The Kitchn: The key to the juiciest burger patties you'll ever make
Say goodbye to the dry, boring, overcooked burgers you're used to serving. Bid farewell to wondering which ground beef will give you legitimately tasty burgers. There's a new burger in town, and it's the one burger patty to rule them all. Behold, the butter burger.
That's right -- there's grated butter in these burger patties. It still kind of blows my mind every time I think about it, but adding a little fat to the ground beef, forming them into patties, and seasoning with salt is our smart (and easy) new technique for better burgers at home. Those little streaks of butter will keep you from stressing over which beef to buy, and you don't even have to be disappointed when your father in-law asks for his burger well-done (it will still be delicious). These burger patties have renewed my love for grilled burgers.
Yes, add butter to your beef for better burgers
Last fall I bought a local beef share, which left me with 37 pounds of ground beef. While incredibly flavorful, it isn't labeled as sirloin or chuck (two types of ground beef prized for making burgers) -- it's just labeled "ground beef." The type of beef you use for burgers matters, because sirloin has a beefy flavor, while ground chuck has plenty of fat to keep the burgers juicy.
But you know as well as I do that sometimes your butcher has one or not the other, or just has ground beef (especially if you're looking for grass-fed beef). The workaround? Add the fat you seek directly to the meat. Butter is readily available, affordable, and adds moisture and fat to beef -- making for a tender, juicy burger.
Key steps for juicy burger patties
Use cold butter and grate it. The most important part about adding butter to your burgers is making sure it's a similar shape and temperature to the ground beef. For example, cubed and sliced butter left deep pockets in the beef as it cooked out, but I found that cold, grated butter makes for the perfect buttery flavor and texture.
Be gentle when mixing and shaping. Using cold butter and beef will make handling the beef a little bit easier, but you'll still want to avoid over-mixing or being too rough while shaping the patties.
Salt the burgers after shaping. Instead of incorporating the salt into the burger patties, which can draw out moisture and make the patties dry, season the outside of the patties before grilling.
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