Our new Indie Games subforum is now open for business in G&T. Go and check it out, you might land a code for a free game. If you're developing an indie game and want to post about it,
follow these directions. If you don't, he'll break your legs! Hahaha! Seriously though.
Our rules have been updated and given
their own forum. Go and look at them! They are nice, and there may be new ones that you didn't know about! Hooray for rules! Hooray for The System! Hooray for Conforming!
Damn fine burgers (now with chicken!)
Posts
I see a gas vs charcoal debate coming on. heh heh.
I think I'll just hide behind my pallette of wicked good charcoal and make a fort from my pallette of kamodo extruded coconut lump. Guess what side of that debate I'm on?
Chicken:
Sateh's w/a side of peanut souce. Last time I made them they were referred to as crack/cocaine. So very good!
Portebela side:
Marinate the portabelas in a garlic balsamic vinegar souce, making sure to get the juice in the fins of the cap.
Grill em top side down so all the moisture stays on the 'shroom
when they are about done, get some goat cheese/chevre and fill the cap with it, melt it in.
Cut em up and serve so fine and tasty!
I really like a lot of these ideas, though some of them (like the Juicy Lucy) will probably be best left to private experimentation before I try to foist them on my friends. They're not too biased against fancy food, but if we're BBQing, then simplicity is probably the best. I'm gonna try the garlic powder on the coals idea, though. That sounds good.
I'm intrigued by this idea of grinding your own meat. I never would have thought to do that. Is there anything specific I need to know before I try, or should I just toss some hunks of meat in a food processor? Also, when you say soak in Worchestershire sauce, how much sauce are we talking?
I'm gonna be cooking this on a charcoal grill, definitely. Gas just isn't my thing, to be honest.
can we have a PA bbq cook-off?
Assuming that I can authorize the hijacking of my own thread, then hell yes, let's talk about chicken too. Just because I'm doing burgers this time doesn't mean we'll want just burgers next time.
Thanks thread!
Don't let the roundness of the weber one touch gold fool you, there is plenty of grill space on it. I can do two bone-in turkey breasts on mine, indirect method with no problem.
Of course if I'm really throwing a party I fire up the chargriller super pro and I can feen plenty of people.
Record for me is 6 boston butt's for ~45lbs of meat for 35+ people.
Oh and startup time isn't so bad when you light that stuff up with a mapp torch. muhahhahah
I'm a charcoal purist too, I refuse to cook on a gas grill, but that's just me.
As far as the how much W sauce to use, it just depends on your/others tastes. My general rule is to put about one teaspoon per ¼ lb. of beef.
make the skewer, with the chicken pieces tight together on the skewer, brush with olive oil, lemon juice garlic oregeno mixture as cooking
when the chicken is done, throw some krono, or athenos pita's on the grill to warm up and brown some
serve the chicken with a tziecky souce,
take a few cloves of garlic and a cucumber(i like em peeled) and blend in a food processor
strain the water out, and add the mixture to some plain yogurt
add your tomato,lettuce, feta etc
and you got some tasty greek chicken sandwhiches.
Seriously, I have a gas grill on my back patio as well and it's great and quick but nothing beats heading up north, stoking up a good fire in our patio fire pit. Wood-fired for the win.
Incidently, you can get wood brickettes for a charcoal grill. Burns hot and quick so be careful but it gives a good taste.
Open fire, when created correctly, definitely yield the best meat bar none. Certainly, gas grills have their place - particularily since in most built-up urban areas, fire pits are banned anyway. But if/when you get the opportunity to cook something like hamburgers over an open flame, take it without hestitation.
Someone must tell me the secret to this Juicy Lucy business. I just tried to make some, and let's just say, more cheese is on the bottom of my grill than in the actual patty.
I have almost the exact same recipe, and I'll never go back to regular burgers any more.
For chicken, the only real way I've found to keep them from getting too dry is to not use too high of a heat (obviously), keep it basted, and try not to use a fork, as you dont' want to poke any holes into the meat.
This thread is awesome by the way.
My suggestion is to find a local butchershop that sells buffalo meat and cook it up as burgers. Then it won't really matter much what it tastes like because instead of eating boring old cow you're eating buffalo
What I do is I take a regular beef patty, add a bit of salt and pepper, then fry it up. After it's nice and cooked (almost well done, with a bit of pink in the middle), I toss it onto a potato bread bun with some ketchup on the top bun and two dill pickle slices (not spears) on the patty itself.
I've been making it since I was nine. It's never let me down.
Also add some worcesteshire, some kind of hot sauce, and a good splat of ketchup to the mixing bowl. And an egg. Just mash it up and mix it together and you'll get the best burgers ever.
The problem is though, that you'll need to keep an eye on them and occasionally mash them down a bit with your flipping tool so as to prevent shrinkage.
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
Alright, I'm a burger fanatic. I love burgers, I make them as often as possible. Usually I use my indoor electric range grill to make my burgers as using an outdoor grill is usually too much of a hassle for me.
I'm a bit different from others that have been posting, I only use the leanest meat I can find (usually 90% but I do love 92%). Now, some of you will be thinking that using the leanest meat possible will take away flavor and juicyness, this is just not so, as long as you have the correct recipe. First I get about a pound of the leanest ground beef I can find (however, if you have a meat grinder, chuck, sirloin, and round ground together makes an excellent burger) and put it in a nice bowl. Then I start my magic. Start by salting the meat to taste with either garlic (or onion) salt and if you really like the garlic a pinch of garlic powder never hurt anyone (also, Montreal steak seasoning is a good thing to use if you like a good hearty seasoning). From there I take my trusty bottle of Worchestershire (this is the most important part, if you don't do anything else, use this) and LIBERALLY (I love woozy sauce) pour it on the meat, I personally use about two-three tablespoons of it. It's a unique flavor and is pretty salty/made with fish, so, if you're nervous about adding it try out about one tablespoon per pound (that will make it juicy but not overpowered with the flavor). This is why lean meat to me is perfectly acceptable, the Worchestershire sauce will make it -very- juicy and you don't get as much fat(grease) in the burger. To me, grease does not equal flavor. Then mix the seasoning into the burger by folding it a few times. After it's good and mixed go ahead and pat gently (not press hard) the meat into thin round patties. If you're using a grill oil it so the burgers don't stick and then get it nice and hot (oil is flamable, don't ever let the oil touch your heat source or it will burn). If you're using a pan set the heat on the stove to high and oil the pan lightly, when it starts to steam a bit lower the heat to med-high and put the burgers in.
To answer your question it really depends on the way you're cooking it. I'll assume you're going to use the pan. Lightly oil your pan and heat the pan on high heat, when it gets nice and hot (the oil will steam slightly) put the burger in and set the heat to med-high. For a medium-rare burger (my favorite) cook the burger on the first side for 4 minutes (do not turn over during these 4 minutes, the meat will not burn/stick if you used oil) then flip and cook for another 4 minutes. If you want medium cook on the second side for 6 minutes, for well-done try no more than 8 minutes. Now, I see so many people do this to burgers and this is what kills it: They push down on the meat with the spatula and drain all the juice. Don't do that! That will always make your burger dry, that's not a good thing. The best way to tell when your burger is done is to lightly push down on it and see if the juice that comes out is pink or clear, if it's clear, your burger is good to go! If you use as much Worchestershire sauce as I do then the juice will come out brown, make sure it's a brown/clear color and does not have a pink tint. Also, if you're making more than one burger do not crowd them in the pan, give them plenty of room between each other.
A bit about what to put on your burgers:
At the very end when your burgers are almost done put a little bit of butter on the top and spread it around. This will give your burger a nice bit of sweetness, don't use too much butter. Then put your favorite cheese on top. Here's a good tip that I've always used, to melt your cheese take about 1/4th of a cup of water and pour it in after you put the cheese on, then top with a lid very quickly. What you want is for the water to evaporate very fast (you don't want your burgers to sit in a pool of water, so careful with how much you put in and make sure your pan is hot enough) this will steam the cheese and melt them right on your burgers. Also, once you pull the burgers out feel free to put a little bit of butter in the pan and saute some yummy onion and mushrooms to top it.
Some people swear that cheese should never touch your meat to melt, if you want to go that route put your hamburger buns on a baking sheet and butter the cut side a bit and then put your cheese on top, then put it in the oven on broil until the cheese is melted. This will give you a nice toasted bun too.
I personally don't use breadcrums/oatmeal/egg in my burgers, I feel this makes them just wayyy too much like meatloaf (although they will stay together better, but, I have no problem keeping them together anyway), plus you're only supposed to have I believe 2 egg yolks a week and I use those up for my saturday breakfast
Anyway, I hope my lengthy first post has helped some of you, maybe later I'll post part 2: Grilled Chicken.
I suppose you could proceed without the onion if you like your burgers rare, and use plenty of Worcester sauce (I don't understand why Americans call it Worcestershire, you can pronounce it anyway, why make yourselves look even sillier