Burgers to Flip Over

By Carolyn Malcoun

Top tips from meat expert and cookbook author Bruce Aidells.

30 years of sausage making has left Bruce Aidells, author of 11 cookbooks, including The Complete Meat Cookbook, and a contributing editor to EatingWell, with a solid understanding of how flavors work together. Bruce gave EatingWell Associate Editor Carolyn Malcoun the lowdown on how to make the best possible burger. And we’re sharing his secrets with you.

CM: What do you think the secrets are to a tasty burger?
BA: Number one is using good-quality meat — you can’t make a good burger using inferior ingredients. Then you need an understanding of how to flavor meat. My burgers are not only flavored with spices, but with other ingredients like cheese, onions and olives. You also need to mix the seasonings into the meat itself rather than just sprinkling them on the outside.

CM: Where do you get the ideas for such unique flavor combinations?
BA: I think I have a really good knowledge of spices because I’ve cooked food from all over the world. Living in large metropolitan areas, like London and San Francisco, has exposed me to a lot of authentic ethnic food. My Spanish Pork Burger benefited the most because I had just been to Spain so those flavors were really fresh in my head. I seasoned the burger itself with Manzanilla olives and Pimentón de la Vera, then topped it with Manchego cheese. A little saffron stirred into the mayo adds color and another element of flavor.

CM: You’re not known for healthy recipes per se…what challenges did you have in making healthier burgers for EatingWell?
BA: Well hey there [laughing]! It depends on how you define health. In terms of lowering fat, the same tricks I used when making sausage apply here — so how do you make a leaner sausage without it being dry and horrible? You have to add other ingredients that add moisture. Because fat is your major flavor component and adds texture, it make things juicier. But you can do other things to accomplish that, like incorporating onions or peppers to add flavor and moisture. The other thing is you need to be careful not to overwork the meat. Overworking it exacerbates the dry, rubbery quality — you should mix it just enough to homogenize the seasoning.

CM: One of the times we tested the Hanoi-Style Tuna Patty Salad, the burger was dry — and we thought it had been overprocessed in the food processor. We ended up hand-chopping it so home cooks would have more control over the end result.
BA: You hit the nail right on the head there. And tuna would be the worst because it’s very lean; the fat that is in tuna is very well incorporated, they don’t have a subcutaneous fat layer like mammals do. Coarsely ground meat is the best, because bigger particles of meat hold their moisture better. If you really grind the hell out of something, it gets really dry.