Burgers

Hamburgers are best if you grind up the meat yourself, this allows you to monitor what goes into them. The recommended mix is 80% meat and 20% fat. Kitchen Aid has a grinder attachment that works well for home use.

Cut the meat into about one inch cubes, separating the lean from fatty pieces and season both piles. Then put the cubes in the freezer. When they are about half frozen they are ready to grind.

Feed them into the grinder one at a time, adding as much or little of the fat as you want. Once all of it is ground, run it through one more time. Remember that fat is where a lot of the flavor is so unless you are a purist, throw some in there.

A trick to making perfect patties is to form the meat into at a 1 inch tall loaf. Pack it down well, we want tight burgers. Using a large glass like you would a cookie cutter, cut the burgers out.

Freeze the patties on a plate covered with parchment paper or saran wrap for at least an hour. Any time after that, they are ready to go onto the grill with no thawing needed.

Hamburgers made this way give you many options as to their make up. If you use only lean meat add bacon for the fat, this makes a great bacon burger. Pork or sausage can be added, or you can just make ground pork burgers.

To make a stuffed burger, roll the ground meat into a ½ in. thick loaf. Lay your stuffing (ham, cheese, onion, peppers, etc) onto one patty then cover it with another patty "sandwich style", but with the meat on the outside. Seal the edges well, and freeze.

Burgers are grilled not bbq'ed as they will need to cook at a high heat directly over the flame. The amount of flare up will depend on the fat content. Covered grills that have air dampers on them are best for this.

Many folks flip them 3 times, that way they can get the cross hatch grill marks on both sides. I find the best method is to flip them only once, they are juicier and easier to flip without falling apart. This is not a competition entry, so I am not so concerned about grill marks here.

Once the meat is placed onto the hot grill, the meat will stick, leave it alone. When it is ready to flip, it will loosen easily from the grate.

Cooking time varies on how much fat you used, what meats, how you want them cooked and how close to the fire you are. Flip them when they appear to be a little over halfway cooked. Toasting the buns along side of them as they finish cooking adds flavor to the bun.