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Make Sure Your Burger or Meatloaf Recipe Is On Point with a Test Patty


Whether you’re grinding up your own beef for homemade In-N-Out burgers, or just whipping up a meatloaf for the family dinner, cooking up a tiny test patty might save you from a bland meal.

Any time you’re cooking up a meal that is composed of ground up ingredients—like meatballs, burgers, meatloaf—you usually end up making a large batch to be portioned out. You don’t want to cook it all up to realize it doesn’t taste that great, though, so Christine Gallary at The Kitchn suggests you cook up a test patty:

This tip comes from a practice veteran sausage-makers employ all the time:

making a test patty

. In order to taste if a sausage mixture is seasoned properly, they take a small amount of the mixture (about a tablespoon), form it into a tiny patty, and brown it in a frying pan until it’s cooked through.

Whether you’re baking, grilling, or pan searing, the test patty will give you an idea of what to expect the final product to taste like. If you need more seasoning, you still have time to do that. In fact, any mixture you shouldn’t taste raw can be tested like this. Falafel, latkes, crab cakes, and even veggie burgers can be saved.

The Best Way to Make Meatloaf & Meatballs That are Always Tasty | The Kitchn

Photo by James Creegan.