We tried a variety of techniques for mixing, shaping, and grilling outdoor burgers. Grilling the best burger can be just as complex as the ingredients for the burger itself. The perfect burger is truly a personal thing, as there are a wide variety of flavor profiles, ingredients, seasonings, and smoke flavors one may add to his perfect burger. It is true that what is good for one may not be good for another. There are some that cannot see extreme heat ingredients, some are lactose intolerant, and others will refuse vegetables on their perfect burger. Some may find it odd to add bacon; others see it as peculiar to include pineapple; and some find onions a must-have on their perfect hamburger.
Burger Flavoring Ideas
Grilling season has arrived, and this year I’ve resolved to master the art of America’s favorite summertime grilling meat, the hamburger.
My goal is to create a simple, tasty burger to make on a weeknight to compete with the individual who adds every condiment known to man to their burger and balances it sufficiently to satisfy the minimalist burger eater.
First and Foremost, Begin with a Clean Grill
When cooking dinner on the grill, you should start with clean and oiled grates, just like a clean skillet and a little oil.
To remove any built-up debris from previous meals, scrape your grill grates using a barbecue brush. Then, oil the grill easily by dipping a folded paper towel or paper napkin in oil and rubbing the oil-soaked cloth on the grates with grilling tongs.
Purchase an 80/20 Ground Beef Mixture
A burger can be seasoned in several ways, but it’s only valid on a solid basis. Skip the extra-lean ground beef patty blends in favor of ground beef with a higher fat content for a juicy, delicious burger.
Ground beef with an 80/20 ratio is ideal for grilled burgers—80 percent lean meat and 20% fat. The 80/20 ground beef found in supermarkets is usually ground chuck, which is perfect for burgers. Ground sirloin tends to dry out when cooked at high heat on the grill and is generally leaner, like 90/10.
Combine ground chuck and ground sirloin to blend 80 to 83 percent meat and 17 to 20% fat.
It’s easy to find 80/20 ground chuck in most supermarkets. Don’t hesitate to ask your local butcher to grind your blend or use a higher fat-to-beef ratio.
Keep the Meat Chilled
The heat from your hands, mixed with room-temperature ground beef, has the potential to melt and smear the fat. This keeps the fat from joining with the lean meat and allows too much of it to render during cooking, resulting in a dry, dense burger.
The idea is to keep the meat cold and form the patties as soon as possible.
Refrigerate the ground beef until you’re ready to season it and form the patties. Then, stir the ground beef just until it comes together—no more than a second. Form it into patties and place it in the fridge until ready to grill.
Avoid Overmixing Ground Beef
When combining ground beef and creating patties, less is more. If you’ve ever eaten a burger that crumbled apart as you ate it, it was most likely due to overworking the beef. The result is comparable to that of a fractured emulsion. You’re attempting to bind the fat and protein together. Still, overmixing will “break” the binding, causing your burger to dry up, crumble, and lose flavor.
Here’s what you should do: Sprinkle the seasonings evenly over the ground beef and gently fold them with your hands.
When is the meat wholly mixed? Take a piece of ground beef the size of a quarter and lightly flatten it in the palm of your hand after combining it with any seasonings or other add-in ingredients. Place your palm down. If the flesh holds together, you’re OK to go.
Burger Size Is Important
Some individuals prefer the concept of a massive hamburger patty spilling over the bun’s edges. In contrast, others believe it should be a perfect fit. No one, however, wants a burger that is smaller than the bun.
To get the right size patties for your buns, create your burgers about 1 inch thick around the borders and one inch more prominent than the bun.
This accounts for the natural shrinkage that occurs during cooking.
Should You Dimple Your Hamburgers?
Burger recipes are found all over the Internet and in cookbooks that teach you to form an indentation in the center of the patties, usually the size of a thumbprint or a tablespoon. The purpose of “dimpling” is to keep the burger from inflating out in the middle. Is it, however, effective? Like everyone else, I wanted to avoid puffing while also minimizing shrinkage in my burgers, so I experimented.
A thumbprint or tablespoon depression prevented the center from inflating, but the burgers shrank nonetheless. On the other hand, making a significant, shallow dip in the patty worked perfectly. Consider a salad plate instead of a donut.
Make your patties so the outer 1/2-inch is slightly taller than the center.
Another tip: Instead of smashing the patties together with your hands, lay about 5 ounces of meat on a tray or dish lined with parchment paper. Gently flatten the burger’s top and produce a broad, shallow depression (“dimple”) with one hand while pressing the other hand against the edges to form a circle. This includes a depression in the ground beef without overheating or overworking it.
Gas Grill vs. Charcoal Grill
Because of the added taste and charring that occur with these grills, wood or charcoal is always the ideal choice for the tastiest grilled burgers.
It is more adaptable. You receive a hotter, drier heat that results in a nicer sear. If you use charcoal, you can add different types of wood to enhance the burger’s smokiness and overall flavor profile.
However, millions of Americans prefer gas grills because they are easier to use and create less trash. Don’t worry; you can still make a delicious burger on a gas grill!
Invest in a chimney starter to barbeque with charcoal or wood. It’s a tall cylinder or box with holes in it. The paper is crumpled on the bottom, and the coals are repositioned on top. Place the chimney starter on the bottom of your grill’s grate and light the paper. In 15 to 20 minutes, you’ll have hot coals.
Open the cover of a gas grill, turn on the gas, and light the grill. Before adding your patties, heat your grill to 450 to 500 degrees.
How Long Should You Grill Burgers?
Stick to the following total grilling times:
Cook for 4 minutes total (125°F) for rare burgers.
Cook for 5 minutes total (135°F) for medium-rare burgers.
Cook for 6 to 7 minutes total (145°F) for medium burgers.
For well-done burgers, cook for 8 to 9 minutes total (160 °F).
Please remember that the USDA recommends cooking ground meats to an internal temperature of at least 160°F, which indicates that they are well done with no pink in the center. Cooking burgers to different degrees of doneness is at the cook’s discretion.
Despite all of this, the amount of time it takes for a hamburger to reach a certain temperature ultimately depends on how hot your grill is and how thick your patties are. My 1-inch-wide, 4-inch-diameter patties were medium-done in 5 minutes (2 1/2 minutes on each side) and well-done in 6 minutes (3 minutes on each side) in my tests.
To get a more accurate reading, insert the meat thermometer through the side of the burger rather than the top.
Don’t Press, Flip! Your Fries
Please don’t press the patties down once they’re on the grill. The pressing process extracts the fat and flavor from the burgers, resulting in dry, bland patties.
However, flip your burgers frequently, as regular flipping cooks a burger more evenly.
When Should You Add Cheese?
About 1 minute before the burger is done, add the cheese. My favorite cheeses are American, cheddar, and mozzarella.
When Should You Toast the Buns?
I like toasted brioche buns. They’re buttery and robust enough to hold all my condiments and burger, but they also squish down and bite through easily.
Butter the top and bottom of the buns and place them on the back of the grill, away from direct heat, until golden. When you have a minute remaining on the patties, start toasting the buns.
Remember to Rest Your Burgers
Resting is not limited to humans. Allow the burgers to rest for a minute after they have been removed from the grill. This gives the liquids time to redistribute throughout the burger, providing a more tasty experience.
Burger Flavoring Ideas
Experiment with different tastes once you’ve mastered the basic burger recipe below.
You can combine different pieces of meat as well as mushrooms, anchovies, herbs, and cheese cubes. Lemon zest is a favorite of some to put in burgers since it helps cut the fatty flavor of the beef. Avocado, or guacamole, is a creative and tasty burger topping. There are so many options for topping your burger, and if you experiment with ingredients, you may just discover a fantastic and yummy new burger flavor profile. Finally, the decision is yours. You can go right if the burger is cooked to the desired doneness and is moist.