THE ALL-AMERICAN HAMBURGER

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

For my son’s birthday dinner, he requested grilled sliders and hot dogs. We served it with watermelon, mixed green salad, and frittes. There were two kinds of birthday cake for dessert: chocolate cupcake cake and my mother’s ice cream cake.

BASIC ALL-AMERICAN HAMBURGERS

Serves 6

Who doesn’t like a good hamburger? They satisfy that that red meat craving in juicy savory hand-held package. They are also easy and fun to cook out on the grill.

The ground beef you buy at the store is usually ground chuck which comes with varying amounts of fat. Just remember that the leaner the beef, the faster it will cook.

Note: For the ultimate burger, buy a whole chuck roast or sirloin steak; cut it into 2’inch pieces; and finely chop (don’t puree) in your food processor to make your own patties.

Note: Make extra patties for the freezer to cook another time. When there are ready-made frozen patties in the freezer of salmon, turkey, and beef, everyone can choose what they want. At our house, the beef burgers are the most popular.

1 ½ lb ground beef, 80 – 90% lean

kosher salt and pepper to taste

1 Tbsp Montreal Steak Seasoning or other steak seasoning

vegetable oil

6 kaiser rolls or hamburger buns

Preheat the grill or broiler to HIGH
In a bowl, combine meat with salt and pepper and steak seasoning then form into 6 patties
Brush patties with a little of the oil
Place on hot grill and cook to desired doneness, 3-5 minutes on each side
Place patties inside buns
Serve with salsa, mustard, ketchup, lettuce, onion, pickles, tomatoes on the side

Variation: Cheese Burgers

When you flip the patties in step #4, place 1 oz cheese (Cheddar or American are the most common) on the cooked side of the patty.

To make my son’s favorite inside out cheeseburger, divide your raw patty in half. Make a flat patty with each half. Lay a piece of cheese on top of one of the halves and top it with the other flattened patty half like a sandwich. Now the cheese is inside the meat patty. Press edges together and grill.

Variation: Seasoning

Instead of using Montreal Steak Seasoning, use 1 Tbsp Dijon + 1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

Variation: Sliders

Sliders have become popular lately. I like them because they are a nice size. You can eat one, two,or three if you are starving. I have found slider buns at my local Whole Foods, but any small roll cut in half will work.