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Thank you Emmy! You returned a memory to me of my grandmother working in the cafeteria at Crowley's Ridge College. I would go with her and sit in the kitchen while she worked and my parents were in class. She would make these burgers for the students only instead of water they used powdered milk they had mixed with water. and they would toast the buns next to the burgers. The only seasoning they used was salt and pepper but they were awesome. I haven't had them like that since around the third grade when she retired. Looks like I know what I am doing the next time I make burgers.
@@emberrain7050 I was just thinking about beef stock. Onion powder for a McDonald's taste. Maybe an egg and some baking powder to make it fluffy... Oh damn, now I am changing it to a different monster. Sorry. 🤪
Just wanted to add an annotation to the soy based ingredients used. I work for the company that invented TVP, and actually at the specific plant that was their former world headquarters. Soy flour is soy beans that are flaked, has the fat extracted , and lightly cooked in basically a giant vacuum kettle before being ground. Soy grits, are the same flakes cooked longer and lower temp until they brown, and are milled to a course powder. Grits are used as a really common ingredient in modern fast process soy sauces. We sell grits by the truck load to that one brand that starts with a K Soy grits are just a low fat alternative to japanese kinako. Kinako would be a decent sub for plain soy flour, and actually might add a bit of a better flavor / texture due to a more nutty/roasted flavor and the extra fat. TVP is normally the soy flour that has had a lot of the carbs removed via a wash with ethanol, before the flour is then run through an extruder with a bit of water. The water poofs to steam as it exits the pressure of the extruder causing the protein matrix of the soy to expand. Exact same machines are used to make cheetos from corn meal.
Boy does this bring back early memories. Mom used to make the hamburger and bread burgers. She added an egg if she had one and would make meatloaf. Anything to stretch a meal when she had no money and 3 hungry mouths to feed. I never realized how poor we were before mom remarried. I never knew our meals she made were because she couldn't afford anything else. It was always a treat to have her meatloaf, macaroni and cheese, or "slum-golian." Most meals were cereal and powdered milk. Mostly, I never understood that the reason she usually didn't eat with us is because she went without meals because there wasn't enough for her. We started putting the pieces together as we aged and asked enough questions for her to fess up. We still crave mom's mac and cheese. But I will NEVER miss powdered milk or government cheese. Emmy, I love watching you "discover" these recipes. Thank you for your series and all the work and time you put into all of your productions. Theresa
I remember my mom skipping meals and not finding out why until I was older. Now, there are still rough days but I’m happy I can provide many meals for her these days so she doesn’t have to pretend she’s not hungry anymore.
I love that Emmy provides her research sources. Not only is she providing entertaining content but it truly shows the educational side of food that many often overlook. Such a great balance.
My grandmother used to do something similar to this, she would use saltine crackers but she wouldnt hydrate them, they would be mixed in dry and the idea was that the dry crackers mixed in would absorb some of the fat instead of it all just leaking out into the pan, they were wonderful.
This must’ve been how this one burger joint I went to in high school made their burgers. They were like 50 cents and 60 cents with cheese. Definitely gonna try this because I loved that place. Thank you!
Plenty of burger shops make them this way. It's a cheap way to make burgers while still tasting good. There's also mixing ground pork with the beef to save costs, though I don't see that very often. It gives the patty a sort of sausage taste
This sounded so good. I never would have thought to add chili powder and sage to my burgers. I think I will try this, like you with the 1 lb etc. Divvy up the patties with parchment and freeze them in packages of 5 burgers. For a quick, inexpensive dinner this winter. Thank you, Emmy.
Emmy, I love it when you post thrifty and resourceful recipes! Your Hard Times playlist, and even your really old prison commissary recipe videos are my favourites to watch if I ever feel anxious. These old recipes that stretch ingredients and feed a crowd are comforting and inspiring as we all deal with rising food costs. They remind me that not only can we get by, we can feed our friends! (Even 100 friends!) 💙
I asked my 83 year old mum if I remembered it right that she used to send me shopping for 3/4lb of minced beef to make a family sized pie in the 70s when I was kid. She said yes that was how much she used. The filling was bulked out with chopped onion and grated carrot + beef stock cubes for flavour. Her pies were delicious and fed 6 people. Incredible really. She said it was the way she was shown and probably from a WW2 era recipe when meat was rationed. She usually used lard for cooking as our neighbour worked for a kosher butcher and he often gave her huge lumps of fat that had to be rendered down in the oven on a very low heat for 12 hours or so to make the lard.
It was probably beef or lamb fat, and so technically tallow. I save the trim when I cut meat and render the tallow. It's really great for frying, especially potatoes. You can save the brown crispy fat bits after you render it too. The fat doesn't drain as well as it does when I make lard, so it doesn't make good chicharron. I grind up the crunchy bits to get a substance similar in texture to peanut butter. I use it by slicing out a small cube and dropping it into soup or stew to give extra browned beef flavor.
I also figure it was tallow not lard, since pork fat is certainly not kosher. Tallow is lovely to cook with, though it has a bit more flavor than lard.
I love rendering my own tallow and lard from pastured animals. It makes the house smell so luxurious! I chop up the chilled fat really small in the processor before rendering and that gets the maximum amount of grease out faster. My son loves what he calls fat cracklins; I double fry the solids and then press them after I’ve rendered as much fat as I can. I always save that pan in the oven overnight and fry the eggs in the remnants of grease the next morning. So good. I tried store lard once and it was NOT good. I’m spoiled! 😂
I can remember many times, when I was a little kid in the early 60s, and again during the recession of the 70s as a teen, stretching a pound of hamburger as far as it could be stretched. I was always helping mama in the kitchen, so I've seen her use crackers, oatmeal ground fine in a blender, dried potato flakes, shredded veggies, bread soaked in coffee or milk; just whatever she had on hand would work. She was amazing.😊
We grew up in the same time period. I lived in a small town (less than 5000 people) during that time. Someone else commented and called them welfare burgers. (My mom would have been too proud to call anything welfare.) I think Emmy doing her lean times recipes is a good thing during these times. I would like to see some of the recipes you and your mom used. They sound creative. 💕
@@trexvalleygirl2770 she never wrote them down (like a lot of southern moms 😀), but I can try and remember some of them and write them out in the comments😊
You don't have to think of it in such a negative light. Think of it this way these would be great to take to a large party or tailgating. You could also use it to feed the homeless. If you want to make it a little more fancy you can add cheese and bacon too. Basically just dress it up like a normal burger.
@@Miss_Kisa94 I'm thinking of it in such a negative light because things ARE in that light for me. I need ways to be able to afford to eat, food costs have rocketed up in the last 6 monthsb
@@melskunk It's not a negative light to think that way. You're doing your best under difficult circumstances and that's never a negative. Some people are just out of touch.
@@uncaringbear I'm not out of touch I just grew up poor my entire life so I have a different way of viewing things. Maybe your right though maybe living off welfare and food stamps as a child made me out of touch.
As someone who grew up in Wilkes County, NC. These burgers are amazing. I have not had one in 5 years, but a cafe near my work was the only place that sold them anymore. Delicious and cheap!
My ONLY comment is in regards to a technique for the slaw, that you either didn't mention or didn't think about. Since these were designed to be served in a Goodwill food line, the slaw most likely would actually most likely have been made first! It would have been marinating and fermenting for most of the day before it got added to the burger! It would actually be yummier that way! As well as a little bit softer, but still some crunch and a tiny hint of a sauerkraut flavor and texture
That's true...the slaw would of been made way before like you stated which makes a huge difference in the taste ..not a minute or two right as it's assembled....
It would be very easy to upscale these burgers with some simple and cheap additions such as chopped onion, minced carrots, peppers and egg. You could also use nutmeg instead of sage and it'd be reminiscent of Japanese hamburg steak
This is pretty much how I was taught to make burgers when growing up. We'd use bread ends instead of buns in the mixture. Salt and pepper were a must, plus usually whatever spices you felt to add. If we had canned milk to spare, we'd moisturize with that, else water. They were served on bread usually, but sometimes buns, with mustard and ketchup.
Ground beef, bread filler, and spices... so basically meatloaf patties. Sounds good to me. I'd toss in some chopped onion and worcestershire sauce. Maybe and egg or two.
This reminds me of the 'stuffing balls' I make as part of a Sunday Roast here in the UK. I use half fresh breadcrumbs, and half sausagemeat, along with butter-fried onions, fresh sage and salt and pepper. Rolled into balls, dipped in egg and then covered in golden breadcrumbs and baked. They're an absolute crowd pleaser! The recipe has been passed down through the generations, so I bet they're from the same world as this burger recipe.
I was born and raised only about 20 miles from Wilkesboro. This burger is as also known locally as a Smithy burger after a local department store as she points out. The store had several locations locally. Anytime my grandparents and I would go shopping in town, I always had to get one.
Did they have mayonnaise on the bun or anything else she might not have known about? I can’t imagine anyone in my family eating a burger without mayo on it, but who knows!
@@rosieweaselby If I remember correctly mustard and slaw, but not the slaw Emmy made. If you look up a recipe for NC white slaw this what they were served with.
I'm gonna definitely try these burgers. I'll probably substitute other seasoning instead of sage to give it more of a burger flavor. Can't wait to try it!
I love that you try these kind of recipes Emmy. I always find it funny that people are squeamish about lard, but for instance love things baked in bacon fat 😉. My mother used to ad rusk bread and a little bit of milk to ground meats, before she formed them into meatballs. It acted as a binder, but also to bulk things a bit. And I loved those meatballs! My mother had more of those little hacks to stretch certain product, so it was more for less money. And my mother is a great cook!
Turns out that lard is not so bad after all. I wonder if a part of its bad reputation might have originated with the marketing people trying to sell vegetable oils, Crisco, and so forth, like the big scandal of fat vs sugar. On the other hand, I've eaten lard for many decades with no harmful effects other than my hair fell out, my beard turned gray, my skin got all wrinkly, and my memory went bad. Now I just don't know.
I'm Lebanese, and this is how we eat our burgers! When burgers first started becoming popular here (1990's-2000's) it consisted of a heavily-extended meat mixture (sort of like yours, but with soaked bulgur-wheat instead of TVP) formed into a thin patty, topped with lots of coleslaw, french fries (yes, stuffed inside the burger!), ketchup and mustard, all filled in a large burger bun which was then toasted. Of course, with time, more typical burgers made with 100% ground beef and 'regular' add-ons became more popular, however, lots of old-timey restaurants still make the 'O.G.' burger which I actually prefer to the more contemporary ones. Taste of my childhood!
Grandma used to make them JUST like this also, I still make them in her honor, albeit with panko instead of old bread, the panko really makes epic burgers!
emmy is one of the backbones of OG youtube content, and deserves so much more credit! hope to see her continue to thrive on the platform for years to come. ❤
I understand you were going by a traditional recipe for this type of burger. Using beef bouillon or some other type of beef base in the bun water would probably sell the burger flavor a little more.
AND grandmas used "patty paper" for burgers - little squares of wax or parchment paper. They used a plate or pan to flatten them so the burgers had an even thickness.
I’m a Wilkes native and love these. My mom still makes them and I have to have one whenever she does. You did an awesome job making them! The cabbage for the slaw was more finely chopped at Smitheys but you otherwise nailed this recipe.
Thanks for trying something new for us. I was thinking it might be a good idea to go ahead and freeze the patties and then you could just pull them out when you need something quick, because they would defrost very quickly. I'm going to try this on a small scale just to see how I like it before I commit to that many of them. Haha love your videos, keep them coming.
It reminds me a Polish recipe for meat balls, during WW II Polish families didn't have much money so food was mostly potatoes, just different cooking style of it (boiled, fried with onion, in dumplings, as kluski (basically boiled potatoes with potato starch and boiled again)) For meat there was sometimes chicken or pork chop but mostly meat balls. Whatever meat you can afford, chopped onion, salt, pepper, egg (If one could afford it) and a stale bread, grind it to make breadcrumps and mix it all together. Basically typical dinner of Polish family was made from things relatively easy to harverst and these that were able to stay edible for long time so potatoes, breadcrumps, onions, some fat, cabbages, rice, pickles (mostly mushrooms, cucumbers, cabbage) beans, rhubarb for desserts. Another popular very cheap meal was gołąbki, meat mixed with rice, wrapped in boiled cabbage covered in tomato puree and coocked in oven or on pan. That's also why soups were so popular, imagine you could boil some meat, carrots, onions, parsley root in water, made it into a broth and then reuse these ingredients to make second dish. Literally two dishes from one ingredient, brilliant.
I just found your channel. Love your budget-stretching recipes! Looking back (I'm in my 60s) I can remember some of these recipes (or something similar) that my mom would fix to stretch the budget until payday. Humble food, get good-tasting and nutritious food. We need to get back to these basics.
North Carolinian here. I honestly don't know of a single NC (or generally southern, I'm originally from Atlanta, GA) person who'd make that coleslaw without adding mayonnaise to it. Otherwise, it's just seasoned raw cabbage. 😂 As a side note, adding mustard, coleslaw and chili to burgers is referred to as "Carolina Style".
This is basically to Italian coleslaw or vinegar slaw. Whoever ran the kitchen likely used a family recipe or moved into the area with a different regional recipe.
I'm here in Chicago, and they put slaw, made the way you mentioned, on pulled pork hoagies. I had never had it that way until we moved here. It makes sense that it came from the Carolinas, because you guys have the best barbecue! Back in 2018, I spent the summer there for my husband's work. I brought home several bottles of your barbecue sauce. 😂
@@racheljones6687, I know, right? I have to admit I was completely dumbfounded by it. But hey, I've only lived in the western half of the state, so what those Easterner's do with their coleslaw isn't something I can say I know anything about. Still gonna' bet they add some Duke's mayo......😂
My Grand Maw use to make burgers like that however she did not use the extra spices and flour it was just the bread along with salt and pepper but my gosh we would eat them until we would almost get sick from them. I have not had any in a while but now I plan on giving it a go and make me some. Thanks so much for sharing this version of making them I will try them with the few extra spices in it.
Back in the 1970's, there was a packaged TVP product sold to stretch hamburger. I really enjoyed it when my mother used it, because the burgers stayed juicy when they were cooked.
Yep. You could buy TVP in the meat dept. at the grocery store. I remember people turning up their noses at it, but, if you knew what to do with it, it was a good extender. Luckily, my mother (and yours) knew what to do with it, but some people do not have a clue about such things, and don't *want* a clue, either. 🙄 😉
Thank you Emmy! My favorite part of the day is when I get the TH-cam notification that you've posted a new video! I tried a recipe for a VERTICAL Carrot Cake. Mine was a mess. I would love to see you make one. Thank you!
The burger recipe is what my mom used for meatloaf. As someone else mentioned an egg was also mixed in which helped everything stick together and added protein. She also added chopped onions. I still use this as a base recipe for meatloaf, stuffed peppers, etc. but I also add oat bran and wheat germ. Spices are added depending on what I'm making. For instance, for stuffed poblanos (I can't eat sweet peppers but poblanos are great. The acids are the same as hot peppers which I have no problem with) I add a touch of garlic powder, sage, Mexican chili powder, salt and pepper, and drained, canned -or fresh, diced tomatoes. And, some shredded cheese. Stuff it into the poblanos and bake. Using this as a base, you can do lots of things. Italian spices do great, melting some mozzarella on top for the last minute or two. Yum. You can also add teriyaki sauce or soy sauce, ginger and chopped zucchini (great in the summer with all of that zucchini from the garden) and serve with rice. This REALLY stretches the meat but I do it now because we love the taste. We absolutely love it.
Burgers in the depression era tended to be what you would think of as kids burger today. They were generally fairly small compared to today. Since burgers were so small i imagine the less beef patties didnt taste super different since they would have been small and lots of bread/veg/toppings by comparison
@@ericalbany The big mac and whopper were not that different when they were introduced. (the whopper was considered HUGE back then) Also, Whataburger hasn't really changed much either. You can find plenty of historical advertisements from the period. The Big Mac was the more "typical size" - just double stacked. For that matter In'n'Out still are the same size as they started with. I think what may have changed is that some people want more veg than in the past - but really the sizes haven't changed much. A "quarter pound" is still 4 ounces.
Fun fact: In poland we have something called mielone which translates to ground. So we put ground meat (beef) and also put some kind of bread in there to make the patties more juicy and thick. No idea if they used to make it that way to stretch the meat but my grandma used to do it that way and my mom still does it to this day although both of them didn’t have any problems with money.
Awesome job!! I grew up in Wilkesboro and on these Goodwill burgers,Matter of fact,just ordered my soybean flour from Amazon and iam going to make them tomorrow for the first time,so thanks for the video..
in a lot of places this is how you typically make burgers or meatballs, onion tomato bread/breadcrumbs spices and some olive oil and its super juicy and tasty. when i try making a burger without bread it just tastes too gamey/meaty, but the way we cook them is in the oven not in a pan.
Thanks Emmy! My late Mom used those veggie crumbles in our hamburger alot. Also powdered mi!k and alot of rice or mashed potatoes to stretch stuff. As kids we hated it but as an adult I don't mind the veggie stuff. I really like the patties made with different things like black beans. However even those types of foods are not necessarily cheap😉🙏🥔🍔
I always put extras in my ground beef to bulk it up for extra flavor and to make it more filling and economical. I prefer to add grains rather than bread or crackers because it's often less expensive and healthier in the long run. Some of my favorite go to add ins are oats, cornmeal, barley, rice, beans, bean flours, onions, garlic, tomato paste, marjoram, sage, cumin, paprika. Mixing and matching various add-ins leads to incredibly delicious, filling ground beef recipes including burgers, especially for someone like me who doesn't really like beef.
To fill the bread with breadcrumbs is a regular way to make meatballs or pannbiffar in Sweden since centuries ago. We never feel that we stretch the meat since this is how we always do it here. Great that you're showing this kind of cooking 👌
I lived in an area where the locals served Turkey Dressing Sandwiches for every large get-together. I saw it served at everything from post funeral meals to wedding receptions. It was a whole turkey, cooked and shredded, mixed with bread based dressing and a gravy like substance mixed together and served on buttered hamburger buns. You could serve a bunch of people for a small amount of money and the sandwiches were actually quite tasty!
PreCISEly the way my Mom made burgers. In the old days, school teachers like my dad were the poorest of the town, and this recipe is just exactly how I learned to make burgers. Or spaghetti sauce. Or other things. Never called them Goodwill burgers, but this is how I do it today. Love the video, and love you greatly!
My dad would make hamburgers mixing in all the leftover veggies in the fridge and some oats and he called them Garbage Bucket Specials. They were awesome.
We make "meatballs" out of bread for my vegetarian daughter all the time so I can totally get the texture. Will have to try them with some cabbage slaw next time.
When I was growing up, my mom would sometimes make burgers which we just called, "hamburgers with peppers and onions". I later found out that some of the other kids at school had the same thing at home, but they called them "welfare burgers". IIRC, it was essentially a very, very basic meatloaf recipe shaped into patties instead of a loaf, then fried in a skillet like a regular hamburger. Ground beef, bread crumbs, diced green pepper and onion, and garlic powder. If there was anything more to it than that, I don't remember. They were DELICIOUS!
Reminds me of Eddie Murphy’s old bit about hamburgers at home vs. the kids who lorded over him who got McDonald’s instead of a “big old green pepper burger”. 🤣
We used eggs and bread crumbs in ours. We had plenty of eggs because we has chickens. Plus we got day old bread which you can’t get any more. Plus we had lard from cows.
Emmy I am sick as a dog in bed right now and I couldn’t wait to cozy up in bed and watch your videos theres such a sense of warmth when watching you! Thank you for all that you do!
I think I’d really enjoy these! Might add some garlic to the patti & caramelized onions to the toppings. Since I never use up an entire package of hamburger buns, this is a great way to use them. Thanks for doing the research for us, Emmy!!
Grew up with burgers like this only we used saltiness instead of bread and added egg to hold it together. I sometimes still make them. We also would take 1 can of Campbell's chunky soup and pour it over rice to feed a family of 5. 1 can fed us all. Truly never knew we were poor.
I live in Lenoir and we had a Smithey's store. It was the mom and pop store that crashed with a hometown hardware store. In the back corner was the deli/diner like counter for the burgers but we didn't call them goodwill burgers but Smithey burgers. They were the best burgers ever! I never knew how they were made but we didn't care either. It's long been closed but this brought back the memories! Only difference is that the slaw was chopped and mayo based, with onion and mustard, cheese was optional. How close our Smithey burgers were to the original is not something I know but yummy all the same. 😊
everytime im eating or alone.. i go on youtube and binge watch you emmy… specifically the MREs💀i wonder if i can get one for myself and eat/use only whats in it to survive for a day.. like a small challenge
I have seen these burgers made at “soup kitchens” and instead of ground beef they ground less expensive cuts of beef along with some deboned turkey meat (mostly dark meat). Additionally the bread was day old squishy white bread that was ground with the meat as were the other fillers and seasoning. The liquid used to to moisten the mixture was water with beef bullion cubes added with double the amount of bullion added to the water to pump up the beefy taste with a few drops of liquid smoke ( by a few drops I mean one capful of liquid smoke to 5 gallons of water because liquid smoke can cause digestive issues if too much is used and the last thing a soup kitchen wants is to cause the people eating there to have upset tummy’s and other digestive problems if you get my meaning) lastly after the meat mixture was ready for cooking it was either formed into patties by using a dishing scoop to portion it and then was smashed on the flat top grill with a bacon press or was rolled out using a rolling pin with height rings/guides to ensure portion size and cut to size and then fried. Coleslaw was a common side dish because it is filling and cabbage has lots of minerals and vitamins that the people frequenting the soup kitchen for meals might not be getting along this the Coleslaw potatoes would be baked and then cut in half coated in oleo and baked again to crisp up the potato skin and brown the face of the potato. Everyone would get a “burger” on a bun or sometimes English muffin a half or whole potato depending on the size of the potato a 3 Oz scoop of coleslaw and condiment packs containing plastic silverware, a wet one, two napkins, a salt, pepper, and sugar sachets, and two ketchup and one mustard packets. Occasionally if food donations permitted a slice of wrapped cheese was included but not melted on the burger because this allowed people to either put it on their burger or not. The reason the soup kitchen I volunteered at preferred using pieces of beef rather than ground meat is because it allowed more menu options but we never turned down ground beef or any other donations for that matter.
My mother made the very best meatballs, and years ago they made them with stale bread. She didn't use any type of flour, just egg, grated Romano cheese and all the seasonings. And then fried them, saved the meatball grease in the freezer, and used that for softening the garlic and onions in her sauce. The meatballs were the best and her sauce!
in the province of Quebec where i grew up, we could ask for "choux" with our hot dogs. it was similar to your slaw here. but it was much much thinner and lighter. and it was delicious! now, i would have to have the choux and the hot dog without the bun due to diabetes. this looks like a fun burger though, if you dont have to watch your carb count!
Smithey burgers are the best! 😁 Thanks Emmy, great video! These are still available just up the mountain at a couple of restaurants in beautiful West Jefferson and in other areas too I imagine. Smithey's department stores and cafes were very popular. After the stores closed many of the cafes remained, some now under different names. My husband drove past the morning of the fire...so sad to lose such a historical place. Thanks again! Appreciate you dear!
We used to go feed the ducks at the pond in front Bob's Red Mill before they expanded in Milwaukie, Oregon. My great grandma had a depression-era recipe called tuna burgers: canned drained tuna, mayo, minced onion and celery, breadcrumbs and seasonings pan fried or baked. Greasy but good!
These are also very good with minced pork or half pork half beef, add soaked stale bread, salt, pepper, onions and egg and leave out the soy. Form more ball sized patties and fry them up, stick them hot and sizzling directly on the bun to let all the good juices get into the bread. No reason to soak paper towels in flavour. Now you have a Frikadellenbrötchen. Instead of cleaning the pan afterwards, fill it up with some water and cook out the flavour for a nice broth for next days lunch. I like use it for ramen. To make it even cheaper, you may be able to buy stale bread and buns from a bakery. A friend of mine uses cooked rice instead of bread and cooks them in an inch of soup before a final sear.
My mom back in Russia always makes patties (called kotleta in Russia) like this - not just to save money (although we had some hard times in the past), but just because the end result is more tender. The idea of a beef-only burger is strange to her (not to me!). She usually soaks the bread in milk, and may add egg to it, too. The meat is usually ground with raw white onion (this is the part of the preparation I used to hate as kid, because I was usually tasked with grinding it) for extra juiciness. The patties themselves are traditionally made more thick and boat-shaped.
adding a bit of beef boulion, and plain gelatin (helps to hold the beef flavor) to the mix, makes them juicy like a full burger and crispy! thanks for sharing, it brings back the ole ways!
Have you done hamburger potato patties? That was our childhood stretch out the meat dinner! Usually a pound of hamburger, 1/4 cup of onion powder and garlic powder, 2 eggs, 5 shredded potatoes, and a few drops of hickory smoke. I do not use the liquid smoke as an adult. Fried in the electric skillet with the vented lid. My friend Sarah liked to make sliders with them on my Mom's Zoom rolls and coleslaw. My adult version of coleslaw is different than my childhood one, but the rolls are the same if I make them. Lately, I've been making meatloaf patties based on the version on the Saltines box. I changed Worcestershire to teriyaki, and ginger instead of pepper. Also find chicken broth is just better than milk.
Wet bread, dry bread crumbs,cooked rice, oatmeal,crushed cracker all are extenders which can be used to expand your ground meats, pork, beef or chicken
Well this sounds really good and makes a lot of sense. I mean how do people make meatloaf? They usually bulk it up with breadcrumbs. I might need to remember this recipe for the future...when/if things get tight.
Imma need cheese with mine! But they look pretty good. I noticed the "cheap" hamburger patties at the grocery store are crunchy too and if you check the ingredient list it's meat with bread-like filler. The more "expensive" patties are 100% meat, so we alternate between them based on our budget.
I've made this - minus the TVP part. I've also added oatmeal, bread crumbs, or stale crushed unsweetened cereal with an egg as filler for ground beef when making burgers or meatloaf.
This just made me think of something from my childhood. When my dad made burgers on the grill he was very particular about getting high quality ground beef from the butcher. He would lightly season it but didn't believe you should gunk up good beef with a lot of added stuff. My one friend who came from a very large family would always say the burgers at my house tasted funny. She couldn't say what it was exactly, just funny. I never thought of it before but now I wonder if she didn't often have plain beef and was unfamiliar with that taste. Maybe their family had something more like this. There are a few things I realize now that I didn't pick up on when I was little. Interesting.
The first time I had stretch burgers, I thought they were even tastier than normal burgers. My friend's mom made them with pre-cooked rice and diced bell peppers as filler. I'd say it's definitely a great burger to have in the rotation along with other meat-saving burgers like smash burgers.
My mother used to make meatballs with dry bread crumbs, diced onions, garlic and salt added to meat - it could be shaped as hamburger as well and was quite tasty too 😋
TVP is not bad tasting, it absorbs whatever you flavor it with. I buy soy curls and turn them into all sorts of faux beef and chicken dishes. My mother gave up all beef products over a decade ago. I use soy curls and crumbles to make spaghetti, chili con carne (sans carne, lol), old school American style Hungarian Goulash, creamed hamburger over toast, green peppers stuffed with tomatoes and seasoned rice, Mexican lasagna, etc.. We were using ground turkey but had 2 instances where we bought name brand purportedly fresh ground turkey and it was revolting. Actually it was so bad that my mom and I have not been able to eat ground turkey since, we are not over the gag faxtor. I decided to switch to soy curls and crumbles and see if mom was OK with eating the dishes made with them. She's fine with it, prefers it to ground chicken. At 90 years of age she's not concerned about eating soy products. If you've ever eaten canned chili you've most likely eaten TVP without even realizing it because several big name chili brands use it along with beef in their chili products. I bet those burgers would be yummy cooked in bacon grease. My mom always saved her bacon grease, my grandmother too. Such useful grease. They didn't use tons of it, just a bit for flavor.
Wow, ‘never heard of this before! But it did remind me of how we called the hamburgers from the school cafeteria “soy burgers” 😁 New sub here, so glad I came across your channel! We really enjoy your stuff ❤️
you might have a go by substituting gram flour ( chickpea flour ) for the soy flour. similar protein content also used as a vegetarian egg substitute for baking....
Thank you for doing this recipe, I want to try it with plain old bread. It does remind me of how my Dad grew up very poor & how he never had a real hamburger till afterwards my parents were married. He never really cared for the strong beef flavor, he preferred the meatloafy type meats.
I might dip my bread or rolls in milk instead of water and add a bit of oats into the mixture too. I bet a little of the methocellulose product SauceStache adds to his faux meats would firm that burger right up. I watch too much of SauceStache. I know this because I'm wanting to add grated bits of frozen coconut oil into this meat mixture along with Beef Better than Bullion, black strap molasses, mushroom powder, beet powder, marmite and onion powder. SauceStache has created a monster! lol I will spend under $10 on the ingredients for Emmy's recipe and an additional $30 to SauceStache the burgers up. Not really though because you use small amounts of the products SauceStache uses and they're good to have on hand.
One of my personal favorite ways of stretching meat for burgers is mixing rolled oats with the burger & eggs. There are recipes online but I just kinda did it by feel.
It's not totally fair to think of TVP as a processed food, the specific language on a package is weird, but it is no more processed than soybean oil. That is what the "defatted" part means It is just what is left after making the oil. It is no different from cocoa being what is left over after the cocoa butter is extracted. Or coconut flour after the coconut oil is removed.
All of those are processed foods. They had to go through a multi-step process to exist. Tofu and cheese are both processed foods. Cocoa is a processed food. Minimally processed foods are things like raw vegetables, whole wheat, raw meat. The potential health impacts associated with "processed" food is generally due to the processing concentrating fat (such as in cheese making), removing vitamins and minerals (bleached flour), or adding salts for preservation (pickling and canning).
@@SpaceBearEngineer I get that, but just making a point because TVP is unfamiliar to a lot of people and I see it maligned a lot. That's why I listed its co-product soybean oil. If all foods labelled their product as plain and transparently as that bag of TVP it would be equally unappealing to people. Canola oil doesn't say that it's "chemically extracted alkalinized and bleached rapeseed oil" under the Wesson logo. I guess I could have said it's unfair to single out tvp as being a processed food, because it is fair to call it one.
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Thank you Emmy! You returned a memory to me of my grandmother working in the cafeteria at Crowley's Ridge College. I would go with her and sit in the kitchen while she worked and my parents were in class. She would make these burgers for the students only instead of water they used powdered milk they had mixed with water. and they would toast the buns next to the burgers. The only seasoning they used was salt and pepper but they were awesome. I haven't had them like that since around the third grade when she retired. Looks like I know what I am doing the next time I make burgers.
@@emberrain7050 I was just thinking about beef stock. Onion powder for a McDonald's taste. Maybe an egg and some baking powder to make it fluffy... Oh damn, now I am changing it to a different monster. Sorry. 🤪
Just wanted to add an annotation to the soy based ingredients used. I work for the company that invented TVP, and actually at the specific plant that was their former world headquarters.
Soy flour is soy beans that are flaked, has the fat extracted , and lightly cooked in basically a giant vacuum kettle before being ground.
Soy grits, are the same flakes cooked longer and lower temp until they brown, and are milled to a course powder. Grits are used as a really common ingredient in modern fast process soy sauces. We sell grits by the truck load to that one brand that starts with a K
Soy grits are just a low fat alternative to japanese kinako. Kinako would be a decent sub for plain soy flour, and actually might add a bit of a better flavor / texture due to a more nutty/roasted flavor and the extra fat.
TVP is normally the soy flour that has had a lot of the carbs removed via a wash with ethanol, before the flour is then run through an extruder with a bit of water. The water poofs to steam as it exits the pressure of the extruder causing the protein matrix of the soy to expand. Exact same machines are used to make cheetos from corn meal.
@@emberrain7050 Crowley's Ridge! I drove through there all the time visiting family in Jonesboro and Paragould!
It's basically a meatloaf base.
I would call that a meatloaf skillet burger! it looks delicious 😋
Boy does this bring back early memories. Mom used to make the hamburger and bread burgers. She added an egg if she had one and would make meatloaf. Anything to stretch a meal when she had no money and 3 hungry mouths to feed. I never realized how poor we were before mom remarried. I never knew our meals she made were because she couldn't afford anything else. It was always a treat to have her meatloaf, macaroni and cheese, or "slum-golian." Most meals were cereal and powdered milk. Mostly, I never understood that the reason she usually didn't eat with us is because she went without meals because there wasn't enough for her. We started putting the pieces together as we aged and asked enough questions for her to fess up. We still crave mom's mac and cheese. But I will NEVER miss powdered milk or government cheese.
Emmy, I love watching you "discover" these recipes. Thank you for your series and all the work and time you put into all of your productions. Theresa
You're most welcome and thanks for sharing your stories. 😊
I remember my mom skipping meals and not finding out why until I was older. Now, there are still rough days but I’m happy I can provide many meals for her these days so she doesn’t have to pretend she’s not hungry anymore.
I actually do miss government cheese. Not powdered milk, though.
What is slum-golian?
@@cantwaltz I too am intrigued!
i love to see emmy cook poverty vittles cuz it's no longer just amusing...it's downright necessary information.
It's sad that you're so right. 2022! We can be better if we just take the power.
Amen
Agreed
Amen!
@@dvh3113 vote blue...no one wants a fascist US
I love that Emmy provides her research sources. Not only is she providing entertaining content but it truly shows the educational side of food that many often overlook. Such a great balance.
Thank you. 😊
My grandmother used to do something similar to this, she would use saltine crackers but she wouldnt hydrate them, they would be mixed in dry and the idea was that the dry crackers mixed in would absorb some of the fat instead of it all just leaking out into the pan, they were wonderful.
This must’ve been how this one burger joint I went to in high school made their burgers. They were like 50 cents and 60 cents with cheese. Definitely gonna try this because I loved that place. Thank you!
Plenty of burger shops make them this way. It's a cheap way to make burgers while still tasting good. There's also mixing ground pork with the beef to save costs, though I don't see that very often. It gives the patty a sort of sausage taste
This sounded so good. I never would have thought to add chili powder and sage to my burgers. I think I will try this, like you with the 1 lb etc. Divvy up the patties with parchment and freeze them in packages of 5 burgers. For a quick, inexpensive dinner this winter. Thank you, Emmy.
I thought the same thing about the chili powder/sage combo. I may try it, too.
we added minced onion in the beef with ketchup abt 3Tablesoons per pound,, wow. perfect.
Of course! You're most welcome.
Emmy, I love it when you post thrifty and resourceful recipes! Your Hard Times playlist, and even your really old prison commissary recipe videos are my favourites to watch if I ever feel anxious.
These old recipes that stretch ingredients and feed a crowd are comforting and inspiring as we all deal with rising food costs. They remind me that not only can we get by, we can feed our friends! (Even 100 friends!) 💙
yaaaay 100 friends!
The commissary videos are some of my favorites too!
Amen! I'm thinking that I'll make a batch of these for freezing, just pull one out for dinner or lunch and reheat as needed.
I asked my 83 year old mum if I remembered it right that she used to send me shopping for 3/4lb of minced beef to make a family sized pie in the 70s when I was kid. She said yes that was how much she used. The filling was bulked out with chopped onion and grated carrot + beef stock cubes for flavour. Her pies were delicious and fed 6 people. Incredible really. She said it was the way she was shown and probably from a WW2 era recipe when meat was rationed. She usually used lard for cooking as our neighbour worked for a kosher butcher and he often gave her huge lumps of fat that had to be rendered down in the oven on a very low heat for 12 hours or so to make the lard.
Kosher butcher using lard ??
It was probably beef or lamb fat, and so technically tallow. I save the trim when I cut meat and render the tallow. It's really great for frying, especially potatoes.
You can save the brown crispy fat bits after you render it too. The fat doesn't drain as well as it does when I make lard, so it doesn't make good chicharron. I grind up the crunchy bits to get a substance similar in texture to peanut butter. I use it by slicing out a small cube and dropping it into soup or stew to give extra browned beef flavor.
I also figure it was tallow not lard, since pork fat is certainly not kosher. Tallow is lovely to cook with, though it has a bit more flavor than lard.
I love rendering my own tallow and lard from pastured animals. It makes the house smell so luxurious! I chop up the chilled fat really small in the processor before rendering and that gets the maximum amount of grease out faster. My son loves what he calls fat cracklins; I double fry the solids and then press them after I’ve rendered as much fat as I can. I always save that pan in the oven overnight and fry the eggs in the remnants of grease the next morning. So good. I tried store lard once and it was NOT good. I’m spoiled! 😂
I can remember many times, when I was a little kid in the early 60s, and again during the recession of the 70s as a teen, stretching a pound of hamburger as far as it could be stretched. I was always helping mama in the kitchen, so I've seen her use crackers, oatmeal ground fine in a blender, dried potato flakes, shredded veggies, bread soaked in coffee or milk; just whatever she had on hand would work. She was amazing.😊
We grew up in the same time period. I lived in a small town (less than 5000 people) during that time. Someone else commented and called them welfare burgers. (My mom would have been too proud to call anything welfare.) I think Emmy doing her lean times recipes is a good thing during these times. I would like to see some of the recipes you and your mom used. They sound creative. 💕
The potato flakes sound good
@@trexvalleygirl2770 she never wrote them down (like a lot of southern moms 😀), but I can try and remember some of them and write them out in the comments😊
@@worm_slop Those tended to be my favorites. The others tended to be too much like meatloaf; although I loved my mom's meatloaf. 😏
It's rough that with inflation I'm revisiting all these hard time recipes and taking notes. This hamburger recipe could keep me going all winter
You don't have to think of it in such a negative light. Think of it this way these would be great to take to a large party or tailgating. You could also use it to feed the homeless. If you want to make it a little more fancy you can add cheese and bacon too. Basically just dress it up like a normal burger.
@@Miss_Kisa94 I'm thinking of it in such a negative light because things ARE in that light for me. I need ways to be able to afford to eat, food costs have rocketed up in the last 6 monthsb
@@melskunk It's not a negative light to think that way. You're doing your best under difficult circumstances and that's never a negative. Some people are just out of touch.
@@melskunk What I'm trying to say is to look on the bright side.
@@uncaringbear I'm not out of touch I just grew up poor my entire life so I have a different way of viewing things. Maybe your right though maybe living off welfare and food stamps as a child made me out of touch.
During Xmas I love bulk cooking meals for the needy/homeless. This is something I want to try this year. Great way to feed a crowd!
Amazing love this
fuk the homeless
As someone who grew up in Wilkes County, NC. These burgers are amazing. I have not had one in 5 years, but a cafe near my work was the only place that sold them anymore. Delicious and cheap!
My ONLY comment is in regards to a technique for the slaw, that you either didn't mention or didn't think about. Since these were designed to be served in a Goodwill food line, the slaw most likely would actually most likely have been made first! It would have been marinating and fermenting for most of the day before it got added to the burger! It would actually be yummier that way! As well as a little bit softer, but still some crunch and a tiny hint of a sauerkraut flavor and texture
That's true...the slaw would of been made way before like you stated which makes a huge difference in the taste ..not a minute or two right as it's assembled....
Yessss , the longer it sits .. the better the flavor 😋
Ok, Karen. Calm down.
Why is the OP a Karen? Good grief.🙄
@@ndb_1982 how are they a karen? just made a comment by the looks of things to explain something
It would be very easy to upscale these burgers with some simple and cheap additions such as chopped onion, minced carrots, peppers and egg. You could also use nutmeg instead of sage and it'd be reminiscent of Japanese hamburg steak
oh I miss those... thank you for that idea.
Meat loaf burger 😊
downscale
whimpy would be proud...does this gen know Whimpy? Am I showing my age?
I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today!
🙋♀Yes, I am old enough to remember Whimpy. In fact, it's the first thing I thought of at the beginning of the video. 🙂
Love him.😂🍔🍔🍔
Im gen z but I know wimpy, your not that old my friend😂
Popeye's sidekick
This is pretty much how I was taught to make burgers when growing up. We'd use bread ends instead of buns in the mixture. Salt and pepper were a must, plus usually whatever spices you felt to add. If we had canned milk to spare, we'd moisturize with that, else water. They were served on bread usually, but sometimes buns, with mustard and ketchup.
Ground beef, bread filler, and spices... so basically meatloaf patties. Sounds good to me.
I'd toss in some chopped onion and worcestershire sauce. Maybe and egg or two.
When I worked at Wendy's I always said we sold meatloaf sandwiches, not burgers.
Grated onion. Chopped might be too big of pieces. Or do what McDonald's does on their regular burgers: reconstituted dehydrated minced onion. 😁
Made me think of my mom making meatloaf !
@@BengtBagels Very true! But it still might be more efficient to grate them, if you are aiming for super-fine anyway.
@@paulherman5822 those reconstituted onions are life at my house. I make a lot of stuff with those
This reminds me of the 'stuffing balls' I make as part of a Sunday Roast here in the UK. I use half fresh breadcrumbs, and half sausagemeat, along with butter-fried onions, fresh sage and salt and pepper. Rolled into balls, dipped in egg and then covered in golden breadcrumbs and baked. They're an absolute crowd pleaser! The recipe has been passed down through the generations, so I bet they're from the same world as this burger recipe.
That sounds delightful!
I'm going to make them soon!
@@annabagwell7965 I'm so happy to hear that! I hope they turned out well
I was born and raised only about 20 miles from Wilkesboro. This burger is as also known locally as a Smithy burger after a local department store as she points out. The store had several locations locally. Anytime my grandparents and I would go shopping in town, I always had to get one.
Did they have mayonnaise on the bun or anything else she might not have known about? I can’t imagine anyone in my family eating a burger without mayo on it, but who knows!
@@rosieweaselby If I remember correctly mustard and slaw, but not the slaw Emmy made. If you look up a recipe for NC white slaw this what they were served with.
I'm gonna definitely try these burgers. I'll probably substitute other seasoning instead of sage to give it more of a burger flavor. Can't wait to try it!
I love that you try these kind of recipes Emmy.
I always find it funny that people are squeamish about lard, but for instance love things baked in bacon fat 😉.
My mother used to ad rusk bread and a little bit of milk to ground meats, before she formed them into meatballs. It acted as a binder, but also to bulk things a bit. And I loved those meatballs!
My mother had more of those little hacks to stretch certain product, so it was more for less money. And my mother is a great cook!
Turns out that lard is not so bad after all. I wonder if a part of its bad reputation might have originated with the marketing people trying to sell vegetable oils, Crisco, and so forth, like the big scandal of fat vs sugar.
On the other hand, I've eaten lard for many decades with no harmful effects other than my hair fell out, my beard turned gray, my skin got all wrinkly, and my memory went bad. Now I just don't know.
I'm Lebanese, and this is how we eat our burgers! When burgers first started becoming popular here (1990's-2000's) it consisted of a heavily-extended meat mixture (sort of like yours, but with soaked bulgur-wheat instead of TVP) formed into a thin patty, topped with lots of coleslaw, french fries (yes, stuffed inside the burger!), ketchup and mustard, all filled in a large burger bun which was then toasted. Of course, with time, more typical burgers made with 100% ground beef and 'regular' add-ons became more popular, however, lots of old-timey restaurants still make the 'O.G.' burger which I actually prefer to the more contemporary ones. Taste of my childhood!
Grandma used to make them JUST like this also, I still make them in her honor, albeit with panko instead of old bread, the panko really makes epic burgers!
So glad you got almost 3 million subscribers; well deserved!
Thank you. :)
emmy is one of the backbones of OG youtube content, and deserves so much more credit! hope to see her continue to thrive on the platform for years to come. ❤
@@kyleeissomajestic absolutely ❤️
I understand you were going by a traditional recipe for this type of burger. Using beef bouillon or some other type of beef base in the bun water would probably sell the burger flavor a little more.
AND grandmas used "patty paper" for burgers - little squares of wax or parchment paper. They used a plate or pan to flatten them so the burgers had an even thickness.
@@loriki8766 like here 9:04?
That, plus frying in beef tallow instead of lard would really bump up the flavor!
I was also thinking about flavoring the water. Maybe some leftover soup stock/extra ramen package to add a little extra taste
🤣
Theoretically you could feed yourself for a third of a year just on five pounds of beef. Pretty cool. This is a meal preppers dream.
I’m a Wilkes native and love these. My mom still makes them and I have to have one whenever she does. You did an awesome job making them! The cabbage for the slaw was more finely chopped at Smitheys but you otherwise nailed this recipe.
Thank you!!! I'm glad I got your seal of approval. 🏆
Thanks for trying something new for us. I was thinking it might be a good idea to go ahead and freeze the patties and then you could just pull them out when you need something quick, because they would defrost very quickly. I'm going to try this on a small scale just to see how I like it before I commit to that many of them. Haha love your videos, keep them coming.
let us know how they freeze/taste after being frozen!
I was wondering the same! These would be such a cheap meal to always have on hand in the freezer!
It reminds me a Polish recipe for meat balls, during WW II Polish families didn't have much money so food was mostly potatoes, just different cooking style of it (boiled, fried with onion, in dumplings, as kluski (basically boiled potatoes with potato starch and boiled again))
For meat there was sometimes chicken or pork chop but mostly meat balls. Whatever meat you can afford, chopped onion, salt, pepper, egg (If one could afford it) and a stale bread, grind it to make breadcrumps and mix it all together.
Basically typical dinner of Polish family was made from things relatively easy to harverst and these that were able to stay edible for long time so potatoes, breadcrumps, onions, some fat, cabbages, rice, pickles (mostly mushrooms, cucumbers, cabbage) beans, rhubarb for desserts.
Another popular very cheap meal was gołąbki, meat mixed with rice, wrapped in boiled cabbage covered in tomato puree and coocked in oven or on pan.
That's also why soups were so popular, imagine you could boil some meat, carrots, onions, parsley root in water, made it into a broth and then reuse these ingredients to make second dish. Literally two dishes from one ingredient, brilliant.
I just found your channel. Love your budget-stretching recipes! Looking back (I'm in my 60s) I can remember some of these recipes (or something similar) that my mom would fix to stretch the budget until payday. Humble food, get good-tasting and nutritious food. We need to get back to these basics.
North Carolinian here. I honestly don't know of a single NC (or generally southern, I'm originally from Atlanta, GA) person who'd make that coleslaw without adding mayonnaise to it. Otherwise, it's just seasoned raw cabbage. 😂 As a side note, adding mustard, coleslaw and chili to burgers is referred to as "Carolina Style".
Omg same I’m also from nc and I definitely cringed when she said this is the slaw and she didn’t add mayo 😭😭
This is basically to Italian coleslaw or vinegar slaw. Whoever ran the kitchen likely used a family recipe or moved into the area with a different regional recipe.
I'm here in Chicago, and they put slaw, made the way you mentioned, on pulled pork hoagies. I had never had it that way until we moved here. It makes sense that it came from the Carolinas, because you guys have the best barbecue! Back in 2018, I spent the summer there for my husband's work. I brought home several bottles of your barbecue sauce. 😂
@@victorialw1, yep, coleslaw on BBQ sandwiches is a must!
@@racheljones6687, I know, right? I have to admit I was completely dumbfounded by it. But hey, I've only lived in the western half of the state, so what those Easterner's do with their coleslaw isn't something I can say I know anything about. Still gonna' bet they add some Duke's mayo......😂
I’m from Wilkesboro, NC and remember having Goodwill Burgers from Smithy’s! What a great memory! I remember them having WAY more bread than meat.
Yay!!! Food memories are some of the most memorable, no?
I'm from wilkesboro too and I miss a good smithys burger!
My Grand Maw use to make burgers like that however she did not use the extra spices and flour it was just the bread along with salt and pepper but my gosh we would eat them until we would almost get sick from them. I have not had any in a while but now I plan on giving it a go and make me some. Thanks so much for sharing this version of making them I will try them with the few extra spices in it.
Aww...those are some of the best memories, no? 🧡 Hope you like the recipe.
@@emmymade oh gosh yes such wonderful memories ..I plan to try this over the weekend maybe make sliders from it for football on Saturday..
Back in the 1970's, there was a packaged TVP product sold to stretch hamburger. I really enjoyed it when my mother used it, because the burgers stayed juicy when they were cooked.
Yep. You could buy TVP in the meat dept. at the grocery store. I remember people turning up their noses at it, but, if you knew what to do with it, it was a good extender. Luckily, my mother (and yours) knew what to do with it, but some people do not have a clue about such things, and don't *want* a clue, either. 🙄 😉
Thank you Emmy! My favorite part of the day is when I get the TH-cam notification that you've posted a new video!
I tried a recipe for a VERTICAL Carrot Cake. Mine was a mess. I would love to see you make one. Thank you!
The burger recipe is what my mom used for meatloaf. As someone else mentioned an egg was also mixed in which helped everything stick together and added protein. She also added chopped onions.
I still use this as a base recipe for meatloaf, stuffed peppers, etc. but I also add oat bran and wheat germ. Spices are added depending on what I'm making. For instance, for stuffed poblanos (I can't eat sweet peppers but poblanos are great. The acids are the same as hot peppers which I have no problem with) I add a touch of garlic powder, sage, Mexican chili powder, salt and pepper, and drained, canned -or fresh, diced tomatoes. And, some shredded cheese. Stuff it into the poblanos and bake.
Using this as a base, you can do lots of things. Italian spices do great, melting some mozzarella on top for the last minute or two. Yum. You can also add teriyaki sauce or soy sauce, ginger and chopped zucchini (great in the summer with all of that zucchini from the garden) and serve with rice.
This REALLY stretches the meat but I do it now because we love the taste. We absolutely love it.
Burgers in the depression era tended to be what you would think of as kids burger today. They were generally fairly small compared to today. Since burgers were so small i imagine the less beef patties didnt taste super different since they would have been small and lots of bread/veg/toppings by comparison
I thought burgers back in the day generally didn't have all the veg and toppings we do now usually.
@@sophiophile think a White Castle slider - thin patty, sprinkling of dehydrated onion, slice of pickle
@@ericalbany The big mac and whopper were not that different when they were introduced. (the whopper was considered HUGE back then) Also, Whataburger hasn't really changed much either. You can find plenty of historical advertisements from the period. The Big Mac was the more "typical size" - just double stacked. For that matter In'n'Out still are the same size as they started with.
I think what may have changed is that some people want more veg than in the past - but really the sizes haven't changed much. A "quarter pound" is still 4 ounces.
Fun fact: In poland we have something called mielone which translates to ground. So we put ground meat (beef) and also put some kind of bread in there to make the patties more juicy and thick. No idea if they used to make it that way to stretch the meat but my grandma used to do it that way and my mom still does it to this day although both of them didn’t have any problems with money.
Awesome job!! I grew up in Wilkesboro and on these Goodwill burgers,Matter of fact,just ordered my soybean flour from Amazon and iam going to make them tomorrow for the first time,so thanks for the video..
in a lot of places this is how you typically make burgers or meatballs, onion tomato bread/breadcrumbs spices and some olive oil and its super juicy and tasty. when i try making a burger without bread it just tastes too gamey/meaty, but the way we cook them is in the oven not in a pan.
Thanks Emmy! My late Mom used those veggie crumbles in our hamburger alot. Also powdered mi!k and alot of rice or mashed potatoes to stretch stuff. As kids we hated it but as an adult I don't mind the veggie stuff. I really like the patties made with different things like black beans. However even those types of foods are not necessarily cheap😉🙏🥔🍔
I always put extras in my ground beef to bulk it up for extra flavor and to make it more filling and economical. I prefer to add grains rather than bread or crackers because it's often less expensive and healthier in the long run. Some of my favorite go to add ins are oats, cornmeal, barley, rice, beans, bean flours, onions, garlic, tomato paste, marjoram, sage, cumin, paprika. Mixing and matching various add-ins leads to incredibly delicious, filling ground beef recipes including burgers, especially for someone like me who doesn't really like beef.
To fill the bread with breadcrumbs is a regular way to make meatballs or pannbiffar in Sweden since centuries ago. We never feel that we stretch the meat since this is how we always do it here. Great that you're showing this kind of cooking 👌
I lived in an area where the locals served Turkey Dressing Sandwiches for every large get-together. I saw it served at everything from post funeral meals to wedding receptions.
It was a whole turkey, cooked and shredded, mixed with bread based dressing and a gravy like substance mixed together and served on buttered hamburger buns.
You could serve a bunch of people for a small amount of money and the sandwiches were actually quite tasty!
Nice! Yesterday I microwaved frozen homemade meatloaf from a few months ago. Minced meat is really such a great economy meal.
PreCISEly the way my Mom made burgers. In the old days, school teachers like my dad were the poorest of the town, and this recipe is just exactly how I learned to make burgers. Or spaghetti sauce. Or other things. Never called them Goodwill burgers, but this is how I do it today. Love the video, and love you greatly!
My dad would make hamburgers mixing in all the leftover veggies in the fridge and some oats and he called them Garbage Bucket Specials. They were awesome.
We make "meatballs" out of bread for my vegetarian daughter all the time so I can totally get the texture. Will have to try them with some cabbage slaw next time.
🤣
When I was growing up, my mom would sometimes make burgers which we just called, "hamburgers with peppers and onions". I later found out that some of the other kids at school had the same thing at home, but they called them "welfare burgers". IIRC, it was essentially a very, very basic meatloaf recipe shaped into patties instead of a loaf, then fried in a skillet like a regular hamburger. Ground beef, bread crumbs, diced green pepper and onion, and garlic powder. If there was anything more to it than that, I don't remember. They were DELICIOUS!
Reminds me of Eddie Murphy’s old bit about hamburgers at home vs. the kids who lorded over him who got McDonald’s instead of a “big old green pepper burger”. 🤣
Bell peppers aren't quite so cheap now. Love me some meatloaf on sandwich bread.
@@bettyir4302 I adore a meatloaf sandwich! Worth every second of heartburn.
Yep, welfare burgers! My mother made them often, and that's exactly what we called them.
Never have been on welfare (fortunately) but meatloaf sandwiches are certainly very tasty!
We used eggs and bread crumbs in ours. We had plenty of eggs because we has chickens. Plus we got day old bread which you can’t get any more. Plus we had lard from cows.
Emmy I am sick as a dog in bed right now and I couldn’t wait to cozy up in bed and watch your videos theres such a sense of warmth when watching you! Thank you for all that you do!
You're most welcome! And get well soon, so happy that my videos bring you some comfort.
Hope you feel better!!!
I live in Wilkesboro. I loved the ones in Lenoir (Caldwell County, NC). They are so similar and love them
Lard really rocks. Makes the world's best pie crust as well. Vinegar slaw in NC definitely sounds right. Excellent, thank you.👍☑🏁
I think I’d really enjoy these! Might add some garlic to the patti & caramelized onions to the toppings. Since I never use up an entire package of hamburger buns, this is a great way to use them. Thanks for doing the research for us, Emmy!!
Grew up with burgers like this only we used saltiness instead of bread and added egg to hold it together. I sometimes still make them. We also would take 1 can of Campbell's chunky soup and pour it over rice to feed a family of 5. 1 can fed us all. Truly never knew we were poor.
Thanks for these ideas. We often make things you have suggested, and it gives us joy.
I live in Lenoir and we had a Smithey's store. It was the mom and pop store that crashed with a hometown hardware store. In the back corner was the deli/diner like counter for the burgers but we didn't call them goodwill burgers but Smithey burgers. They were the best burgers ever! I never knew how they were made but we didn't care either. It's long been closed but this brought back the memories! Only difference is that the slaw was chopped and mayo based,
with onion and mustard, cheese was optional. How close our Smithey burgers were to the original is not something I know but yummy all the same. 😊
everytime im eating or alone.. i go on youtube and binge watch you emmy… specifically the MREs💀i wonder if i can get one for myself and eat/use only whats in it to survive for a day.. like a small challenge
I have seen these burgers made at “soup kitchens” and instead of ground beef they ground less expensive cuts of beef along with some deboned turkey meat (mostly dark meat). Additionally the bread was day old squishy white bread that was ground with the meat as were the other fillers and seasoning. The liquid used to to moisten the mixture was water with beef bullion cubes added with double the amount of bullion added to the water to pump up the beefy taste with a few drops of liquid smoke ( by a few drops I mean one capful of liquid smoke to 5 gallons of water because liquid smoke can cause digestive issues if too much is used and the last thing a soup kitchen wants is to cause the people eating there to have upset tummy’s and other digestive problems if you get my meaning) lastly after the meat mixture was ready for cooking it was either formed into patties by using a dishing scoop to portion it and then was smashed on the flat top grill with a bacon press or was rolled out using a rolling pin with height rings/guides to ensure portion size and cut to size and then fried. Coleslaw was a common side dish because it is filling and cabbage has lots of minerals and vitamins that the people frequenting the soup kitchen for meals might not be getting along this the Coleslaw potatoes would be baked and then cut in half coated in oleo and baked again to crisp up the potato skin and brown the face of the potato. Everyone would get a “burger” on a bun or sometimes English muffin a half or whole potato depending on the size of the potato a 3 Oz scoop of coleslaw and condiment packs containing plastic silverware, a wet one, two napkins, a salt, pepper, and sugar sachets, and two ketchup and one mustard packets. Occasionally if food donations permitted a slice of wrapped cheese was included but not melted on the burger because this allowed people to either put it on their burger or not. The reason the soup kitchen I volunteered at preferred using pieces of beef rather than ground meat is because it allowed more menu options but we never turned down ground beef or any other donations for that matter.
My mother made the very best meatballs, and years ago they made them with stale bread. She didn't use any type of flour, just egg, grated Romano cheese and all the seasonings. And then fried them, saved the meatball grease in the freezer, and used that for softening the garlic and onions in her sauce. The meatballs were the best and her sauce!
My dad’s first job in the early 80’s was at a Burger King, and he remembers cooking French fries in lard!
in the province of Quebec where i grew up, we could ask for "choux" with our hot dogs. it was similar to your slaw here. but it was much much thinner and lighter. and it was delicious! now, i would have to have the choux and the hot dog without the bun due to diabetes. this looks like a fun burger though, if you dont have to watch your carb count!
Smithey burgers are the best! 😁 Thanks Emmy, great video! These are still available just up the mountain at a couple of restaurants in beautiful West Jefferson and in other areas too I imagine. Smithey's department stores and cafes were very popular. After the stores closed many of the cafes remained, some now under different names. My husband drove past the morning of the fire...so sad to lose such a historical place. Thanks again! Appreciate you dear!
Love these! In going to make a batch and freeze them. Might dice in a little onion...
We used to go feed the ducks at the pond in front Bob's Red Mill before they expanded in Milwaukie, Oregon. My great grandma had a depression-era recipe called tuna burgers: canned drained tuna, mayo, minced onion and celery, breadcrumbs and seasonings pan fried or baked. Greasy but good!
Love you! Youre so relaxing to listen too! Always hold the mayo!
These are also very good with minced pork or half pork half beef, add soaked stale bread, salt, pepper, onions and egg and leave out the soy. Form more ball sized patties and fry them up, stick them hot and sizzling directly on the bun to let all the good juices get into the bread. No reason to soak paper towels in flavour. Now you have a Frikadellenbrötchen. Instead of cleaning the pan afterwards, fill it up with some water and cook out the flavour for a nice broth for next days lunch. I like use it for ramen.
To make it even cheaper, you may be able to buy stale bread and buns from a bakery.
A friend of mine uses cooked rice instead of bread and cooks them in an inch of soup before a final sear.
Emmy i love you make the pickle lemonade! Perk up in alaska have it on their menu and im not brave enough!!!
Its called hillbilly lemonade
Winco carries soy flour in my area, in the bulk section. It makes a great egg substitute in baked goods.
My mom back in Russia always makes patties (called kotleta in Russia) like this - not just to save money (although we had some hard times in the past), but just because the end result is more tender. The idea of a beef-only burger is strange to her (not to me!). She usually soaks the bread in milk, and may add egg to it, too. The meat is usually ground with raw white onion (this is the part of the preparation I used to hate as kid, because I was usually tasked with grinding it) for extra juiciness.
The patties themselves are traditionally made more thick and boat-shaped.
Bro I could not find this channel for ages and I couldn’t remember the name. So glad I found you again. Gotta subscribe
adding a bit of beef boulion, and plain gelatin (helps to hold the beef flavor) to the mix, makes them juicy like a full burger and crispy!
thanks for sharing, it brings back the ole ways!
A 17 minute video from Emmy. Is it my birthday and Christmas at the same time?
🎉🎄🎉🎄🎉🎄
I am definitely trying this! Great way to stretch the budget
Have you done hamburger potato patties? That was our childhood stretch out the meat dinner! Usually a pound of hamburger, 1/4 cup of onion powder and garlic powder, 2 eggs, 5 shredded potatoes, and a few drops of hickory smoke. I do not use the liquid smoke as an adult.
Fried in the electric skillet with the vented lid. My friend Sarah liked to make sliders with them on my Mom's Zoom rolls and coleslaw. My adult version of coleslaw is different than my childhood one, but the rolls are the same if I make them.
Lately, I've been making meatloaf patties based on the version on the Saltines box. I changed Worcestershire to teriyaki, and ginger instead of pepper. Also find chicken broth is just better than milk.
Wet bread, dry bread crumbs,cooked rice, oatmeal,crushed cracker all are extenders which can be used to expand your ground meats, pork, beef or chicken
This video couldn't have come at a better time for me as I was laid off about 45min ago 😅 😭
Good luck .
Well this sounds really good and makes a lot of sense. I mean how do people make meatloaf? They usually bulk it up with breadcrumbs. I might need to remember this recipe for the future...when/if things get tight.
Imma need cheese with mine! But they look pretty good. I noticed the "cheap" hamburger patties at the grocery store are crunchy too and if you check the ingredient list it's meat with bread-like filler. The more "expensive" patties are 100% meat, so we alternate between them based on our budget.
I love when you bring us back to our childhood!👍😊
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I've made this - minus the TVP part. I've also added oatmeal, bread crumbs, or stale crushed unsweetened cereal with an egg as filler for ground beef when making burgers or meatloaf.
My mom has been stretching her meatloaf with breadcrumbs and TVP since I can remember. I think it helps keeping it more moist too.
This just made me think of something from my childhood. When my dad made burgers on the grill he was very particular about getting high quality ground beef from the butcher. He would lightly season it but didn't believe you should gunk up good beef with a lot of added stuff. My one friend who came from a very large family would always say the burgers at my house tasted funny. She couldn't say what it was exactly, just funny. I never thought of it before but now I wonder if she didn't often have plain beef and was unfamiliar with that taste. Maybe their family had something more like this. There are a few things I realize now that I didn't pick up on when I was little. Interesting.
It's all so interesting! Hearing about all the different family recipes really brings me to a wonderful feeling of connection. Thank you all!
emmy I'm vegetarian and you always have me craving meats! XD Love this video! I hope you have a great weekend! :)
You, too!
Then use common sense and eat the burger.
At our house, the ratios are different, but this was and is, a meatloaf burger. It's not related to struggle food, but tasty food. We love them.
I already love bread so I feel like this would be right up my alley.
I am going to try this. Thank you for all your great content.
The first time I had stretch burgers, I thought they were even tastier than normal burgers. My friend's mom made them with pre-cooked rice and diced bell peppers as filler. I'd say it's definitely a great burger to have in the rotation along with other meat-saving burgers like smash burgers.
My mother used to make meatballs with dry bread crumbs, diced onions, garlic and salt added to meat - it could be shaped as hamburger as well and was quite tasty too 😋
TVP is not bad tasting, it absorbs whatever you flavor it with. I buy soy curls and turn them into all sorts of faux beef and chicken dishes. My mother gave up all beef products over a decade ago. I use soy curls and crumbles to make spaghetti, chili con carne (sans carne, lol), old school American style Hungarian Goulash, creamed hamburger over toast, green peppers stuffed with tomatoes and seasoned rice, Mexican lasagna, etc.. We were using ground turkey but had 2 instances where we bought name brand purportedly fresh ground turkey and it was revolting. Actually it was so bad that my mom and I have not been able to eat ground turkey since, we are not over the gag faxtor. I decided to switch to soy curls and crumbles and see if mom was OK with eating the dishes made with them. She's fine with it, prefers it to ground chicken. At 90 years of age she's not concerned about eating soy products. If you've ever eaten canned chili you've most likely eaten TVP without even realizing it because several big name chili brands use it along with beef in their chili products. I bet those burgers would be yummy cooked in bacon grease. My mom always saved her bacon grease, my grandmother too. Such useful grease. They didn't use tons of it, just a bit for flavor.
I really like the new edits with the map noises and zooms in and out
It's the miracle of the ground beef mixed with loaves
I love your response!
Wow, ‘never heard of this before! But it did remind me of how we called the hamburgers from the school cafeteria “soy burgers” 😁 New sub here, so glad I came across your channel! We really enjoy your stuff ❤️
Really cool for these times totally gonna try
you might have a go by substituting gram flour ( chickpea flour ) for the soy flour. similar protein content also used as a vegetarian egg substitute for baking....
Thank you for doing this recipe, I want to try it with plain old bread. It does remind me of how my Dad grew up very poor & how he never had a real hamburger till afterwards my parents were married. He never really cared for the strong beef flavor, he preferred the meatloafy type meats.
My pleasure! I'm sure plain old bread would work just great.
I might dip my bread or rolls in milk instead of water and add a bit of oats into the mixture too. I bet a little of the methocellulose product SauceStache adds to his faux meats would firm that burger right up.
I watch too much of SauceStache. I know this because I'm wanting to add grated bits of frozen coconut oil into this meat mixture along with Beef Better than Bullion, black strap molasses, mushroom powder, beet powder, marmite and onion powder. SauceStache has created a monster! lol
I will spend under $10 on the ingredients for Emmy's recipe and an additional $30 to SauceStache the burgers up. Not really though because you use small amounts of the products SauceStache uses and they're good to have on hand.
One of my personal favorite ways of stretching meat for burgers is mixing rolled oats with the burger & eggs. There are recipes online but I just kinda did it by feel.
It's not totally fair to think of TVP as a processed food, the specific language on a package is weird, but it is no more processed than soybean oil. That is what the "defatted" part means It is just what is left after making the oil. It is no different from cocoa being what is left over after the cocoa butter is extracted. Or coconut flour after the coconut oil is removed.
All of those are processed foods. They had to go through a multi-step process to exist. Tofu and cheese are both processed foods. Cocoa is a processed food. Minimally processed foods are things like raw vegetables, whole wheat, raw meat. The potential health impacts associated with "processed" food is generally due to the processing concentrating fat (such as in cheese making), removing vitamins and minerals (bleached flour), or adding salts for preservation (pickling and canning).
@@SpaceBearEngineer I get that, but just making a point because TVP is unfamiliar to a lot of people and I see it maligned a lot. That's why I listed its co-product soybean oil. If all foods labelled their product as plain and transparently as that bag of TVP it would be equally unappealing to people. Canola oil doesn't say that it's "chemically extracted alkalinized and bleached rapeseed oil" under the Wesson logo. I guess I could have said it's unfair to single out tvp as being a processed food, because it is fair to call it one.
This reminded me at first of the goetta recipe Emmy made before but on a bun. Not sure I would try this one out but it was fun to watch!