Spring is one of my favorite times of year. Sure, I love planting my garden and seeing the beautiful flowers pop up all over but I also harbor a deep craving that is hard to satisfy during the winter. I’ll just say it—I love me a good burger! During the cold winter days I dream of the time when I can take the cover off my grill, throw on some meat and get my burger on!
Now some of you may just stick to the regular ketchup and mustard burger which I appreciate but at my house, burgers have no limits. My favorite right now is a burger cooked medium well slathered in homemade barbecue sauce with bacon, avocado, and pepper jack cheese on top of my homemade ciabatta rolls….I may have just drooled thinking about it.
To make a perfect burger you have to have the perfect burger patty. Don’t waste your time buying an expensive burger mold.
Here are 5 Ways to make Perfect Burger Patties!
1. Mason Jar lids. I don’t just use these for my cupcakes but also for my hamburger molds. Cover the lid with a generous amount of plastic wrap allowing extra wrap to hang over the edge. Add the meat. I like to use my knuckles to push the meat in the sides so I get a more even patty. Gently pull the plastic wrap up and maneuver the patty out of the lid mold.
2. An Ice Cream Scoop. When you want a really fat, juicy burger this is the way to go. Spray or coat your scoop with a little bit of oil and dig into your meat. Make sure you level it off at the top of the scoop so your burgers will be uniform. You can also use a spatula to gently push them down to a flatter patty.
3. A Cookie Cutter. They sit in your cupboard for months out of the year. This is a great way to utilize them. Find a round cookie cutter shape (unless you want to get crazy with your patty shapes!) and put down plastic wrap, add your meat and lift the cookie cutter off of the patty.
4. A shallow bowl. Look for a bowl just a bit larger than your hamburger bun as the meat shrinks as it cooks. I like to use one of my plastic Tupperware bowls that stay even on the sides. Line it with plastic wrap and pack your meat in. Fold over the excess wrap so you can pack the burger in the bowl. Lift the plastic wrap out with your perfect patty.
5. A cup. This is a great method if you are making sliders or regular hamburgers. Take your meat out of the packaging. Spread a sheet of plastic wrap over it and use your rolling pin to evenly spread out the meat. Remove the plastic wrap and use the cup to cut out the burger patties. It helps to spray or wipe the edges of the cup with oil so that the meat slides right out!
Do you have any other tips you use at home to create the perfect burger patties?
Tupperware’s burger press is awesome! If you google or amazon it looks like the latest model makes 4.5″ burgers. I have a “vintage” press from a flea market which is a little bit smaller. You really don’t need the “keepers” wax paper and ziplocks work just as well! I hate unitask tools, but I’ve been using this to make burgers since I was a kid.
How I solved my dilemma: I like the versatility of ground beef/turkey so I don’t make my patties ahead & freeze. But I really like the convenience of the frozen pre-seasoned patty. My solution–I season the meat, add egg, chopped onion, garlic, whatever. Then I stuff it into a 1 pint wide mouth mason jar, screw the lid on, label and freeze. The morning before burgers for dinner, I take it from the freezer and place in refrigerator. By dinner time it is thawed enough to slide out of the jar, but frozen enough to simply slice as thick as I want. I make my own buns so I use the canning ring to bake each bun in for the perfect size. I have also done this with the 1/2 pint jar when making sliders for a crowd. Times when I don’t want burgers (this is the versatility I demand) I give it a full 24 hours to thaw and then shape into meatballs or brown for whatever I am making. A couple of jars makes a meatloaf. I cannot tell you how much less of a mess, how convenient and how fast the pre-seasoned raw meat is. I buy it in bulk so spending an hour or so to season and freeze is one of the biggest favors I do myself.
I love that mason jar idea! Especially for more than just burger patties! freezing with egg added isn’t any bother to the meat? Thanks!