the purist burger

ChowderMan

Pizza Chef
Super Site Supporter
once upon a time . . . somebody was bleating about all the terrible stuff people put in their hamburger patties.

the theory was salt pepper nothing else feel the grind.

hmmm. so I tried it - no binder, no egg, ground beef, salt, pepper, bit of finely diced onion.

it was a disaster. fell apart like nobody's buns.

anyone heard that theory and/or tried it?
 

medtran49

Well-known member
Gold Site Supporter
We did what's called a smash burger on the propane grill. We heated up a very large cast iron skillet (you could use a cast iron flat top too) until it was screaming hot, then took 1/4 pound handfuls of ground beef, smashed them with a spatula, S and P, and cooked. They tasted like what you used to get in a diner a long time ago and I loved them.

This is what reminded me and how we did it, except we did it outside as I figured it would make a huge mess with spatter. I also skipped the ketchup as I only put a bit of mayo and yellow mustard on mine.

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/the-ba-smash-burger
 

Moxie

New member
C-man, it's the diced onion that caused your problem. The meat will bind together, especially if you put salt in it, but the diced onion comes between the meat fibers and prevents it.

Do it again without the onion - add your sliced onion on top.
 

medtran49

Well-known member
Gold Site Supporter
There was a show on yesterday, it was either Diners, Drive-ins and Dives or one of Andrew Zimmern's shows (might have been On Demand, maybe the Route 66 show? or one close to it in episodes) where they did a smash burger like I described above, except they also smashed diced or sliced onion into the burger, I mean REALLY smashed it in there on the grill. They ended up with a patty almost twice as big as the burger, extremely thin, but the onion caramelized, as well as the beef, and it all stayed together.
 

ChowderMan

Pizza Chef
Super Site Supporter
well, I'll give it another go. it was by no means onion saturated - perhaps 2-3 tablespoon in a lb of gr beef. . .
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
I just pan-fried 4 sorta purist burgers last weekend. Nothing but burger in the patty, they formed up very easily, seasoned on top and bottom, and stayed totally intact throughout the cook.

I put a slice of cheese and a slice of raw red onion on top and serve.

Lee
 
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