How to make an American hamburger
The hamburger can be considered a national dish of America. We Japanese tend to think of it as a hamburger steak sandwiched between bread, but the American hamburger is typically made with 100% beef without any fillers. One of its charms is that it can be prepared quickly as long as you have the ingredients. Here, I will introduce how to make hamburgers at home.
It feels more like making a steak with ground meat rather than a Japanese hamburger.
1: Cut the meat
The ground meat from The H Farm is almost 1 pound per pack. If you divide this into 4 parts, you can make quarter-pound hamburgers.
(In our household, we usually divide it into 1/3, but today for clarity, we will divide it into 4 parts.)
2: Molding
The basic principle for hamburgers is to "knead well," but for hamburgers, you do not mix. Instead, you shape them into balls and flatten them out. The meat will shrink and thicken when cooked, so make them a bit larger to account for that. Do not add salt and pepper at this stage. If you do, the juices will escape while cooking, resulting in a dry patty.
We also sell this kind of "patty press" called a Burger Press or Patty Maker, so it might be convenient to have one. In our home, we have an old type of this burger press.
When you place the meat in the middle and sandwich it, it looks like this.
Cooking paper (parchment paper) or wrap can be used to sandwich the food, and it's easy to press it down with a flat pot bottom or plate. Make sure to flatten it out and avoid any cracks as much as possible.
3: Salt and pepper before grilling
Here, sprinkling other spices makes it delicious as well.
4: Bake
The recommended method is grilling, but a frying pan is also fine. In either case, heat it up before cooking. This will prevent the meat from sticking to the grill or frying pan and losing its shape. Lightly oil the frying pan. Be sure to cover it while cooking.
Using a meat thermometer makes it easy to check the doneness, but it may cause some juices to escape. A good guideline is to cook one side for 5 minutes, then flip it and cook for another 2-3 minutes for medium doneness.
This is a photo taken after baking for 5 minutes before flipping it over.
If you are adding cheese, place it on top of the meat at the end, cover it, and let it sit for about 2 minutes to melt. This time, I tried mild cheddar.
When toasting bread, let's bake it together here (we don't do this at home, but it can prevent juices and ketchup from soaking into the bread).
焼き上がりです！
5: Completed
Complete it by adding your favorite ingredients such as lettuce, tomatoes, and onions. The meat from The H Farm is packed with flavor, so it is delicious enough to enjoy without any ketchup or other condiments! Of course, adding ketchup, mustard, or mayonnaise will enhance the flavor of the meat and make it even more delicious.
This may not be a very nice photo... but it will turn out this juicy pink!
Please enjoy an American-style hamburger.