Best Burger Ever!

Does anyone here make their own?

I keep hearing 5 guys (which i am sure is great) and wonder do any of you guys pick up ground beef shoulder from the butcher/deli and make your own?

Also, people griping about bad fries... do any of you guys chop up your own potatoes and use a deep fryer?



Lawrys seasoning makes any french fry edible BTW.

Originally Posted by robbie

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Does anyone here make their own?

I keep hearing 5 guys (which i am sure is great) and wonder do any of you guys pick up ground beef shoulder from the butcher/deli and make your own?

Also, people griping about bad fries... do any of you guys chop up your own potatoes and use a deep fryer?



Lawrys seasoning makes any french fry edible BTW.
I am a decent cook. I'm not classically trained, and I don't have time to practice as much as I like. But I have NEVER been able to make fries at home as well as they do in a good restaurant. Here are 3 reasons. 1> I am always using fresh oil. Shirley O Corriher insists that keeping and reusing oil is bad. However at a restaurant, you rarely get the first batch of the day, so there is some built in flavor in the oil. 2> I only use one temp. oil. Most restaurants use two. It helps the fries get hot all the way through and then crispy on the outside. Mine tend to be soggy. 3> I don't have the right setup to fry large quantities at the same time. With a true fry daddy, you can dump 3-4 potatoes in. On stove-top in a stock pot, which requires a LOT of oil, you risk a grease fire with more than 2 potatoes. I do however love making my own burgers. Allows me to season the meat, pick the best bread (sometimes even brioche), and slather on condiments that most restaurants don't have (I have a soft spot for 57 sauce).

The key to making perfect french fries at home it to fry them twice -- once just to cook the potatoes through (at which point the fries will be soggy and limp) and another to crisp them up. I have had great results with this recipe:

http://cooksjournal.blogspot.com/200...nch-fries.html

I don't even have a deep-fryer or anything like that; I simply use a large cast-iron skillet.

no home-cooked fries for me, which is one of the primary reasons that a good bar/restaurant burger holds it's mythical appeal. I do pat-my-own during the grilling months using ground chuck (yes, i think it's shoulder cut?) w/ S&P and sometimes some finely chppd onion/mustard or worcestershire mixed in....

I had always had not so great results with my fries and tended to end up with more home fries than french fries... thanks for that recipe spertia

Montecito, CA - Lucky's

San Diego, CA - Neighborhood

San Diego, CA - Bing Crosby's

A friend made it for me. He had sirloin, ribeye and chuck ground up and mixed in some onion salt, egg, salt, pepper, garlic salt and some other ingredients. Grilled to medium rare served on a bun with cheddar cheese and nothing else.

best burger ever was two Famous Stars at Carl's after a week long backpacking trip in Yosemite.

-Jeff

Originally Posted by lhooq

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I actually think the Houstons in the Citigroup Center has a really good burger. Royale in the East Village (11th and C, maybe) is another place to try.
have not had the burger but their french dip is pretty awesome...houstons that is

I've been having some good burgers over at the Nook Bistro in West Los Angeles. www.nookbistro.com Nook Burger: \t \t Sterling Silver beef with gruyere cheese, delicious red wine-onion jam, baby arugula on grilled rustic bread..

Went to Ditka's for lunch today on recommendation of someone above. Steakhouse burger was pretty awesome.

Originally Posted by Connemara

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Does anyone have burger recommendations for Columbus? The only thing I really see on Yelp is Thurman Cafe.
Thurman's is pretty lame/touristy IMO. Really really slow too. Local bar, O'Reilly's on High St. north of campus has an amazing pepperburger with double bacon and provolone for $8 with an authentic atmosphere with locals/regulars.

Thurmann's is slow as hell, but I never found it touristy. It's a shame, Bw3 used to have awesome burgers, but when they dropped the Kimmelweck bread they became just regular old burgers.

I can't remember any other really special burgers in C-bus. I liked the food at the Old Mowhawk (who make nice turtle soup) and also a Scottish bar in the short north whose name escapes me, but I don't remember either of those having particularly tasty burgers.

Now Big Kahuna burger... that Hawaiian burger joint... I hear they make some tasty burgers!

I just watched a program the other day on the travel channel about the best burger. Their top pick was a place called Louis' Lunch in New Haven where the owner still uses the same grill and grilling method that was first used in the restaurant in 1900 (it's some kind of vertical grill). They also claim to have invented the burger. Anybody ever try this place?

Originally Posted by odoreater

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I just watched a program the other day on the travel channel about the best burger. Their top pick was a place called Louis' Lunch in New Haven where the owner still uses the same grill and grilling method that was first used in the restaurant in 1900 (it's some kind of vertical grill). They also claim to have invented the burger. Anybody ever try this place?

This peaked my curiosity. Looks pretty rustic...






No buns, no ketchup