July 8, 2015
I’m still getting caught up; these photos are a month old! We don’t eat a lot of hamburger but thought some grilled cheeseburgers on a warm summer night would hit the spot. My absolute favorite cooking blog is Mike Vrobel’s Dad Cooks Dinner; he had a post on burgers earlier this summer and I used his tips. Go to his web page for a full recipe and more details on his method.
I know that one key is to not over handle the ground beef. A solution to that is a burger press which quickly makes a perfect patty with minimum handling.
I weighed out 5 oz servings and pressed them. Weighing isn’t necessary but I figured, I’ve got the scale and this is so easy I’ve got to throw in a step or two to make is seem like I have a real project. Finally, sprinkle a little kosher salt and black pepper on them.
Patties can often turn into meat balls rather than staying flat. As a result, you get a little meat ball in the middle of a bun. The solution to that (thanks America’s Test Kitchen and Mike Vrobel) is to put a little dimple in the patty. I used the bottom of a shot glass. My patties stayed relatively flat, but I think I could have “dimpled” them a little more.
Then on to the grill to cook over medium direct heat.
As they are almost done, I added some Tillamook Sharp Cheddar cheese on top and put the buns on to toast.
Tillamook is a great melting cheese for your burgers.
Then they come off the grill and are ready for the fixings of your choice.
I’m a strict adherent to the NK17 rule for burgers and hot dogs. No Ketchup for anyone over 17. But if you must, you must; though I’ll probably give you a hard time about it if you toss ketchup on it when you are eating with me.
The third key to great grilled burgers is to use a small bun. These did not ball up too much but they still don’t cover the full bun. Plus with the huge buns you end up eating a ton of bread with condiments. These buns are just a little too large.