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We grilled a bunch of meats for a large party. Now I have leftover hamburgers, hotdogs, and bratwursts. Note these are still “bare” meat items, not assembled hamburgers etc.

What’s the best way to re-heat a hamburger patty and still have it taste good, not overcooked, and not separated from its juices?

Any advice for the other items would be good too, especially if they can be done together. But the ground beef patty has always been less than successful for me in warming the leftovers.

rumtscho
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JDługosz
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    This is one of those times when a microwave may actually be the best choice (on low power) – Joe May 31 '17 at 18:20

3 Answers3

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If you have a pre-cooked burger patty, I'd suggest heating it in a frying pan / skillet over a high heat, add a splash of water and then cover with a small heat-proof bowl (a cloche), or a lid on your pan. The water will steam the burger back into life, adding moisture and trapping the heat to more thoroughly warm it through.

I also use this technique when initially cooking burgers if you're not grilling outside - does wonders to melt any cheese you lay over the top of the patty in the pan!

bbodien
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  • This a good answer. Sausage can be done in a similar way, just with more water (or submerged in boiling water) – Ron Nov 14 '16 at 02:34
  • The first attempt in a small frypan worked well, but made a mess of the pan! Much of the “char” wound up stuck to it. Second attempt I used a steamer top, doubling up while boiling noodles below. – JDługosz Nov 15 '16 at 12:01
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    I also steam the burgers in a fry pan but I saute onions, peppers, garlic and mushrooms with some olive oil to season the pan B/4 adding the burgers. Do BBQ chicken the same way. – Bunny Abraham May 30 '17 at 21:49
  • I've heard that sauteeing _anything_ in olive oil should be done over extremely low heat to prevent carcinogens from being activated... – Justus Eapen May 31 '17 at 20:51
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Make a pan of warm-hot beef broth and soak the meats in there for a while then, just before serving them put them on a hot grill/griddle in order put some high heat on them. For the burgers after about 30 seconds flip and add cheese as desired. For the dogs/brats...just roll them around on the heat with your spatula for a few minutes and the are practically as good as new (provided they haven't been stored for too long)

Cos Callis
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Boil the hotdogs. Toss everything else in the microwave.

Hotdogs are sold already-cooked, and are simply reheated by tossing them into a pot of boiling water. As such, it should be entirely possible to reheat them a second time by doing so again, though you'll need to keep in mind the food safety issues inherent in repeatedly reheating a single piece of food - the amount of time it spends at intermediate temperatures shouldn't be more than 4 hours.

For the sausages and burger patties, just toss them in the microwave along with any congealed fat. The microwave will reheat them back up to an edible temperature and melt the fat into oily juices again, so they'll be fine. Alternately, you could just eat them chilled - the congealed fat from spending time in the refrigerator can change their flavor profile quite a bit, and you might discover you actually prefer eating them cold.

nick012000
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  • And yet microwaving left-over hamburger patties gives less-than-desirable results for some reason; hence the original impetus to post this question. – JDługosz Sep 21 '21 at 14:28