Burgers(and any other cooking-related stuff I suppose)

[Rafael]

So, my culinary skills are relatively non-existant, and something I've wanted to work on as a hobby for a long time. I think I wanna start with making a burger beyond the very basic "Buy meat, add salt, flip twice, eat" deal and figured I'd ask if anyone here has any cool tricks/tips or whatever they wouldn't mind sharing.

Any kind of cool food things are welcome though

[Rebekah]

Marinate meat in a bit of Worcestershire sauce. Chop up onions and a bit of garlic and mix them into the ground beef by hand. Form patties and cook em. It's fucking awesome. Worcestershire and franks red hot sauce also make a killer combo as well.

Something to note. Too much marinade will ruin the ability of the meat to stay in patty form. Literally if you put too much you'll get stir fry on the grill.

[Ashe]

I'm shit as far as cooking goes. We've grilled out once since moving but I wasn't the one doing it, and plan to learn at some point. I'll try to get my wife's input in here for you guys.

[Jarka]

JUST READ MY ROLEPLAYS, BRO. LOLOLOL.

RANDOM TIP: If you're making/using a tomato based sauce like marinara, add a spoonful of jelly or sugar to it. It cuts back on the acidity and adds a hint of sweetness and a bit more richness to the flavor.

ANOTHER RANDOM TIP: Invest in those huge bags of frozen chicken breasts that you can get at Wal*Mart if you're interested in increasing your cooking prowess. Chicken is super versatile and you can try a lot of things with it due to it not having a very dominating flavor.

ANOTHER RANDOM TIP: Plz plz plz buy a meat thermometer. You can get them at the dollar tree for a dollar. There is nothing worse than cooking a beautiful, elaborate whole chicken and cutting into it to discover it is still cold/raw when the outside is super hot.

One of my favorite recipes:
Put honey mustard in a bowl. In another bowl, crush a fuckton of pretzels so they're super tiny chunks and powder. Take chicken breast (I prefer boneless & skinless) and dip both sides in the honey mustard. Then dip both sides of the slathered chicken into the pretzels. Once you've coated them all, put them on a cookie sheet and sprinkle the remainder of the pretzels on top. Put it in the oven at, like, 400 degrees for about 20 min.


Unfortunately, I dislike hamburgers so I can't help you there.

The cool thing about cooking is that it's pretty hard to mess it up (disregarding food safety, yeah). It's a lot of personal preference. Baking, on the other hand...

[Rebekah]

Baking is a full blown fucking nightmare to get right even decently.

[Trygelan]

ANOTHER RANDOM TIP: Invest in those huge bags of frozen chicken breasts that you can get at Wal*Mart if you're interested in increasing your cooking prowess. Chicken is super versatile and you can try a lot of things with it due to it not having a very dominating flavor.

This is what I did. Started off by just trying to use random spices to see what tastes good, and am now trying out different recipes to force my nieces and nephew to eat. Yay free taste testing guinea pigs.

[Super Buu]

This thread is so good already. Jarka if I ever come to America you have to cook something rad.

I like cooking and experimenting, but I am pretty much just a serviceable cook.

[Sigfried Hunin]

I cook some pretty kickass burgers. they usually involve lots of garlic, onion and some other stuff.

[Mal Nova]

Hanburgers... Salt, pepper, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and McCormick seasoning you have around the house... mix... and eat the meat raw. Or cook them lol

[Rafael]

Wow, didn't expect so many responses. Think I'll try some of this stuff this weekend.
Anyone made burgers on a skillet before?

Also, Jarka, any kind of jelly, or a specific like, fruit?

Kind of excited to go shopping for food stuff now =D

[Jarka]

Wow, didn't expect so many responses. Think I'll try some of this stuff this weekend.
Anyone made burgers on a skillet before?

Also, Jarka, any kind of jelly, or a specific like, fruit?

Kind of excited to go shopping for food stuff now =D

Any kind of jelly works. Ideally, there's not enough for the flavor to be noticeable, but there's enough to cut down on the acid and give it just a whisper of taste.

[Sigfried Hunin]

I usually dice up onions, fresh garlic and jalapenos into really really tiny pieces. Like, blender style. Or slap chop or whatever the fuck. Then I add kosher salt, ground black pepper and ground red pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and whatever else I feel like would be good at the time. I grill that shit up, and I usually melt some pepperjack on there. Shit's off the hook.

[Vad]

I usually dice up onions, fresh garlic and jalapenos into really really tiny pieces. Like, blender style. Or slap chop or whatever the fuck. Then I add kosher salt, ground black pepper and ground red pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and whatever else I feel like would be good at the time. I grill that shit up, and I usually melt some pepperjack on there. Shit's off the hook.

I'm coming over...

[Alexander Trafford]

Italian Dressing, add basil, a bit of garlic and some red pepper in a bag. Take your meat, chicken or steak, usually, and cut little slits in it or poke holes in it or whatever, and put it in the marinade and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours. Then cook, slow-cooking on the delicious, but sometimes i prefer to toss it in a pan and cook it up that way, with a little extra marinade in the pan to let the meat sit and simmer in its juices and the marinade.

[Jonathan Meer]

I'm a vegetarian, can't help you with meat.

Do consider tofu, though. It's extremely versatile, easy as shit to cook, good as fuck for you, and basically tastes like whatever you want it to taste like. I cube that shit up real small, cook it in soy sauce, add it to some sauteed onions and peppers (with spices to taste), and stick it in with some rice. Insta-meal, super tasty, damn good for you (depending on how much soy sauce you use and your vulnerability to salt), and quick.

[Jarka]

I'm a vegetarian, can't help you with meat.

Do consider tofu, though. It's extremely versatile, easy as shit to cook, good as fuck for you, and basically tastes like whatever you want it to taste like. I cube that shit up real small, cook it in soy sauce, add it to some sauteed onions and peppers (with spices to taste), and stick it in with some rice. Insta-meal, super tasty, damn good for you (depending on how much soy sauce you use and your vulnerability to salt), and quick.

I thought you had relapsed from that.

Anywho, if we're thinking healthy tips, definitely go for turkey and chicken over beef and pork. The fatty content is nil compared to the latter. If you want a red meat, go with venison. The only problem with venison is that sometimes it's so lean you must mix in a little bit of beef so it'll stick to itself. But it tastes soooo good.

I actually prefer turkey bacon and turkey pepperoni over the real things.

[Jonathan Meer]

I thought you had relapsed from that.

fuck no

[Sigfried Hunin]

I'm a vegetarian, can't help you with meat.

Do consider tofu, though. It's extremely versatile, easy as shit to cook, good as fuck for you, and basically tastes like whatever you want it to taste like. I cube that shit up real small, cook it in soy sauce, add it to some sauteed onions and peppers (with spices to taste), and stick it in with some rice. Insta-meal, super tasty, damn good for you (depending on how much soy sauce you use and your vulnerability to salt), and quick.

Dude this one time my mom made some totally bomb burgers out of tofu. Not tofu burgers (which, from Morning Star, are pretty nice anyways), but like, burgers with slabs of tofu instead of beef.

She made them good with perforating them and soaking them in some kind of sauce and then spicing the shit out of them. They were like, 3 thin slices so they didn't have that bland core of just white tofu. Was bomb.

[Waffuru]

Horse meat is the best red meat for you.

[Sigfried Hunin]

Horse meat is the best red meat for you.

HORSE MEAT IS FOR POOR PEOPLE