How much salt is contained in a pound of ground beef?
There are graphic images of burgers being smashed, cut, tortured, and destroyed in this article.The material is not suitable for children, pregnant women, or people who show compassion for ground beef.
I don't want to get any comments along the lines of "ugh, why are all those burgers?"I want you to know that this week, I'm going to give more coverage to medium-and-beyond burgers, because several readers requested it.It's for you guys.
Take a look at the two burgers below and tell me which one you prefer.
Both of these burgers were made from the same cut of beef, cut and trimmed the exact same way, and formed with a same die.
So why does option left look and taste like a tender, juicy, well-textured beauty, and option right, similar to a solid, rubbery object that would look more at home on an alien autopsy table?
When it comes to seasoning burger cooks are divided into two camps: those that only season the exterior of the patty before cooking, and those who work the salt and pepper right into the meat.I've followed the method since I was taught to make burgers in the first camp.French training emphasizes the importance of seasoning every component of a dish so that it is well-seasoned.Shouldn't a burger be better if you season it before making it?It would be better if the salt was evenly distributed throughout the entire burger instead of being concentrated on the exterior.Is it possible that the other burger cooks are actually right?
I decided to run three different patties through a bunch of tests to see if it was true.The issue was settled by the final results.
Let's take a look at what salt can do to burgers, because we already know that it can make meat taste better.The three groups of patties I formed were all made from 100% ground chuck, which I bought as a single roast and treated the following ways:
The testing group was treated the same, except for the point at which they get salted.The amount of salt was the same as it was for a 5-ounce patty.
On the left is what batches one and two look like as they exit the die on the grinder.The first two batches were ground after being salted.
The difference is clear.While the grind on the left is made up of little pieces of meat, the salted grind forms long worms of beef that can be up to three inches long.
Salt can be used to remove the meat proteins from a piece of turkey or pork in a brine.It is easier to cross-link with each other once dissolved.The meat becomes more sticky to itself, allowing it to stick together and form long strands.
I made the beef patties into 5-ounce, 4.5-inch wide patties.Salt was added to the bowl of ground beef prior to forming the patties.In order to eliminate any variables and ensure that any differences in texture are solely a function of salt and not of the mechanical action of working the salt into the meat, I tossed batches one and three in their bowls.
After forming the patties, I draped them over the wooden rod and gently lifted them.
The patty is made up of hundreds of tiny balls of beef, and here's a close approximation of it.Most of the balls of beef are closed up, but some of them are open.The exposed pieces of velcro help one piece of meat stick to the other.Salt makes it much easier for the strips of velcro to stick to each other, because it causes more of them to open up.A patty with a tight structure is a result of the balls sticking together more closely and tightly.
It was clear to me that deciding when to salt your meat makes a huge difference, but as of yet, I'm unsure which way is better.Do I want my burgers to be better?Would the extra support help fat stay locked into the patty as it cooks, or give it a better mouthfeel as I chew it?
I would have built a set of robotic teeth to chew these burgers with the exact same force to determine how tough they are, but I figured for the sake of my sanity and the stomachs of readers, I should have chewed them myself.
I dropped a 6.5 pound LeCreuset Dutch oven from a height of two feet directly onto each patty after slicing them in half to examine their internal structure.This is an awful lot of impact.It should show you how the patties will break down in your mouth.
N.B.If you want to recreate this experiment at home, you should drape your kitchen in plastic.Juices will fly.
What is the moral of the story?Unless you like your burgers with the bouncy texture of a sausage, don't get the meat near the salt until you cook them.This makes sense.Sausage meat is seasoned well before grinding in order to break down the meat proteins to form a tighter, more cohesive structure.