Forget Burger King’s $200 hamburger. Again, Costco has the best hamburger meat. Just make sure you buy fresh hamburger meat in their butcher department and not the frozen hamburger meat. Every time Costco makes fresh hamburger meat (ground in the store), they test the fat content to make sure that there is consistently no more than 8% fat.
Fresh hamburger meat is also safer than frozen hamburger patties made in large packing plants (E. Coli Path Shows Flaws in Beef Inspection, by Michael Moss, NY Times, October 3, 2009). The New York Times article states that Costco is one of the few big producers that tests trimmings for E. coli before grinding.
You can make your own hamburgers or for the same price, you can buy them already made. They put the hamburger meat in plastic sleeves and cut it with a knife so it isn’t compacted by a machine which makes the hamburgers less juicy. Making it this way, it tastes the same as if you made it yourself.
The best way to make hamburgers is on the BBQ and the correct way to make hamburgers on the BBQ is:
- Put the hamburger on the grill and leave it there (don’t play with it!!! and don’t press on it with a spatula!!!);
- Do not turn over the hamburger until you see blood at the top;
- Cook for a shorter period of time on the second side, until desired.
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I like to make fried onions with my hamburgers. To make Phil’s famous hamburgers with fried onions, chop Vidalia onions or sweet onions and fry in a pan with a small amount of butter or oil. After the onions start to brown or even burn just slightly, add a small amount of water and stir until the onions are evenly browned. Let the water boil out and your onions are done.
For hamburger buns, I use potato buns, Thomas’s English muffins or corn rye bread. Corn rye is like rye bread, but is much heavier and has a slightly sharper taste. To me, corn rye is like cake. It can be very difficult to find corn rye bread, which is only available at a very few local bakeries.
[…] First, I have to admit that I’m very weird when it comes to food. The only vegetables I ever eat are raw carrots and broccoli but only in Chinese food with brown sauce. I used to eat hamburgers 2-3 times per day! I even put a BBQ in my kitchen to make burgers for the winter or when it rains and I make great hamburgers. […]