What's that scum at the sides of my home-made burger when I cook it?
When I do home-made burgers, my mix is as follows:
- ground beef
- bread-crumbs or grated potatoe
- egg
- parmezan cheese
- salt, pepper, sweek paprika
- dijon mustard
- a bit of olive oil
- sometimes pieces of ham and some other cheese
- sauteed onion and garlic
I take a handful, make a patty and drop it in a hot skillet. In time, I see some gray scum coming mostly from the sides of the patty (which I dutifully separate with a spoon). At the end, the burger's texture is pleasant, so...
- What is this scum?
- Am I doing something wrong?
thanks!
Best Answer
This scum is made from proteins. Meat contains muscle fibers (the proteins actin and myosin) as well as some loose proteins swimming in the fluids within the meat (the cell plasma). When you cook meat, the protein-rich fluids are expelled (that's why overcooking makes meat dry). Under hot temperature, the proteins in the fluid coagulate, making it firm. It is especially noticeable in your burger, because there is more liquid flowing out quickly from your cut-up meat, but it also happens with whole pieces of meat, albeit more slowly. It is also very noticeable when cooking stock, because the stock is cooked for a long time and the liquid has time to come out from the meat.
The coagulated liquid can form a single piece (as it does with steak on a slightly oiled pan), but when it flows into water or oil, it mixes with it without dissolving, creating small loose particles. They float to the top, creating the frothy scum you describe.
The process is perfectly natural, you're not doing anything wrong. You can in fact eat the scum without any ill effects, but the taste isn't that great. So it is better to fish it out from the oil (or water when making stock). In dry cooking (aforementioned steak) it is exactly this stuff (after getting nicely browned on the hot pan) which makes gravy taste so well, together with the dripped fat.
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Quick Answer about "What's that scum at the sides of my home-made burger when I cook it?"
This scum is made from proteins. Meat contains muscle fibers (the proteins actin and myosin) as well as some loose proteins swimming in the fluids within the meat (the cell plasma). When you cook meat, the protein-rich fluids are expelled (that's why overcooking makes meat dry).Why is my burger slimy?
Fresh ground beef should have a relatively firm consistency that breaks apart when you squeeze it. However, a sticky or slimy texture \u2014 either when cooked or raw \u2014 may indicate the presence of spoilage bacteria. You should toss it immediately (14).What is the stuff that comes out of ground beef?
Pink slime (also known as lean finely textured beef or LFTB, finely textured beef, or boneless lean beef trimmings or BLBT) is a meat by-product used as a food additive to ground beef and beef-based processed meats, as a filler, or to reduce the overall fat content of ground beef.What is the white stuff on hamburger meat?
What are the white dried patches on frozen meat and poultry? The white patches indicate freezer burn. The product remains safe to eat, but the areas with freezer burn will be dried out and tasteless and can be trimmed away if desired.How do you get grease off burgers?
Draining the grease from ground beef will make a dish healthier and is usually recommended. Brown the meat first to extract the fat. Then, you can spoon the grease out of the pan or use a colander to drain the grease. It is important you do not discard the hot grease down a drain as it can cause damage to the drain.what. (Bo Burnham FULL SHOW HD)
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