Totally Homemade Burgers
I have a special affection for a good hamburger. While it is awfully nice to get a brilliant burger made for you, such as one from the Texas Monthly’s Top Burger list, I am especially fond of making them at home. And I mean totally make them at home – grind the beef, make the bun, and even make the condiments. If you are a gardener (or live next to one as we do), you can have your lettuce and tomato homemade as well!
The only ingredients here are the beef chuck, and generic condiments, and links to the other recipes, so the nutritional information will be a shy of actually caloric intake (namely, the bun), but it will be easy enough to estimate.
Totally Homemade Burgers
Making the burger is step three or four, after making the buns and condiments, but many would say is the most critical. Time here is just for the burger, not the other components.
Equipment
- Meat grinder, meat grinder attachment for stand mixer, or food processor.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs beef chuck
- 4 quick and easy burger buns https://thebusygentleman.com/quick-burger-buns/
- 4 tsp mustard https://thebusygentleman.com/mostly-quick-yellow-mustard/
- 4 tsp mayonnaise
- 4 tsp ketchup https://thebusygentleman.com/ketchup-from-skratch/
- 1 tomato
- 4 leaves lettuce
- 4 slice onion Optional
- 4 slice cheddar cheese Optional
- 16 slice pickles Optional
Instructions
- Trim off some of the fat from the chuck, and if you find any silver skin you can find. Don't fret about it much, as it will be getting ground, but any silver skin you can remove works towards a more tender burger.
- Cube the meat. I find about 1 inch cube works well for my KitchenAid meat grinder. With a large bowl under the grinder and wearing an apron – you will get some meat flakes/juice shot out at you if you are grinding it – grind the meat. If you are using a food processor, break up the meat into about four batches and pulse until ground, trying to avoid over excess mincing.
- Form into 6 oz burgers. A normal chuck roast will give you at least 6-10 burgers. I find it easier to weigh the total ground beef, then dividing it up into equal portions of about 6 oz, rounding up or down based on total. Personally, I don't like going to 8oz, just too much, and under 4oz feels like a slider, but those are entirely personal biases.
- Cover and chill the burgers for at least 30 minutes. I like to individual wrap the ones I am not using that afternoon/evening, and then adding them to a ziplock to store for future use.
- Season the ones you are cooking with salt and pepper. Get a pan, preferably cast iron, screaming hot. Place the burgers in the pan and start your timer. Slice the buns and either warm them or lightly toast them.
- Back at the meat, I aim for a medium rare, which usually means about 4 minutes on the first side and about three on the other side. If using cheese, I like to add it about a minute before talking them off and letting it finish melting as the burgers rest for about 5 minutes on a tented plate or in a slightly warmed oven (think over 100°, but under 150°).
- I like to mix my condiments to get my own "special sauce", putting a little on the inside of both bun pieces. I like to put lettuce and onion (if using) on the bottom, burger then tomato and sometime a little more lettuce on top.
Nutrition
Serving: 6ozCalories: 426kcalCarbohydrates: 5gProtein: 38gFat: 28gSaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 137mgSodium: 619mgPotassium: 727mgFiber: 1gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 566IUVitamin C: 6mgCalcium: 172mgIron: 4mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
