I know, I know. Hot dogs are supposed to be the food of choice on Independence Day. Remember the old commercial ditty from the 60s and 70s: “Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet?”
Don’t get me wrong – I love a good hot dog. There’s nothing like the crispy snap of an all-beef hot dog casing, bathed in mustard, sprinkled with chopped onions and topped with sweet relish.
But I think America and Americans have raised hamburgers to high art. However, I hereby exclude all fast food hamburgers from the aforementioned praise, and here’s why: There isn’t anyone in any fast food establishment who can tell you, me or your brother-in-law where the meat came from and how many different sources of that meat came together to form that patty.
Homemade burgers are so easy to make and can be so far superior to anything you can buy at fast food joints or even many regular sit-down restaurants. They’re also easy to store in the freezer, as ground beef freezes quite well. So if you’re of a mind to buy ground beef in bulk, you can freeze a whole bunch of burgers for use at some later time.
I know there are lots and lots of people watching their fat intake, but the perfect burger has at least 20 percent fat. I know how good that deep red 93/7 mix looks at the supermarket, but because ground meat yields its juices so easily and readily, by the time you reach the USDA and local health department recommended internal temperature of 160 to 165 degrees, the meat will have dried out and you may as well be eating sand.
If buying the 80/20 mix gives you the willies, there are some other things you can do to your burger while you’re mixing it to help retain its juiciness. Soak a piece of crustless white bread in milk, then mash it into a paste and add it to the beef. It will help retain moisture without affecting the taste.
Or for every pound of meat, you can add a teaspoon of oil. That may seem counterintuitive, but if you insist on using low-fat meat, you’ve got to find a medium to keep the burger moist while it cooks.
Just one more thing about that internal temperature business: Many restaurants will tell their customers that they are obliged to serve burgers at a final internal temperature of 165 degrees, which is medium well. I happen to like my burgers medium rare (that’s between 140 and 145 degrees) and if you do, too, the safest method is to grind your own meat.
Most of the bacteria contamination in meat happens at the slaughterhouse or where the meat is finally processed. The little nasties actually live on the surface of the meat, so when the processor mixes the surface of the meat with other meat from many different cows, one tiny piece of contaminated meat will spoil hundreds or even thousands of pounds of meat. You don’t have to think too far back about meatpackers recalling thousands of pounds of ground beef because of contamination that sickened a lot of people.
Grind it yourself and the odds of contamination go way down. If you buy a single piece of chuck, which generally works out to be 20 percent fat, as long as your meat grinder or the grinder attachment you use on another appliance is clean, you’ve got little to worry about. (Meat grinder cleaning tip: Send a piece of white bread through the grinder after you’ve finished grinding meat. It’ll pick up just about every last bit of meat in the interior.)
The ideal patty is about 3/4-inch thick and matches the size of the buns you’ve chosen. After forming the patty, use your thumb to make an indentation in the center about 1/4-inch deep. When burgers cook, the heat of the grill or the pan causes the center of the patty to swell. The depression helps reduce shrinkage and ensures an evenly cooked burger.
My final piece of advice on making a perfect hamburger is not to over-mix the meat. The more you mix, the more you increase the chances of overworking the meat and that contributes to dryness. You can avoid over-mixing by spreading the meat out on a clean surface, like your cutting board, and sprinkling your ingredients evenly over the meat. Then bring it all together, kneading it gently and forming the patties.
There are endless combinations of ingredients you can add to your burger or put on top, and now that you know the basics of burger-making, bring ‘em on!
Have a great Independence Day.