Here's How To Form Burger Patties Without Ever Touching Raw Meat

Squeamish about touching raw beef but love a homemade burger? Then you need to form your next batch of patties using nothing but a freezer bag and a ruler. This clever trick minimizes physical contact with the meat and produces burger patties that are uniform every time.

To start, take your ground meat and place it inside a freezer bag (you can either squeeze it straight out of the packet into the bag or use a spoon so you don't have to touch it with your fingers). Then, using your hands, spread the meat out — leaving the bag unzipped — by pressing it around until it reaches all the corners. Do this as evenly as possible so the meat is the same thickness throughout and all the air is pushed out of the bag. Seal it up and use a ruler to divide the ground meat into a series of squares by pressing its long edge into the bag lengthways and widthways to create perpendicular channels. Freeze the bag flat, and when you're ready to cook, you should be able to snap the meat along the channeled seams to create perfectly identical squares that are prepped for the frying pan or grill.

This technique can be used for any variety of meat-based burger, from chicken and turkey to pork and beef. In fact, a combination of meats and mixed textures of blended beef grinds make for the best burgers because it lends them a complex mouthfeel and inviting succulence.

Forming burger patties by hand can be a sticky business, which is why it's useful to coat your hands in oil or water to prevent them adhering to your palms. However, if you employ the freezer bag technique, your hands and countertops will stay clean. What's more, freezing your burgers in a flat package is a better way to utilize the prime real estate in your freezer because you can line them up like books on a shelf or stack them neatly on top of each other, unlike a big, unruly ball of ground beef that takes up space and requires lengthy thawing.

Making square Wendy's style patties versus shaping them into rounds by hand saves money because you can buy your ground meat in bulk and make several burgers at speed. Knowing you have portioned burgers stashed away in your freezer that are quick to defrost might make you less likely to order takeout, too. Furthermore, if you've made unseasoned patties, you can use them flexibly in other dishes that use ground beef as well, such as a classic ragu alla bolognese or moussaka. For juicier burgers, splash some water into your pan so they can steam and fry simultaneously. This produces patties that are flavorful on the outside but juicy in the middle.