I laughed at the guy who said to salt my burger meat 30 minutes ahead, now I'm the one telling everyone
I've been grinding my own chuck for burgers for 8 years and always salted right before they hit the flat top, because that's what I learned from an old butcher in Buffalo back in 2015. My patties kept coming out dense and rubbery, and a regular at my shop said I should salt the ground beef 30 minutes ahead and let it sit, which sounded like a great way to make sausage meatballs. I tried it on a 5 pound batch last Tuesday and the burgers were juicier and held together way better, so now I'm curious what other little timing tricks you all use for ground meat.
which sounded like a great way to make sausage meatballs" is the funniest thing I've read all week, because that was my exact fear too. I had it in my head that salting ahead turns the whole batch into a springy breakfast sausage log, and I was sure the regular was messing with me. Turns out the salt breaks down some of the proteins and lets them hold water instead of squeezing it out, which is why my old patties always shrank down to hockey pucks. Eight years of doing it the Buffalo way and all I had to do was wait half an hour. The lesson here is that the loudest guy in the room is sometimes right, which is annoying.