Burgers/Meatloaf--Cook-Off 10

[NulloModo]

It's burgertime!

I decided to go for the classic bacon cheeseburger today. First I ventured out to the farmer's market to pick up some fresh produce - needed my onions, lettuce, tomato, etc. Even though I had some ground beef, I decided to drop by the Amish butcher stand, as their stuff is always top notch. Today's burgers are made from 50/50 80/20 Ground beef and lean ground Sirloin (for extra flavor).

Here is the meat, with some liberal seasoning of fresh ground black pepper and salt -

I considered digging out my grill, but unpleasant amounts of heat, and unpleasant things laying on top of it made me reconsider. How to cook the burgers then? Well, as I looked around my kitchen I saw this cast iron skillet filled with bacon grease...

And I thought to myself, I could empty that out and cook them in the skillet, or, I could just shallow fry the burgers in bacon grease. What a great idea.

Now, this is sort of out of order, as the meat is certainly not raw here (that is btw, about 2 lbs of ground beef made into 3 patties), but it shows the appropriate classic bacon cheeseburger condiments. The Liquid Stevia just crashed the shot, ignore it. Dave's Insanity sauce probably isn't too classic an addition, but I like to give my burgers a little extra kick.

And finally we have the finished burger! I split the patty open so you could see the proper level of done-ness.

This is all on a flaxseed/wheat protein roll btw, tastes sort of like a chewy potato roll.

[Varmint]

I highly reccomend this as a nice Saturday afternoon project. It was really good. Really, really good.

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So, this is meat stuffed in meat. Argh, it doesn't get any manlier than that!!! Strong work.

[snowangel]

I highly reccomend this as a nice Saturday afternoon project. It was really good. Really, really good.

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So, this is meat stuffed in meat. Argh, it doesn't get any manlier than that!!! Strong work.

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OK, men. The gauntlet has been thrown down and this lass will take the challenge. My husband will give me a hankie. I shop on Monday or Tuesday.

This Weber Kettle smoking goddess accepts the challenge.

[BryanZ]

I made the peanut butter burgers people have been talking about. The roasted nut flavor was quite nice, though stronger in some patties than others. I think next time I should mix the meat better to more equally distribute the peanut butter.

Has anyone had any experience with grinding their own meat without a dedicated grinder. I don't use ground meat enough to warrant purchasing the attachment for my KitchenAid mixer. Can I just put cubes of meat in the Cuisinart food processor?

[tupac17616]

Has anyone had any experience with grinding their own meat without a dedicated grinder.  I don't use ground meat enough to warrant purchasing the attachment for my KitchenAid mixer.  Can I just put cubes of meat in the Cuisinart food processor?

I remember seeing an episode of Good Eats on TV sometime recently, I think it was either the burger or meatloaf episode, but I can't remember. Anyway, Alton Brown just threw some cubes of meat into the Cuisinart and pulsed it like 10 times to grind his own meat. Haven't tried this yet myself, but it seemed to work pretty well for him.

[Patrick S]

Has anyone had any experience with grinding their own meat without a dedicated grinder.  I don't use ground meat enough to warrant purchasing the attachment for my KitchenAid mixer.  Can I just put cubes of meat in the Cuisinart food processor?

I remember seeing an episode of Good Eats on TV sometime recently, I think it was either the burger or meatloaf episode, but I can't remember. Anyway, Alton Brown just threw some cubes of meat into the Cuisinart and pulsed it like 10 times to grind his own meat. Haven't tried this yet myself, but it seemed to work pretty well for him.

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I've used a seriously wimpy 3-cup processer to grind together sirloin and chuck for burgers, and it worked fine for me too. I just cut the meat into smallish chunks first.

[Patrick S]

Well, another case of Bovine Spongeform Encephalitis shows up just in time to dampen our fun burger cooking extravaganza.  Jeers USDA, Jeers. 

I make a mean meatloaf too, damn.  And no, I'll not grind my own meatloaf, i'd rather pot roast.

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The articles I read were very clear that this cow was caught before and never entered the food market. No worries!

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I agree. Everything I've read on the subject of BSE leads me to conclude that I should be more worried about getting hit by lightening. After all, there has not been a single case of vCJD (variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease) in the US that has been tied to eating US beef, and there has only been like 153 case of vCJD worldwide, despite the fact that in the UK and elsewhere hundreds of thousands of BSE-infected cows entered the food chain. Don't let a little BSE spoil your fun, coquus!

[suzilightning]

OK, men. The gauntlet has been thrown down and this lass will take the challenge. My husband will give me a hankie. I shop on Monday or Tuesday.

This Weber Kettle smoking goddess accepts the challenge.

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[suzilightning]

I considered digging out my grill, but unpleasant amounts of heat, and unpleasant things laying on top of it made me reconsider. How to cook the burgers then? Well, as I looked around my kitchen I saw this cast iron skillet filled with bacon grease...

And I thought to myself, I could empty that out and cook them in the skillet, or, I could just shallow fry the burgers in bacon grease. What a great idea.

Now, this is sort of out of order, as the meat is certainly not raw here (that is btw, about 2 lbs of ground beef made into 3 patties), but it shows the appropriate classic bacon cheeseburger condiments. The Liquid Stevia just crashed the shot, ignore it. Dave's Insanity sauce probably isn't too classic an addition, but I like to give my burgers a little extra kick.

And finally we have the finished burger! I split the patty open so you could see the proper level of done-ness.

This is all on a flaxseed/wheat protein roll btw, tastes sort of like a chewy potato roll.

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[torakris]

we BBQed on Sunday sort of an early 4th of July, this isn't a holiday in Japan.....

hamburgers!

cooked till just past moo-ing, topped with a thick tomato slice and ketchup

the ONLY way a burger should be eaten!

with also had corn on the cob, with some of the best corn I have ever had here and a potato salad. For dessert we reheated our leftover Belgian waffles from breakfast and topped them with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

[markk]

Has anyone had any experience with grinding their own meat without a dedicated grinder.  I don't use ground meat enough to warrant purchasing the attachment for my KitchenAid mixer.  Can I just put cubes of meat in the Cuisinart food processor?

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Yes! The steel blade of the Cuisinart food processor makes superb chopmeat.

In his excellent (and little known) book "Pierre Franey's Kitchen", he gives recipes that show off the various kitchen machines and gadgets to best advantage, and what he chose for the food processor recipe was meat loaf - an excellent one, too. You might really enjoy getting a cheap copy of this on half.com. It's a great book.

[Marlene]

Just made up more P&B burgers and they are chillin for tonight's dinner. I loved the post above with the burger with bacon, so I took some bacon out too.

[Chris Amirault]

Has anyone had any experience with grinding their own meat without a dedicated grinder.  I don't use ground meat enough to warrant purchasing the attachment for my KitchenAid mixer.  Can I just put cubes of meat in the Cuisinart food processor?

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Perhaps I'm a bit touched, but I use our attachment weekly, if not more. I made Thai sausages this weekend, for example, and I use it to grind meat for hamburger, larb, you name it. I really think it's worth getting: you make much higher quality ground meat this way, and it's cheaper. I bet we've already paid for ours.

[Marlene]

More PB burgers. With bacon, cheddar and red onion.

And corn on the cob, with corn dish but no Corn on the Cob holders

[snowangel]

I've added smooth PB to the list, and I have a ton of ground chuck in the freezer, courtesy of my local meat market. On the menu soon!

[highchef]

Has anyone put the icecube in the middle of the hamburger patty? I swear I read that somewhere, and I want to say it had something to do with James Beard. I'll have to find On Food and check it out.

[snowangel]

Has anyone put the icecube in the middle of the hamburger patty? I swear I read that somewhere, and I want to say it had something to do with James Beard. I'll have to find On Food and check it out.

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I'm not thinking an ice cube, but a chunk of butter in the middle, but it would make poking that hole that I do so well sort of difficult...

[suzilightning]

Has anyone put the icecube in the middle of the hamburger patty? I swear I read that somewhere, and I want to say it had something to do with James Beard. I'll have to find On Food and check it out.

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I'm not thinking an ice cube, but a chunk of butter in the middle, but it would make poking that hole that I do so well sort of difficult...

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ina garten does the chunk of butter in the middle. we tried the hole but i guess i made them too large since they didn't totally close. but john really, really liked the pb burgers. thanks marlene!!

Edited June 29, 2005 by suzilightning (log)

[Patrick S]

Nice looking burgers, Nullo, Kristen, and Marlene!

We had Marlene burgers tonight. We have a birthday party this weekend, and I wanted to try these out. I used a little more S and P than called for. I eyeballed the the peanut butter, so I may have used too little, but the taste was very faint, s carcel;y detectable. I probably wouldn't have noticed it at all if I hadnt known it was in there. I skipped the pre-grill chill, but the burgers still held together just fine on the grill. Overall I think these were great burgers. Thanks for the recipe, Marlene!

[CaliPoutine]

Here was our dinner tonight. This is my spouse's plate. Turkey burger made with half dark, half breast meat, sauteed celery, garlic, a spice blend, fresh chopped herbs, a small amount of panko and an egg white. Served with homemade pickles, orange and honey mustard, light mayo, red leaf( homegrown) on an ancient grains roll.

A variation of CI's macaroni salad on the side.

[Genny]

This is all on a flaxseed/wheat protein roll btw, tastes sort of like a chewy potato roll.

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Flaxseed/wheat protein roll... I'm guessing thats because you're a HEALTH NUT??? Sounds funny with the bacon/mayo/extra rare burger

I guilded the lilly on my most recent burger (hmmm, the burger wins over meatloaf in our house). Ground turkey with various mexican-type spices cumin/red pepper/onion/garlic/s&p plus some grated parmesan cheese. Fried in vegetable oil & butter, topped with a slice of sharp cheddar & topped with a fried egg (butter) & topped with salsa & avocado... Ate it too fast to get a photo!

[Marlene]

I'm telling you. Peanut Butter Burgers are taking over the world. Take that Brooks.

[snowangel]

I even bought creamy peanut butter today. So sometime this week, I'm going to join the crowd.

I'm going to wait to top Brooks grilled/smoked "manly" meatloaf until this weekend when I am all set up for smoking my brisket.

[Mayhaw Man]

I'm going to wait to top Brooks grilled/smoked "manly" meatloaf until this weekend when I am all set up for smoking my brisket.

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I hope that you have a chair handy, some good reading material, and that you packed a lunch-because you are going to be waiting a long time before you top my patented "Italian Sausage Stuffed Smoked Meatloaf"

Anybody can smoke a big hunk of meat, but it takes skill and a certain level of depravity to smoke a meat loaf.

Fortunately I have been blessed with large amounts of both qualities.

[snowangel]

I'm going to wait to top Brooks grilled/smoked "manly" meatloaf until this weekend when I am all set up for smoking my brisket.

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I hope that you have a chair handy, some good reading material, and that you packed a lunch-because you are going to be waiting a long time before you top my patented "Italian Sausage Stuffed Smoked Meatloaf"

Anybody can smoke a big hunk of meat, but it takes skill and a certain level of depravity to smoke a meat loaf.

Fortunately I have been blessed with large amounts of both qualities.

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You haven't met me yet! And, all of these comments from a man who was afraid that the water up north would be cold (I swim at temps above 44 F).

We now return you to food. Yes, burgers very soon, as well as brisket and the meatloaf.