The Clever Way To Make Burger Patties Without Ever Touching Raw Meat

There are many benefits to homemade hamburgers. You don't have to leave your house, you can make enough for leftovers, and they're delicious when done right. But the downside to homemade burgers is the mess, since mixing and molding the burger patties is a job best left for your two hands. Indeed, forming ground beef patties into tender burgers generally requires touching a lot of raw meat, but not if you follow this clever hack.

All you'll need is a large sealable plastic bag and something long and thin, like a ruler. Scoop the hamburger meat into the bag. You can season the beef ahead of time or later, right before cooking. With the bag still open, carefully begin to roll and press the meat down that so it expands to fill the entire bag in an even layer. Squeeze all the air out before sealing it in, then use your dividing tool to make grid-style indentations in the burger meat, pressing all the way down and through to make patty-sized squares. Make sure the bag is laying flat in the freezer, and when it comes time for your next barbecue, you can easily break the frozen meat off one square at a time to grab and grill.

There are different variations on this frozen burger patty trick. One from YouTube account crazyhacker can save you freezer space and create more separation between the individual burger patties, which makes removal of a single burger a bit more convenient. In this version, when evening out the meat into a thin layer inside the zip-top plastic bag you're using, leave a few inches of space at the top. Continue on to remove all the air, seal the bag, and create your grid marks with the ruler as before.

Next, fold the bag over at the creases, and then over again, accordion style. You'll end up with nine burger patties in three rows of three. The thin stacks of burgers will store nicely in the freezer, saving some space. And, of course, your hands will be nice and clean with whichever variation of the technique you choose.

Besides the sticky, greasy residue on your fingers that's always a pain to clean off, there are a couple other reasons you should avoid touching raw meat if you can help it. One of those reasons is also one of the common mistakes everyone makes with ground beef: overhandling and overmixing. Working the meat too much toughens it up, resulting in far less tender burgers. This is thanks to a protein called myosin, which is broken free from the muscle fibers in the meat when mixed or ground and, when accumulated in excess, causes a chewy end product.

You also want to avoid touching raw meat because of possible contamination with harmful bacteria, such as salmonella, e. coli, and campylobacter. These bacteria are commonly found on raw meat and can easily transfer to the hands. This cross-contamination increases the risk of acquiring foodborne illness, which can lead to symptoms like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and, in severe cases, hospitalization, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.