Help! I recently started eating meat after being a lifelong vegetarian. I’m having trouble cooking hamburgers. I keep over cooking it because I am afraid of getting sick since it is ground beef. The flavor was great, it wasn’t dry, but once I chewed all the juice out, it just turned into rubber in my mouth, and I had to spit it out. Any tips are appreciated!
by Rflautist
21 Comments
Dry brine your meats will help a lot with making your meat hold on to its juices better as well as last longer in the fridge.
you’re probably just gonna have to get comfortable cooking it a little less, or maybe you dont have enough fat in the mixture? Did you get lean ground beef?
Well for one that thing looks microwaved 😆
You don’t die from rare beef.
There have been more food born illness outbreaks associated with produce than beef over the last 40 years.
Use a thermometer.
Don’t rely on arbitrary times or colors, trust science and measure the temp. Once it hits the safe temp, you are done. Adjust for preference from there.
OP if you’re scared of cooking meat I might suggest a sous vide from amazon. You can look up the exact temps and times you need and just toss the bagged meat in. With a sous vide the window for a perfect cook is a few hours long instead of a few seconds
hi hello, tips for a good burger are: two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions and a sesame seed bun. ☺️
My advice is to try and thinner patty. Thinner is is, the easier it is to cook through quickly without burning the outside and the risk of undercook is much lower because the middle isn’t as insulated. Maybe even try doing a smash burger? Or just keep practicing and slowly pull back on the cook time until you find a comfort zone
Make smaller thinner patty’s from 80/20 lean to fat beef. The fattier beef will have a better texture and juicier when you cook it through. Also don’t pack the burgers hard when you form them or you’ll make them too dense.
How dare you have my childhood plates
Do you have a meat thermometer?
I like to mix in some minced garlic and onion in my burgers sometimes. Add some Worcestershire or a little soy sauce when you season the meat and mix it all together, then as someone else said, make your patty very thin, like way thinner that you’d think. It will cook faster and you wont cook all the juices out trying to keep the middle from being pink.
Also, a tiny bit of color in your burger won’t hurt you! I love a good medium burger.
Purchase A good reliable thermometer like thermapen. Stick in in the side of your burger, directly in the middle. When your thermometer reads 136f, remove the burger from the heat. Allow to rest for 8-10 minutes while you prepare toppings and sides.
Any other method will simply take time, experimentation, and lots of shitty burgers. This will always work.
The simple answer is you’re just over cooking it. It takes practice that is all, definitely get a meat thermometer. I like to remove mine at about 140 degrees and I put a piece of tin foil over it, not wrap, but just lay over it while it rests.
Meanwhile there are dudes out there just crushing raw burger meat and liver 😅
Try 5 minutes on each side over medium high heat and then work from there to find the sweet spot. For example if it’s still overdone try 4 minutes or reduce the heat a smidge
Even just having like 2 burgers per week you will find you feel better and have shorter recovery times compared to being vegetarian (that’s what my sister discovered)
Everyone here is suggesting a thermometer. Which is good advice in general but doesn’t actually solve the problems with dry burgers if you cook yours to well done.
Add to your ground beef what’s called a panade. It’s a mixture of Bread and Milk (one slice of bread and 1/4c Milk, and mash it up) this will help retain moisture while you cook your burgers to a higher temp.
Dont use previously frozen meat
Make sure the meat is room temperature all the way through
Cook it, till it turns from soft to rubbery (to the touch) thats about medium well, slightly pinkish, but still juicy.
Use thermometer for the first few cooks
Let it rest a few mins.
Do smashburgers, they’re basically idiot proof cus you get them so thin.
Let the burger rest for 4 to 5 minutes before biting into it; this allows the patty to relax thus reducing the amount of pressure of squeezing the juices out. The burger will still be hot after resting.
1-use fatty meat
2-salt just before putting it in the pan
3- don’t handle the meat too much. You can salt it and season it if you want but don’t handle it too much if you want it not to get chewy
Edit: smash burgers are certainly better if you’re gonna cook the meat through but you need to make them right. I don’t agree they are foolproof
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|Medium|pink in the middle|145°F|3-4 minutes|7-8 minutes|
This is all you need if you have a thermometer.
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|Medium-Rare|red in the middle|130-135°F|3 minutes|6 minutes|
This is how we like them but you will have to decide as the well done one in the picture does not look like good eats. Congratulations on learning to eat meat. There is no substitute for meat proteins!!!!