styrofoam trays, easier for the store to, uh, store, and keeps the meat fresher. At least that's what I read somewhere.

That's the kind of packaging we saw at Lilly's in Coral Bay.

Pip - funny that you like turkey burgers! I'd think a guy who hangs out with midget strippers would be more of red meat kinda guy. When my kids were little I tried to keep them very healthfully fed. They never had fast food or mac 'n cheese until another mom gave them some, and I only made burgers with ground turkey and soy cheese. Yep, they were fooled until they had some excellent beef burgers with WI cheddar at my folks' house. No more turkey burgers for us! Maybe I need to try your spice method. I would mix mine with salsa for a little kick, but they were still kind of bland and dry. Oh yeah, the soy cheese... that didn't really help.

I'm a fly by the seat of my pants girl when it comes to cooking but for what it's worth...

I use 80/20 beef; a little bit of olive oil, Cruz Bay Grill Rub, a bit of worcester (sp?) or balsamic vinegar and if I've got some on hand, chopped pancetta. Salt and Pepper if needed.

Also, if I'm feeling in a cheesy mood I'll also add in crumbled bleu cheese or gorgonzola or cut off a hunk of cheddar and form meat around it for cheesy center. But if I do that I lay off adding any salt.

I'll grill these outside or sear in a grill pan on the stove and finish in a 400 degree oven until done to my liking.

If I'm feel REALLy adventurous I'll cruch up garlic and blend that with softened butter and melt on the burgers when they are almost finished in the oven.

YUM!!