Food

Out of context: Reply #1416

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  • Continuity20

    All right.

    You may recall this time last year, I experimented with adding powdered gelatine to burger patties, and it was an unqualified success, having settled on a sweet spot of 2g of gelatine to 145 g of beef mince. Here's that post: https://www.qbn.com/reply/410438…

    ephix and — separately — Nairn both asked me if this could be done with smash burgers. My thought at the time was, 'probably no' — simply by virtue of the fact that I felt that, with a smash burger, one would expel just entirely too much juice in the smashing for gelatine to even matter. Nonetheless, I was curious enough to want to experiment further.

    Nearly one year later, it's Saturday night, I've had some cider, and I'm in the mood for some smash burgers.

    So, here is that experiment.

    Very similar to the first experiment, here's the protocol:

    • 3 burgers, all have identical amounts of beef by weight.
    • The beef is standard supermarket 80/20 beef.
    • The first burger contains no gelatine. This is the control sample.
    • The second burger contains 0.5 g of gelatine (had to bust out the jeweller's scales for this).
    • The third burger contains 1 g of gelatine.

    Cooking protocol is identical for all three. Screaming hot pan, Ball down and smash, season with salt and pepper, flip after 50 seconds, cheese, remove after 50 seconds on the second side.

    CAVEAT: If you tried adding gelatine to meatballs or burgers, you will know that rendered gelatine in a hot pan is as sticky as cyanoacrylate glue, and one _does_ leave some crust behind in the cast iron frying pan, no matter how well-seasoned it is. If you tried with smash burgers, you'd leave half the burger behind. As such, and knowing this, I opted for my large non-stick, which made me feel filthy. As it should. I'm sorry.

    So here we go, the cooking.



    It unfortunately doesn't show here very well, but the first thing I noticed off the bat after 50 seconds and a flip is that each successive burger's crust was darker than the previous burger's. I kind of expected this.

    Assembly time. Each burger is built identically, the same way I always do with smash burgers:

    • Basic, flavour- and nutrition-free supermarket hamburger bun — this time with sesame seeds!
    • Buns toasted in butter in the frying pan.
    • Dijon mustard on the top bun.
    • Kewpie mayonnaise on the bottom bun.
    • Pickles on the bottom bun.

    And now ... the results!

    BURGER 1 (control sample)

    Look, it's a homemade smash burger made with 80/20 chuck, cheese, mustard, mayo, and pickles on a sesame seed bun. And unless you're an abject, catastrophic failure in the kitchen, this is going be better than any fast food joint burger you'll stuff in your gob, ever. It's the stuff dreams are made of, and it's been my go-to burger for months.

    BURGER 2 (0.5 g gelatine)

    Hm. I'll be honest, I came away disappointed ... partly. As far as the crust and juiciness compared to the control sample, it was a bit crustier and a bit juicer, but just not enough to justify busting out my jeweller's scales. This amount of gelatine barely moves the levelling up needle, except ...

    ... I could detect a faint — _very_ faint — flavour of grilled steak. Interesting.

    BURGER 3 (1 g gelatine)

    OH MY FUCK.
    This got me _really_ excited. It took me everything I had to not wolf this beautiful thing down in one. I had to do my utmost to take my time and consider all of its facet, so that I could provide you, Reader, with a meaningful write-up on it. This was a crusty, juicy piece of godliness sandwiched in bread. The crust was basically beef candy — crunchy-chewy, and just so fucking satisfying. The umami was off the charts. And — most exciting of all — that hint of charcoal-grilled steak flavour from Burger 2 was full-on in Burger 3. No exaggeration. I have no idea why this happened, and I actually don't care. This was burger. Fucking. Heaven.

    Holy shit.

    Continuity 20Permalink
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    • Verdict:
      Will I throw 1 g of powdered gelatine in my smash burger patties from now on?
      FUCK YES.      Continuity
    • Amazing stuffmaikel
    • Fascinating. I’ve got similar results from a teaspoon of baking soda mixed in 5 minutes before cooking. Helps it retain moisture, tenderizes and crusts.monospaced
    • ** 1/2 tsp baking soda for 1lb beef.
      I’m definitely trying gelatine. Is it powdered? What’s the method?      monospaced
    • Crazy that .5g of gelatine made such a difference from 2 to 3.
      Must try this!      Akagiyama
    • @mono Basically, all I did was sort of break up the beef, sprinkle the gelatine as evenly as I could on it, then form the ball. Really not much else to it.Continuity
    • @Aka I was surprised too, but I guess there's a threshold below which one is just wasting one's time.Continuity
    • Mmmm ... looks so good.
      Love a good burger.      Ramanisky2
    • I read this in my head as though babish (from binging with babish) was talking! Kewpie mayo for the win!! And what if you add more gelatine????cruddlebub
    • Thank you for your service.palimpsest
    • @cruddlebub Ha! Oh no, I've gone Babish!
      As I discorvered in the previous experiment, you can have too much of a good thing. The third burger I made then ...      Continuity
    • ... was just *too* rich and heavy, to the point of distraction from the beef itself. I mean ... by all means, try it, but I think it would be a bit much.Continuity
    • @pali Happy to serve!Continuity
    • Science, bitch!mort_
    • @mono I'm still thinking about your baking soda method. Doesn't it make the meat taste a bit alkaline?Continuity
    • Very nice experiment, I'll try it this week. Thanks for sharing!OBBTKN
    • OBBTKN let us know how it turns out! I'm a bit afraid I simply got lucky, and my results don't reproduce themselves.Continuity
    • Baking soda adds a bit of saltiness but it doesn’t taste bad. Try it :)monospaced
    • Hm hm, I think I will, actually, sounds interesting.Continuity
    • this is amazing, once again you da man! one question, 80/20 beef just means the lean to fat ratio or is it 80/20 beef/pork ratio?_niko
    • Thanks, niko!
      No no, lean to fat beef ratio.
      Beef/pork combos I use for things like biftekia and Japanese Hambagu. :D      Continuity
    • well I know what I'm having later :)Nutter
    • nice to know!ephix
    • I’ve used gelatin in my meatloaf and meatballs for years but never considered it for burgers. Trying tonightmisterhow
    • Respect for this level of experimentation. The method, the photos, the results. Well done!stoplying
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