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#411613 09/07/09 04:06 PM
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Hi all,

Some day I plan on opening my own little local lunch counter/ burger joint. I have a lot of ideas on how it is going to be. It is going to be everything the chain places are not.Simple, real food,handmade,fresh local farm grown ingredients,personal service and it is all going to be tied in with the local high school sports and activities. It is going to be the place everybody hits up after the Friday Night Lights to get the best burger and homemade handcut fries you can get. I have tons of ideas on how to get this done but I will not bore everyone with all my thoughts right now.

So right now I am looking for thoughts and ideas on good ingredients to add to burger mix. Nothing to fancy but I am experimenting with some different ideas that will make that burger stand out above the rest. Something that will make someone bite into that burger and say " damn that is a good burger!". At the same time it needs to be something that is readily available and cost efficient, truffles from the Sout of France is unrealistic.

Just thought people could share some of the things they have tried and how they worked out.

Thanks

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Keep 'em juicy and I think you can put almost anything in as mix. Roasted red peppers would be good (though, not all that inexpensive).

Let us know when you get this thing going!


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Quote:

Keep 'em juicy




That is something else I have been thinking about, what meat mix do people thinks gives the best jucieness without making them fatty and greasy? I know when I have when to the real lean 93 to 7 mix the burgers tended to be dry. I was thinking the 85 to 15 is best.

I am even thinking of working with some of the local farms and butchers and grinding my own meat on site. I think it would be cool to oder a burger and fries and look through the glass and watch your potatoes get peeled and cut and your burger come out of the meat grinder. I want people to know they are getting the freshest ingredients possible. Hell maybe I can show them a picture of the cow that was slaughtered the day before

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I like my burgers dripping with grease. You can always offer a "healthier" beef, but for my liking, if I'm going to go out for a good burger and fries, I want the best taste I can get. Screw my health.


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Can't really help you on a mix. Although, my family loves to put tiny bits of diced onion in our burger patties. We love a handmade patty w/ Lawry's seasoning salt and black pepper.

In addition to the traditional grilled burger, you could offer up your own version of mini sliders a-la White Castle.

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the best burger...

1 pound lean beef (90/10)
4oz Blue cheese crumbles
8 slices of bacon, pan fried and crumbled
salt and pepper to taste
garlic to taste
splash of Whorchestershire sauce

patty 4 burgers and grill

Use lean beef as the bluecheese adds a lot of fat to the burger. So much so that it's nearly impossible to dry them out.


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Portland, thats a combo we love as well. Although I never thought to put the blue cheese in the ground beef first. No brainer! I'm always out there trying to keep crumbles from rolling off into the grill.

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Another burger I pull together occasionally...

1 pound of ground Turkey
1 medium carrot, shredded
1 stalk of celery, sliced thinly
1/2 meduim sweet onion, diced
splash of Worchestershire sauce
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste
dash of celery salt
add enough breadcrumbs to hold it all together, it's a feel thing

Saute the vegetables together in just a small amount of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Splash with Worchestershire just before taking off the heat. Allow to cool some before adding to the meat.

Combine remaining ingredients, patty and grill.

A very tastey, healthier option for those diet conscious eaters out there.


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Super good. Really easy. And no chasing cheese. Matter of fact that's what's for dinner tomorrow night.


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3/4 ground venison to 1/4 ground turkey makes a nice juicy burger.

You can do some Lipton onion soup or something in it if you like also.

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Use 80-20 mix - hamburger. Add pepper to the mix and nothing else, like my Aunt Virg used to at her restaurant at West 32 and Clark (Mazzeo's). Fry it, don't broil over an open flame. Most important part - grill the bun on the burger skillet, in the burger grease. Serve with fried - not sauteed, fried onions, and dill pickle slices, with condiments on the side. Best burger ever, or at least top 5, guaranteed.

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Grind some bacon in with your burgers or even some spicy sausage.

Also here is a great grill recipe.

2 pounds ground chuck
1 pound ground sirloin
3 tablespoons steak sauce ( whatever your preference )
6 extra-large egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
Mix the meats, steak sauce, egg yolks, salt, and pepper with the tines of a fork, but try not to mash it. Form each hamburger and lightly press into a patty shape. Make an small pocket and put a thin pad of butter inside each hamburger, making sure the butter is encased in the meat.

Heat a grill, broiler, or saute pan and cook the hamburgers for 3 to 5 minutes on each side until almost done. Remove to a plate and cover with aluminum foil. Allow the hamburgers to rest for 5 minutes and serve immediately on toasted buns.

This will make about 12 good sized burgers.

"Juiciest burgers ever!!! "

Last edited by Big Bob Barker; 09/07/09 06:38 PM.

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Quote:

Use 80-20 mix - hamburger. Add pepper to the mix and nothing else, like my Aunt Virg used to at her restaurant at West 32 and Clark (Mazzeo's).




I used to live on West 33rd and Meyer,right down from Clark Avenue. I am assuming your grandmas place got torn down when they built the McDonalds. Or was it on the other side of Clark?

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One thing I can tell you NOT to do is make burgers with 50% venison, 50% bacon. Too much salty/bacony taste. But DO offer a 70% venison and 30% bacon burger. (ground venison and ground bacon).

That, my friend, is a good burger. Venison is very lean - but mixing it with bacon (very fatty), lends itself to a different, very tasty burger. And most people wouldn't be able to say "oh, this is deer". No sir, most people would say "geez, this is good, what is it?"

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Ditto!!! I love deer and bacon ground together.
We just tell people it is roast beast... shhhh


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This is what i make usually. It has a good taste IMO This is just the meat though, I've always been of the mind that you can put what you want on it.

1 lb ground chuck
Brown Sugar
Oregano
salt and pepper

Take the 1lb of meat, ball it, then flatten it to about .5 -.75 inches thick. Add a layer of brown sugar, 3-4 tbs should be enough to cover the meat pancake. Oregano to season a bit, 1-2 tbs. Then I usually start folding it in on itself (halve then quarter it) and flattening it out a few times. Ball it back up and split it into three roughly equal chunks then flatten, and as i stack them, salt and pepper. I usually grill em for about 7-10 minutes on my propane, but that's just me

The rest is opinion and not anything most people around me enjoy I like to grill my buns until brown, then add some butter to them. Some people say that it makes the bun too soggy, but i enjoy the taste. As for the rest of burger, if i feel like cheese, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mustard, etc. I'll put it on. If I don't feel like it, i don't I think that's something all customers appreciate though, making it your own.

The only other thing I would say is to second Michelle; use ground chuck or something else with a decent amount of fat in it. Nothing's harder to choke down, other than a loss, than a dry burger.


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Something to try.......real easy....take Johnsonville sausage (doesn't matter what kind). Put it and a clove of garlic, sliced red peppers, sliced green peppers,onions (Vadelia) in a food processor. Take all that out and fry in a pan for 5 minutes....serve on a hotdog bun with Stadium mustard....Heaven....pure Heaven

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Quote:

Ditto!!! I love deer and bacon ground together.
We just tell people it is roast beast... shhhh




Anyone that has eaten venison thinks it is ground beef - when cooked correctly, of course.

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King, I don't know if you're familiar with it, but look up a fast food restaurant called "In andOut." - They only exist on the West Coast. They cut their fries from potatoes every morning, and all of their burgers are made fresh throughout the day. - The best fast food I have ever had. They keep up their quality by paying their employees well.

Anyway, back to the subject.
My wife and I grill out a lot. Here's how we do our burgers:

Dice some fresh garlic cloves, and also dice up a vidalia onion.
Sautee the diced garlic and onion in butter.
Get the ground beef that has a good amount of fat in it - 75% or 80% lean. Season with salt and pepper.
Mix it all together and form as you like. I prefer mini burgers.

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Something I've used but have never gotten consistent with is simply to add cumin to the burger. If you use too little it is unnoticeable. If you use too much it takes on a Mexican flavor. But if you nail it, you don't taste the cumin but it makes the burger feel real hearty and substantial.

Like I said, I don't do it often enough to get it consistent so I can't tell you an exact recipe or mix but if you get it right, and consistent, folks won't know what it is but they'll love the
meat.

And it ain't no lie about grilling the bun in the burger grease. This ain't diet food.


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#1 Tip:

Before you put the burger on the grill shape it like a pizza crust. When burgers cook they pull into the middle. If you take a patty you're shaping yourself just use your fingers once it's shaped and pull from the middle outward to form a ring on it's diameter. Once cooked you have a nice shaped burger instead of a tennis ball lookin' burger.

My favorite:

Worchestershire, Lawrey's season salt, pepper, french onion soup mix, 80/20 ground beef

toppings:

mayo
stadium mustard (yes I have it shipped out to me by my family from Ohio)
ketchup
lettuce
tomato
avocado sliced thin
crispy bacon
thin pinapple slice
bun lightly grilled

And yes it tastes awesome.

btw my wife slow cooked pork in the crock pot. we just added the Montgomery Inn BBQ sauce that our family ships with the stadium mustard and I'm about to chow!


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Quote:

Something I've used but have never gotten consistent with is simply to add cumin to the burger. If you use too little it is unnoticeable. If you use too much it takes on a Mexican flavor. But if you nail it, you don't taste the cumin but it makes the burger feel real hearty and substantial.






Thanks, that is the type of tips I was looking for. I will experiment with a bit of Cumin and see how it works.


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Quote:

But DO offer a 70% venison and 30% bacon burger. (ground venison and ground bacon).






That is something that would do very well in this area, the only problem is I am not sure how much Venison is going to be readily available year around. It is something I will look into though.


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We used to make meatloaf burgers when I was a kid.

Ground beef
Onions
Peppers
Oatmeal or bread crumbs
A little tomato sauce
A hint of Worcestershire sauce
A hint of BBQ
Garlic
Pepper
A hint of mustard

Mix it all up, make burgers, and fry 'em up.

Now I'm getting hungry for meatloaf.


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Oh .... and here's another I remember, but never had the guys to try ....

A banana bacon burger. My great uncle used to make them all the time. He sliced and fried the bananas, then made the burgers.

Salsa burgers are always good.

Chili burgers are also good.(with onions and cheese, of course)

How about a tropical burger, with pineapple and bacon?


I would imagine that you could transition just about any flavor to a hamburger .. teryaki, sweet and sour, spicy chilis, etc.


Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
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Another favorite is pepperoni pizza burgers.

Burger topped with sauce, mozzarella, and pepperoni. you'll want to brown the top in the broiler before serving.


Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

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80/20 works best for burgers. Any less fat and they are dry burgers.

me..I like onions chopped inside with a dash of garlic salt on the top.

In a commercial joint, maybe just go burger....nothing in the mix as many people don't like this or don't like that..put your flavor on the burger at the end...again...garlic salt.


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Mazzeo's Spaghetti House changed hands around 1980, so you might not remember it, depending how old you are. It was on the north side of Clark Ave, right at West 32nd. I think there was a barber shop next door to it. My two aunts ran it back in the day and they were just awesome cooks.

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Quote:

Mazzeo's Spaghetti House changed hands around 1980, so you might not remember it, depending how old you are. It was on the north side of Clark Ave, right at West 32nd. I think there was a barber shop next door to it. My two aunts ran it back in the day and they were just awesome cooks.




Yeah I was in that area during my JR/high school years which would have been from 86 or so to 92 or so. We moved in 92 or 93.

I know right where you are talking about. The barber you referred to is Pete the Barber. Old school Italian barber but a lot of us young guys went in there because Pete did the best flat tops around.

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Here's a recipe I came up with after just throwing some random stuff together, and it came out good lol..

I don't really know how much to use of anything (runs in the family, my grandmother uses terms like "a pinch of this and a dab of that") I just kinda eyeball it.

Ground beef
Italian sausage

I can tell you to use 3 lbs of ground beef per 1 lb of sausage.

Whoschershire (sp?) sauce
Hot sauce
Dales seasoning
Tony's creole
Montgomery Inn BBQ sauce
and an egg to help keep it together.



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One of my personal favorites is to mix Ground Bison/Buffalo with some ground Lamb. It's an expensive burger, but it's damned tasty.
The problem with most Bison burgers is that it is so lean that they are dry... hence me adding Lamb. Ground lamb is VERY fatty, but also has a flavor that is as strong as Bison's.

I usually season it with some Marjoram (substitute Thyme if needed), salt, pepper and sometimes some Mint leaves.
Worcestershire sauce would go in it quite well... and Blue Cheese definitely would work with the flavors, as would any stronger flavored cheese - any milder cheese would allow you to have it "cheesy" without disrupting the flavors as well, lots of choices. Perhaps add a few slices (or chunks) of Red Onion to it and top it with a big slice of beefsteak tomato.


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I would think that it's be pretty easy to make "special blend" type burgers. You could pre-mix a lot of the items .... spices, and such ..... and then just mix it into the hamburger with the other fresh ingredients when it's being prepared to cook.

No real difference between that and any other food. Spaghetti sauce may not appeal to everyone ..... but if it appeals to a wide enough audiance you'll have a winner on your hands. He could always also offer a "naked" burger "dressed the way you like it" in addition to house specialties.


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Well, when I cook burgers, I basically try to avoid the real lean meat. I know it's not the best for you, but they are much more juicy and come out better.

I've had several people say that when I cooked their burgers, they were the best burger they've eaten. And I really don't do anything special. I've mixed in peppers, onions, bacon, etc. I've mixed the meat with different marinades and soaked it, with worcestershire sauce, and steak sauces, but the ones that always taste the best are just the ones that I season heartily on both sides a little while prior to cooking.

I've used different seasonings. I use the McCormick hamburger seasoning, as well as other steak seasonings like this D.J Jardines (I think) seasoning I've found. Like I said, the burgers unfortunately with the higher fat content cook the best. They stay very juicy. Just make sure you make 'em big because they shrink a bit!

Good luck with that. I've always thought about doing something similar. Like a carry out sandwich place that has basically any sandwich/burger/chicken combos you can think of.


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Quote:

80/20 works best for burgers. Any less fat and they are dry burgers.





Venison is very lean - that's why it gets mixed with bacon. Honestly, a 70/30 mix of venison and bacon is very juicy. Any more than that and it gets too salty from the bacon. In my opinion.

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I like my burgers dripping with grease. You can always offer a "healthier" beef, but for my liking, if I'm going to go out for a good burger and fries, I want the best taste I can get. Screw my health.




Now that's what I'm talking about


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Quote:

My favorite:

Worchestershire, Lawrey's season salt, pepper, french onion soup mix, 80/20 ground beef







Seems like that would be a bit on the salty side.


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Not if you use a little of each. Probably I use more Worchestershire than anything else. Something about a dash of Lawrey's though is really nice.


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Quote:

Quote:

80/20 works best for burgers. Any less fat and they are dry burgers.





Venison is very lean - that's why it gets mixed with bacon. Honestly, a 70/30 mix of venison and bacon is very juicy. Any more than that and it gets too salty from the bacon. In my opinion.






I agree....I am talking beef here....I agree, venison can get pretty chewy if you don't mix in enough fat....same with buffalo..it is a dry, non fatty meat you have to give some help.


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I just assumed you used the packet a pound or whatever of the soup mix. I didn't think you could improve on the soup mix with a dash of worcestire, but I'm definitely going to try some of the ideas in this thread. Keep 'em coming!


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a packet of the Lipton's French Onion Soup mix for 2 lbs. of ground beef.

one pound...yikes!

Hope that helps.

btw...the makers of stadium mustard put crack in it. I'm convinced. Something about a great hamburger or a kosher dog with stadium mustard makes me all giddy


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