Burger Patties
In order to get not only the tastiest, but also the most eye-catching homemade burgers, I've decided to split the recipe into 3 smaller recipes, one for each step. The other day I showed you the perfect hamburger buns, today I'm doing the patties recipe and next I will demonstrate ways of how to build the perfect hamburger, nice and delicios.
Usually, the best meat for burgers is beef - 80% meat and 20% fat (I would say even 30% fat for more tender burgers). I also cooked them using pork only, or in combination with beef, anyway you do it, if you follow this recipe, they will be delicious.
I wouldn't recommend using meat already ground from the store, you never know for sure what it contains. If you want really good homemade burgers, you can invest in a meat grinder, you will need it for cooking other dishes as well.
For this recipe I used 400g pork, 400g beef and 200g fat/butter(cold) - in total, 1 kilo meat.
If you want beef burgers, use beef only and try to find beef fat.
Chop the meat in medium-sized bits, to fit in the grinder.
Also add a white onion.
Grind the meat, the fat/cold butter and the onion.
Add salt and ground black pepper and mix thoroughly using your hands. You can also work it harder, maybe even hit it against the walls of the bowl a few times.
Form a big ball of meat, place it on the table or a cutting board and divide it in about 8-12 even parts.
From this amount you can make 8 patties for 8 bigger buns, 10 or 12 patties for 10-12 smaller buns.
The amount of meat corresponds to the amounts for the hamburger buns recipe I did before - so make as many patties as many buns you have.
Using the scissors, cut 10-12 cm squares out of parchment paper, we will work the patties on them.
Now take each portion of meat and form a ball, pass it from one hand to another to make it as uniform and smooth as possible.
Then place - I even like to throw it forcefully :) on a piece of parchment paper.
Flatten out, starting by pressing in the middle, then coming towards the edges.
Use your palm to smooth also the edges, so that everything sticks together.
Finally, gently tap with your fingers the entire surface, we are making sure the patty is uniform in shape and it has the same thickness everywhere.
Use the size of the buns as guideline for the size of the patties. Normally the patty should be 1 cm bigger tham the bun, because it shrinks when cooked.
They can be slightly thicker or thinner, but the size should be according to the size of the buns.
Form all the patties the same way and pile them up, the parchment paper is actually a good trick.
Now keep in the fridge for 1-2 hours before frying, or freeze for some other time when you plan to cook burgers.
I usually freeze both buns and patties, this way it's quicker if we suddenly feel like having burgers.
If I cook inside, I usually heat a grill pan and I use the paper to help me turn the meat onto the pan.
You can do the same on the outdoor grill.
For getting the intersecting lines pattern, I slowly rotate the patty after the first 3-4 minutes on the grill.
But this is just details, what matters is to cook it over medium-high heat.Also, the patties shouldn't be too dry, but not underdone either (in case you use pork or chicken).
In the next recipe I will demonstrate how to build a perfect burger and its various combinations.
Enjoy!
