Hamburger Failure

Farout Foolio

I just made hamburgers from scratch and they sort of disintegrated on the barbecue.
I made them by mixing one egg and a half-cup of flour for one pound of beef.
Any ideas what I did wrong?

Filler Inc.

Probably the flour?

Not sure though.

tony_important

maybe you used extremely fatty meat?

also

flour?

Shogun

Why would you put flour in hamburgers? I could see maybe some bread crumbs to put in with the egg but flour?

Deswa

The idea is either the flour will help hold it together, like some form of cake type thing, or to make a "It makes its own gravy".

It was most likely the flour that made it fall apart, maybe a lack of mixing.

KalTorak

I usually avoid adding breadcrumbs/egg/flour/anything except seasoning to hamburgers - makes them more like meatloaf than hamburgers, IMO. My guess is all the flour and eggs loosened the texture too much. If you were using an extremely lean meat then it might have just been too dry to hold together. A good fat content to aim for is between 20% and 10% fat; middle of the road 15% fat usually works pretty well. Shape the patties with your hands, grill, flip once, NEVER SMASH the patty down, it'll just force juices out of the burger and make it dry.

Lewisham

Yeah, I don't put anything in mine. Just use FORCE to get them together, spend time bouncing them around your hands like dough. Reshape them. They should stay pretty dense when they sit in your hand.

When you BBQ them, don't turn them too early. The cooked layer will keep them together when you flip them, flipping early is a road to disaster.

MC Mystery

Cooking threads are my favorite. I don't know anything about cooking, but this shit is fascinating.

mts

well i use egg and breadcrumbs in my meatballs and they stick together fine. but never in burgers

somethings i add to my burgers besides seasonings

minced onions
minced muhrooms
blue cheese

etc.
initial thought is you were mixing too much or maybe your ratio of egg to meat is too high

the trick is to mix just right. too much and they can fall apart. too little and its not mixed. try not to move em around too much after you throw em on the grill give em 6 or so minutes per side.

i usually use 80/20 ground beef, but have been hot on 90/10 ground sirloin lately

tsmvengy

I would bet you didn't compress them enough to hold them together. You have to really work it into a ball that sticks together completely - roll it around in your hands a lot and put pressure into it. Then flatten the ball into a patty.

Deathwing

I find that using a packet of ranch dressing mix and soy sauce (but not so much that it keeps the meat from sticking together) makes for really tasty burgers....Maybe the flour just dried things out too much if you had a very low fat meat and/or too little liquid (egg)?

Normally I would only use flour and egg if making meatloaf or somesuch, but even then usually bread crumbs rather than flour.

Strive for a balance of enough liquid to keep things sticky, but not so much that you're squeezing excess out of the patties or something....I made that mistake once while making a batch with some beer included, I managed to keep them together, but they took forever to cook.

Xaquin

1 egg to 1lb of beef (I personally use 90/10, but 80/20) (those are beef/fat ratios I think) and don't use flour.

Also, mix up some minced onion, worcestershire (or however you spell it) sauce, and garlic pepper in with the mixture.

whuppins

tsmvengy wrote: »

I would bet you didn't compress them enough to hold them together. You have to really work it into a ball that sticks together completely - roll it around in your hands a lot and put pressure into it. Then flatten the ball into a patty.

I think a lot of people don't do this. Tear off a piece, and knead that fucker like you're making bread (for the love of God, wash your hands before and after). Get it nice and homogenous, a pretty solid little ball, then squish it into a fat patty and fire it up. You shouldn't be able to make out any individual 'strands' of ground beef when you start out; it should all be mashed together pretty good. If you keep it on low heat for too long, or if you flip/squish/move/otherwise play with it too much while it's cooking, it may dry out and crumble, but otherwise it should be fine without the addition of any unsavory elements like flour and egg.

...seriously, flour and egg? It's a hamburger, for Christ's sake. Don't make it more complicated than it needs to be. The only thing I do sometimes is chop a couple tablespoons (for your average 1-1.5 pound package of ground beef) of fresh onion really fine, then work it evenly into the meat as I knead it. Using too much, or too large chunks, will cause the patty to crumble as well, but that's true for almost anything you throw in there.

mastman

other good things to add is whatsthishere sauce, onions, seasoned salt, garlic, peppers, mmmmmmmmmmmamsfaoorgasm


yeah, it's inevitable. I will be making a huge fucking burger this weekend

Xaquin

The egg will help keep it moist if you're cooking it for a while though.

edit: damn it, I want a burger now.

I'll post some good recipes from my Gourmet Hamburger Cook Book later.

Solandra

The "flour makes its own gravy" theory works if you coat the formed burger in flour and cook it like hamburger steak in a skillet, rather than on a grill. 1/2c per 1lb of meat mixed in sounds like too much. To finish the gravy after, remove the meat, add a tbsp of flour to the drippings and make a paste/roux of the fat and flour and crunchy bits (you can add a little butter, bacon lard, a bit of olive oil or margarine if there aren't enough drippings - choose your addition by how much you love your arteries). Add 1/2 c milk, salt and pepper to taste, bring to a bubble and serve over your hamburger steaks.

Salt/ pepper/ garlic and onion are the things I put in actual bun-eaten hamburgers. If you must add a bread product, use Italian Seasoned Breadcrumbs, and no more than 1/4 per 1lb of meat, or it turns out like meatloaf, as previously mentioned.

Szechuanosaurus

mastman wrote: »

other good things to add is whatsthishere sauce, onions, seasoned salt, garlic, peppers, mmmmmmmmmmmamsfaoorgasm

Is that a real thing or are you trying to say Worcestershire sauce?

mastman

Szechuanosaurus wrote: »

mastman wrote: »

other good things to add is whatsthishere sauce, onions, seasoned salt, garlic, peppers, mmmmmmmmmmmamsfaoorgasm

Is that a real thing or are you trying to say Worcestershire sauce?

I am referring to worcestershire sauce. My dad used to always called it whatsthishere sauce so it has stuck with me

Ruckus

The flour done it. Even if I thought it was a good idea to put plain ol' flour in hamburgers, 1/2 cup is way too much.

My mix, per 1lb of ground beef:
small onion, chopped
1/4 cup oatmeal
1 egg
2 tablespoons (about) worcestershire

Now some of you may be thinkin 'oatmeal, what the hell Ruckus?' but it actually works out. During the cooking the oatmeal absorbs a lot of the meat and onion juices, and in essence just blends in with the beef itself. It's actually mostly just a filler.

amateurhour

My burger fixins....

1LB ground beef, usually 85-15. I like a little fat on my burger, but that's your personal call.
1 cup worcheshire sauce
Salt
Pepper
Onion Powder
Cilantro
Tiger Seasoning (basically garlic powder and MSG.... you don't have to use this, but if you live in the Southeast you should give it a shot)

Mix ingredients with hamburger meat, let sit for 2 hours.

I always make my burgers right before I put them on the grill. I don't make the patties and let them sit in the fridge.

vonPoonBurGer

If you use extra lean ground beef, your burgers will stick together a lot better on their own. If you use lean or regular ground beef, you will likely need an egg and some bread crumbs in there to help everything hold together. No flour though, you don't put flour in burgers. Here's what I usually put in my burgers:

1 lb. extra lean ground beef
finely chopped fresh garlic and red onion
couple dashes of worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste

When making the patties, I form them by hand and then throw, yes, throw them down onto a flat plate, first one side then the other. That helps force any air out of the patty, and also makes a satisfying thwack noise that I quite enjoy. It's been years since I've had one break apart on the grill.

Nitsuj82

One other thing. Do NOT press on the burgers. If you did that, chances are you squeezed all the moisture out (at least what was left after the flour?!) and they just crumbled. A friend of mine used to swear by pressing down on his burgers (he saw it in a movie once or something), and I eventually got him to see the light by only flipping mine 3 times and having them turn out like, you know, burgers.

amateurhour

Nit, I agree with that, but when you make your patties, it's a good idea to press down a little in the center so they don't turn into burger balls on the grill. it keeps them from rising up too much when they shrink and it keeps them level. This is before they hit the fire though. Once they're on, flip only..

vonPoonBurGer

Nitsuj82 wrote: »

Do NOT press on the burgers.

Oh, you mean while they're on the grill. Agreed, why squeeze out all those tasty, tasty juices?

Nitsuj82

Once they hit the grill, yes. I did not specify.

Erandus

When you press out your patties during the actual crafting part, you can slip the ball 'o beef between sheets of wax paper or saran wrap and then use a soup can or some other large flat insturment to press the meatball into a patty shape. That will help your consistancy and uniform thickness, and keep them from turning into thick-middled pucks on the grill.

When you press the patties out, check around the edges and patch up any massive cracks and splits, or they'll just get worse when you cook them.

Don't cook your patties on TOO hot of a fire, or you'll be tempted to turn them early if the bottom ends up blackening quickly. If the top of the burger hasn't had a chance to heat up much and you're blackening the bottom already, you're more likely to split them when you turn em.

mts

plus it will help cook th einsides better if you make big fatty burgers

Nitsuj82

The only time you need high heat on a grill is for searing.

Period.

Andorien

Eggs? Flour? What the hell is wrong with you people?

Get your few pounds of ground beef into a bowl, add marinade of your choice (I keep it simple and just use soy sauce), kneed the marinade into the meat until all liquid has been soaked up, add more and repeat until you feel like you've added enough. Grab a chunk, crush it, roll it, flatten it, cook it.

(of course, do all requisite hand washing)

Spacehog85

worcestershire sauce FTW
also put a little pad of butter in the middle of the meat patty.
trust me, im a hamburgersmith

Angel177

a little pad of butter in the middle of the meat patty.

fuckin A, but only when you use ground beef made from sirlion,or super lean ground beef.

as an addition to suggested recipes, try lamb and mint burgers, and pork and apple ,sounds sick but mmmmmm...

i also to a wicked thai curry burger made from minced shrimp.

Murago

add in some minced Garlic...mmm

Aridhol

I use crushed croutons (VERY crushed, like powder) and 1 egg per pound of beef and lots of worceistershire sauce and a teeny bit of garlic salt.

mix it all in a bowl, roll large chunks into big balls, make sure the meat is staying together very well (keep rollin!) and then squish flat and throw em on the BBQ.

The mistake most people make when bbq'ing home made burgers is flippin em too early so cook em on med for several minutes and then flip so your burgers don't break.


Edit: I use flavoured croutons like garlic or herb somethin, not plain.

Mephistopheles

The best hint I ever received about cooking burgers (especially on a grill), is, after forming the patty, make a dimple in the center of the burger. This is more important for higher fat content meat, as the higher the fat content, the higher the shrinkage. Nothing is sadder than seeing people trying to figure out how to eat little mishapen meatballs on a bun.

also, whatsthishere sauce made me grin.