All About Burgers

The first secret of good burgers is to start with good quality beef. When you buy your beef ground you never can make sure about what is going into it. I you have the facilities to grind your own beef, my recommendation is grinding your own meat instead of buying ground stuff.

This time I didn't do what I say; I had organic and free range Australian 80% Lean, 20% Fat ground beef and I make use of it.  

About seasoning your ground beef, it is up to you, use the spices you like better. 

What I used for my seasoning is; 

Garlic Powder

Cajun Blackened Seasoning

Dried Porchini Salt

Fresh Ground Pepper (Black&White Pepper mixture)

Mix your seasoning mixture in your ground beef and let it sit in your fridge for at least half an hour.

Make uniform size and shape patties so they cook even. You may have precise eyes but I believe in perfection, so I scaled my ground beef and created 4 equal patties, 115 gr (about 4 oz each). When it comes to cooking even, thickness matters, my patties were 2,5 cm (1 inch) thick.

I prepared my patties before we started the BBQ so I let them sit in the fridge while getting my charcoal going. 

About cooking your burger if you don't feel like struggling with BBQ you can simply sear it in a pan, heavy cast iron pan would be ideal.

For both techniques I recommend you use a thermometer to test the inner temperature of your meat while cooking. Do the temperatures mean nothing to you? Ok, here is a simple estimated guideline;
  Rare; 49°C /120°F and below 
  Medium Rare; 54°C /130°F 
  Medium; 60°C /140°F
  Medium well; 66°C /150°F 
  Well done; 71°C /160°F and above

  Bread you use also matters, try to get some nice buns, if you have time, you can bake your own buns, not so difficult, it will be another topic on my blog.

 

  About assembling the burger, it is up to your taste, my preference is always roasted/grilled vegetables, slice of nice juicy organic beef tomato, some salad greens, lettuce, arugula, etc. The common way is using some ketchup and/or mayonnaise. You don't need lots of heavy sauces and dressing if you start with good quality ingredient.