The Perfect Hamburger

As we remember all of those who gave so much for our country and honor their courage and devotion to freedom we open up our grills for the "official" first grilling day of the year.

What tells the tale of grilling better than a burger? Remember that burger that just melted in your mouth? The one that had its juice flowing like the Mississippi in spring time? How about that burger that tasted like, and was tough as your old pair of leather sandals? Let's avoid the latter and shoot for the former this year together. 

Originally I thought that I had the perfect burger recipe, the recipe to end all recipes, but then I realized, as in skinning a cat, there is more than one way to get to that all beef patty perfection. Below are two methods, one a bit more difficult than its deceptively easy sister. Whichever one you choose though you will still be happy, sort of like in the way you would still be happy with either an apple or an orange. 

A note on beef: Whichever beef you end up buying it is important to have the meat to fat ratio proper. I would suggest a minimum of 80/20, which correlates to 80% meat to 20% fat (I highly suggest trying 70/30). Sure that sounds like a lot of fat but remember how that burger shrinks on the grill as it cooks? That is the fat melting away. Besides, this is Memorial Day Weekend! You only live once! And whatever other excuse you want to think of, because really, this will be the juiciest most flavorful burger ONLY if you keep the proper meat/fat ratio. Of course I also highly recommend finding locally grown beef, not only because it is better for you, or because it helps support local farms and the local economy, but really it all comes down to one thing... FLAVOR. I know some people will be skeptical but honestly, try one commercial beef burger next to a locally grown beef burger and get back to me :)

A note on the grind: Use a larger grind than what you would normally see for beef as it will help in the final juicicity (feel free to help me petition Webster to add that word to the dictionary). 

Method one: The Complication...

• serves 10
• 5lbs ground beef (make sure you read the notes on beef above)
• 3T Worcester sauce
• 1/2 finely diced onion
• 1 carrot finely ground
• 1T sea salt
• 1T fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 bunch of parsley, chopped course
• 2t fresh thyme or rosemary
• 3t fresh lemon juice

method:

• The most important thing to remember is NOT to overwork the meat. No matter what, no how, no way, do NOT overwork the meat (unless you really do like the leather sandal texture). Combine all the ingredients together besides the meat and mix thoroughly. Gently toss the mixture hand into the meat. 
• Gently form 10 patties from your mixture and get ready to grill!
• Make sure your grill is nice and hot, you should be able to hold your hand over the fire for only 3-4 seconds, if using a gas grill then keep on medium-high heat. Add your burgers to the grill, let cook until they look like the juices are starting to really come out and the cooked color is coming up the sides of the burger, flip for another few minutes and serve!

Method Two: My Favorite...

• 8oz of meat per person
• salt
• pepper

method:

• -This burger is the one you make when you get your meat ground fresh in front of you from the butcher. To me there is nothing better. Unwrap your packaging and cut the meat by hand into the appropriate size burger, there really isn't much of a need to "form" the burger, it should stay together fine if you only flip the burger once.
• Salt and pepper the outside of your burger and grill the same way as the previous burger. Enjoy!