At a recent holiday party, I was the winner of a Presto Cool Touch Electric Griddle in a grueling game of White Elephant. I claimed the prize early, and kept my head down for the remainder of the game in the hopes that I’d be forgotten. In the end, my clandestine skills proved fruitful, and I walked home in the rain with my new toy. Thus, the Burger Weekly Test Kitchen was born. When I arrived home, I wanted to make a burger immediately, but didn’t have the appetite (I’d just come from a holiday party after all) to eat my product. Then, in the spirit of Burger Insight, in which we unlock all the secrets of the burger world, I decided to make a burger anyway just to see how it held up in the refrigerator to be devoured the next morning.
I made my burger using excellent Honey Hollow Wagyu ground beef, topped it with a little pepper jack cheese, and placed it on a Pepperidge Farm Golden Potato hamburger bun. I let it cool for a while, just as it would have on my plate at a restaurant, and then wrapped it up and put it in the fridge. The next morning, I was able to remove the top bun, but not the bottom. I warmed both sides of the burger on the griddle while frying an egg as well. All of these elements came together in what I had to say was a pretty decent-looking breakfast sandwich. But how would it taste?
While not the most delicious burger I’ve ever made (at this point, how could it be?), it certainly wasn’t disgusting. Rewarming the buns and patty on the griddle removed most of the sog without drying everything out too much. The patty was still a little cold in the center, the only true drawback to the meal. Undoubtedly, there was a bit of a morning-after taste to the whole ordeal, but adding the fried egg helped to augment any flavor-corruption that a night in the refrigerator might have brought about.
In closing, I am not advocating that you leave half of your hamburger for the next morning. Getting this meal to a satisfying level took more work than your science oven can muster on its own. What I am saying is, if for whatever reason you end up with an extra helping of cooked ground beef, you can get creative in the morning and it doesn’t have to go to waste.
