HOMEMADE RIBEYE BURGER
As a few of you guys already know, Burgers are my favorite food in the whole world! I have always always loved this food and from almost every restaurant I’ve tried. I love looking for and trying new burger places everywhere I go. That is how much I like them. So, when I had the idea to actually make the burgers at home I was SO excited!
As soon as I moved to Ecuador, actually, that same day we arrived at like 3 am. The only place that was open at that time of night was a burger place. They were amazing! I do have a list of all the burger places I need to try in this city and I am slowly going through the list.
I’ve tried a homemade burger recipe before. I watched a couple of youtube videos, a few recipes on pinterest and some extra tips from the great Gordon Ramsay. I used one type of meat and since this particular cut was very greasy, it did not need anything to keep it together. It’s own fat kept it together. For this recipe, we used beef and bacon to get that perfect 80 – 20 ratio. This helps to maintain the shape of the burger and the moistness as well.
HOW TO MAKE THE BURGER:
Okay, lets start with the most importan ingredient, the meat. What you want to look for is a type of meat you absolutely love and ask the store to grind the meat for you. I haven’t tried making burgers with ground beef that already comes that way yet. This way you can assure the flavor of the burger and make it special.
The meat I used for this burger recipe is the Ribeye steak. This cut does have a bit of fat, what we did was add raw bacon to the mix and grind it with the meat. This gives the burger the touch of moisture it needs and it helps keeping it together. The bacon also gives the burger an extra flavor, and et me say it just tastes amazing!
ADD ONS FOR THE PERFECT BURGER:
In my personal opinion, the perfect burger has a soft bun that is barely toasted on the inside to avoid it from going soggy, some type of mayo, tomato, lettuce, cheese and extra bacon. From there, anything you add to the burger just makes it better!
The type of cheese you choose depends on you and your personal taste. The classic of classic is cheddar cheese. In this case, I decided to use a smoked provolone I found when doing my home’s grocery shopping.
The sauce in a burger gives it an extra moistness and just rounds everything up. I think it is absolutely necessary to add some type of sauce to a burger. If you don’t add anything, the burger is dry and tastes unfinished. You can use a mixture of ketchup and mayo or for example this basil mayo recipe.
In this case, I made a sauce I saw on tiktok. Yes, following a bunch of cooks and chefs on every social media has its benefits. This sauce was a combination of roasted garlic, mayo, truffle oil and mustard. Amazing.
We added bacon, fresh tomatoes, and crisp lettuce. The perfect burger!
TIPS FOR A PERFECT BURGER:
Putting it together: Start by making the burger. Like I mentioned before, the ideal thing is to ask the people at the store to grind the meat for you. If you own a meat grinder at home you can do it yourself, but if you are like me, just ask for it at the store. Make sure your bacon is also mixed in there or cut into tiny tiny pieces to add to the meat. Make the burgers the night before. Doing this and keeping them in the fridge overnight helps them maintain its shape when cooking. Take the burgers out of the fridge about an hour before cooking them. Taking them out of the fridge and letting them come up to room temperature is crucial. If you cook them straight out of the fridge it is very likely that they will turn out a bit dry.
Seasoning: Before you shape the burgers, add salt and pepper to the meat. Using your hands, mix it well and then shape them. The next day, once the burgers reach room temperature, add salt and pepper on the outside as well. Once you are already cooking the burgers, brush them with a but of butter to create an extra crunch on the crust and flavor.
Fire: The heat in the grill has to be high. To know if your heat is high enough you have to hover your hand over the grill and be able to hold it there for 6 seconds max.
Bacon: I find used entire strips of bacon a bit disappointing. Why? Unless they are extremely crunchy and you get a lot of bacon in your burger, you don’t get bacon in every bite. I cooked the bacon in a pan to make it extra crispy and them chopped it into tiny pieces. Add the tiny bacon pieces to the melted cheese on top of the burger and you get bacon on every bite!
EQUIPMENT:
Bowl: To make the actual burger, you will need a bowl to mix th meat and seasonings in.
Cookie sheet or pan: To place the burgers in the fridge overnight.
Plastic wrap: Cover the burgers before placing them in the fridge.
Grill: The fun part about making homemade burgers is having a yummy drink and making them in fresh air.
Kitchen scale: Make the burgers all the same size, around 170 gr each.
HOMEMADE BURGERS
Ingredients
BURGER
- 800 gr Ribeye steak
- 200 gr uncooked Bacon
- Salt
- Pepper
- 1 Tbsp Melted butter
EXTRAS
- Burger buns
- Tomatoes
- Lettuce
- Bacon
- Provolone or cheddar cheese
- Mayo or Sauce
Instructions
- Mix the ground meat with the uncooked bacon. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Shape the burgers and place in the fridge overnight.
- the next day, turn your grill on and take the burgers out of the fridge. ( at least an hour before cooking)
- Place the burgers in the grill and cook for arounf 7 minutes per side.
- Once you flip it, brush the cooked side with a bit of melted butter.
- Flip it again and brush the other side with butter as well. Add cheese 2 minutes before cooking is done to melt it.
- Toast the buns in the grill as well about 5 minutes before you take the burgers out.
- Add toppings and enjoy!
