The 100% beef isn’t about the added flavors, it is about not including meat from other animals or other parts of the same animal as filler. For example, 100% angus beef means all of the beef came from the muscles of angus cows, not other types of cows or other parts of the angus cow.

The implication is that the meat is higher quality, not that is tastes better or is unflavored.

It is of course still marketing to increase the amount of meat sold.

The 100% beef is really just about it not having fillers added. Fast food seasons with at least salt.

Personally I think there’s a line between what you add to a burger and it still being a burger. I draw the line at more than dry seasonings. Better beef, or a better blend of cuts will have a bigger impact on taste. The other toppings are meant to be separate to provide contrasting textures and enhance the flavor.

Surprisingly large amount to unpack here. First is just marketing techniques, which are not really intended to speak to people’s rational minds. More often its about influencing people’s feelings by taking advantage of people’s looser impressions, in this case the one of purity = good. This isn’t strictly rational, it’s just a feeling, and the marketing is designed to target this subconscious impression with a quick and easy hook.

Next, from a culinary perspective, a pure ground beef patty does need to be cooked properly, and that’s harder than it sounds. You want high heat and a quick sear to get a good crust on it, these Maillard reactions are what you’re going for to develop a robust and complex flavor in your beef. Also need a generous salting. Most places fuck some part of this technique up, but when done well it gives the straight beef a certain degree of depth that many find appealing. It’s actually counter-productive to this process to add anything with water content, as the extra water will inhibit the beef from quickly reaching the necessary temps along its exterior to get these crusty bits, just by virtue of water’s low boiling point.

But, in the event you want complex flavor without having to muck around with very specific cooking technique, you can add complex flavors in other ways. Onion can provide sweetness, Worchestershire can add depth, something like smoked paprika, chipolte or liquid smoke can add a smokey component etc, all of which can add deliciousness. This all has the added benefit of extra nutrition and stretching the more expensive meat into more patties as well. This method is far more certain in its results, since the extra flavor components are already there, making the whole thing much more forgiving when it comes to the actually cooking process. All this really costs you is a few minutes of extra prep work and having to deal with burger purists potentially talking about meat loaf sandwiches.

So, at the end of the day, several viable techniques exist that can produce solid results, and have their own subtle pros and cons. This more elaborate understanding does not fit well from a marketing perspective, however, where the advertiser just wants the quickest and cheapest way to create an impression in your brain, accurate or not.

Thus, ultimately, I fully agree with you.

If you work any ground meat extensively, you develop extensive myoglobin networks. This is a process almost identical to kneading bread to develop gluten. Also turns the meat bright pink.

This results in very chewy, tougher texture – like in Swedish meatballs (or really good Chinese dumplings/bao!). It’s also essential to sausage-making. It also makes them feel less juicy (because the ground beef holds onto the moisture more tightly). Not necessarily worse or better, but certainly different, and in my experience most burger-lovers find it undesirable.

Maybe you prefer it. All the power to you if you do. Cooking like you were raised on often has a special place. But there’s a reason nearly all the burgers in more elevated cuisine are not formed this way – they want them to be tender and juicy.

That said, I’d call this product a meatball, meatloaf, or sausage sandwich, not a burger.

edit: also, given the way you like to make burgers, I’d encourage you to try plant-based meat for it. I think you’ll find it tastes much the same – the exact properties of ground beef that get damaged by this extensive mixing are the exact ones that are hardest to replicate for all the plant-based meat brands, and since you clearly don’t care for them you could probably really reduce your environmental impact by not buying the cow product.

There used to be a lot of rumors that some fast food chains used soy or meat from some other animal to stretch the beef to be able sell the burgers so cheap.

The chains advertising 100% beef are probably still reacting to these rumors.

So… you are making sausage.

My secret to enhancing beef flavor without changing it is to use Tsuru Bishio, Worcestershire, salt, and MSG. As soon as you add something like egg, garlic, or anything else into the ground meat, you’ve made sausage and it tastes like sausage. It’s not a burger any more.

Here are my tricks, which I use on steak as well as burgers:

Add a small amount of Tsuru Bishio (a thick, dark, deeply umami, barrel aged soy sauce) and Worcestershire to the ground meat (or rub on the surface of the steak). Mix well.

Form the meat into balls and preheat your pan/griddle. Dust the balls with salt and msg.

Slice an onion paper-thin. Using a mandolin is strongly recommended. Toss with a tiny bit of high-heat oil and salt.

Throw all the onions on the griddle and then throw the meatballs on top. Cover and let look for a minute or two (depending on your heat).

Make sure your griddle is draining. Pour out grease if needed.

Move the onions around a bit and then roll the meatballs over and smash them hard into the onions. Cover and cook another minute or two, then flip one more time. Now is the time to add cheese if you want.

The goal here is to try and elevate the umami without changing the flavor of the beef. You want it to taste like the “beefiest” thing you’ve ever eaten. The Tsuru Bishio and Worcestershire help give the beef an “aged” flavor while the salt and msg draw out more of the beefs natural “beefiness”. Onion fried in beef fat (rendered from the patties themselves) adds a very deep, caramelized umami flavor (like french onion soup) that complements and elevates the beef without overpowering or conflicting with it. It absorbs and captures the beef-fat flavor that otherwise would have been wasted. It also helps keep the mouthfeel “juicy”.

Im sorry but i draw the line at blending onions. Eviscersting an onion like that would just make it pungent as fuck. Carmelize the onions while you cook the patty, or just raw on top is plenty fine.

I put a substantial amount of very cheap cabbage into my burger meat last time just to stretch it out, i didn’t expect much but it was delicious.

If you’re buying Angus beef for your burgers, try switching to 85/15 ground chuck and thank me later.

Do you put the ground beef into the blender? No? Mix the blended stuff into the ground beef (in a bowl)?

Sounds interesting but I think I need to understand better before I try it.

You put it in a blender? I make my burgers just like you said, but usually put everything together and then mix it with the beef. You put it all in the blender? Doesn’t it break?

Honestly, anyone selling ground meat is kinda sus to me. There are reasons steak burgers are uncommon and it is not because they taste worse.

Why grind meat?

Nothing beats good beef cooked rare.

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