The Art of Making Goodwill Burgers: A Culinary Experiment

As I stood at my stovetop, facing down the raw patties of meat side touching the sizzling surface, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and trepidation. The goal was to create a burger unlike any other, one that would challenge traditional notions of what a burger should be. And so, with a gentle lift, I began the process of cooking these patties.

The first patty sizzled away, its edges crisping up as it cooked. I watched in awe as the second patty slid effortlessly onto the hot surface, its color deepening with each passing moment. The kitchen was filled with the savory aroma of cooking meat, and my stomach growled in anticipation. I added another patty to the mix, carefully flipping the first one over to reveal a perfectly cooked interior. The sound of sizzling meat and the gentle crackle of the stovetop created a symphony of sounds that only a seasoned cook can appreciate.

As the patties cooked, I turned my attention to the slaw, a simple mixture of shredded cabbage, apple cider vinegar, salt, and sugar. I stirred the slaw with a wooden spoon, the acidity of the vinegar mingling with the sweetness of the sugar to create a tangy, crunchy texture that would add depth to our burgers. The smell of the slaw wafted through the kitchen, enticing me to taste it before adding it to the burger.

With the patties cooked and the slaw ready, I began assembling our Goodwill Burgers. A plain bun served as the base, followed by a dollop of mustard, a patty, a generous helping of slaw, and finally, another patty, all held together by the gentle pressure of my fingers. The burger was complete, a symphony of textures and flavors that would surely delight even the most discerning palate.

I took a bite of our Goodwill Burger, closing my eyes to savor the experience. The first bite was like a revelation – the soft, mushy texture of the beef patty gave way to a crunchy slaw, tangy from the apple cider vinegar and sweet from the sugar. The mustard added a creamy richness, while the sage in the burger provided a subtle depth that elevated the entire dish. It was a flavor combination unlike any I had experienced before, and yet, somehow, it worked.

In terms of both flavor and texture, our Goodwill Burger surpassed even my expectations. The absence of traditional burger ingredients like cheese or bacon made way for a bold, savory flavor profile that was equal parts surprising and delightful. I couldn't help but wonder what the calculus behind this creation would reveal – would it be more or less expensive than some of my previous creations? But in terms of tastiness alone, our Goodwill Burger won out.

As I sat at my kitchen table, enjoying another bite of our delicious burger, I felt a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. The art of making Goodwill Burgers was not just about throwing together random ingredients; it was about experimentation, creativity, and taking risks in the kitchen. And in the end, that risk paid off in a big way.

In conclusion, our experiment with Goodwill Burgers was a resounding success. With its unique combination of flavors and textures, this burger is sure to delight even the most adventurous eaters. So next time you're feeling stuck in a culinary rut, take inspiration from our humble Goodwill Burger, and remember that sometimes, it's okay to think outside the box (or bun).

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Greetings, my beautifullovelies, it's Emmy.How are you?It's great to see you and welcome back.Today's video is sponsored by Allform.Allform is the sistercompany to Helix Sleep,and if you've followedme for a little while,you know all about HelixSleep and their mattressesand Allform are themakers of sofa and chairsthat are American madeand easy to assemble.We've had our Allformcouch for about a year now,and we are loving it.It just gets more and more comfortablethe more and more we use it.If your house is anything likeours, the couch is the hub,well, besides the kitchen.You'll find me editingthere, us shnuggling there,watching movies there, reading there.The couch is really thecentral part of our houseand it's so nice to finallyhave a couch that worksfor our space.And that's what I reallylike about Allformis that you can create acouch that fits your space.Our first couch was too small.Our second couch was just too big,and this one is just right.There are over 500 unique combinationsbetween seats, corners,chaise lounges, and ottomansthat you can create to findthe couch that fits perfectlyfor your space.We have the three seat sofawith the chaise in whiskeyleather, and natural legs.This is my first leather couchand I love how easy it is to clean,but all Allform sofas come with a stainand scratch resistant fabricand a myriad of colors to choose fromso you can find somethingthat's perfect for your space.So besides being comfortableand looking great,what I really like about Allform sofasis that they're easy to put together.You don't need any specialtools and the pieces are modularso the couch arrives in sections.If you can't assemble yoursofa right away, it's great.You can just kind oftuck it away in a cornerand when you're ready to put it together,a sofa can come togetherin as little as 15 minutesand I was able to do it myself.And because Allform shipsdirectly to its customers,they're able to use premiummaterials at a reasonable price.Allform delivers your couchright to your doorstep for free.Allform also offers a 100 day trial.If you're not happy with it,they will pick it up andgive you a full refund.So if you're looking for a new sofa,click the link down belowor head over to allform.com/emmymadeto receive 20% offthe sofa of your choice.Big thanks to Allformfor sponsoring this videoand for their continued supportso I can make bettervideos for all of you.So today I'm gonna bemaking Goodwill Burgers.A few of you requestedthis in the comments.Thank you so much for reaching out.I super appreciate it.I learned about so many new thingsthat I have never heard about before.These Goodwill Burgers comefrom Wilkesboro, North Carolina.More specifically, they comefrom Smithey's Goodwill store,which unfortunately is no longer standing.I believe it burned down,but you can still find thestyle of burger in Wilkesboroand I'm super intrigued by itbecause it is yet anotherexample of stretching your foodand stretching your budget.If you missed my 35 cent hamburger videoor the cream burger, I'll puta link down below to that.This is kind of similar.This is a recipe that stretches the meatso you can feed more people.Now, according to legend,five pounds of ground beefcould make 100 burgers.So there are a couplethings I want to find outfrom this recipe.Number one, does it taste good?Number two, will it reallymake that many burgers?And number three, what does it taste like?Alrighty, let's go ahead and get started.So the recipe I'm gonna beusing today is an adaptionof a few that I found onlineand I'll put links downbelow to the threadwhere I discovered the recipes,along with the articles Iread to research this recipe.So let's go ahead and get started.So I've got one pound ofground beef in this bowl.I'm gonna set that aside momentarilybecause we need to prepareour hamburger buns.Now this is going to beserved on a hamburger bun,but these buns are going tobe used along with the meat.This is what's going tostretch this one pound of meatso that we could theoreticallymake 20 burger patties.Let's see.I will also do the mathso you can see how muchthis actual burger costs.Okay.We're gonna need someother ingredients as well.This is a very simple burger.So I'm gonna grab some glovesand I've also got a large bowl of waterbecause we need to hydrate these buns.So according to legend,these burgers originally soldfor 10 cents each.They were made by lunchladies that fried these upon these flat grill tops.The author of one of thearticles I read remembers buyingfive of them at onetime and eating them allat the same time.So I imagine that theseburgers weren't very bigor that substantial,but somehow it's amazinghow we have such close connectionsto those memories and tastesand flavors of our childhoodand growing up and how theybring so much comfort, you know?I love that.Okay.The recipes I found werevery slim on instructions.They said to dampen the bun in waterand kind of squeeze outany excess moisture.They're just like a sponge.So I'm gonna squeezeout any extra moistureand we're gonna addthat to the ground beef.I'm gonna give 'em a littlebit of a crumble herejust to help break things up.So I'm using five buns.I imagine these buns would be stale buns,you know, leftover bread thatyou happen to have around.And quite inexpensive.So I don't want this to be too wet.So I'm giving this a good squeeze.This actually reminds me of feeding ducks.My dad would get stale breadand we would feed ducks as kids.I know now that we'renot supposed to do that,but as kids it was really fun. (chuckles)Wow. So don't leave thebread in there but a second,just dip 'em because lookhow gluey this is getting.So yeah, that last batch is too wet.So I'm gonna give thateven more of a squeeze.Okay.So we have five burger bunsthat have been soaked and crumbled.Next, we're gonna add ahalf cup of soy flour.Now I had kind of a challengingtime finding soy flour.I found other recipes that said soy grits.When I researched soy grits,I found that it's the sameas TVP, which is texturedvegetable protein.Sounds terrible, doesn't it?This is made from soyand it's been processedinto little crumbles andit's often rehydratedwith a bit of hot water.You can make chili, youcan use it like ground beefif you're vegan or vegetarian.And it's also been toasted and defatted.I know.Processed definitely.So I took this and I whizzed itthrough a little blender to get itinto a soy flour becausesoy flour also is toasted.So that's what I've got here.So we've got some salt, it's one teaspoon.Half a tablespoon of chili powderand half a tablespoon of sage.So now we're just gonna knead this up.Mix it all in.So by volume, it looks likeit's already doubled the meatfor sure.So I'm just working allof the bread and seasoningthrough the meat and makingsure that it's well mixed.These burgers have alsobeen called bread burgersand you can see why,because this is about half burger bun mix.So I'm gonna mix these upand let's see if we can get20 patties out of this.I think so.They might be small,but I guess you could geta hundred if you wanted.You know, they'd be really tiny.Okay, now I'm gonnashape these into patties.This is one pound of meat,so that means this would make 20 pattiesif five pounds of meat made a hundred.So let's see if this would make five here.Yes, these would be pretty,actually not too bad.So yeah, this is like half the meatand we've got a decent sized ball here.Although once we flatten it out,that might be another story.All right.So yeah.I think this totally couldmake a hundred burgersfrom five pounds of meat.I think that's believable.I mean, the patties are quite smalland of course, thin.And when we fry them,they're also gonna shrink a bit more, too.But that's believable.Mhmm, confirmed.But now, what are they gonna taste like?Hmm.So these are so thin, in fact,I'm gonna put these onsome parchment paperbecause they're gonna bebe difficult to pick up.So I'm gonna go ahead and do that,and then we'll go aheadand give these a fry.Okay, be right back.Ball meat in the middle of the square.Take another square and give it a squish.That'll give us a nice thin patty....Pretty even, but more importantly,it'll give us somesupport so when we fry it,it'll be easy to handle.Got a stainless steelpan here, and I'm gonnaturn on my heat and putit on medium-high heat.I like to cook meat ina stainless steel pan.I feel like it gets a really nice sear.You can also use castiron if you've got it.And we're going to fry these up in lard.So I was reading up on these burgers.I read that these were cooked in lard.Now, so back in the daysof our grandmothers,even our mothers, or our current mothers,cooking in lard was not unusual.Now we think, oh gosh,why aren't you usingsome kind of oil?But saving lard oranimal fat, rendered fat,goes back centuries, right?It was before we could haverefined oils and it's tasty.It is a saturated fat, but it's delicious.So we're gonna warm this up.Melt in some lard there --it's probably about two tablespoons.In the articles I read, italso said that these were friedin a good copious amount of fat, so....Completely coated my pan --there's just a little speckof lard at the bottom.Get this crackin' hot and cookingwith stainless steel and meats,I like using a spatula like this:a nice, heavy, stainless steel spatula.Now I'm gonna peel this off.Look at that.Nice.And place it in our fat.(burger sizzling)See how easy that is?Using the parchment.Place it face down.Gently lift up.And then dispose ofthese, meat side touching.So always be aware of cross-contaminationwhen dealing with raw meat.Now I'm gonna wash my hands.These are sizzling away.And I can see that.Oh yes.These are crisping upon the edges just a bit.And this one's already sliding around.So I'm gonna put another patty right here.Okay, I think our first one is ready.Give that a flip.Ooh, yes.Looking good.Our second.Oh, gorgeous.Look at that.That one got a little toomuch color, but this one.That one looks perfect.Looking good.All right, let's give this one a slide.Oh yeah.So these don't takeany time at all to cookbecause they're so thin.And in accounts that I read,also they said they were really crispyand they sound pretty crisp.And then I'm gonna drain these on a platethat's lined with some papertowel and transfer these over.I believe those are done.Look at that.Fried up nicely.So, Goodwill Burgers are served on a bunwith mustard and a littlebit of a simple slaw:cabbage that I've got shredded here;little bit of sugar.I couldn't find a recipe on the slaw.It just said cabbage withvinegar, salt, and sugar.So I've got a littleapple cider vinegar layer.I would say maybe about a teaspoonand a couple pinches of sugar.Salt.Couple pinches of salt. (chuckles)And this is about a cup of cabbage.So I'm gonna stir this.That smells great.And then I'm gonna give it a taste.So this is gonna add some crunch,but also some tang as well.I think that's good.Mhmm.Vinegary, just a little bit of sweetnessand a little salt.Give me a little bit more salt.There we go.Simple.Okay, let's assemble our Goodwill Burger.I've got a plain bun here.Add some mustard.One of our patties.Look at that.That's beautiful.And a big pile of shreddedslaw right on top.♪ Do do do do do ♪Make sure it all stays on the burger.Then we'll add our top.Boom.There it is.The Goodwill Burger.Alrighty, let's give ourGoodwill Burger a taste.Here we go.I have to say it looks pretty good.Alrighty.Itadakimasu.(Emmy chuckles)And it is pretty good.Let me show you what it looks like inside.There's what it looks like inside, right?It looks kinda like a burger,but it's a little bitlighter in color perhaps.The taste is actually pretty good.It's reminiscent of breakfast sausage,because you've got that sage in there.I love the crunch of the cabbage.There's a nice little textural contrast.You've got the mustard in therethat's tangy and mustardy.The thing that makes it different though,is the texture of the beef patty.It's very soft and kind of mushy.In fact, let's just try it by itself.Mm.Although I have to say,it has a very pleasant crunchiness to it.It crisped up very nicely.Can you hear that?Mhmm.Which is really nice.It has a little bit of sweetness in it.And I think that's probably from the sugarthat's in the hamburger buns.I'm really surprised by that.It's pretty good.Mhmm.It's different than a regular burger.You're not gonna have that meaty texture.But for what it is,it's actually very good.It's not your typical burger.It's not a regular hamburger for sure.You can definitely tellthat there's been thingsadded to the patty, but it's delicious.The combination of flavors, mustard,tanginess of the vinegar, and the sagemakes for a tasty,delicious burger sandwich.Hmm.In terms of both flavor and texture,I actually prefer thisburger to the cream burgerthat I made, the 35 cent burger.I haven't done the calculus to knowwhether or not this wouldbe more or less expensivethan that burger.But in terms of tastiness -- delicious!I would make these again.Alrighty, my lovelies.Thanks so much for watching.And big thanks to Allformfor sponsoring this video.If you'd like to get yourself a couch,click the link down below or head over toallform.com/emmymade tosee how you can get 20% offa couch of your choice.Thanks again for watching.I hope you enjoyed that one.I hope you learned something.Please share this video with your friends.Follow me on social media,like this video, subscribe,and I shall see you in the next one.Toodaloo,Take care.Bye!(orchestral outro music)\n"