To many e-coli reports and scares. We don’t burger out anymore. Miss the good fries, tho.
But where is it required for restaurants to cook to well done?
Where do you live ? (Definitely not required in California)
In California I’ve seen burger places that have disclaimers that they won’t cook any burger rarer than medium. You get your choice of medium, medium well, or hockey puck.
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Never seen or experienced that and have yet to find a restaurant which would cook to medium-rare. Where these fast-food/fast-casual place ? I haven’t eaten a burger in those places for 20+ years and they tend to have much less trained line cooks than your regular restaurant so that perhaps the owners/franchisers don’t want to take a risk (in addition, those places have often low quality beef where I wouldn’t be sure if I want something medium-rare)
I don’t remember any specific place, although I seem to recall that one of them was a fairly popular place in Berkeley. Super Duper? Bongo? I don’t remember.
I thought if it’s fresh beef, not a frozen patty, it could be cooked med-rare. That’s what I was told but could be wrong. The premise is the e-Coli events are usually frozen industrial patties.
In April I was at a Black Bear diner because it was late and in n Out still had a massive line. To my surprise they asked how I wanted the burger done. I said med-rare, and that’s how it came out, pink. I think it was like $13 for a combo with fries and a drink. Getting out of the car and sitting down seems way better.
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Are you in Canada? I was pretty annoyed to learn about their well-done ground beef rules the last time I was there - fortunately the server warned me in time so I could choose another entrée!
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Habit Burger in Berkeley-adjacent Albany, CA and Burgerim in El Cerrito wouldn’t make me a medium rare burger. I was at Habit Burger when they first opened, and a regional manager even told me they were illegal (they’re not). A local joint couldn’t make one because they serve smashburgers. The most consistent medium rare burgers are from SuperDuper (I go to the Emeryville location), but you have to order from a person because the kiosks don’t have a temperature option.
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This was my first homemade burger in years, and it was pretty close to perfect. Medium rare lamb with some crumbled feta mixed in, thick tomato slice, bacon, havarti, little gem lettuce, whole wheat english muffin.
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The state health department (not Ca) follows fed food safety guidelines and the local hd does that, too. When there is an outbreak of e-coli in the area, there are warnings posted and some restaurants take these further and won’t produce a burger other than a hockey puck (what I consider a McDonald’s burger patty). Inexperienced food service workers, lax food practices in addition to sourcing issues are behind the e-coli messes here (NW Rockies).
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Large chains like Habit don’t want to take any risk and don’t make burgers med-rare (but I also don’t think their meat quality is good enough to take the risk)
There are many types of perfect burger, IMO. Some of the greats are the Texas style: thin patty, griddled bun, American cheese, sweet onion, shredded lettuce, dill pickles, tomato, and yellow mustard; the California or In N Out style has a slightly thicker patty, American cheese, a thousand island-ish sauce, tomato, and leaf lettuce; the Oklahoma burger: a smashburger on top of a big pile of very thinly sliced onions on which the burger sits while cooking, an extra patty, American cheese, pickles, maybe yellow mustard, and a griddled bun…the list goes on and on. They all require good beef with a good bit of fat, like chuck. The closest I get to anything more artistic is a thick patty cooked MR topped with cheddar, my homemade chili sauce, Duke’s mayonnaise, a couple of sweated and skinned Hatch chiles, and a little Roland or Faillot Dijon, all nestled in a griddled bun. Regarding buns, I like Martin’s for all burgers. I know a lot of folk crave bacon. While I love bacon, I do not think a really great burger needs it. I grew up with thick sirloin patties cooked MR and served on a buttered English muffin with ketchup and onion. I always thought that was pretty perfect, too. I season all burgers with a couple of shakes of Fiesta steak seasoning.
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likely more “best burgers” than “best eaters” . . . just saying . . .
I’m a bit of a ‘purist’ - 5 ounce/150g - 85/15 ground beef
salt, pepper - that’s it.
fry up
bun it with sliced onion/lettuce - tomato if you got a good one . . .
mustard only
DW demands a slice of cheese - which is normally American
my favorite in the cheese arena is young/baby Swiss + fried mushrooms&onion
there is no such thing as ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to burgers.
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I’m pretty consistent in what I like for a burger - 1/2lb. beef cooked to medium rare, topped with blue cheese of some sort and mushrooms. Here’s the most recent iteration. The bun is spread with Stonewall Kitchen’s shallot-onion jam (they call it a cheese topper. They lie.). It is a combination of caramelized shallots, onion, roasted garlic, and a touch of mustard. Perfect for burgers.
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one of the standout best burgers i ever had was a minted lamb burger with feta and sriracha - got dropped from the menu as wasn’t popular enough…
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Same as you - except the mustard - 5 oz patties with salt and pepper. I go for ketchup, cheese, and pickles.
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https://cookingcontestcentral.com/lamb-burgers/
This is Roadfood friend Rob’s winning lamb burger recipe from distant times.
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Looks good, except I don’t like mint so that part would need some tuning.
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