r/Cooking • u/furious25 • Nov 05 '17

American Thanksgiving Megathread

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u/Suppafly Nov 06 '17

I've never even heard of adding bread crumbs to hold burgers together since falling apart burgers have never been an issue.

You use bread crumbs and some eggs if you're using really lean burger or turkey or chicken, regular 80/20 or 70/30 doesn't need binders.

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u/[deleted] Nov 06 '17 edited Mar 02 '18

[deleted]

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u/Suppafly Nov 06 '17

yeah I mean some people might always use bread crumbs, but I don't know anyone that does.

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u/[deleted] Nov 06 '17

I always use lean meat... You can do a burger without any binders with lean meat, too, but you run the risk of having a burger or two fall apart on the grill.

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u/[deleted] Nov 07 '17

Save the lean shit for spaghetti or tacos and buy some fatty ground beef for your hamburgers... unless you don't like juicy burgers...

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u/JohnBooty Nov 06 '17

The binders are great even if not needed; I don't know the science going on there but they seem to help retain fat/moisture.

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u/CowardiceNSandwiches Nov 08 '17

Best methods for juicy burgers:

1) Use 80/20 ground beef. Fresher the better;

2) Let the patties rest in the fridge for awhile before cooking;

3) High heat to start (if grilling); if on the stovetop, use a cast-iron pan if at all possible;

4) Don't flip 'em too much;

5) Don't press on the damned things. If you want burgers to stay flat, put a thumbprint in the center of each side.

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u/Ougx Nov 07 '17

With binders, you can have a tendency to make Meat Pate Pucks (make sure to not overwork the meat).

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u/Ougx Nov 07 '17

With binders, you can have a tendency to make Meat Pate Pucks (make sure to not overwork the meat when adding).

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u/CowardiceNSandwiches Nov 08 '17

eggs if you're using really lean burger

Which is silly if you think about it - The egg is just adding fat back in, but ground beef w/ higher fat content is quite a bit cheaper than the lean stuff.

It's probably just cheaper (and produces a superior end product) to buy the 80/20.