Umami Beef & Pork Burgers

A juicy beef and pork non-traditional burger, filled with umami flavours and breaks all the rules of how you were told a hamburger should be made.

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Hamburgers are simple to make, and can satisfy all sorts of cravings but let’s be honest, there are many ways to enjoy it and everybody has a preference. There’s no such thing as a perfect burger because everyone’s idea of perfection is different. So it’s always good to have options right? Let’s go through the experiments I have been tinkering with and see if we can get your perfect burger! Traditionalist be warned, I have butchered every hamburger rule out there. 😀

 

 

 

BURGER TINKERING

Flavour

Some enjoy their burger with a bit of spice, some like it plain – neither is bad, or wrong as long as you enjoy it. 🙂

 

Pork and beef? Yes! One of the best burgers I ever ate were pork burgers! So I simply had to combine this with beef to see how that turned out. Result? Very juicy beef and pork burgers. You don’t need to even add fat! or use fattier cuts of meat! I have tried using 50% beef/50% pork as well as 70% beef/30% pork both are equally fantastic.

 

Mustard mixed into the beef and pork burgers and not as topping? Yup! When I ate at the Burger Priest I really enjoyed the Jarge-style burger, there’s something about searing mustard into meat that gives it a caramelized flavour. It’s a tough flavour to describe but there’s nothing like it! You can brush it on the burger before searing it or put it right in!

 

I used powdered onion and garlic powder simply because I don’t like biting into chunks of onions and garlic in my burger.

 

You can omit spices or add spices to your preference. If you enjoy a heavier spiced burger go nuts – dill is fantastic in burgers! If you enjoy the flavour of just the meat then go light on the spice.

 

One thing you cannot substitute and I highly recommend not omitting is the miso. Instead of adding salt, I used miso instead which also gives it that nice umami flavour. This is the secret ingredient! 🙂

 

Neat Tidbit : Want a burger that won’t fall apart during cooking?

I know a traditionalist would kill me for saying this but I’m going to say it anyways because it’s always nice to have options 😛 “You can salt your burger meats ahead of time!” When salt is mixed into the meat, it actually breaks down the proteins and creates a burger that is less likely to fall apart during cooking.

 

Texture

I like my burger with a bit of a bouncy give. I like to feel that chew when I bite into a burger and I know most people enjoy a more crumbly melt in your mouth burger but I find that too soft. So I experimented with the dumpling meat method to give my burger a bit of a chew.

 

The dumpling method is to over mix the meat, mix it in one direction for a long period of time and you get a tougher and bouncier textured meat. (you must think I’m crazy because every single recipe out there tells you never to over work your meat, and I am doing the complete opposite right? I know I thought I was insane too.) I used a stand mixer and mixed it for about 5 minutes on medium speed.

 

The result is a burger with a bit of a give that holds together very well. It doesn’t fall apart and it isn’t tough or dry. We can thank the pork for that.

 

Adding an egg to my beef and pork burgers gave it the smooth buttery texture. Feel free to omit the egg, as this will not change the flavour of the burger.

 

My Findings in Short:

Stand Mixer – Firmer textured burger, with a bouncier texture. Burgers hold very well together. Stay away from this if you want a burger that will fall apart in your mouth.
Manually Mix by Hand – Softer burger and slightly crumblier texture.

Adding an Egg – Smoother buttery textured burger.
No Egg – Slightly crumblier textured burger.

Salt – If you mix the salt into the meat and let it sit for 15-30 minutes ahead of time, it makes it more tacky and less likely to break apart during cooking.

 

 

INGREDIENTS

All ingredients can be found at your local grocery store. If miso is harder to find, than you can usually find it at your local Asian grocery store or specialty food stores.

 

 

For the meat, we used extra lean beef and extra lean pork and it still came out juicy so if you decide to use fattier ground meats – it can only get juicier from there. 🙂 An experiment that I plan to test out for fun in the near future is grinding my own meats for this as well! I’ll keep this post updated for new findings but in the mean time if you decide to grind your own meats, let us know how it turns out for you! 🙂

 

Update 07\25\17: Found this out the hard way! haha Do not use extra lean pork. This will produce a very dry and tough burger. The pork should be somewhat fatty to give the burger that juiciness.

 

Toppings

I find that keeping the toppings simple is best, however you can fancy it up with caramelized onions and mushrooms or fancy mustards and mayo if that’s what you are feeling that day! 🙂

 

 

PUTTING IT TOGETHER

These beef and pork burgers are made on a cast iron pan skillet. I found that the cast iron holds a nice heat to give it that nice browning. You can use a non stick pan as well but you may need to turn the heat up higher. I have not tried this on a BBQ yet.

 

Let’s Steam!

We are going to steam the burgers mid point. (Wait wha? Are you serious? you ask.) Yes! I told you we were breaking every burger rule in the book! 😀 You ever notice when you go to diners that they cover your burger in metal bowl with a squirt of water while cooking it? Yes it helps melt the cheese but it also helps the burger cook more evenly as well! When you omit the steaming, I found that outside of the burgers were cooked well done but the middle was always ‘softer’ from not being cooked as hot all the way through. Steaming fixed this problem and gave the burger a nice even texture all the way through.

 

Flippy Flip Flip!

To get that nice brown crust, you want to touch the burgers as little as possible. You only need to flip the burger once – 2 times max.

 

Holey Burgers?

To prevent your burgers from curling up, poke a hole in the middle! 🙂

 

 

Alright, let’s do this! (Use the notes above to adjust the flavour and texture of the burger to your preference.) The recipe below will show you the method to get a juicy, burger with a bit of a bounce.

 

 

Who wants a burger? 🙂

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