Stella May I ask how you make burgers at your tiny place? Juicy Lucy!
Of course you may! We are well into summer now and that means it's time for lots of burgers. Well it would be that if we have a grill. It's a little tricky making burgers on just a hot plate, but I wanted to share some tips I have learned over my many trials (me and Mister are pretty big fans of burgers). The problem with hot plates is that they don't get very hot, so it's quite impossible to get that nice sear, charred bits. Since I end up cooking it longer (because of the lower heat), I like to stick some cheese into the center to prevent the burger from drying out. This is also called a Juicy Lucy! After the beef patties get cooked, Mister then comes in with a torch to char it up. Today's Tutorial Tuesday is continuing this simple assembly method I have going already. (See my easy lasagna post here.)Combine some ground beef, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
Roll the beef into balls. Use the size of your buns to determine size of the balls, I like to make about a fistful size. Split each beef ball in half and flatten out to your bun size. Place a slice of American cheese in the center of one patty (folded), then top with the other patty and seal the edges by pinching and smoothing with your fingers.
Gently press flat, double checking there are no opening for the cheese to escape when the burgers cook. Cook on a grill or skillet over medium high heat (usually about 3 minutes per side). Finish cooking the patties with the torch. Toast the buns and serve with your desired condiments and toppings.
Recipe is slightly adapted from here. I also like this one and this one.
Tips: Burger are a pretty fast meal to put together as long as you have all the ingredients. Preparations is key for burgers. There have been many a time that the burger got soggy because I didn't have the lettuce or pickles ready. I find that Juicy Lucy burger are also messy burgers, so you should probable also have some napkins ready. I like to use American Cheese as it doesn't need a lot of heat to melt. I wouldn't suggest using hard cheese as they would take longer to melt and your burger might be pretty dry by that point. If you really want to use hard cheese try shredding it before you stick it in the burger.
I hope you are all enjoying summer so far. As I am writing this post we are going through a major rainstorm, so I am not feeling quite that summery today, but maybe making a burger will change that. What are some of your favorite burger tips?
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