I just can’t get any descent flavour into my burgers. They just taste, well, of nothing. Unsure if it’s the very little/no salt I add.

Any full proof recipes?

You need salt and pepper. I put some paprika in as well.

You need a bit of fat as well, don’t get the leanest mince. I use the 10-15% fat stuff.

Fat is flavour.

Decent meat plus lots of salt and pepper, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion flakes/powder and i quite like chipotle flakes for a no too spicy, but flavoursome kick.

smoke/burn and fat is the flavour.

If you aren’t grilling on a fire/charcoal etc then add some El Avion smoked hot paprika into the burger mix (I order it online, it is 100 times better than the overpriced, weak, dry and crappy overpriced Schw*** or UK supermarket branded stuff) . Top tip – order bulk, ie 5 or 10 tins, then keep some and give others as gifts.

That, or a little mesquite/liquid smoke if you’re odd and don’t like paprika. Don’t forget seasoning to taste.

All the above really. Salt and pepper are an absolute must (smoked salt if you’re feeling really classy), garlic powder and onion powder too. I tend to mix pork and beef in one burger, more of the latter than the former, and that works well.

Salt, pepper and a bit of mustard powder works for me. Also get some char on the burger.

I’m seeing a theme.

Have pretty much cut out all salt from our diet/cooking as we eat the same food as the kids but some things just don’t taste right.

Well, salt it is. Love the Paprika idea as well. Will be firing up the BBQ tonight, nom nom.

You need decent, properly aged beef, with at least 20% fat. Choose a cut that has flavour anyway, such as short rib, and get your butcher to mince it coarse. It needs to be properly seasoned, and if the beef is good you don’t need anything more than salt and pepper. If you have a decent butcher, ask for some bone marrow. Add a couple of ounces per lb of beef, either finely diced or minced in with the beef.
Mix the ingredients in a bowl, then divide into 1/4 lb balls, form them into patties and press your thumb down in the middle to make an indent. The dent stops them “balling up” when cooking.

Use a proper griddle, or a heavy based frying pan, and heat it ’til it changes colour. Don’t add any oil. Put the burger on the griddle and leave it for a couple of minutes to sear and char on the outside. Don’t touch it until two minutes have elapsed. Flip it over and repeat. After the other side has done two minutes, press down with a spatula and let the juices run out and smoke on the griddle for another thirty seconds, flip, repeat and serve.

I get the 20% fat mince from tesco, add salt, pepper and mustard powder. Works for my troops.

Lakeland flog a burger press – weigh each patty out to ensure consistency

Another decent recipe, not for everybody though, is venison breast and various trimmings mixed with 25% pig cheeks, fat included, or pigs head meat. Again, you need to know a decent butcher or wholesaler.

Again, same method of cooking as in my post above, but I found smaller three ounce patties worked better on a proper burger bun and served “a la Big Mac” with ketchup and burger mustard, pickled gherkin slices, chopped onion, shredded lettuce and burger relish.

liquid smoke if you’re odd

Find out whatever weird stuff McDonalds put in the ‘Big Tasty’ burger that makes you belch gruesome wet-smoke-taste for about 8 hours afterwards. 🙂

My local restaurant mixes Stornoway blackpudding into their burger patties.

Not to be That Guy who shouts “bacon” on the third post of any vegetarian thread, but these are great:

Easy Grillable Veggie Burgers

(I used kidney beans instead of black beans though.)

bookmarked to make for mrs b

Oh my, keep them coming.

Blitz some bacon down and mix through the burger, along with all sorts of whatever you have – mustard, paprika, garlic…

I’ve made a good punchy burger sauce with mayonnaise, ketchup, siracha, mustard, smoked paprika, diced gerkhin and capers, garlic, herbs (mint works well), honey, S&P and loosened off if too thick with a touch of good olive oil

“a la Big Mac” with ketchup and burger mustard, pickled gherkin slices, chopped onion, shredded lettuce and burger relish.

Thats not a big mac.

Did these Thai lamb burgers before and they were lovely

http://www.food24.com/Recipes/Spicy-Thai-lamb-burger-20110816

Also, top tip, to get nice uniform burger shape, get the screw lid of a really large jar, square of cling film pressed into lid, burger mix in, cling film folded over the top, press down and cut cling film. Make day before so spices get time to work.

cheese. lots of cheese. mix it in with the meat.

Another vote hear for adding bacon into the mix. I was in america recently and found in a store they make their own burgers with bits of hickory smoked streaky bacon chopped up into it. Think stamp sized pieces and then chunks of cheddar as well. They were amazing and definitely what I’ll be doing next. Course ground chuck steak is good if you can get it, otherwise 20% steak mince and decent seasoning as had been said.

Have pretty much cut out all salt from our diet/cooking as we eat the same food as the kids but some things just don’t taste right.

You do know that your body needs salt?

A small amount is perfectly OK. It the huge amounts of the crap stuff they put in processed food. Not good at all.

I used to work with a bloke who put salt on gammon steak. 😯

Tried and tested:

Pork Mince
Beef Mince
Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Dash of orange Juice
Orange peel grated finely
Smoked Paprika
Chilli flakes
Weetabix (to aid binding)
Egg (to aid binding)

The flavours are unreal !!!

[/img]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q84nfWkLsYU[/video]

Take your pick.

http://bbqpitboys.com/burger-recipes

https://www.youtube.com/user/BarbecueWeb

Mock all you like, but everyone chez long loves this Jamie Oliver (yes, I know) recipe:
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef-recipes/insanity-burger/

A dessert spoon of Dijon mustard in the mix makes all the difference!

The amount of salt that you need to put into a burger is frankly scary the first time you do it. Keep cooking off tiny parts of the mixture as you add the salt until you get the seasoning right. Just remember that it’s generally the salt you add at the table that will cause you problems not the salt you use when cooking.

If you really want to reduce your salt intake then spice is what you need. Things like cayenne pepper can be used in place of salt if you’re careful.

https://www.amazon.com/Weber-Grill-Gourmet-Burger-Seasoning/dp/B001EPQPKE

In a qulaity burger the meat should give plenty of taste, so use better quality meat. If not you may as well just use quorn.

I’ve never added salt (or slat in any cooking) and my burgers taste like burgers.

salt, pepper, 1 large onion finely chopped 100ml stout for 1kg beef, don’t mix it too much. cooked medium rare on charcoal grill.

none of this fake seasoning shite , egg, garlic or paprika etc . I am right and you are wrong.

Thats a tasty burger 🙂

(tongue firmly in cheek but its my favourite anyhow)

Add Anchovies. Seriously.

j5kol

The flavours are unreal !!!

Intrigued – am going to add those things to my Granose soyburger recipe (which already tastes good I have to say)

Currently just adding egg, black pepper, smoked paprika and marmite. PS this is not a snarky wind-up for meat lovers 🙂

In the pub, good quality fatty beef from the moo cows up the road, salt, pepper and a dollop of mustard. Nought else.

At home a combination of the above suggestions with the exception of this

j5kol – Member

Weetabix (to aid binding)
Egg (to aid binding)

pervert.

FunkyDunc – Member

I’ve never added salt (or salt in any cooking)

I never used to either, but we can all learn from our mistakes. 🙂

I always find my burgers fall apart more than ready bought ones. Even if I squish them as hard as possible (by hand, not using a press)

I add binding to help sometimes (bread/egg)

Often the ingredients on nice ones are meat/salt/pepper so they’re not adding any binding

They only fall apart on the BBQ grill though, not in a pan or similar. Any tips?

I used to have that problem.

Got a burger press and it helps. Also use one of those burger holders.

When mixing them up use as light a touch as you can. If you are heavy handed it will end up as a lump. You can squish together lightly at the end but that is all

As scapegoat says, squish the middle with you thumb to prevent it balling up

No salt in the mix, but just before cooking put loads on the outside. Pepper as well if you like. Just as you would with a steak. Salt in the mix can tend to dry it out a little

For top marks actually make two thinner burgers then stuff Roquefort between them 🙂

…and, now I know what I’m making for dinner

Any tips?

tablespoon of breadcrumbs
dimple in the middle to keep it flat
beer for juicyness (burgers not you)
chill for an hour (burgers not you)

Any tips?

Make sure the fat content is high enough and make your burgers in advance.

Even if I squish them as hard as possible (by hand, not using a press)

I’ve got some cooking rings, I think they’re for poaching eggs but they’ve never seen an egg as I got them for making crumpets. They’re dead handy for squashing burgers together without them splurging everywhere.

If you’re simple like me, just crumble Wensleydale into the mix.