For best cooking results, refrigerate patties for at least 1 hour before frying or grilling. Top with your favorite dipping sauce. Enjoy!
So start saving those lids. You never know when you’ll need the perfect hamburger patty. Enjoy!
Have you ever walked by the butcher case at your local grocery store and noticed how perfectly uniform the hamburgers they sell are? I have. A few months ago my sister and I were walking through Whole Foods and there was a man forming the perfect hamburger patties in this thingamajig in the meat department. As I watched him for a few seconds I found a sudden urge to know exactly what that thing was he was. Because what home cook wouldn’t want their patties to look as good as Whole Foods? So I said, “I would love to know how to make perfect burger patties.” He seemed surprised I would even be interested. Before telling me what tool he was using to form patties, he joked that if I wanted one it would cost me $20. Say what?! Then he looked at me, smiled and chuckled.
Although you could easily buy a hamburger press, I for one will gladly use a lid -I only have a drawer full of them. What’s also great about using lids is you can find the lid that best suits the size of your hamburger buns. For instance, if you wanted to make mini-sliders, use a small tupperware or canning lid. Pretty simple, huh?
Here’s my conclusion – if I didn’t know you could make uniform hamburger patties with a stinkin’ lid, chances are you didn’t know either. So here’s your chance to make your burgers look perfect like the ones you get in restaurants. It’s so simple yet so brilliant. Say goodbye to jagged edges. In the words of my two daughters, “Reduce, Re-Use, Recycle, Re-think.” This technique would work great with forming veggie patties and crab cakes too.
Forming Burger Patty Hack
How do you make a Good Burger patty?
Adding more fat to the patty only helps dry beef, and smashing should be saved for special occasions (and the stovetop). Even if you can’t hack a burger press with two container lids, you can make a better burger patty by keeping your beef cold, shaping it quickly, and salting it just before cooking.
How do you fill a mold with meat?
Since your mold will likely be slightly tapered – as mine is – put the narrower end facing down on your work surface. Then, press the meat gently so that it completely fills the mold with no gaps. Press as gently as you can while still achieving this.
How do you shape a burger patty?
Most buns are around three inches, so a four-inch patty is a good starting point. If new to patting out burger patties, remove the guesswork by tracing the desired sized circles onto parchment paper before shaping. Senior Editor Summer Miller created a clever method for shaping burger patties: Start with a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Can You Make your own burger patty?
Instead, you can make your own clean, homemade burger patties just using ground beef (or turkey!) and your hands. This puts YOU in control of the quality of the meat, as well as any additional ingredients. In reality, you can make a good burger patty with NO binders or additional ingredients at all—just meat!