Custom Hamburger mold

Where is it written that hamburgers must be round?

I had learned how to use the Vacuum Former at TechShop San Jose, and needed a project to make sure I remembered how to use it.  Also, I wanted to test the theory that a hole in the center of a burger will help it cook more quickly and/or evenly.

Herewith, the delicious results of my experiment.

Step 1: Cut the positives out on the CNC wood router

To make the positive for my mold, I used the ShopBot at Techshop.  I still had a "gear" file from class, and made several 4" gears, some with holes in the center, others solid.  I had guessed that a 4" gear would yield a four ounce burger, i.e. a quarter pound, and they came out pretty close. 

Comments

[stringstretcher]

Hambur-gears! Cool.

[thepelton]

As for the hole in the middle, you could put it on a sliced bagel.

This would be great for a steampunk related event.

[higgrobot]

Freeze the meat then machine it with the router...

[paganwonder]

Burger with hole in the middle= condiment reservoir! Cool idea, thanks for sharing!

[sherrycayheyhey]

What a cool idea! I'm not sure why but I feel like eating a burger with a hole in the middle would make the process easier in terms of bread to bun ratio.