Mini burgers, also known as sliders, are popular in fast food chains and casual restaurants. They can be made with various meats and toppings, and a mini burger patty gadget is growing in popularity. Cooks may need to find suitable substitutes for standard hamburger buns.
Many customers of fast food chains such as Krystal or White Castle may already be familiar with the concept of a mini burger, otherwise known as a slider. The mini burgers served at those establishments contain thin patties of ground beef, grilled with reconstituted or fresh onions and served on a small steamed bun. The toppings on a traditional mini burger or slider are often limited to mustard and a single pickle slice.
In recent years, many cafes and casual restaurants have capitalized on the popularity and affordability of these quirky mini burgers. Instead of emulating the steamed bun and thin beef patty recipe, however, many restaurants create scaled-down versions of their traditional burgers, some of which can weigh a third of a pound or more. Mini burgers are prepared just like their full-sized equivalents, with the miniature meat patty pressed and fried on a grill.
Because these mini burgers aren’t made to a standard scale, cooks may need to find acceptable substitutes for standard hamburger buns. Some choose to cut standard sandwiches into smaller sections, while others use small dinner rolls or sectioned flat bread for their mini burgers. If a suitable sandwich is not readily available, specialized sandwiches can be created from scratch using standard bread dough.
One kitchen gadget that is growing in popularity among mini burger aficionados is a mini burger patty or slider. This device contains five round rings, which fit snugly in a pan containing five fluted cups. The user portions raw ground beef into each cup and then presses down with the corresponding rings and topping. Heat from an upper burner element cooks the burgers from below, and the heat left in the chambers cooks the meat from above. There is no need to flip prepared mini burgers with a slide press.
Mini burgers can be topped with traditional toppings such as pickles, onions, lettuce and sliced tomatoes, or they can be seasoned to fit an overall culinary theme. Asian-style burgers might be topped with teriyaki sauce and pineapple slices, for example, or Tex-Mex mini burgers might have sliced bell peppers and a barbecue sauce added. Many restaurants offer the same upgrades to mini burgers as they do to full-sized burgers, such as thick bacon strips or bleu cheese.
A mini burger doesn’t have to be made with ground beef, however, nor does it have to be prepared on a grill. Some restaurants offer smaller burgers made with ground pork, turkey, bison or chicken. There are even recipes for making a mini veggie burger, and some recipes call for a serving of baked meatloaf instead of a grilled hamburger patty. It’s not unusual for an upscale casual restaurant to offer a variety of mini burgers, each containing three or four smaller versions of its standard oversized fare.
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