So, yeah. Tomorrow's the Fourth of July. We thought some quick burger-grilling tips might be in order for those of you with the day off and some time to grill.
The Meat: It's the most important part of the burger. Sure, some of your guests may top theirs with all manner of nonsense that may overpower the flavor of the beef, but you want to start with a good base. Chuck that's freshly ground from a butcher you trust (or that's ground at home) is a good place to start. If you're feeling up to it, you can experiment with mixtures that use different cuts, but you can't go wrong with chuck—it has the requisite fat content for a juicy burger. Go no leaner than 80 percent.
Mixing the Beef: Mix the meat as little as possible, whether you prefer the simple addition of salt and pepper or more exotic mix-ins. Overmixing leads to toughness. Toughness leads to anger. Anger leads to burgers you'll hate. Just form some loose patties quickly and without much fuss. They may not be perfectly round or what not, but they'll taste better. And who cares what it looks like once it's on a bun?
Get Depressed: Until a few years ago, I had a problem. No matter how even the thickness of my patties, the center of the burger would swell up on cooking. But I learned a trick from coworkers at my previous employer—make a depression in the center of your patties. With thicker edges and a thinner middle, the swelling will eventually even things out.
Flip Once, No Pressing! That spatula in your hand? It's used for flipping the burgers and used for flipping them once. You know what it's not used for? Pressing down on the patties while they grill. Don't do that! It releases all the precious moisture into the flame.
Flame Retardant: Flare-ups are a part of grilling. For most, simply close the lid of the grill; the reduction in oxygen should be all that's needed to quell the flames.
Here in Texas, brisket is cheap and makes great burgers. Just run it through the meat grinder a couple times. A 50/50 mix of beef and bacon also makes great burgers.
Excellent advice, Adam. Unfortunately tomorrow's burgers are being made with a bunch of frozen patties--but that's what I get for not throwing the party myself.
Sliders "juicy lucy" style with jack cheese and grilled jalapeno's today in the 116 degree Las Vegas heat. In need of something frozen here but not the meat!
@Josh!: Thanks for the tip. I saw your compound-butter burger on Flickr. Will have to make reference to it here on AHT.
@PhotoKirk: You're right. One of my favorite burger joints in NYC uses brisket in its mixture. I only recommended chuck as a starting point and didn't want to go into all the variations you could do since this was supposed to be just a quick-and-dirty tip post.
@Smylle: Yeah. I'm of the mindset that there's almost no such thing as a bad burger, so even frozen patties are at least something. It's easy to see why a host of a large cookout would turn to frozen.
@Texas Blues: Dude! 116? OMG. I'd be eating burgers made of ice patties.
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5 Comments:
And if you show up to a party and find burgers are being made with lean beef, try this fix.
josh! at 10:57AM on 07/03/07
Here in Texas, brisket is cheap and makes great burgers. Just run it through the meat grinder a couple times. A 50/50 mix of beef and bacon also makes great burgers.
PhotoKirk at 11:22AM on 07/03/07
Excellent advice, Adam. Unfortunately tomorrow's burgers are being made with a bunch of frozen patties--but that's what I get for not throwing the party myself.
Smylie at 2:48PM on 07/03/07
Sliders "juicy lucy" style with jack cheese and grilled jalapeno's today in the 116 degree Las Vegas heat. In need of something frozen here but not the meat!
texas blues at 5:43PM on 07/04/07
@Josh!: Thanks for the tip. I saw your compound-butter burger on Flickr. Will have to make reference to it here on AHT.
@PhotoKirk: You're right. One of my favorite burger joints in NYC uses brisket in its mixture. I only recommended chuck as a starting point and didn't want to go into all the variations you could do since this was supposed to be just a quick-and-dirty tip post.
@Smylle: Yeah. I'm of the mindset that there's almost no such thing as a bad burger, so even frozen patties are at least something. It's easy to see why a host of a large cookout would turn to frozen.
@Texas Blues: Dude! 116? OMG. I'd be eating burgers made of ice patties.
Adam Kuban at 10:19AM on 07/05/07