Had many Bubba burgers at other peoples houses…not a fan. Something is not right with them. Consistency is wrong and there is too much moisture & I am not talking about fat.
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Agree, there are a lot of good articles on burgers and that isn’t one of them.
The reason butchers push chuck is because it’s the most plentiful primal on the animal and relatively cheap. In addition, the slow braising cooking style of years past that is required to break it down into something chewable has largely faded away so they have to do something with it. The fat ratio is also good. To me it has hints of liver flavor & I don’t like it.
At the other end of the animal is the sirloin but the conventional wisdom is its too lean which is an insurmountable problem. REALLY? Take a sirloin knuckle and add some kidney fat (.25 cents a LB or most likely free from the local butcher) and you have an 80/20 sirloin burger that smells like steak when its cooking and tastes like steak when eating.
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Kidney fat??? I don’t think I can find that around here 
Hi Cath,
Ask your local butcher. They will have it.
Also known as leaf fat or leaf lard (although lard suggests that it has already been rendered).
What’s a "local butcher? LOL
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You know…down the aisle from the “fishmonger.”
Right. Something else I don’t have
what is the ratio of sirloin to kidney fat?
That kind of depends on what section the sirloin is cut from and how closely its trimmed. As a general rule 10% - 15% added fat will bring you into the 80/20 range.
yes.
And then this:
For me its just the opposite. There are a select few places that consistently cook a burger the way I like it (M/R). I think chains are the worst with over cooking.
Good preheated hot outdoor grill works every time for me. One of my daughters prefers the flat top crust so for her I lay an old black cast iron pan on the grill as it is preheating. Spatter & smoke stay outside while the crust is forming. Just don’t grab the handle of the pan (beer can make this happen) . If need be, I finish it over a low flame/heat section of the grill.
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I’m trying to decipher all the toppings there: I see avocado, red onion, cilantro, bacon of some kind, and maybe a mushroom? I’m not sure what the thingy is atop the cheese. Below the patty, some kind of cheese, possibly cream cheese or boursin?
I’ve had excellent burgers with nothing on them, and amazing burgers with a heap of toppings, so I am no purist.
To this day, the best burger I’ve ever had was at Skillet in Columbus OH. The patty was perfectly medium-rare, still a bit soft, but with a crust that actually crunched. Topped with their own marmalade and pimiento cheese, it was a religious experience.
Mushroom, red onion (both grilled), avocado, arugula and cheddar cheese.
Possibly the most unique burger I’ve had was at Louis’ Lunch in New Haven CT. They claim to have invented the hamburger sandwich, and still make their burgers the same way: broiled in 120 year old vertical cast iron stoves, served on white toast, with your choice of adding tomato, red onion, or cheese. That’s it. No condiments provided or available. It was a tasty beef sandwich and a unique piece of history, but not a great burger!
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I make mine very similar. No parmesan and a shot of worcestershire sauce.
I grill burgers only because my vent fan quit working, and the idiot who installed it screwed the mounting flanges to the wall and then TILED OVER THEM!! And there’s a hardwired smoke detector directly upstairs that calls the security company if somebody is walking by outside with a lit cigar …
Anyway, I am not now nor ever have been a flame grilled fan. The perfect burger to me sits on the big flat grill I wish I had and oozes its juices which turn to a crust and it’s HEAVEN, as long as the meat’s good. An iron skillet works okay. Once in a while if I don’t mind burning the extra gas I’ll put the skillet on the gas grill, let it get blazing hot, and then pan-broil that sucker well out of range of the smoke detector, I hope.
And although I love Kenji and Harold McGee and all those other Cooking Science freaks, I know what tastes good, and a burger (or any other piece of meat) that went on the grill or in the pan unsalted NEVER tastes as good as the pre-salted one. Period.
Do you put the salt inside that patty? I s&p the outside.
I’m an outie as well with s/p
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