Best burgers and burger buns?

[dapprman]

The Tesco The Ultimate Brisket & Chuck burgers were decent enough, but not sure they were that good. Went to Lidl and Aldi today (they are across the road from each other in Watford). Lidl already out of the bone marrow ones, though I got a pair of aged beef burgers to try (tad expensive for Lidl food ...) - from Aldi I got their The Best Ever Burger, with bone marrow. Saw this on Beeb morning TV, though that's no guarantees and I generally find much Aldi and Lidl stuff over rated, however these (and the Aldi brioche buns) were actually rather good.

[toohuge]

Agreed on the m&s burgers being poor this year.

I’ve really enjoyed the gbk burgers - I think the they come in a yellow packet? Either way, really nicely seasoned and not too thick. Highly recommend

[Murph7355]

I don't bother with M&S Ultimates (tried them before)...I get the Aberdeen Angus with sea salt and cracked black pepper ones and find them very good.

I leave them out of the fridge for a while and press them much, much flatter by hand before cooking.

(Haven't tried the bone marrow ones. Might see if I can find some to try).

[ambuletz]

Murph7355 said:

I don't bother with M&S Ultimates (tried them before)...I get the Aberdeen Angus with sea salt and cracked black pepper ones and find them very good.

I leave them out of the fridge for a while and press them much, much flatter by hand before cooking.

(Haven't tried the bone marrow ones. Might see if I can find some to try).

i buy the asda/aldi versions that are also agus + cracked black pepper. THe latter seems like a gimmick. I can't smash my burgers into my pan so ill cover mine in cling film then flatten it using the largest/heaviest saucepan/stock pot I have. When raw my largest tefal/frying pan will only just fit 2 premade burgers, but will shrink significantly in the process. The flattening ensures it fits suitably in an average bun...sometimes ive managed to double the patties (usually where its 1lb if meat split into 4 patties)

[hungry_hog]

Hampstead butcher and providore (small chain, they deliver if you are not local) do cracking burgers. No shrinkage at all even on a white hot bbq.

They use the chuck steak so nice and moist, they are quite wide though!

I have had have had bad experiences with supermarket burgers. Even the M&S ones are awful.

[Welshbeef]

Is anyone cutting back on the size of their patties or meat content given cost of living squeeze? Or decreasing frequency.

[Murph7355]

ambuletz said:

i buy the asda/aldi versions that are also agus + cracked black pepper. THe latter seems like a gimmick. ...

The latter being the pepper?

If so, don't underestimate the power of good seasoning

[21TonyK]

Welshbeef said:

Is anyone cutting back on the size of their patties or meat content given cost of living squeeze? Or decreasing frequency.

Not at home, no. But we were buying in fresh burgers for kids at work (school), the butchery could only make 114g (4oz) burgers so these were used across the board for ages 3-18 and for <11 it really should have been a 55g (2oz) burger.

So in the name of "health" and economy we are now buying in the burger mix from the same butcher and making them in house, 55g for half the kids and 114g for the other half.

Not only does this mean we are closer to official portion sizes we are saving 50% of the previous ingredient cost. We still have to find 3-4 hours to make them so pretty much balances out cost wise but staff costs are a different budget and its "magic money" so whereas I would be costing notional HLP and labour no-on seems to care about that.

[dapprman]

Well the Lidl Aged had a good flavour, however I found a chunk of gristle in both burgers, so that would stop me touching them again. In addition, at £4.99 for two they are more expensive than anything at Waitrose !!

[hungry_hog]

dapprman said:

Well the Lidl Aged had a good flavour, however I found a chunk of gristle in both burgers, so that would stop me touching them again. In addition, at 4.99 for two they are more expensive than anything at Waitrose !!

£5 for two, is Shakira delivering them?

[Welshbeef]

What’s the best shop bought habanero burgers?

[Bacon Is Proof]

Welshbeef said:

Is anyone cutting back on the size of their patties or meat content given cost of living squeeze? Or decreasing frequency.

Yes, I'm now only eating 1.7 patties per session and have reduced burger day by one in 367 per year.

[dapprman]

dapprman said:

Well the Lidl Aged had a good flavour, however I found a chunk of gristle in both burgers, so that would stop me touching them again. In addition, at £4.99 for two they are more expensive than anything at Waitrose !!

Got a correction to make. Was back in Lidl today (which looked like a plague of locusts had gone through the Italian week stuff) - these are £2.99, not £4.99, still with the gristle they won;t be on my shopping list again.

[Mobile Chicane]

I can't get on with ready-made burgers. Always fatty and disgusting.

Waitrose ciabatta rolls are the best buns, however. Toasted, of course. I'm not a savage.

[sc0tt]

Big fan of the tesco chuck and brisket burgers.

Aldi wagyu burgers were nice but maybe I was expecting more having “wagyu” on the packaging.

[dapprman]

sc0tt said:

Big fan of the tesco chuck and brisket burgers.

Aldi wagyu burgers were nice but maybe I was expecting more having “wagyu” on the packaging.

Putting aide the fact that wagyu outside of a small area of Kobe is not wagyu, it's how the cows are treated and raised that is critical, not so much the breed - what makes wagyu meat is the marbling and quality of the fat. It's primary use is for cooking styles where the meat is sliced very thin and cooked very quickly, such as shabu-shabu, allowing the fat to melt in to the stock while keeping the protein nice and moist. With burgers you are just chopping up meat and chopping up fat then combining to a specific ratio. Net result is what makes wagyu so special is completely wasted and lost in burgers.

[R56Cooper]

Mobile Chicane said:

I can't get on with ready-made burgers. Always fatty and disgusting.

Waitrose ciabatta rolls are the best buns, however. Toasted, of course. I'm not a savage.

I agree. Decent quality mince, thoroughly mixed by hand, with plenty of salt and pepper, finely chopped onion, a bit of thinly grated cheese and a squirt of ketchup to help bind it.

Thinly pressed, cooked over charcoal, served on a toasted bun with some fresh lettuce and some slivers of raw onion is perfection for me.

[eps]

R56Cooper said:

Mobile Chicane said:

I can't get on with ready-made burgers. Always fatty and disgusting.

Waitrose ciabatta rolls are the best buns, however. Toasted, of course. I'm not a savage.

I agree. Decent quality mince, thoroughly mixed by hand, with plenty of salt and pepper, finely chopped onion, a bit of thinly grated cheese and a squirt of ketchup to help bind it.

Thinly pressed, cooked over charcoal, served on a toasted bun with some fresh lettuce and some slivers of raw onion is perfection for me.

Add in Piccalilli and a couple of Jalapeños as well #omnomnomnom!

[Nath911t]

I tried the wagyu burgers from Aldi last weekend and while it was nice enough, I can't help agreeing with the poster above about it's wasted in burger format. I also tried the 1/4lb's from Aldi that were quite nice and didn't shrink too much and actually preferred them. Seem quite reasonably priced as well.

I've got a lot of people coming over this weekend for a BBQ and decided to buy (I usually make my own burgers) the Aldi 1/4lb'ers along with Tesco's long fire pit pork sausages and some other meat I've just prepped.

[netherfield]

Anyone tried Gressingham Duck Burgers?

Always willing to try something different, but don't want to waste money these days.