Making a Burger: A Step-by-Step Guide

When it comes to making a great burger, there are several key steps to follow. One of the most important things to remember is not to overmix the burger patty. This can lead to a dense and tough texture that is unappealing to eat. Instead, you want to form the burger patty in such a way that it retains its natural juices.

To achieve this, we don't want to work with the burger too much. We want it to be sort of just formed together, without over-handling it. One technique that works well for this is to make a well in the middle of the burger patty. This "fakes out" the burger, so when you put it on the grill, it will plump up and almost become like a football. By making this well, we can preempt the loss of juices that would occur if we were to shape the burger too much.

When cooking burgers, it's also important to not push down on them with your spatula after they have been placed on the grill. This can cause the burger patty to lose its juices and become dry. By making a well in the burger, you can allow it to cook evenly and retain its natural juices. We like to make our burgers around 6 ounces, and not too thick. This ensures that they are cooked consistently throughout.

Another popular option for burger enthusiasts is turkey burgers. These have become very popular lately, with a meat-to-fat ratio of about 90:10. Like beef burgers, turkey burgers require the same thickness and weight, but they can be slightly drier due to the lower fat content. To cook these burgers successfully, you need to walk the line when it comes to cooking time.

When seasoning our burger patties, we like to keep things simple. We use salt, freshly ground black pepper, and nothing else. This allows us to create flavor without overpowering the natural taste of the meat. We also season very liberally on both sides, as this helps form a crust on the outside of the burgers.

Before cooking our burger patties, we like to brush them with a little bit of canola oil. This helps prevent sticking and ensures that the burger cooks evenly. Next, we place the turkey burgers on the hot part of the grill, where they get nice and crusty on one side. We flip them once to cook through, and let them continue cooking for a few more seconds.

When it comes to cheese, we like to use two different types for our beef burgers: American and pepper jack. For our turkey burgers, we choose Swiss. This way, we can easily identify which burger is which. We place the cheese on top of each burger patty and close the grill, allowing the cheese to melt and become a part of the burger.

Finally, we like to add some toppings to our burgers, such as coleslaw with Russian dressing, chipotle ketchup, and a sprinkle of potato chips. These add crunch and flavor to the dish, making it truly satisfying to eat. And that's how you make a great burger!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwe're making a burger tate and i'm going to show you how simply i season my burger we don't want to over mix the burger we don't want to work with the burger too much we want it to be sort of just formed together what i like to do is take my thumb you've seen me do this before and and just make a well in the middle of the burger i do that because i'm kind of faking out the burger uh when i put the burger on the grill what's going to happen it's going to sort of plump up and almost become like a football and what i don't want to do is then walk over there and take the back of my spatula and push it down to the shape that i want because i'm going to lose all the juices so we're going to preempt that and we're going to make a well in the burger so that when it actually cooks it's going to come back to the shape that we want i like to make my burgers around 6 ounces and also not too thick move on to the turkey burgers turkey burgers have become very very popular lately it's about 90 meat to about 10 fat same thickness same weight same technique obviously it's going to be a little bit drier than beef you really need to sort of walk the line in terms of how much you cook it obviously it has to be cooked all the way through here's all my seasoning salt freshly ground black pepper that's it and i season very liberally on both sides because this is going to create flavor but it's also going to help form a crust on the outside of the burgers i'm gonna take a little bit of canola oil all right let's go to the grill hot part of the grill our turkey burgers let's get back to the basics here so we want to flip these burgers one time i want them to get nice and crusty on one side flip them let them cook through i like my beef burgers around medium it's just always the way i've eaten them let's check our burgers all right nice and crusty turkey burgers look at that see the turkey burgers were a little bit closer to the high heat they got even a nicer crust than the beef burgers and if you notice they didn't stick to the grill why because i left them alone i just let them cook on their own so i'm going to use two different kinds of cheeses for the beef burgers i'm going to use american and then for the turkey burgers what should i use swiss let's do pepper jack why not this way i'll be able to identify which burger is which our beef burgers two slices of american cheese because a lot of times the american cheese is sliced kind of thinly close the grill 15 20 seconds something like that because we want this cheese to become part of the burger just like this cheeseburger american cheese coleslaw with russian dressing some chipotle ketchup a little bit of potato chips we're gonna cover our burger you can hear the crunch just like that the word that comes to mind is satisfying that's exactly what you want youwe're making a burger tate and i'm going to show you how simply i season my burger we don't want to over mix the burger we don't want to work with the burger too much we want it to be sort of just formed together what i like to do is take my thumb you've seen me do this before and and just make a well in the middle of the burger i do that because i'm kind of faking out the burger uh when i put the burger on the grill what's going to happen it's going to sort of plump up and almost become like a football and what i don't want to do is then walk over there and take the back of my spatula and push it down to the shape that i want because i'm going to lose all the juices so we're going to preempt that and we're going to make a well in the burger so that when it actually cooks it's going to come back to the shape that we want i like to make my burgers around 6 ounces and also not too thick move on to the turkey burgers turkey burgers have become very very popular lately it's about 90 meat to about 10 fat same thickness same weight same technique obviously it's going to be a little bit drier than beef you really need to sort of walk the line in terms of how much you cook it obviously it has to be cooked all the way through here's all my seasoning salt freshly ground black pepper that's it and i season very liberally on both sides because this is going to create flavor but it's also going to help form a crust on the outside of the burgers i'm gonna take a little bit of canola oil all right let's go to the grill hot part of the grill our turkey burgers let's get back to the basics here so we want to flip these burgers one time i want them to get nice and crusty on one side flip them let them cook through i like my beef burgers around medium it's just always the way i've eaten them let's check our burgers all right nice and crusty turkey burgers look at that see the turkey burgers were a little bit closer to the high heat they got even a nicer crust than the beef burgers and if you notice they didn't stick to the grill why because i left them alone i just let them cook on their own so i'm going to use two different kinds of cheeses for the beef burgers i'm going to use american and then for the turkey burgers what should i use swiss let's do pepper jack why not this way i'll be able to identify which burger is which our beef burgers two slices of american cheese because a lot of times the american cheese is sliced kind of thinly close the grill 15 20 seconds something like that because we want this cheese to become part of the burger just like this cheeseburger american cheese coleslaw with russian dressing some chipotle ketchup a little bit of potato chips we're gonna cover our burger you can hear the crunch just like that the word that comes to mind is satisfying that's exactly what you want you\n"