Originally Posted by
Satch12879
Because I've spent time on this problem, the mechanics of browning chopped meat for say tacos and preparing a burger are in fact quite different. It does not matter if the meat is wet or dry if you're trying to cook it for tacos because you will boil away that water before you can begin to brown it. Properly browned chopped meat for tacos or Bolognese sauce can't be done quickly. You basically want to fry the meat in its own fat. This means evacuating the water, then evaporating it, then rendering the fat, then working the meat to the necessary degree of brownness.
There was a method long ago, the Sinatra burger trick, in which you took a cast iron pan, got it hot, threw coarse salt down on the surface, and then placed the patty. I have never tried it and know nothing else about it, but it always intrigued me, conceptually.
I do not make burger inside as a rule; far too messy on the stove and too smelly in the house without a proper exhaust I will make a big chopped steak using Frank Prisinzano's brown butter method, however. I believe it can be modified for burger purposes. It is low temperature, no smoke, minimal splatter, very easy to control temperature, too. Superb crust.
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