How to get cheese into delicious meat

[Jurskjeld]

Hi

I want to put cheese into burgers and stuff that I make. How would I go about doing that?
As in what cheese can be used, is it as simple as stuffing bits of cheese into the mince, etc.

Yours truly,
Jurskjeld

[eshru]

i tried this once and it made a huge mess on my george foreman grill.

[Ash2k7]

easy way is to make two small patties, use your thumb and make an indent in the center of one, insert cheese, and then stack them together.

You can also get stuffed burger makers http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products ... rill-tools

Putting cheese in the mince is a PITA and can leave a mess or make for hilarious fires

[bundus]

home made hamburgers are the best to do this with as you just use some swiss in the mixture and you should be fine.
Seal them then oven them.

[Fourfingers frankie]

Rather than stuff cheese into the meat try making stuffed crust burger muffin and then your not screwing with the meat. Its basically the same as making a stuffed crust pizza with extra pro skills that your burger recipients wont expect. For real extra gourmet you could fill the burger with caviar. Its awesome.

[Viper Shizzle]

For real extra gourmet you could fill the burger with caviar.

Why would you ever ruin one of these things with the other?

[chadsexington]

[quote=Viper Shizzle]

For real extra gourmet you could fill the burger with caviar.

Why would you ever ruin one of these things with the other? [/quote:10wycsta]


Also, for added awesomeness when making a stuffed burger, take the sausage meat out of sausages and use that as your meat - instant hot italian burger.

[Fourfingers frankie]

[quote=Viper Shizzle]

For real extra gourmet you could fill the burger with caviar.

Why would you ever ruin one of these things with the other? [/quote:2id1gr4s]

I read about them doing it in Serendipity and gave it a go. Its pretty nice.

[Al Simmons]

Whats wrong with putting the cheese on top of the meat like normal people?

[Seamus]

put little chunks of haloumi in?

[Jurskjeld]

Al: Adding cheese to the mix dramatically increases the degree of succulence, while not using excess cheese. The mix is fairly magical and, I believe, meant to be. The cheese retains the temperature needed to actually melt, instead of cooling. If a slice of cheese cools, it's only sticky. Furthermore there is more surface area for the cheese (not only in its semi-liquid form, but also when in 'grain' shape), meaning more taste for less cheese.

What fourfingers says about "screwing with the meat" sounds plenty dumb. I'm working with minced meat, and it's only an ingredient - not a food on its own. Pepper, some salt, various bits and bobs are all necessary in order for the thing to qualify as a burger.


I believe I may have to reiterate on my request: What are the kinds of cheese that will do nicely in the described circumstances? I want it to melt, and I want it to taste good when it's in that state.

[Seamus]

Hot brie is tasty shit, doesnt get more gooey than it usually is, might make for a less than usually firm burger tho.

Also hard to knock cheddar in any role.

[Z Rex]

American cheese placed between 2 thin patties and then press the edges together to seal. I have found that american gives a very rich flavor, a little cheesey but very succulent. Cheddar is good too, but creates a different effect.

[BLEURRRRGH]

I often make meatballs with mozzarella in them. Basically roll up the meatball, then flatten it, place a small cube of mozzarella in the middle of the patty and then roll it over and press the sides together. Don't take two pieces of meat and then sandwich the mozzarella (or cheese) between them as it'll risk splitting open as you fry them. It may work with larger patties (i.e. burger sized patties), but don't try it on the smaller ones. Halloumi and cheddar have already been mentioned and are other viable alternatives.

I alway used to grab a bacon, brie and cranberry sauce baguette from the local deli when I was at college. I guess you could try chopping up some bacon and adding that, along with brie, to the mix and you'll end up with a bacon cheeseburger all in one! Not sure where you'll get the sweetness of the cranberry from, though. I could possibly see it going well with some nice crispy green salad, a tomato chutney and a good toasted bun?

If you're willing to move away from beef and onto other meats, feta and lamb will go exceptionally well in a burger, though the feta won't really melt, so I guess you won't get that texture you're after. Ricotta may also be interesting ... it melts well on pizza's, so I guess it'll melt well in a burger too, if you can find a good meat to pair it up with.

-EDIT-

I'm actually going to try making that beef, bacon and brie burger this weekend ... cook it on a disposable bbq if we're allowed to do that in our apartment

-EDIT II-

Putting cheese in the mince is a PITA and can leave a mess or make for hilarious fires

Fires will likely result if you put the burger under a grill. I remember the first time I cooked a lamb and feta burger, where I placed it under a grill and within 5 minutes, black smoke was bellowing from the oven and the room looked like it was on fire from outside. Thankfully we were on the ground floor and our kitchen faced the back of the block, so nobody noticed. If you fry it in a pan or use a griddle, there shouldn't be any fire risk.

[Dirk]

When I was in Germany last month I had a burger with feta cheese in it. Motheroffuckinggod.jpg, I nearly came it tasted so good

[Tellenta]

I decided to ask my father about this to get his opinion.

he suggested to use only cheeses that are crumbly as in Blue cheese, ricotta, a crumbly chedder, you can (italics say with a "maybe" tone) use mozzarella. Use ground chuck do NOT use lean beef. you will want to knead the beef and cheese together you must make sure that the hamburger does not become loose due to the cheese. He also was shocked and appalled that someone cooked a hamburger in the oven. He also said fire will be a problem when cooking on the grill, keeping in mind that having the outside of the burger being charred is not really an issue. You can cheat by microwaving the burgers for 20 seconds to a minute (microwave power dependant) to get a kind of seal on the outside of the burger, but only silly people do that. Experiment with the amount of cheese to add you only need enough to accentuate the flavor any more is not needed and causes fires.

edit: if you are using a non-crumbly cheese cut in very small cubes before mixing, they will however be more difficult in both keeping the burger together and on the fire fighting side.