Hamburger Press?

[Ally Cat]

My husband says he wants a hamburger press. Are they useful, or useless? If anyone thinks they are useful and has a brand to recommend I would appreciate it.

Thanks!

[GH1618]

I've never wanted one. I just shape each patty by hand using a short, stiff turner. I measure by eye, but if you want more consistency, use a scale.

[jujuthomas]

we have one from tupperware which I use primarily because I don't like the feeling left on my hands by the beef fat. Usually I'm making a quantity of burgers for a party, for one or two I do it by hand. I try to be sure not to squish them too much, DH says it makes them too thin for the grill. The thing I like about the tupperware press is that it goes in the dishwasher and cleans up nicely.

[CyndiA]

I never press hamburger. You can get uniform looking burgers, but you press out the air and have a dense burger that does not cook or grill up as well. A lightly patted burger will have more juice and flavor.

[JonParker]

This. One of the main ideas in making good burgers is to handle the meat as lightly as possible. A press is not only not needed, it's actually detrimental to a great burger.

Here's a link to really excellent article on burger shaping. In fact, all of the Serious Eats Burger Lab articles are good, and will help make your husband a world class burger chef.

http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2...

[Ally Cat]

Excellent! I kind of though they were unnecessary, but now I have proof!

Thank you!

[FrankJBN]

Another case of 'the way you like it isn't as good as the way I like it.'

[BiscuitBoy]

definitely! I have a square press, as I like burgers on toast, and I really wanted to like the thing, but now I know why burgers I formed by hand, come so much better

[breadchick]

AND, hand forming them creates the little nooks and crannies for garlic butter to settle into when I baste them after taking them off the grill!

[Kelli2006]

This might be what you are looking for. http://www.webstaurantstore.com/ameri...

[axial]

Our hubbies must be brothers :-) Due to popular pressure I finally bought a couple but never liked them. Finally found the Progressive one and have been happily using it since. I don't often use little bump-maker insert.

btw, I cut squares of parchment paper to go below/above the burger prior to "squeezing" so there's much less fuss and direct handling of raw patties afterward. I tried using round parchment shapes, thinking that it might work better, but I found out that they're much more likely to be cooked with the hamburger when one isn't quite paying attention -- ooops!

http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Int...

[mrsfury]

We have this: http://www.amazon.com/Charcoal-Compan... and it is the best thing to happen to my burgers. They come out juicy and perfect every time.

[kengk]

To form raw meat into patties or to put on top of the patty while cooking?

If the former, a wide mouth canning ring works fine. If the latter idk.

[Ally Cat]

Hi, thanks. It is for forming the patty.