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How can I make my burgers taste better?

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Find better beef? All I ever do is add salt and pepper to mine. No need to fancy up anything, just some salty beef with cheese, mustard, onions, and pickles.
 
The only thing that matter is the blend of beef you're using and how you're cooking them.

Well Done plus Lean blend equals cardboard.

Beef doesn't need much seasoning save salt and pepper.
 
Valtýr;202624937 said:
Ground beef goes through friggin metal gears and grinders to become ground beef. I would never take the chance that whatever bacteria didn't get wiped from the machinery and is now sitting on my chunk of beef.
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You could sterilize it, you just need to pee on it

there are food safety guidelines for this reason, you fool
 
painey said:
Ever since I started buying my own ground beef to make my own burgers, as opposed to paying the silly deli prices for the pre made patties, i've noticed that my burgers are... boring.

Every video on youtube I see calls for ground beef and salt, nothing more, nothing less. I buy the non-tube ground beef from the supermarket, I form a patty, I use fresh ground sea salt.. and yet every burger I cook comes out tasting bland. My toppings are on point, my sauces are amazing, my cheese is always melted, but for the life of me I cannot figure out how to make a better tasting burger. Grinding my own chuck is not an option and i've experimented with all kinds of fat ratios, so how do I get more flavour from ground beef?
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Have you tried more salt? You may be undersalting.
 
ScatheZombie said:
Season the meat with more than just salt before cooking.

Depending on how you want the burger to taste, I suggest trying one or more of the following:

Diced onions
Diced peppers
Diced tomatoes
Montreal Steak Seasoning
Paprika and/or Chili Powder
Garlic Salt
BBQ Sauce
Worcestershire Sauce
Soy Sauce
Liquid Smoke
Red Wine
Beer
Apple Cider
Click to expand...

To add, smoked paprika (vs. regular paprika) is a great addition to burgers. Wonderful flavor.
 
First off whoever says just salt do not have working taste buds.

I use salt, pepper, cumin, garlic powder, season salt and Worcestershire sauce for my basic patties.

You could also add diced onions or jalapenos if you like those. I once mixed in shredded cheese and wasn't so bad. Another time I mixed in some mild Ortega taco sauce.

I have also thought of adding in maybe bacon or pepperoni but don't have a way to grind those up to mix in.
 
BronsonLee said:
What the hell
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uh, it's true. Ground beef needs to be cooked all the way through, you don't want pink in the middle of a ground beef patty. This is because the beef is ground. The entire reason you can get away with just lightly searing a steak is because the meat is not ground, the type of bacteria harmful to us only resides on the surface and will be killed as it's kissed by the flame.

ground beef mixes it all up. Ground beef can be harmful on the outside and inside. you should to cook your ground beef patties thoroughly.
 
Add mayo and breadcrumbs, maybe some ranch dressing powder if you like some spice.

Also, use 80/20 Ground Chuck. Anything less and you've got hockey pucks, anything more you have no flavor.
 
Again, I cannot stress enough that you need FAT in your ground beef. So if you are not using 80/20 mix, you are doing it wrong.
 
Krejlooc said:
uh, it's true. Ground beef needs to be cooked all the way through, you don't want pink in the middle of a ground beef patty. This is because the beef is ground. The entire reason you can get away with just lightly searing a steak is because the meat is not ground, the type of bacteria harmful to us only resides on the surface and will be killed as it's kissed by the flame.

ground beef mixes it all up. Ground beef can be harmful on the outside and inside. you should to cook your ground beef patties thoroughly.
Click to expand...

You can ask your butcher to grind you some fresh.

That's what I do. I like my burgers medium rare, so it's a must.
 
Krejlooc said:
uh, it's true. Ground beef needs to be cooked all the way through, you don't want pink in the middle of a ground beef patty. This is because the beef is ground. The entire reason you can get away with just lightly searing a steak is because the meat is not ground, the type of bacteria harmful to us only resides on the surface and will be killed as it's kissed by the flame.

ground beef mixes it all up. Ground beef can be harmful on the outside and inside. you should to cook your ground beef patties thoroughly.
Click to expand...

Valkyr Junkie said:
And yet, "there is shit in the meat."
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I'm like this close to launching you both in a cannon to Mexico

A well done burger belongs in the garbage
 
painey said:
Every video on youtube I see calls for ground beef and salt, nothing more, nothing less.
Click to expand...

Such nonsense. This isn't a filet mignon and you are not buying some kind of magical alien beef.

This is what I use. Some people may say it's overdoing it but, guess what, my burgers are fucking amazing:

Salt
Pepper
Montreal Steak seasoning (spicy)
Italian herb seasoning
Minced garlic
Chopped parsley

Before that I also let the meat sit in some Worcester.

If you want to dial it up a little more, cook some bacon in whatever you cook the burgers in (unless you grill obviously) and then slap the patties in.
 
I put onion soup mix, Worcestershire, a bit of water plus salt and pepper.

lipton-onion-soup-mix--unilever.jpg
 
BronsonLee said:
I'm like this close to launching you both in a cannon to Mexico

A well done burger belongs in the garbage
Click to expand...

Actually, if the fat content is right, you can have a tasty well done burger. That's what the premium chains like Shake Shack, Smashburger and Five Guys do.

PlayALLtheGames said:
Such nonsense. This isn't a filet mignon and you are not buying some kind of magical alien beef.

This is what I use. Some people may say it's overdoing it but, guess what, my burgers are fucking amazing:

Salt
Pepper
Montreal Steak seasoning (spicy)
Italian herb seasoning
Minced garlic
Chopped parsley

Before that I also let the meat sit in some Worcester.

If you want to dial it up a little more, cook some bacon in whatever you cook the burgers in (unless you grill obviously) and then slap the patties in.
Click to expand...

That's a meatball or meatloaf, not a burger ;P
 
Fresh buns
Mustard
Ketchup
Land-O-Lakes American Yellow
Lettuce
Tomato
Claussen Pickles
Salted beef cooked how you like
 
xxracerxx said:
Again, I cannot stress enough that you need FAT in your ground beef. So if you are not using 80/20 mix, you are doing it wrong.
Click to expand...

Lean beef is shit. The best steak is a fatty steak, and the best burger isn't any different.

A 50/50 bite of meat:fat is the best bite of steak.
 
entremet said:
Actually, if the fat content is right, you can have a tasty well done burger. That's what the premium chains like Shake Shack, Smashburger and Five Guys do.
Click to expand...

Every time I walk by one of those establishments I feebly kick the door in protest

They're actually really good, you're right
 
Empyrean Heaven said:
Add mayo and breadcrumbs, maybe some ranch dressing powder if you like some spice.

Also, use 80/20 Ground Chuck. Anything less and you've got hockey pucks, anything more you have no flavor.
Click to expand...
Actually the flavor is in the fat. I usually stick with 80/20 or 75/25 at the most.

For the well done debate, technically burgers should be cooked well done when using traditional cooking methods where you aren't pasteurizing the meat. However I'll often go lower, but I understand every time I do that it is a risk.
 
Processing sauteed onions (or just cutting them very fine before cooking them) and then mixing that in with the beef has yielded pretty good results for me in the past. Add in a 1:1 mix of soy+worcestershire to taste, and it turns out pretty well.
 
Don't freeze the beef it kills all the flavor. I put sal, pepper, sometimes garlic/onion powder, but they do have seasonings for that too.
 
Tabasco (vinegar aspect is important) worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper. And sometimes caramelized onions or jalapenos right in the patty mixture.

OH and HP or Daddies Brown Sauce instead of A1 - again in the patty, but skip the Worcestershire. You can buy it in the foreign foods section of many big American supermarkets.
 
entremet said:
You can ask your butcher to grind you some fresh.

That's what I do. I like my burgers medium rare, so it's a must.
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i need to do this. but all my store butchers are millenials and they don't follow orders they just stack meat.

like stores don't even have butchers anymore, they just have people who work in the meat department.
 
Diprosalic said:
you'd think on an american board people knew how to make a burger.
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Sometimes I like to put some gorgonzola in the middle on my burger patty. Though I am a pretty staunch just salt and pepper on the outside of the burger then cook, with char (if cooking on a cast iron) of course.

My butcher is also the best, nothing frozen. Ever.

AuthenticM said:
What does "80/20" mean?
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80% meat, 20% fat.
 
The way you cook it can change the taste.
-Grill
-Baking
-Foreman Grill
-etc

The spices you can add also change the taste.

I personally don't need or even want spices on my burgers, but I know people that do. Experiment with spices, and stuff.
 
You need to tell us how you're cooking them.

In my opinion the best burgers are made with thin patties and a caste iron skillet.

Thin patties cook much faster and more evenly. This way they don't dry out. Fat is where the flavor is, so a dry burger is a shitty burger.

Using a caste iron skillet disperses and retains heat evenly across the iron. Everything is better in caste iron.
 
Dumb question but how the hell do people cook food on the stove without the popping all over the place? I try my best to pat the meat with a paper towel to make it dry but those damn oil keep hitting me every now and then
 
My go-to recipe for burger patties is 2 lbs. of ground beef, two eggs, two slices of crumbled-up sourdough bread, parsley, half a small onion (diced), two cloves of garlic (diced), and ground black pepper. Let the mixture sit in the fridge until it's go-time, then add salt at the last minute, form patties, and toss them on the grill. Lots of flavor.
 
Lately I've been frying up bacon, shallots and rosemary and mixing that into my patties. It's goddamn delicious.
SteveO409 said:
Dumb question but how the hell do people cook food on the stove without the popping all over the place? I try my best to pat the meat with a paper towel to make it dry but those damn oil keep hitting me every now and then
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Lower your heat. It might take longer, but you'll avoid that.
 
There's already a lot of tips, so you probably won't read or try this, but I've been in your situation and experimented a lot with different patty mixtures, also some of the ones mentioned here. The one I find most delectable is the following:

Chop up (easiest in a blender)
Carrot
Shallot
Celery rib
Garlic
(I'd say about 2:1:1:0.5 respectively)

Fry in olive oil until soft, about five minutes.

Let cool and then mix in with ground beef. Add a dash of Worcester, and make your patties.
 
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