Egg in Burger Mix Debate

[Jmccloskey659]

Just started grinding my own burger beef (50% chuck / 50% short ribs), and requesting guidance from the experts on forming the burger patties. Some say add an egg to the mix (approximately 1 pound for 2 burgers), others advise no egg for fear of the “meatloaf transition” (if there is such a thing!). Thanks in advance.

[Jerod Broussard]

I say whatever helps it stay together go for it. Purists never really spoke to me, at least I've never heard them.

[SmokeyGator]

I certainly think that an egg fried over easy ALWAYS makes the perfect burger even better

[HouseHomey]

Please, Just don't do it. However... Meathead has rules... "No rules in the kitchen or bedroom."

No thats out of the way. You paid for quality beef short ribs and shoulder. That's what you want to taste in a burger. Start with that and salt n pepper. You don't need a binder for a burger. Meatloaf and meatballs have other stuff and that's totally acceptable. But please try it with beef and season first. Then make up your mind.

Im begging you please. Just don't do it. Perhaps later you may disagree with me. But first set your index to the beef and then make some changes you think you may like one at a time.

The right bun, a quality beef/mix, proper cooking and season. That is the making of a GREAT BURGER. The other stuff are variables.

post pics please.
Good luck!
HH

[Thunder77]

I have done them both with and without binder material. I like them better without, my wife likes them better with. S a source of family discord.

[lonnie mac]

I would advise no eggs. Just the very fact that adding any binder means that you have to over work the meat to incorporate it. Burgers are handled gently. Without over working the meat, you will yield a great juicy burger that will stand up to itself.

[Mr. Bones]

First time I ever added egg to a burger patty, reckon I was long bout 10-11 yrs old. Got th receipt outta th back of an ol library book on cabooses, hence th appropriate name: "Caboose Burgers".

When I showed th receipt to my Ma, she slightly cocked an eyebrow, but patiently indulged my curiosity, an I made em fer Supper that night (Had some bread crumbs in, as well).

Well, they was jus fine, served up, as writ, with taters, an gravy, on a plate...
I don't rightly reckon I would do em up as a hamburger type sammich, though...
Apples vs oranges, kinda sorta...

[Mosca]

Please, Just don't do it. However... Meathead has rules... "No rules in the kitchen or bedroom."

Perhaps not, but you might need a safe word if you start putting eggs in burger grind.

[phrogpilot73]

Instead of egg, when I last ground my own meat - it was a little lean. So I added some pork fatback. Holy hell did that taste good.

[Frozen Smoke]

No egg for me unless I'm going down the meat loaf road which is a road I need to travel down again soon. I have been known to put diced onion or jalapeno in my burgers. The biggest change in my burgers came when I bought the griddle. Haven't grilled a burger since.

[Nate]

Egg is a gateway additive to your grind.... next thing you know there will be breadcrumbs, then onion, then peppers, then the list goes on and then all of the sudden the next thing you know you are a meatloaf addict and nobody wants to hangout with you at your bbq because of your meatloaf sandwhich problem...

[Spinaker]

Ever since I got the Blackstone, I like to make smash burgers. Your grind would be perfect for that. I like to use Kenji's recipe fro smashers. Make small, golf ball sized meatballs. Don't add and salt or pepper until you have pressed the burgers. If you do this, Kenji says to handle the burger meat as little as possible. Form the smash balls, but you don't need to mix up the meat too much or they will crumble.

I also like to add some pork in the mix as well.

[OSB]

Spinaker this is how i do it as well. I think the less you handle the meat the better before the smash. Cant beat a good Diner Burger w/cheese. I also prefer 5 oz meatball as well.

[grantgallagher]

No egg and no salt in the mix for me. Season right before you put on the grill. I have played around with breadcrumbs and recently replaced them with chicarrones...so good if you need that extra texture.

[Bogy]

I am well aware of the theory that you should handle the meat as little as possible in making burgers. Then I remember the way my grandmother made burgers, the best burgers I have ever had. She owned a cafe and made a lot of them over the years. I could stand beside her, take ground beef out of the same package, fresh from the butcher, pat it out like her, slapping the patty from hand to hand, then put it into the same frying pan, where they were fried in butter. Thin, and delicious, on buns fresh from the bakery. At least her's were delicious, mine were OK. There had to have been something in her skin that I didn't have.