Whether on the grill or the griddle, Burgers, are one of America’s greatest contributions to the culinary world.

While dozens of fast and fast casual restaurant franchises across our country have their special recipes, their “secret sauces” and their “standard ops”, one thing that they ALL have in common, is that they all have to have a great flavor.

That, in turn, makes a GREAT burger seasoning blend, essential.

Something that’s remarkable. Something worth coming back for.

The quality of the bun, the freshness of the garnishments and the importance of the ever mysterious “secret sauce” can’t be overlooked, but at the end of the day, a great burger is all about, well…?

A “flavorful” burger.

Let’s look at some of America’s most popular burger meats, and give you some insights as to how Asmus Seasonings creates these tantalizing “tailor-made tastes”.

Beef Burgers

For starters, while there are many schools of thought regarding whether you should use ground chuck, ground round, ground sirloin or just plain “hamburger”, or, whether the fat content should be 75/25, 80/20 or 90/10, grain fed or grass fed, no one disputes the fact that the meat has to be absolutely fresh.

Even the best seasoning blends seasoning can’t overcome, or make up for a poor-quality meat.

Once you’ve settled on your beef spec, the next best decision you should make, is how it is seasoned.

S & P plus…?

While there is certainly nothing wrong with seasoning with just salt and pepper, many companies opt instead, to create a proprietary seasoning blend. One that complements the burger’s meat, while at the same time, creates that subtle umami “difference” which separates their burger, from the one “down the street”.

Asmus Seasonings can recommend a number of our popular seasoning blends but we also consult with many of our customers to create a blend specifically for them.

In some cases, multiple.

For instance, one for beef, and a different blend for chicken, turkey, or even plant-based burgers.

What’s in a blend for beef burgers?

Salt, and a pepper of choice, are in most every blend we create. From there, Asmus Seasonings works with our customers to evolve a blend best suited to their cooking method, (char-grilled or griddled), to complement any signature sauce they may be using, and finally, to give their burgers that “something special”.

When it comes to creating a signature beef burger seasoning blend, we have lots of toys in the chest to play with.

Some of the most common choices are: garlic, onion, bell pepper, chiles and paprika. Other equally interesting ingredients include powdered soy sauce, Worcestershire, “brownulated” sugar, molasses, and natural hickory seasoning.

Turkey, Chicken and Plant Based Burgers

Poultry and plant-based meats have become more main  stream in the food service industry. Both create different opportunities for Chef’s.

Turkey and chicken burgers, unlike beef, have a milder taste and less salt and fat to add flavor when cooking by any traditional method.

For instance, an uncooked 4-ounce patty of unseasoned, uncooked, 80/20 ground beef, has approximately 287 Mg of sodium while the same unseasoned, uncooked, 4-ounce patty of both ground turkey or chicken, has only 140 – 142 Mg of sodium.

Of course, a customer may choose a turkey or chicken burger for its inherently lower sodium content. It’s a safer bet however, that it’s chosen either for its lower fatcontent, or, that they just don’t eat beef.

Maybe, they just like the flavor of turkey or chicken in general?

Ironically, many turkey and chicken burgers come with a sauce (mayonnaise or other) that contain fat, or bacon. So that leaves the fat reason kind of moot in those cases.

Setting aside personal dietary reasons, as noted above, raw turkey and chicken meat has about half the amount of sodium as does beef. As a result, solely for “taste” purposes, a seasoning blend created for these 2 meat types is particularly useful and generally contains a different blend of herbs and spices. Among them are often: thyme, sage, marjoram and rosemary.

Plant Based Burgers

As plant-based burgers are a mixture of ingredients and not solely a ground animal muscle.

Depending on the brand you buy, all the seasoning they need is pretty much already mixed into the burger patty.

Aside from perhaps a very little salt or pepper, your work has already been done for you at the factory. Enjoy.

Don’t be stuck in “Burgatory”…

Summer is prime-burger-time so whatever burgers are on your menu, give each a bit of love with its own signature seasoning blend custom made for you by Dan and his burger loving staff at Asmus Seasonings.

Not only can Asmus create your private blend in bulk for your kitchen needs, but its food service division, The Red Goose Spice Company, can work with you to provide that same blend in retail size shakers for your tables or retail sales.

Contact us today and let us help you on your way to building better burgers.

 

Photo Credits

Beef Burger

<a href=”https://www.freepik.com/photos/beef-burger”>Beef burger photo created by stockking – www.freepik.com</a>

Chicken Burger

<a href=”https://www.freepik.com/photos/chicken-burger”>Chicken burger photo created by timolina – www.freepik.com</a>

Beef Patties

<a href=’https://www.freepik.com/photos/burger-meat’>Burger meat photo created by azerbaijan_stockers – www.freepik.com</a>