Food

How to prepare the perfect burger

hamburger perfetto
Written by EFW Staff

The secret for a perfect burger

Forget the sad hamburgers of fast food full of fats with ingredients of unknown quality. Hamburger is a great dish to not underestimate and it is perfect to create different recipes, ingredients and pairings.
Use all your skills to prepare the perfect hamburger, which can be the best suit of a dinner with friends or the dish for a themed party.

How to prepare the perfect burger?

The classic hamburger made in the USA foresees 220-250 gr of pure selected beef meat among sirloin, neck and bow or the typical chuck meat, chosen by the American or the shoulder, seasoned with the with quantity of fat.

If you choose thin pieces, do not forgive to add a 20-30% of fat that will give taste and softness to the burger. For a personal touch use a fat touch as cheek lard or grinded bacon. You can substitute the meat, as you like with lamb, mixed pork or chicken.

Forgive the meat grinder, the real American hamburger is cut slightly with a knife in order to maintain the consistency and the juices of the meat avoiding that it will dry during the cooking. Season the meat with pepper, salt and spices as paprika and oregano, and then prepare a flatten meatball with the palm of your hand. Cook it on the grill for few minutes for each side and the burger is ready.

Hamburger

The secrets for a good cooking

  • Leave the dough resting in the fridge for 20 minutes to make the meat thicker so that it won’t smash on the hotplate;
  • Before cooking it, it has to be at room temperature to be soft and juicy;
  • With the thumb push the middle of the burger creating like a hole, this will avoid that the burger will enlarge or break while cooking;
  • Turn it just one time and leave for 2-3 minutes for each side for a perfect cooking.

Pay attention to the bread!

hamburger perfetto

As the real English pub of New York teaches us the bread isn’t a secondary ingredient of the bread, it has to be soft and easy to bite and chew, without a superficial crust. The real bread for hamburgers is 3 cm high, it doesn’t crumble but it is soft with alveolus, with a surface slightly brown. Choose this bread with sesame or poppy seeds on the surface.
The basic rule? The bread is cut and toasted in few seconds before setting the burger, cook it in the hotplate where you are cooking the meat, so it will be seasoned with its juices and flavours; it has to be crispy outside and soft inside.

The stuffing!

On this side, everyone has its own favourite ingredients, you can have fun choosing the ingredients that like you most! The real American Burger has two strong points: Cheddar and bacon! Cheddar cheese is savoury and stringy but not too humid, avoid mozzarella and cheeses with too much water inside, besides Cheddar prefer rich taste like Gruviera, Brie or Montasio. Bacon has to be cut not too thin and cooked on the grill or hotplate to remove the excess of fat, it has to be crispy and rich… a suggestion? A generous grinder of black pepper!
Finally, choose your favourite vegetables besides the unmissable lettuce and the slice of tomato Cuor di bue, you can mix together slices of pickles or sticks of onion. The best are red onions of Tropea caramelized with oil, vinegar and sugar.

The chef’s touch?

If you want the perfect hamburger but with a masterly touch, use a blue cheese or gorgonzola, jam of Tomato Pachino made with a long cooking with balsamic vinegar and sugar, and basil oil. Serve with the right beer!

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EFW Staff