Help! my burgers fall apart.

If you are having issues with the size, get a hamburger maker, don't overfill, and press your thumb in the middle when you put them in the pan. That limits their pulling to the center. You'll get there because I know you are a good cook!

 

yes bread crumbs, they bind them nicely although I don't fan fry. In a pan I'd be diligent about smashing them down with a spatula and making sure they were pressed really well before hand. Otherwise, the burger thinks you are making hamburger helper and wants to come apart

 

Sure nice being the silent recipient of all this good advice!

 

+ 1 on a deep dimple in the middle of the burger

 

Lean burgers may be too dry. You might want to add some fat. Throw in some ground pork if you have it.

 

Ranch burgers are awesome, first saw them in a 1950s era BBQ book.

 

Well the stars were aligned right and with the help of my FHC friends, we ate the almost perfect burgers today. I added bread crumbs, some BBQ sauce and Worcester sauce to the meat. Made sure they were 1/4 lbs each, shaped them into patties and remembered to put the dimple in the center. Here they are first put in the pan.



Here they are FLIPPED!!! and still in one piece.



I had the pan set a little lower today so everything didn't stick to the pan. They shrunk up a little bit but not as badly as yesterday. Here is the finished product.



Unfortunately the purchased frozen fries were left too long under the broiler in my excitement over the burgers.

Now that I know I can make patties that will stay together, my next challenge is to try grilling them. That will have to wait until next week. Get out the popcorn while you are waiting.

Thanks everyone for all the good advice!!!

 

Lookin' great WW. That's a tasty looking plate of food right there. To get the burgers to fit the bun just right I always make 'em about a quarter inch in diameter bigger than the bun. Seems to account for the shrinkage in my experience.

ps. I forgot you were in Canada and use the metric system. A quarter inch would be roughly equivalent to.........90 centimeters maybe?

 

No worries my friend!

 

Late to the party on this one -but I don't think your extra ingredients are necessarily causing the problem. Try mixing everything up ~1-2hrs before cooking, form patties, dimple them and put them in a SS bowl (I guess anything would work I just mix in an SS bowl) and refrigerate ...or freezer for a shorter time period.

All the mixing tends to warm the fat content creating a mush instead of a stiff patty. Letting the fat content come back to solid state and binding the extra mix
I always mix stuff in burger meat(when the GF isn't looking or I reserve her a plain one) onions jalapenos minced garlic
I never use egg or bread crumbs - that stuff is for meatloaf

 

There were a couple of suggestions about freezing the patties. I will try that on the next batch.

That would be one BIG patty to cook!!!

 

Works every time

 

Wood widow I found a burger press at lowes like this one http://www.amazon.com/Charcoal-Comp...qid=1406944550&sr=8-9&keywords=burger+stuffer It works great for stuffed burgers or just turn it wround and make the perfect patty just dont forget the dimple in the middle. Looks like your on the right track to some great burgers

 

I got one at Walmart that presses and dimples them. Then we freeze them, makes for good quick meals.

 

Thank you WW.
W/O this thread, I'd have never heard about dimpling my burgers.
Such a diverse amount of knowledge here.

 

Walmart runs a advertisement about their meats. One is a hamburger advertisement that tell about the dimpling. I think it helped a lot of people with the same issues. Chilling is another good hint.