Buying in Bulk - Hamburger

I can't resist a deal, so I love places that sell bulk foods and huge portions at a discount. But what are you going to do with 10 pounds of hamburger, 50 pounds of potatoes or 20 pounds of Granny Smith Apples?

Well, considering the type of blog, the answer should be obvious. But actually it's better to have several answers. The idea, though, is to plan ahead and go all Iron Chef on two or three big bulk buys. Let's start with hamburger and some general principles.

Hamburger

With hamburger, for instance, you might make five pounds of pre-made patties and a five-pound meat-loaf.

For plain hamburger patties you can use a patty maker that you can get pretty much anywhere. You want to store them in "per meal" units, so if your family has two members, pack them in units of two.

So, first, tools. You will need a Hamburger patty maker and you will probably want to have parchment paper squares for ease of handling. You can cut sheets from a parchment paper roll, but that does add a whole other step.

Now, many people like plain hamburger just fine - but then, why not just buy bulk frozen hamburger patties? If you are going to go to the trouble of making them, it's no harder to make excellent patties.

The first thing to understand is that a "pure beef" patty has just the flavor of that particular cut of meat, plus whatever amount of fat is included. Fat is flavorful, but fattening. Now, you can cook on a grill that removes fat - but it also removes natural moisture. My answer is to go with a very very lean hamburger and ADD flavor, moisture and healthy fats, plus additives that boost flavor, improve texture and retain moisture.

I like dried soy protein and or "quick oats" as a filler, up to 20 percent. So for ten pounds of hamburger, one to two pounds of filler.

My other favorite filler is dried black mushrooms, broken into small chunks. These retain moisture and flavor while providing their own earthy mushroomy note. And for the ultimate in flavor and texture additives, you can add 10 to 15 percent dried meat or dried sausage (Slimjims, for instance) depending on how spicy and what other flavors are in the mix. You will want to chop or grind it into the consistency of corn-meal.

Fillers need to be thoroughly worked into the mass of ground meat and the best tool for this is a very large stainless steel mixing bowl and your gloved hands.

You may find it difficult to get gloves that are long enough, so before you glove up, simply wrap your forearms in another kitchen staple - Glad Press N'Seal film. Oh, and of course you need food-handling gloves.

Depending on what else I'm doing, I like to use olive, peanut and sesame oils to boost flavor and "mouth-feel." For moisture and flavor, soy sauce, teriayki sauce, white and red wine vinegars, balsamic vinegar, cider vinegar and Worcestershire sauce. For heat, Tabasco, a good Habanero sauce and a good assortment of dried chilis.

Bob's Basic Burger:
It's all optional! (Except for the ground beef. Which could be ground turkey.)

• 5 lbs lean ground beef
• 1 1/2 cup Quick Oats
• 1 1/2 cup Soy Grits
• 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce.
• 1 large or 2 small minced yellow onions
  
• 2 to 5 cloves garlic, minced (to taste).

This is the theme I improvise around. Note that "lean beef" is not so lean that you need to add fat, but if you were to do so:

• 2tbs Sesame Oil.

Sesame Oil adds a nice, nutty flavor. For less oil and a similar flavor, consult Alton Brown's Good Eats site about toasting sesame seeds, and add a tablespoon or two.

Mix evenly and form into meat balls or patties.

Ok, first we mix, then we stack interleaved with parchment squares, then we gently wrap them in press n'seal or plastic wrap, and freeze it until it's quite firm. Otherwise, our food sealer is going to turn our nice patties into wrinkly puddles of uneven thickness. We don't want that, and it's a lot less messy handling frozen meat.

Once your patties are frozen hard, bag them according to what you are going to be doing with them. At the simplest, three or four per quart bag will keep them free of freezer-burn for months on end.

But since we can also partially prepare the meal itself in this step, let us do that. So, you will need:

Bob's Double Deluxes

• 10 frozen patties.
  
• 1 large sweet onion, sliced thin
• 1 large tomato, sliced thin
• 10 slices favorite cheese(s)
  

Take two patties, remove the paper. Layer cheese, tomato, onion, patty. Insert into a boilable pint bag and suck it down. Freeze, repeat.

Now, when you want to grill a burger, you first drop it in boiling water and let it bob around until it reaches an internal temperature of at least 120 degrees. This means your grill time will be reduced remarkably, and you won't have to worry about rare burgers. If you have blended pork or poultry, this can be a very important consideration.

Remove and drain all patties at the same time, reserving the flavorful juice to make a gravy or thick sauce.

Grill quickly on high heat, turning once, until the probe says it's done, and serve with your favorite sides.