Let’s talk about beef
It’s one of the key ingredients in a burger, and you can’t make great burgers without great beef.
So, what is great beef?
First of all, it’s got to be fresh. When meat is frozen, it becomes tough and loses its taste. Using never-frozen beef is therefore a no-brainer in our opinion. But, we like our beef as fresh as possible, so we grind it ourselves multiple times per week.
Speaking of grinding, we give our beef a coarse grind. Beef that you buy from the supermarket is usually ground with a thickness of 3 mm, while ours is 5 mm. What difference does the extra 2 mm make? All the difference! It gives the patty the texture of, well, a patty, instead of a meatball. It also helps ensure that the fat melts evenly as the patty is cooking.
Now, when it comes to the cooking, there are a lot of misconceptions. Many believe that you should NEVER press down on a patty when it’s cooking. That’s partly true. When the patty has started to cook, pressing down on it will cause juices and flavor to escape (which you don’t want). But when the meat is cold and first put down on the griddle, you can press it hard. In fact, this has developed into a popular technique called smashing. We smash our patties because it gives them a wonderfully deep and rich flavor through something called the Maillard reaction (it’s a thing, Google it).
Finally, you have to season the patty generously with salt and pepper. Cheese is a must in a delicious burger! A rich and easily melted cheese is a great option. We use Finnish cheddar cheese.
And that is the short version of how you make amazing patties.