How To Cook Without Fancy Gadgets: Burger Press

You want to grill burgers on the barbecue tonight, but you don’t have a fancy burger press? By the end of this post, you will be a burger pressing ninja, astounding your friends with your mad burger making skills.

I am going to give you a little secret here. I don’t use those fancy burger presses. I would not pay a dime for one, when I could have the same thing for nothing.

I am talking about a lid from a giant spice container. I would have recycled the thing anyway, so why not?

How do you get hold of one? Just go to a restaurant and ask about the lid to their spice jars, olive tubs, or pickle jars. All restaurants have them in giant format. They usually end up in the garbage and recycling anyway.

You need something that is circular, (about 4 to 5 inches in diameter,) that costs you nothing. The large format jars have lids that are perfect for the size you need.

Follow me, and I will show you the amazing burger ninja trick:

It all starts with knowing a reputable butcher. I am not talking about the pimply-faced kid at Safeway, or the local supermarket dude with the dirty apron that appears once in a while to re-date the meat on the shelves.

I am talking of your local butcher.

He may be hard to find, but well worth the trouble. Ask him or her to grind up your meat so you can make burgers. If the butcher is worth their seal, they will grind it once through the medium die. (The reason? The texture of the meat. Grind it finer and you end up with something like meatloaf patty.)

Make sure you shoot the shit with the guy as well. He will be more than happy to educate you on different cuts, and will give you some pointers on the best meat to use. Nudge the conversation into scoring some of that peach paper he uses for his meat. You will see why later.

Your meat should look like this:

Portion out your burger meat. If you do not have a scale, just eyeball it. You want 5 to 6 ounce portions. Try to keep them all the same size. Work the meat a little as you roll them into balls to eliminate air pockets inside. Do not mash the meat until it is smooth, or will have a tough burger.

Once you have rolled out all of your balls, set up your lid with a little plastic wrap, and get ready for the secret lost art of of burger pressing.

Cover your lid with plastic so you can easily remove the burger once it is pressed. The plastic can be used over and over until you are finished.

Place your ball in the center of the lid.

You will now have a burger that looks like so:

Now, for the extra ninja-master technique: poke a hole in the center of the burger with your finger.

The reason for poking a hole in the center is so the burger won’t swell up like a meatball when it cooks. The hole relieves the tension of the contracting meat while it cooks, and retains the juiciness. You will have a flat burger for this extra step, and adoring fans who wonder why your burgers are so juicy.

This is what your burger will look like:

Lift the lid up, and gently shake the patty out.

Gently place it on peach paper in your container on the peach paper.

There you have it. You truly do not need a fancy burger press to make your burgerst.

Pork and Beef Burgers

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound pork shoulder, ground medium
• 3/4 pound beef chuck, ground medium
• plastic lid
• plastic wrap
• peach paper

Method:

1. Have the butcher grind the pork and beef together once through the medium grind. Stand and watch him while he does this, shooting the shit. Nothing beats a little comraderie between you and your butcher. The guy is full of knowledge, and is more than willing to pass it off to you.
2. See if you can’t score some peach paper from your new-found friend.
3. When you get home, set up your station. Measure out your meat into balls of 5 to 6 ounces each. The picture above had me do 35 burgers, so you can imagine that was a lot.Make sure to gently work out the air pockets in the balls, but do not overwork the meat.
4. Cover the lid with plastic wrap; place a ball in the center of the lid.
5. Press down and push the meat to the sides of the lid. You want the surface to be even, not lumpy like a badly risen bread.
6. Poke a hole in the center of the burger so your handiwork will not resemble a meatball when you grill it.
7. Gently shake the burger out of your “press” and lay it on the peach paper that is set into a container.
8. Refrigerate your meat until it is ready to cook on the grill. You need at least an hour for the meat to rest. If you just go and cook them right away, they will fall apart.
9. When you cook these burgers, use a seasoning mix like the Montreal Steak seasoning I posted a while back. Use nothing else, and people will almost disbelieve when you tell them there is nothing else in the burger.

Now you have mad ninja burger pressing skills. Use your new-found powers responsibly, and remember – you don’t need a fancy gadget in order to cook!

Special thanks to Nick from Macheesmo for his guidance on this post!

Tagged as: beef, burger, lid, No Fancy Gadget, paper, peach, pork, press, seasoning, system D