Have you ever walked by the butcher case at your local grocery store and noticed how perfectly uniform the hamburgers they sell are? I have. A few months ago my sister and I were walking through Whole Foods and there was a man forming the perfect hamburger patties in this thingamajig in the meat department. As I watched him for a few seconds I found a sudden urge to know exactly what that thing was he was. Because what home cook wouldn’t want their patties to look as good as Whole Foods? So I said, “I would love to know how to make perfect burger patties.” He seemed surprised I would even be interested. Before telling me what tool he was using to form patties, he joked that if I wanted one it would cost me $20. Say what?! Then he looked at me, smiled and chuckled.
“Oh this? This is a lid.”
A lid?
“A lid, you know.. from a jar.”
Oh..oh thanks.
I looked at him feeling pretty stupid and decided I wasted enough of his time and moved on to another part of the store. My sister laughed at me but also agreed we just stumbled into a great kitchen/cooking/grilling tip.
Here’s my conclusion – if I didn’t know you could make uniform hamburger patties with a stinkin’ lid, chances are you didn’t know either. So here’s your chance to make your burgers look perfect like the ones you get in restaurants. It’s so simple yet so brilliant. Say goodbye to jagged edges. In the words of my two daughters, “Reduce, Re-Use, Recycle, Re-think.” This technique would work great with forming veggie patties and crab cakes too.
Although you could easily buy a hamburger press, I for one will gladly use a lid -I only have a drawer full of them. What’s also great about using lids is you can find the lid that best suits the size of your hamburger buns. For instance, if you wanted to make mini-sliders, use a small tupperware or canning lid. Pretty simple, huh?
So start saving those lids. You never know when you’ll need the perfect hamburger patty. Enjoy!
Season ground beef with your favorite spices. Salt and pepper work great but I also like Weber’s Gourmet Burger Seasoning.
Find a lid that is slightly bigger than the size of your hamburger bun. Cover the lid in plastic wrap. This will make it easier to remove the patty after each use.
Place a good amount of ground beef inside the lid.
Press meat down into the lid. Remove any excess meat or add more if necessary.
Flip patty out and continue to make as many burgers as needed.
For best cooking results, refrigerate patties for at least 1 hour before frying or grilling. Top with your favorite dipping sauce. Enjoy!
- ground beef
- salt and pepper
- seasonings of your choice
- lid
- Season the ground beef with salt, pepper, and any other hamburger seasonings.
- Find a lid that is slightly bigger than the size of your hamburger bun.
- Cover the lid in plastic wrap. This will make it easier to remove the patty after each use.
- Place a good amount of ground beef inside the lid.
- Press the meat down into the lid. Remove any excess meat or add more if necessary.
- Flip the patty out and continue to make as many burgers as needed.
- Refridgerate the patties the patties for one hour before grilling.
Just thank you!
Great tip! I typically make 3/4 # burgers, so now I just need to find a very large lid!
Don’t forget to make a little indent in the middle of each burger, so when the shring they end up flat, and not rounded.
Brilliant!!!!!!!!! How timely, since I have 6lbs of hamburger in the fridge waiting to be shaped & frozen for the summer. Thanks for sharing the idea!
Now if I could only come up with clever uses for the rest of the stuff in my junk drawer. (sigh..)
Why, why, WHY have I never thought of this!?! Used your method tonight to make feta stuffed lamb burgers. They’re gorgeous! (I’m lucky enough to have a full set of ring cutters, so no issues at all in finding the right size.)
So clever! I hand-shape my patties, but I get pretty focused (I won’t say obsessed) with making them just right, and the lid would definitely speed that process along.
Ha! I did know this, I got the practice from my dad, actually. Although he always used the lid of a plastic sherbet tub and I currently use the lid to a plastic canister.
What a great tip!
Found you through Stumble! Great site!!
I’ve never used a lid, but I have used a large tuna can with both ends cut off.
This may sound overly detailed, but I actually weigh out the amount of hamburger I use for each patty. Especially with kids around. I use 3 ounces of meat for kid burgers and generally 5 ounces for adult burgers. These amounts are approximate. It’s not like I’m a total freak.
My dad does this and he is INSANE about his lids. He had, apparently, found the PERFECT lid for the best hamburgers ever and my mom had the nerve to throw it away one day. It was not pretty. I’m not entirely sure he’s forgiven her yet. 😉
Jeez louise I want a burger so much now! That looks amazing!
Great tip! Thanks for posting this and thanks to Whole Foods for disclosing their “industry secret!” I’m giving this one a whirl ASAP.
I just formed burgers for our Memorial Day cookout using only half of my burger press. The other half is long lost. I went here to the internet to find tips on not having my burgers shrink up into balls. So glad I found this! Like previous commenters, “DUH!”. I’m throwing out my half press and going for the lid! I’ll be back to this site for other tips as well. Thanks!
A lid, ofcourse. Now why didn’t I think of that. Good looking burgers btw.
Thank you so much for sharing this fantastic tip! I have had so much trouble in the past getting even patties and fish cakes. I can’t believe how obvious this was yet it completely eluded me too.
Love your blog!
Hello,
We bumped into your blog and we really liked it – great recipes YUM YUM.
We would like to add it to the Petitchef.com.
We would be delighted if you could add your blog to Petitchef so that our users can, as us,
enjoy your recipes.
Petitchef is a french based Cooking recipes Portal. Several hundred Blogs are already members
and benefit from their exposure on Petitchef.com.
To add your site to the Petitchef family you can use http://en.petitchef.com/?obj=front&action=site_ajout_form or just go to Petitchef.com and click on “Add your site”
Best regards,
Vincent
petitchef.com
That ground beef you’re using in the photos looks fantastic. Nice and fatty.
To everyone who left the tip about poking a hole in the middle of the patty, thank you! I haven’t had any problems with a bubble forming when I cook hamburgers. I’m wondering if this is because I usually make our hamburger patties pretty thick?
I’ve done that a few times and I have a press, but 90% of the time, I still go back to just making them by hand. It’s just as easy to me, but that is only because I make so many. This is still a GREAT tip for anyone that only does burgers every now and then.
Another tip: If you are using 80/20 ground beef, poke a hole in the center of each patty with your finger, it will keep it from shrinking into a ball shape like they do sometimes.
What a fantastic idea. I will defintely do this next time i make a burger…. Thanks for sharing!
I have had a burger press for years that I bought from Tupperware. However, my burgers still shrink up when cooked – I do them in the broiler – and look nothing like they did when I formed them with the press! They are never flat and perfectly round anymore. I have never been able to figure out why!
Oh my yes… how brilliant is that?
Just about as brilliant as that last gorgeous photo. Wow, girl! I want a perfectly shaped burger right now, please 🙂
I love this idea – I am so glad you asked the guy at Whole Foods!