Graham Elliot's Ice Cube Hack Makes Burgers Way Juicier
Graham Elliot might be a familiar face as a judge on the hit reality TV show MasterChef, but his reputation in the culinary world extends far beyond television. Elliot made headlines way before MasterChef first aired in 2010. In fact, he's been considered quite a celebrity since 2004, when he hit the top of Food & Wine's list of the best new chefs that year.
Like many world-class chefs, Elliot has a repertoire of techniques and tricks that set his dishes apart. One of the tips he was willing to share with Fox News can give your next batch of homemade burgers a juicy upgrade. Specifically, he suggests placing an ice cube in the center of the patty before cooking it on the grill. Sure, it may sound pretty odd at first, but hear us out: This simple trick can effectively keep your burger moist and juicy as it cooks, from the grill and all the way to your plate!
How the ice cube trick works
One of the hallmarks of a good burger is a juicy, melt-in-your-mouth meat patty. There are exactly zero recipes out there that'll tell you a dry patty is desirable. Other than making your burger taste tough, the dry texture will make it feel like you're chewing on leather — not the kind of treat you'd want to serve at a weekend barbecue.
But the tricky part is that even when you start with the best type of beef for juicier burgers, keeping the patty moist can be challenging. As it cooks, some of the fat renders out, turning into grease that drips down the grill. The intense heat from the grill can also vaporize the meat's natural moisture. This task becomes even more daunting as you aim for medium-well or well-done levels, where the heat fully penetrates the patty, potentially squeezing out every last drop of moisture.
Instead of having to worry about accidentally cooking all the juices out of the meat, Graham Elliot directly adds moisture to the patty by pressing an ice cube into it. As the ice melts during cooking, it releases water into the meat, helping to maintain its juiciness the entire time it's on the grill.
This trick has been tested
This hack didn't just catch our attention. The good people over at Guga Foods found out about it too, and actually put it to the test in a YouTube video. They began with a choice grade ribeye, grinding the meat and shaping it into several patties. But they didn't stop at using just plain ice cubes with water; they upped the ante by freezing beer and beef stock, then incorporated these into the patties to see how each burger would fare in a taste test.
The outcome was intriguing. Even when the patties reached a medium level of doneness, they still retained an impressive level of juiciness. You might also think the patties with beer and beef stock ice cubes would taste better, since they pack all those extra flavors. But it was actually the one with the plain water ice cube — just like Graham Elliot suggests — that won everyone over in the taste test. The beer-flavored patty didn't hit the mark with its strange, malty off-taste, and the iced beef stock cube just watered down the patty. The master chef sure knows best, after all.
This grilling technique isn't without drawbacks, though. Fortunately, it's a rather funny one: When you insert the ice cube, it creates a large hole in the center of the burger patty. So, if you try this hack, you can expect a few questions from your guests about the mysterious hole in their ultra cheesy Juicy Lucy.