What Instantly Ruins A Burger?

[Mozzavfc]

12 minutes ago, Seat68 said:

Babybel has no flavour at all. None. There is no point to that other than to have some hot white spillage from your meat. 

[MNVillan]

Great question. The most important part of a burger is how it’s cooked. I like my burger rare in the middle, basically raw meat. I’m fine as long as it has some pink in the middle, since many restaurants won’t serve me a burger the way I truly like it. But if it’s well cooked all the way through, the burger is ruined.

I’m never eating with a burger with egg on it. Same with tomato.

Usually when I grill burgers at home I mix the meat with chopped sweet yellow onion and shredded Colby Jack cheese before cooking. Then I top the patties with barbecue sauce and cheddar cheese for about the last minute while they cook, and slap them on a bun with mayo afterwards. If I cooked it right, the burger is still rare in the middle.

[Rds1983]

6 hours ago, MNVillan said:

Great question. The most important part of a burger is how it’s cooked. I like my burger rare in the middle, basically raw meat. I’m fine as long as it has some pink in the middle, since many restaurants won’t serve me a burger the way I truly like it. But if it’s well cooked all the way through, the burger is ruined.

I like my burgers on the rare side too and have had this debate with restaurants many a time. They're usually scared to do it because the uncooked mince in the middle might still carry bacteria. Not an issue with steak tartare though. 

[sne]

In Sweden we have a law/rule that restaurants must serve the burger well done unless you grind the meat yourself so any pre-made patty must be well done. You can serve the burger however you want if you grind it yourself in your restaurant but the rules around it are so that it's technically not possible to do it. Basically every time the meat touches a surface you need to clean that and use a new one

 It's not enforced like that and until someone complains you probably get away with it (and they might have changed it) but the last time I worked at a restaurant where we made our own burgers we got a visit from the health and safety lady pretty much every week just because of the burgers. We never had any complaints about anything, they just kept showing up anyway.

We've also served steak tartar pretty much everywhere I've worked and they've never cared anything about how that was made at all. Just the burgers.

[Anthony]

I'm with the Swedes on this. I've had food poisoning too many times to trust any restaurant with pink burgers, and the first time I ended up in hospital with food poisoning? Burger not cooked properly.

Everything has bacteria on the outside; red meat, humans, keyboards, trees, you name it. Chicken has bacteria all the way through, which is why you cook it all the way through, and red meat doesn't need to be cooked all the way through. If red meat is raw when you grind it, then all that bacteria on its surface gets ground up and distributed throughout the burger, and is only killed if the burger is cooked all the way through. This is why I will NEVER eat a burger that is any way pink in the middle.

Additionally, if a burger joint offers to cook you burger 'rare' or 'medium rare', then eat elsewhere; they don't understand basic food hygiene. God knows what else they're **** up. Run very fast.

Edited March 22, 2023 by Anthony

[Rds1983]

2 hours ago, Anthony said:

I'm with the Swedes on this. I've had food poisoning too many times to trust any restaurant with pink burgers, and the first time I ended up in hospital with food poisoning? Burger not cooked properly.

Everything has bacteria on the outside; red meat, humans, keyboards, trees, you name it. Chicken has bacteria all the way through, which is why you cook it all the way through, and red meat doesn't need to be cooked all the way through. If red meat is raw when you grind it, then all that bacteria on its surface gets ground up and distributed throughout the burger, and is only killed if the burger is cooked all the way through. This is why I will NEVER eat a burger that is any way pink in the middle.

Additionally, if a burger joint offers to cook you burger 'rare' or 'medium rare', then eat elsewhere; they don't understand basic food hygiene. God knows what else they're **** up. Run very fast.

Assuming you're not a fan or steak tartar then?

[Anthony]

47 minutes ago, Rds1983 said:

Assuming you're not a fan or steak tartar then?

You assume correct.

[TB]

53 minutes ago, Rds1983 said:

Assuming you're not a fan or steak tartar then?

Not trying to answer on @Anthony's behalf, but I agree with him to a degree... When I make burger patties from pre-ground meat or cook readymade patties I cook them until well done. I have absolutely no idea how much bacteria I have to kill during cooking. When I take the time to grind the meat myself I like a medium rare - or even rare - burger. I know that the bacteria on the outside of the meat won't have time to grow over time, because the patties goes straight into the pan after making them.

@sne I believe Sweden and Norway have pretty similar rules on health safety and regular inspections of restaurants and cafés. When I'm in a decent restaurant with a good rating I usually order a medium rare burger, or a rare steak. I have had no problems with steak tartar, as that's usually freshly made there and then when the customer orders it and isn't something spending days in the fridge...

Edited March 22, 2023 by TB

[sne]

2 minutes ago, TB said:

Not trying to answer on @Anthony's behalf, but I agree with him to a degree... When I make burger patties from pre-ground meat or cook readymade patties I cook them until well done. I have absolutely no idea how much bacteria I have to kill during cooking. When I take the time to grind the meat myself I like a medium rare - or even rare - burger. I know that the bacteria on the outside of the meat won't have time to grow over time, because the patties goes straight into the pan after making them.

@sne I believe Sweden and Norway have pretty similar rules on health safety and inspection and  regular inspections of restaurants and cafés. When I'm in a decent restaurant with a good rating I usually order a medium rare burger, or a rare steak. I have had no problems with steak tartar, as that's usually freshly made there and then when the customer orders it and isn't something spending days in the fridge...

Same here. I generally take my meat rare or medium rare (depending on what meat of course) and I love steak tartar. Funnily enough from my experience when we had Norwegian customers they almost always wanted their meat medium well or well done. Any time we got an order for well done meat it was either a pregnant woman or a Norwegian group  

[StefanAVFC]

Just have smash burgers and don't worry about anything other than the crispy meat.

[Risso]

I love steak tartar. Apparently, it’s banned in quite a few London boroughs though, for the reasons hinted at above. (It was Michel Roux jnr who told me this, so if it’s bollocks, take it up with him!)

[TB]

2 minutes ago, sne said:

Same here. I generally take my meat rare or medium rare (depending on what meat of course) and I love steak tartar. Funnily enough from my experience when we had Norwegian customers they almost always wanted their meat medium well or well done. Any time we got an order for well done meat it was either a pregnant woman or a Norwegian group  

Depends on the age group and and what part of Norway they come from, I guess. In some districts, if there are no boiled potatoes on the dinner plate it isn't a proper meal for some, even when you're actually served some kind of pasta - my uncle from a fishing village in the North of Norway wouldn't touch any kind of shellfish. "You don't eat bait - that's solely for fishing!").

[sne]

26 minutes ago, TB said:

Depends on the age group and and what part of Norway they come from, I guess. In some districts, if there are no boiled potatoes on the dinner plate it isn't a proper meal for some, even when you're actually served some kind of pasta - my uncle from a fishing village in the North of Norway wouldn't touch any kind of shellfish. "You don't eat bait - that's solely for fishing!").

I've been told by a lot of colleagues that worked and lived in Norway that people in Norway grow up learning that meat should be cooked well done and that for a lot of them it stay with them when they get older too. No idea how accurate that is. Might be a regional thing and it might also be the older generations?

But since we might be getting a bit OT here I'll add that I rather take a smash burger that a regular burger, partly because they are easier to get right.

[TB]

1 minute ago, sne said:

I've been told by a lot of colleagues that worked and lived in Norway that people in Norway grow up learning that meat should be cooked well done and that for a lot of them it stay with them when they get older too. No idea how accurate that is. Might be a regional thing and it might also be the older generations?

But since we might be getting a bit OT here I'll add that I rather take a smash burger that a regular burger, partly because they are easier to get right

Possibly OT, yes ... but absolutely a regional thing. There are traditional meals in the South/East/West/North of Norway that no-one in any other region would consider cooking or eating. Stick a really sturdy pin in mid-Oslo and turn Norway 180 degrees, and its northernmost region will be approximately around Rome. That's some distance. As for the older generations: I'm 67, and had a hard time convincing my now adult daughter that salmon, burgers and steak should have a pink centre. She's starting to come around to it. I generally cook meals from other cuisines, because I'm bored with the traditional meat, two veg and potatoes. Spanish/French/Italian/Indian/Chinese/Korean/East-African etc. Occasionally I'll recreate my grandmother's Sunday dinner when I'm feeling nostalgic..

On topic (sorry) Smashburgers? Found some recipes on the 'net. Not convinced, but will give it a try.

[NurembergVillan]

On 10/03/2023 at 12:54, Rds1983 said:

what else ruins a burger for people?

Pubic hair

[TB]

Think that's already a defender in a bin...

[Sid4ever]

2 minutes ago, NurembergVillan said:

Pubic hair

Page 1 called 

[NurembergVillan]

Even if someone else has already said it, I still don't like them.

[Mr_Dogg]

1 hour ago, NurembergVillan said:

Even if someone else has already said it, I still don't like them.

Don't be so picky.

[Lichfield Dean]

Anybody been to one of the Burger & Sauce establishments around the Midlands? A new one has just opened up in Sutton and I'm hoping to try it out tomorrow. It sounds like it could be fantastic, but also like it could be pretty awful.

If I do go and they ruin my burger I will of course report back immediately.