I've read lots about ways to keep burgers juicy before you cook them: use bacon in the mix, add extra fat, a pat of butter etc.
If I cook a burger to the correct food safe temp can I just inject it afterwords with a little melted butter / bacon grease etc?
Sounds easy. Of course with a very clean syringe... Would this work?
I suppose. I like to sear HOT, so hot that you can't finish them uncovered. You then wrap tightly in foil and take to finishing temp in the oven or indirectly on the grill.
I think what ever you decide on it should go in the mix before hand. Any of the fats you mentioned should work. I’m experimenting with injecting gelatin into lean beef cuts before smoking them. I’ve not tried adding a bit to hamburger.
Large Big Green Egg, Weber Performer Deluxe, Weber Smokey Joe Silver, Fireboard Drive, 3 DigiQs, lots of Thermapens, and too much other stuff to mention.
I cook A LOT of burgers. I don’t add any extra fat. I start with 80/20 or better. [Edit: “better” means fatter, not leaner. 75/25 is better, 95/5 has its uses but that isn’t burgers.] I use a thermometer. (Even though I got this, I use a thermometer because if there’s even the slightest amount of pink in Mrs Mosca’s burger, she gives me a look and puts it in the microwave for a minute. That bugs me, so I temp check her burger, every time.)
If you pull them at 160°-165°, they will be well done, but still very juicy.
Understand that this means you will be adding the cheese to cheeseburgers around 140°-145°. That last 20° moves pretty fast, and 170° and up is McDonald’s territory. [Second edit: that is assuming American cheese. If you are using cheddar or Swiss, or Gouda etc., it takes longer to melt, and you might want to put it on sooner.]
If you’re doing smashburgers, just smash ‘em. They’ll tell you what to do, it is pretty obvious. They’re all about the crust, not so much the juice.
Last edited by Mosca; November 14, 2022, 10:27 AM.
My wife has difficulty with swallowing. You would think that a thick juicy burger would be easier for her to swallow. But what she loves is my smashburgers, thin burgers with a crispy surface and edges. I don't bother checking temp, because it's obvious when they are done. This has become our go to.
Thanks all. Everything makes sense it's just that when I cook them to temp 160-165 they seem dry even though I use 80 /20
and the much of the cheese/butter, leaks out (I often do bacon wrapped cheese stuffed ones) . I'm really careful. Everyone loves them but maybe it's just me. Just wondering about post cook injecting...Maybe it would just taste like a Salisbury steak from my high school cafeteria instead of a burger
The fact that you are stuffing them may be the culprit. Try this - make two burgers side by side. Make one stuffed and the other just a patty. Cook to the same temp and see if there is a difference.
Interestingly, I find a thinner burger - cooked fast over high heat - to be moister than a thick burger cooked slower to medium rare.
I wouldn’t say that when I am making a single (non-smash) burger just for myself, that I have never done it medium rare. But that doesn’t mean that a 160° burger can’t be juicy, either.
Only salt your patties right before you cook them and when mixing/forming your patties be gentle. Try not to mash and over mix so that there are small air pockets throughout your mix and patties. And what everyone else said!
I have been coming back and looking at this burger all day, Its killing me!!!!! That may be THE most appetizing burger I have ever seen and I must have one….
As for injecting after cooking, I'd be concerned about getting whatever you are injecting distributed evenly throughout the burger. It would seem to me that the cooking process would aid in distributing fat more evenly throughout. I'd try a fattier mix (i.e., 75/25%).
A great way to get consistently moist and perfectly cooked burgers is to sous vide them, if you are so inclined. It's foolproof and every one them is just the same as the other ones.
If not cooking outdoors, I am cooking on the stovetop with my 14" carbon steel wok, 12" CI skillet, or in the oven with my two Lodge CI pizza pans, or two dutch ovens. I've also got a nifty Lodge carbon steel grill pan that rocks for veggies outdoors.
It may seem counter intuitive, but I am finding that smash burgers - smashed thin and griddled hot with a nice crust - seem to stay more moist for some reason than a much thicker "steak house" burger grilled in the conventional way. Especially as leftovers. My 28 year old son agrees, as he used to always complain about leftover burgers being too dry to eat, but the smash burgers reheat much better. Not sure why. Maybe on the griddle more of the juice stays in the burger, and the sear seals it in, versus dripping out through the grates?
My son, having experienced this, recently got a large cast iron griddle to use on top of the grates of his Weber gas grill - it was much cheaper than buying a standalone griddle like I have here.
I will also jump in there on the stuffed burger. If you stuff it with cheese, and you are temping it to 160 or 165, are you temping the CHEESE or the MEAT? Think about it - you have thin meat over an inner core of cheese. By the time that cheese gets to 160 or 165, the meat that is on the outer layer is likely much higher (and drier). I'm with the others - try a stuffed and unstuffed burger. Also, if they are thick, pull them before 160, and let carry over cooking take them the rest of the way.
Attjack I've got a 6 burner Camp Chef that has a soft cover. Can't cover it until it is fully cooled down... I usually scrape it clean right away, but cannot cover it until it is cool. So yeah - I'm not standing at the grill for 30 minutes, but gotta wait 30-60 minutes before I can cover it. That is where a hard cover would be nice.
Yup, with Attjack & Mosca , my smash burgers come out tasty, crispy & moist. I never did hear of anybody injecting a burger. Smash em, ya want em thick, stack em!
Last edited by FireMan; November 16, 2022, 12:07 PM.
Exactly, I always stack them. That puts cheese in between as if they were stuffed. If you like bacon on your burger or whatever else, you can stick that between the patties as well.
Large Big Green Egg, Weber Performer Deluxe, Weber Smokey Joe Silver, Fireboard Drive, 3 DigiQs, lots of Thermapens, and too much other stuff to mention.
Right before I put my burgers on the heat, I salt the … out of them. Salt them like you mean it, both sides. You can also do garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, whatever, but those are nuances. The important part is the salt, and when you do it. Not the night before, not an hour before, not mixed in as you are making the patties. Right before grilling. I use Morton’s kosher, or Maldon sea salt. (I like using the Maldon sea salt because I have it in a little salt keeper on the counter, and it makes me feel like Fancy French Chef Guy when I sprinkle it through my fingers.)
If I learned any one burger secret, that is the one. In fact, it is the steak secret, too, but I do steaks a few hours before grilling.
Smashburgers. Awesome. But try this: after you’ve made them a dozen times in a row, try a regular burger. There’s a reason that son of a gun has been the standard for over a century. It’s freaking fantastic.
Well, really, that’s why any of us use the Maldon’s - pretending to be Fancy French Chef Guy. Also agree how good a classic thickburger is after a few rounds of smash burgers
This is important ^^^. Do NOT ever mix in salt - or salt way in advance - it changes the consistency of the ground beef. Pulls out moisture and makes it more dense due to breaking down proteins, making the meat stick together tighter. You want this for a sausage stuffed in a casing, but do not want it for a tender/juicy burger.
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