My hamburger falls apart on the barb

[OMGImInPattaya]

I used to struggle with this too. Your trying to hard. All you need to do is get freshly ground beef then using a burger press or ring or even lid of some container press it into a burger shape firmly. DO NOT add breadcrumbs, egg, spices, salt or anything to your burger except beef. If you add all of this rubbish you end up with a rissole or a meatball that is also unstable on a bbq. Reason for not adding salt is that is draws all the water out of the meat before you have even cooked the thing. You could theoretically add pepper beforehand but no.

Just press the 100% beef burger and grill it. When it is on the grill this is where you must add salt and pepper as you would a steak.

The quality of beef is important. Use freshly ground steak cut beef with a bit of fat on it. I think people rave too much on fat content but have read around 15-20% is ideal. I just use minced sirlion tip.

Dont use frozen beef as it loses it quality with freezing and also goes brown so if you cook it medium it is not going to have the nice bright red. Also if you add a bunch of rubbish to your burger and make it a meatball then cooking it medium doesnt really work either.

Its this simple.

I agree about not adding bread crumbs and egg unless you are interested in making meatballs or a meatloaf. About fat....it is, as you mentioned, an important consideration, but you added "people rave too much on fat content." In Thailand, beef is often almost devoid of fat. Why? Because they refuse to grain feed cattle. Meat with little fat content is not the best for making really good hamburgers. The fat is what keeps the meat from falling apart on the grill. Fat also makes the burger juicy and provides flavour. Some people add a small amount of vegetable oil to the ground beef in order to help keep it from falling apart.

Bacon drippings/fat is even better.

[OMGImInPattaya]

If your in thailand goto the thai french butcher in the alley next to villa market on soi 31 (i think) and ask for minced macreuse or sirloin tip. It is perfect for making burgers with and is about 280 a kg. It is better than your average thai beef

What town is that??

Soi 31 in Thailand?

But thank you for your input.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I was wondering the same, where do I go for good hamburger meat in Pattaya when I'm not in Thailand?

Edited December 24, 2014 by OMGImInPattaya