It's Summer. Defend Your Burger.

We don’t eat burgers or make them. Not generally a fan of ground meat. Certainly not mystery meat of large factory origin.

I occasionally use ground chuck to make a ragu, but also like ground lamb or veal instead as those have more flavor that compliments the tomato sauce.

I like Bison, but prefer it for chili.

No buns either!
 
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MN54,
An open garage door, Solel boots, a hooded winter jacket with a winter hat underneath, and holding your beer with chopper gloves, will get the job done too.

I prefer the Cardinal Bar over Matt's if you don't feel like fighting the elements.

JP
mn54 said:
you don't have to be in the south to BBQ year round. just keep the grill close to the back door and have a shovel nearby. :D
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I've been mixing fresh garlic and fresh jalapeno peppers into higher fat ratio ground beef, and seasoning it with Lawry's seasoning salt, and good course ground pepper.
Grill one side good, flip it, and add the cheese soon after flipping. I still prefer American cheese on a burger.
Don't overcook. Juicy, and just slightly pink inside.

I prefer toasted wheat bread, but a fancy made bun is acceptable.

Real mayo, dill pickles and fresh home grow tomatoes if possible for toppings.

If I'm cooking in a fry pan, I add a bunch of cut up onions first, so they get browned good.

Great topic. I will be grilling these burgers at the cabin this weekend.

Take care, JP
 
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We use Scottish highlander burger. A former co worker raises them and grinds the whole cow for burger. Its tasty and lean meat. Last purchase was $4.oo per lb, im sure its higher now, lol.

When I get a deer ( not last season) we add bacon or pork sausage for a venison burger.
 
Add me to the charcoal crowd... tastes better.

And I don't really like brioche buns - too sweet. Prefer a good bun that is not sweetened with sugar.
 
MichaelB said:
Not for the cow :)

Edit to add - I’m not sure there is a meaningful difference in impact to one’s health between 93/7 and 80/20, or how that would be measured, but personally I would opt for the higher fat content and look for health elsewhere. For example, forgo the bun or skip the fries.
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Agree on that one. The jury is out on healthy vs unhealthy amount of fat, and type. I make low carb buns but they’re small. So we have sliders, forego the bun or do a lettuce wrap. I haven’t had fries in years.

Homemade Shake Shack style sauce: mayo mustard, ketchup, and onion powder. The last ingredient is key.

I’ve been buying 80/20. I figure the extra fat gets rendered out anyway.
 
COcheesehead said:
I have used bacon inside the grind as well. Great addition.
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I sometimes add a TBL of bacon grease to the burger mix.

I try to use grass fed beef as the fat make-up is supposed to be more like fish and less like corn fed beef. However, these days, I'm not always successful in getting the grass fed stuff. Overall, I certainly eat less red meat than I did years ago. Mostly I replace the red meat with fish. Make of that what you will.
 
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We found a wonderful package at our local supermarket. it is 50% beef, and 50 % bacon!!
It cooks up great on the grill.
 
I like to vary the kind of meat I use in my burgers. And sauces. But for the dressing I usually prefer a mix of majo, mustard, ketchup and chipotle sauces in diminishing order. And scallions for onions.


I love the ideas for sauces mentioned here - keep them coming too!
 
rodi said:
Add me to the charcoal crowd... tastes better.

And I don't really like brioche buns - too sweet. Prefer a good bun that is not sweetened with sugar.
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Back in my bread days, I would sometimes use a bagel. Just lightly toast the cut side right on the grill. Then, I used cheddar, guyere, or other "stronger" cheese.
 
1/3 lb burgers are just too big for me. 1/4 lb just seems the right size. I'll have to try grilling a Juicy Lucy. Sounds delicious.

I occasionally like a burger on an English muffin instead of a bun. In the Wintertime, I'll fry them in a cast iron pan on the stove with some butter, Worstershire, some liquid smoke seasoning and Lowery's seasoned salt or Nature's Seasoning.
 
Steaks! Steaks is what I’ll be grilling. If I had my smoker handy I’d be doing ribs and chicken too.
 
We love BBQ--steaks, burgers, ribs, fish etc.
Burgers--usually costco brand organic ground beef, sometimes 50/50 beef/bison.
Salt or Johnnys seasoning salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder.
Sometimes substitute or add creole seasoning or off the hook blackened seasoning for fish.
Have a treager and small charcoal weber.
Mmm-mmm
 
We grill 3-4 /week on a gas grill, but I cheat with 3-4 lumps of charcoal on a grate above the gas outlets year round. We grill pork, ahi, chicken, and beef from our annual local cow. Forget that all grass stuff, we put ours on corn the last 6 weeks. Yesterday was rib eyes washed down with my Cab, Merlot, Petit Verdot blend. Today, it's shrimp and scallops in a lime juice marinade with some Sauv Blanc, or some Verdelho. Live and love to eat!
 
Souschef said:
We found a wonderful package at our local supermarket. it is 50% beef, and 50 % bacon!!
It cooks up great on the grill.
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Sign me up for this!

Also, another vote here for frying the burger on the Blackstone. Makes a really nice crust that you don’t get with grilling over a flame.
 
>>from Winemaker: Forget that all grass stuff, we put ours on corn the last 6 weeks. >>

I'm with you and the OP. Grain-finished Black Angus Prime, salted well ahead of time, is always our steak of choice.

When it comes to burgers, I usually do a mix of 50/50 beef and bison, when at home. But the best we've had from restaurants has been a mix of chuck, brisket, and either skirt steak or flank steak. Pork fat (lard) is added while grinding - suet has too high a melting point for a medium-rare doneness, whereas pork fat has a lower melting point that will keep the burger juicy.

Good brioche for burger buns shouldn't be overly sweet. In fact it shouldn't be any sweeter than a milk bread dough. There's a lot of crappy oversugared brioche in stores. It's worth seeking out the really good stuff.
 
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I live in northern MN and grill all year long. I recently added a pellet stove to my grill options and am having fun trying it out.


My go to is elk burger. Mixed at the locker plant 85% elk and 15% beef tallow. They have it perfected. Cooked over Traeger Signature Blend pellets it doesn't need any seasoning at all.


If I grill beef I prefer ground chuck.
 
We use ground sirloin, about 1/2 pound per burger, charcoal grill. Melt a couple slices of whatever cheese we have on hand. Brioche buns lightly toasted. Slice of tomato, slice of vidalia onion and bread and butter pickles (Bubbies).
 
We are carnivorous but last night as an experiment I grilled Impossible Burger I got from the grocery store. I liked it more than DW but we agreed it’s an impressive technology. I bet it would be very hard to detect as not actually beef in other recipes calling for ground beef.
 
We made "burgers" last night.

Black beans, quinoa, rolled oats, garlic and onion powder, BBQ sauce and a dash of liquid smoke. Couple turns in the Vitamix. Form patties.

Grilled to a crispy outside. Delicious. I had 2 with some grilled veggies.

:)
 
Garden burgers and Impossible burgers are both pretty good, too!
 
Reading through this thread and learning about the process that some will go through in making a hamburger reminds of an anecdote from Lee Iacocca's autobiography.

Iacocca tells the story that in the Ford Motor Company's executive dining room, Henry Ford II rarely ate anything but hamburgers. Furthermore, Ford complained that his own personal chef at home couldn't make a decent burger. In fact, no one made burgers as perfect as the ones at the executive dining room.

Wanting to impress Ford and undercut the other managers at his next cookout, Iacocca went to the kitchen and asked the chef to show him what he did to make Ford’s burgers so good. The chef went to the fridge, grabbed a thick marbled rib eye, ran it through a grinder, patted up a meat puck, and tossed it on the grill.

And there's yer burger! :D
 
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