What weight/size do you make your burgers?

I use "jumbo" buns (about 4.5 inches across) and go for around 6 to 8 ounces, which ends up about 3/4 inch thick. If I'm somehow stuck with regular size buns I'll go maybe 5 ounces and just slightly thinner.

This is for normal cooking - if I'm doing burgers for more than a few people I'll go 1/4lb (and obviously regular size buns) for ease of cooking. Anyone needing more (I know I will!) can either have more or make a double...

If it's just me sometimes I'll go all the way up to 12 ounces, but at that size I use toasted sourdough - more square inches than any bun I know of and holds up better...

What say you all?

I use a small hand press that makes the burgers about 5 to 6 Oz, I use it as it keeps the patties about the same, saves arguments at the table. I'm usually making about 30 burgers at a time to be consumed that day.

Tuesday's I can have between 12 and 20 for dinner.

Ha. I only make about 4 at a time, so that I can have leftovers.
I press them out by hand. Usually between 1/3 to 1/2 lb of meat.

Salt, pepper, and some worchestershire powder. Good to go!

what size is "normal" burguers ? though i prefer to order from burguer king as they have "american" burguer size, as well as some "gourmet" hamburguers house, mcdonalds and the likes burguers are kid sized.

Interesting comment - I don't think theres any such thing as an "American size" burger.

Going out on a limb I'd guess maybe 3 to 4 ounces might be the overall average when it comes to fast food, going up to better restaurants they tend to range from 1/3lb to 1/2lb.

I'd also guess that there's nothing uniquely American about this.

I guess it could be said there's a bit of an American STYLE one could consider as most common here (some combination of pickles, lettuce, tomato, possibly onion), but then again I could have a burger at five different places within a mile of my house and the only common denominator be the fact they contain ground beef and some form of bread product.

Actually that'd be possible at just one restaurant in many cases...

Well uniformity also sure helps when you're making burgers in quantity - I'd never "press" a patty for myself or a few (that's a total burger sin!), but when going more for quantity than quality I'll even "sin" to the point of buying pre-made frozen patties.

That's a social day, not a "let's make the best possible burger" day... (but they'll still be pretty #%&*$# good)

EDIT: When I mentioned "pressing" a patty I was talking while raw. Just tends to make it a bit more "meatloaf" like. But that's when being anal about making the best possible in low quantity...

This is the "press" It is really just to measure quantity and keep portion control, when you are feeding the multitudes it does pay to have some portion control and it saves arguments between the kids




I usually make them with a home made Kofta type spice, I do find the meat in Belgium a bit bland and flavourless. Depending on what meat I can get I usually go for pure beef, but sometimes that is hard to get and it is a mixture of beef and pork, sometimes I manage to get lamb and then I add mint to the burgers too.
Tomorrow I have to make Shepherds Pie for my grand daughter it's her 14th birthday and she asked if I would make that for her.

I tend to "make" mine by screaming "Quarter Pounder Meal" into the microphone from my car.
But good old Donalds has become way too pricey in Swedenland lately I've stopped visiting them.
Call me old and bitter, but I sure am.

The trick to a good burger patty is not handling it too much! You want the air gaps in the meat to give it better flavor. Don't squish the hell out of it making a patty, do it gently.

LMAO

Out of curiosity, how much is it now for a Quarter pounder combo in Sweden?

I'd say 10 to 15 USD, not sure of exch.rate but aboot 90 SEK.
Was a while ago so I bet they are even more expensive now.
Junk food for the price of a normal restaurang lunch, scandalous!

Wow, that is crazy!!

I just checked and in Miami, FL a Quarter Pounder meal is just under 7 USD.

Yeah, but i think they call it the Royale with Cheese and that's worth a few extra kronor right there

Of course Sveden isn't Paris, but close enough right?

Listen to this man. Grillmaster

LOL!

It's been a while since I've seen a Pulp Fiction reference.

Now I understand Five Guys prices. They think they are in Sweden! $14 for a Little Cheeseburger (little means one patty instead of two), fries and a drink is what I paid last week. Worth every penny though, IMHO.

Five Guys is pretty good but it’s not fantastic. For 14 bucks I’d much rather go to Chili’s and get an entree.

Not fantastic, I will agree, but when I want a burger it is just about perfect. Mine is right next door to Home Depot, which is one of my favorite shopping destinations. You can always use a new tool.

100% agreed on a barbecue.

But on a commercial restaurant flat grill (or in my case a big cast iron skillet) it's the opposite - smash the first side (NOT the second cause that'll squeeze out the juices) = more contact with the grilling surface = more Maillard Reaction = better searing = better flavor!

This last trip home the McD burgers were particularly tasteless, you did not know when you finished the burger and started to eat the cardboard.

We usually visit the McD at the supermarket in Dumbarton, it's food has been very good which was quite a surprise, we go there because it's handy when we are at that estate, we never went there this last trip but went to one nearer Glasgow as we were planning out some DIY to one of my rental properties and as there was a McD close to the B&Q (DIY/Trade store) and it was lunch time … don't want to go back there!

This is interesting to me since I hear and read quite often that European beef is better than North American beef.

PERFECT!!

Order without onions - they'll make a fresh burger and you're not "that guy" who simply demands it fresh.

A PERFECTLY done McD burger is actually pretty decent. That means piping hot, fresh off the grill, fresh ingredients (stick with busier locations), assembled right, and IMMEDIATELY EATEN. The minute there's any deviation from the above the quality starts going downhill really quick.

A perfectly done McD burger will actually drip juice! I like onions, but ditching them to me is a small sacrifice to get the thing done right.

Nah, THIS would be perfect! Cook patty Sous Vide, then do the final sear on one of these over wood like this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ1Ry69stKo

Typical barbecue grills don't do much in the way of searing - your flavor there is coming more from the fat smoke and wood smoke. As already mentioned on a flat surface it's all about the sear. Best of both worlds with this skillet - actually someday I want to take a carbon steel skillet (which ironically has more iron percentage than cast iron) to a machine shop and get holes drilled in it, but smaller so there's way more surface area for the sear and possibly the ability to get some smash action too, yet still get the smoke...

The only good beef is 100% grass fed beef.

Oh come on! While I have no "blanket objection" to the idea that overall the healthier the cattle the better the meat a statement like that is in itself a "blanket objection".

Consider: Where did the cattle actually live? What kind of "grass"? You could have a total "factory" environment and claim "100% grass fed", or you could have free range cattle...

You could have "grass fed then hay fed" before slaughter...

There's a TON of variables in this equation, and then you have a TON of variables in the human taste opinion too...

You could maybe say for yourself "That's my preference", but how many different sources have you actually sampled?

What kind of beef are we talking about? Straight cuts, or ground beef? Because with ground beef the complexity multiplies - discarding all the above, from what cut? Or is it a blend? Is it ground in a factory, or at home, or in a restaurant? In what kind of capacities?

Is (with ground beef) it all even coming from the same animal?

Myself, I don't go by labels. I go by my eyes and my mouth!

I want to try this guy's method someday. Small patties, small bun, and AMERICAN cheese? Absolutely not my M.O., but wow, this does look tasty...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppoWmd4LXVs

Fifteen pound hunk of steel he's using, to say nothing of utilizing "construction" tools in the kitchen, brilliant!

Since I switched to grass-fed a few years ago, I've definitely noticed a difference in quality, and I was skeptical as hell at first. I thought it was a trendy joke and sham, but I've warmed to it over time. Yep, part of what I said was hyperbole, because frankly I've had some #%&*$# good burgers that I'm pretty certain weren't from grass-fed meat. We have local joint here in town--a group of Indian or Pakistani bros who own three restaurants called Rheas, and damned if they don't make the best nasty, greasy burgers in the city. You know what you're eating is soooooo bad for you, but you don't care, and they're cheap, too. But grass-fed beef has some healthful benefits that you won't find in regular beef, such as Omega 3s, CLA, etc.

Yup, I do, as I cannot digest onions properly, they really upset my stomach.

We do not normally go to a McDs, it's like a bit of secret indulgence every now and then, maybe twice a year when we go to Scotland.

I really do like a good grass fed Scottish Aberdeen Angus, and we try to get either a sirloin or rump to eat at home, one that has been properly aged and still has some fat on it, it is one thing we really look forward to as the beef in Belgium seems to have all the flavour removed from it

Zamzow, I have the Weber Griddle on my gas grill, and have not taken it off in years.
Everything finishes on the Griddle

Awesome. Brings up a sub-debate of gas vs coal vs wood...

I've done them all. Sometimes both.

Well this ain't "Ford vs Chevy" - any homeowner who's into grilling should have all three options!

I'd have a gas setup, coal setup, and wood setup all sitting in my backyard if I had one! (and combinations incorporated into all three sometimes!)