The Nutty Addition That Will Change Your Hamburgers Forever - Tasting Table (2024)

FAQs

What can I add to hamburger to make it taste better? ›

Peanut butter is great to add to both salty and sweet recipes and works particularly well in spicy meat marinades. When it comes to burgers, mixing a bit of peanut butter into your ground beef adds a salty umami flavor and makes the patty extra moist.

Look for the Perfect Ratio of Meat to Fat

For well-cooked burgers, go with 75% meat to 25% fat, because they'll be cooked longer and you don't want a tough burger. For most people, an 80% / 20% balance is just right. Using a charcoal grill delivers delicious flavor.

Flavor Library

For many of us, the smell of bacon sizzling in the pan or burgers smoking on the grill makes our mouths water. What is it that flavors meat and leaves us craving more? Umami, together with fat, gives meat its irresistible flavor.

Restaurants tend to use a lot more salt than home cooks because they know salt brings out flavor in food. I expect they use freshly ground pepper also. Many are likely to mix their burgers lightly with Worcestershire or garlic powder. Use what tastes good to you.

Worcestershire sauce is effectively an ancient fish sauce (it contains fermented anchovies), so it adds a sort of interesting depth of flavor that enhances the basic beefy taste of what is after all an absurdly basic burger.

The calcium-rich properties of milk react with enzymes in the meat to gently soften the proteins. Whole milk (not reduced fat), buttermilk, and yogurt all get the job done – with a special nod to buttermilk and yogurt for their optimal tenderizing acidity levels.

Fewer burgers are placed on the grill, which somehow results in a hotter, juicier, tastier burger, and the diced white onions are added to the beef patties on the grill as they are cooking, rather than afterwards at the prep table. The cheese has been “tempered” longer to make it meltier as well, Schafer says.

The superiority of restaurant burgers comes down to a combination of high-quality ingredients, expert cooking techniques, and attention to detail. From the selection of meat to the ambiance in which it is served, each element plays a vital role in creating a burger that is simply seductive.

What makes burger King burgers taste so good? ›

Whoppers — and all Burger King burgers, for that matter — stand out compared to other chains given the fact that they're flame-grilled, giving their burgers a distinct smoky flavor.

When you want the flavor of the patty to stand out, go with top sirloin, tri-tip, or knuckle.

Beef tastes great when seasoned with oregano, rosemary, sage, garlic or a combination of these seasonings. Poultry gets an added burst of flavor with spices like paprika, lemongrass and saffron. Fish can be made more flavorful with dry mustard powder, thyme and turmeric.

Adding beetroot to a burger creates a really juicy patty, and works well with a horseradish-spiked mayo, and peppery watercress. Add slices of pickled beet to the top of your burger, or keep it simple with more cooked slices.