Burgers are fast food. It should be noted that among Russians there are a huge number of fans of this type of food, but not all of them understand that delicious burgers can be prepared in their own kitchen from fresh and healthy products.
The main secret of any tasty burger lies in its filling - cutlet. Further, we will consider how to make meatballs for burgers from minced meat, and what points you need to consider when producing this process yourself.
Classic ground beef
First of all, you should consider the classic recipe for minced meat for burgers. As practice shows, it is made on the basis of young beef with spices.
To prepare high-quality meat mass, you need to take 1 kg of beef and pre-process, eliminating all veins and films. The washed meat must be thoroughly dried with a towel and then chopped well with a sharp knife - the ideal size of the cubes should be no more than 2x2 mm. In the minced meat you need to add a small amount of a mixture of ground peppers (to taste), as well as all the desired spices, which should be few, since otherwise the true taste of meat will be interrupted.
After the minced meat is ready, round cutlets of the same size should be formed from it and, after salting, placed on a heated grill for roasting.
Minced meat with breadcrumbs
How to make minced meatball burgers with crackers? To do this, prepare high-quality beef (400 g), process it well, dry it and pass it through a meat grinder a couple of times (you can use a blender). After that, you need to add a chicken egg to the meat component, as well as spices, including ground black pepper (to taste), and 5 tablespoons of well-ground breadcrumbs. After all the ingredients are collected, they need to be thoroughly mixed and formed from the resulting mass of cutlets. After that, each product must be salted and sent to the grill for roasting.
In the reviews of housewives about this technology for the preparation of minced meat for burgers, it is said that cutlets formed from it are best fried in butter - the taste features of the finished products are more clearly revealed.
The recommendations of more experienced chefs say that according to this recipe you can cook the notorious burger from McDonald's, which cutlet has a special taste. In order to make it as similar as possible to that offered by the world-famous food network, add a spoonful of oregano and 20 g of a mixture of equal parts of coriander and caraway to the minced meat.
Minced chicken
A burger with a minced meat cutlet made on the basis of chicken fillet will also taste great if you select and combine all the main ingredients correctly. In order for the chicken cutlet to be very tasty and juicy, you need to take 500 g of chicken breast and removing the skin from it, pass the meat through a meat grinder with large holes. After that, it is necessary to send minced white bread (200 g) passed through the same meat grinder. Now, in the resulting mass, add the desired amount of ground black pepper, as well as other spices, and mix everything thoroughly until a homogeneous mass is obtained.
From the minced meat, you should form the same cakes no more than 1.5 cm thick and fry each of them in a hot pan for 5 minutes on each side. For this process, you can use both vegetable and butter.
Minced pork with onions
The minced meat burgers prepared according to this recipe are very juicy and aromatic. In order for the experiment to prepare them to succeed, you need to use exclusively pork meat, and only the shoulder portion.
To prepare the minced meat, you need to take 800 g of pure meat, remove all the veins that are on the piece, rinse it thoroughly and dry it. After this, the fillet should be passed through a meat grinder and add to it a finely chopped onion head, as well as a tablespoon of French mustard (with grains). In order for the finished burger to have a pleasant spicy aroma, add 1 tsp to the minced meat. thyme and a little black pepper. After mixing the components to a state of uniformity, the mince should be sent to the refrigerator for an hour - thanks to this procedure, the patties will be even more juicy.
After the specified time, you can proceed to the formation of cutlets. It is necessary to fry them on a grill or a hot pan for 5-8 minutes on each side.
Ground beef patties
Housewives who do not like to cook minced meat for beef burgers recommend experimenting by combining this type of meat with other varieties. As an option, you can make cutlets of pork and ground beef.
How to make minced burgers from a combination of beef and pork? To do this, take 300 g of one and the other type of meat and mix them. After this, finely chopped onion, as well as a large chicken egg, should be added to the resulting mass. Now the ingredients must be thoroughly mixed, and only after that introduce 3 tablespoons of pre-sifted flour, evenly distributing it. After mixing the mass again, you need to leave it in the refrigerator for an hour.
After the allotted time has passed, the meat cutlets of the same size should be formed from the meat mass, and then rub each of them with salt and ground pepper. Next, the semi-finished products need to be fried in a hot frying pan using vegetable oil.
Turkey cutlets
From this type of meat you can also cook excellent minced meat for burgers. To do this, take 500 g of clean, well-washed and dried turkey fillet and cut it into very small pieces. To make the meat easier to grind by hand, it can be preliminarily slightly frozen. In the resulting mass, you need to add a glass of flour (you can replace it with a small amount of white bread, if desired), a chicken egg, a couple of finely chopped onions, as well as a spoonful of sour cream and half a glass of milk to make juicy cutlets ready. All the combined ingredients must be kneaded into a homogeneous mass and cutlets of the same size should be formed from it. You don’t need to take ready-to-cook semi-finished products, since even in their pure form they will keep their shape well.
The reviews say that the meatballs cooked using this technology are incredibly juicy and tasty, especially if you fry them in butter. In burgers, they go well with sweet and sour sauces.
Cutlets by James Oliver
This recipe for minced beef burgers will surely win the hearts of many gourmets who prefer delicious homemade food. To prepare the minced meat according to the recipe invented by this famous chef, you need to take 500 g of beef, carefully prepare the meat for cooking, and then chop with a knife into very small pieces. After that, 1/4 cup of light beer should be poured into the meat mass and, adding black ground pepper, mix well. The reviews on this cooking technology often say that when using slightly frozen meat, the prepared cutlets are more juicy and, as a result, much tastier.
From the existing ground beef for burgers, it is necessary to form cutlets of the same size, the thickness of which will not exceed 1.5 cm. Each of them must be salt and fry on a hot grill over high heat (until a crust forms), and then turn over to the other side, reduce heat to medium. Before the end of the cooking process, cutlets on each of them must be put on a slice of cheese.
Which stuffing to use
In the reviews left by housewives about the best recipes for minced meat for burgers, it is often noted that for the preparation of meatballs it is necessary to use only fresh meat. As for its appearance, marbled beef is best suited for this purpose. Of course, if necessary, you can use other types of meat, but in this case it is advisable to observe certain proportions: 80% of the fillet must necessarily account for 20% of fat.
Experienced cooks do not recommend using ready-made minced meat for burger cutlets. This is due to the fact that the most delicious cutlets can be obtained only from textured minced meat, the meat for which was minced independently.
How to shape cutlets
Many housewives are thinking about how to form even and equal-sized meatballs. The secret of beautiful products is simple: for this you need to use a special molding ring, a mug or, for example, a lid from a large can - any round shape will do.
The basic rule of juicy cutlets is their thickness. For the correct product, this indicator should not exceed 1.5 cm. As for the diameter, it should be slightly more than the one that has the bun - during the frying process the meat product will become smaller.
The secret of juiciness
In their reviews of many burger patty cooking techniques, experienced housewives and culinary specialists mention that the main secret of juiciness is the correct storage of semi-finished products from the moment they are formed until the start of the roasting process. You need to do this in the refrigerator, since in a warm environment the minced meat begins to melt and lose its juiciness. As a result, if it gets on the grill, the cutlet will already be dry, which will subsequently affect the quality of the finished product.
To preserve the juice in the product, it must be salted immediately before the start of the roasting process. You do not need to add salt to the minced meat, because as a result of the chemical reaction that occurs between the components in this case, the protein bond between the fibers will be broken, which will make the texture of the finished product dry.
In the process of frying, cutlets do not need to be turned over too often - just twice.
How to assemble a burger
Few people realize that the secret of a juicy and tasty burger lies in the correctness of its collection. In order to make the product as tasty as possible, you must first grease the cut bun with sauce, then lettuce leaves on the bottom of the future product, and only then place the cutlet. This technology allows you to avoid premature soaking flour component of the burger.
There is such a product you need only with your hands in order to feel all its taste features. For convenience, the burger should be turned round side down.
About additional ingredients
As stated in the recommendations of experts in the field of cooking, to prepare the perfect minced meat for burgers, you do not need to use any other ingredients besides high-quality beef and spices. However, if you want to conduct an experiment, you can include eggs, carrots, onions, and even potatoes in the cutlets as you wish.
Also, in separate recommendations, the main trick of making minced meat for burgers is revealed, which allows you to make finished products very juicy. It consists in adding BBQ or Worcester sauce to the meat mass. Thanks to these components, the forcemeat texture will be very viscous, and the cutlet made from it will be incredibly juicy.