1st Charcoal Grilled Hamburgers of the Season
Friday was an amazing spring day upstate. Bright blue skies, happy kids, lots or garden work, swinging, and the pool guys even showed up to open things up for the summer. That process takes a few weeks, but the day in total was an inkling of summer, so i figured it was time to break out the weber kettle and grill up some classic burgers. Here was the final plate:
Grilling and BBQ'ing are two of my favorite things to do in the summer. I love so many things about them, but tonight i was fixated on the "campfire" vibe it can bring. I always use a chimney starter with hardwood charcoal, and typically I use a few sheets of newspaper as the starter. But Lori had always talked of her father's method of building a small fire with twigs and pinecones as the starter, and even though she's talked about this for the past 10 years (not all that often admittedly, but its information I've been privy to for over a decade), tonight i decided was the night. Quick gallery showing the process:
Definitely worth it. Way more fun, worked beautifully, and more than anything it really pounded home that campfire feeling of grilling that I love so much. But tonight wasn't just about the fire! Back to the kitchen. So while the coals were igniting I got started with some food prep.
We had a pound of Kinderhook Farm ground beef in the freezer from our trip there last month, and this seemed like the perfect meal for it. I went with my classic preparation of 1/2 Tablespoon dried oregano and 1/2 Tablespoon of worcestershire sauce with a little fresh ground pepper. Here are a couple shots of it before shaped to help indicate volume:
I then mixed this up very well (with bare hands, the only way to do it) to make sure spices were mixed thoroughly, and formed into two patties. I read an article a few years ago about how to solve the dilema of burgers that plump up into bulgy saucers on the grill too thick in the middle and wobbling all over the place on your bun. I've used it ever since... the secret to good burger making is this: after you shape your patty, press down the middle with your thumb and leave a big 'ole indent. This indent will puff up on the grill to be even with the outer portions of the patty, leaving you with a wonderfully even thickness:
I coated these patties with a teaspoon of olive oil, and a healthy couple pinches of kosher salt (wish i had sea salt up here) before putting them on the grill. My coals burned down to a red hot crackling fire, and stared to white over with ash when i cleaned the grates. Normally i also oil the grates, but having just put some oil on the patties themselves I decided to let them do the work. It was getting late at this point, so kinda dark but here's a pic of burgers on the fire:
I cooked these over medium-hot to hot coals for about 4-5 minutes per side, so after 8-10 minutes i had burgers that looked like this:
I let these sit for 3 minutes or so while i grabbed everything else for the table. Fixings included thinly sliced cheddar cheese, tomato slices, red onion, pickles, mayo and ketchup. Here's that final plate again:
Served on grill-toasted hard rolls with roasted sweet potato fries on the side. Flavor of the burger was killer... I was glad we had saved the Kinderhook ground beef for this meal as the meat really is front and center. I cooked these a bit too long as they were a touch dry (though Lori didn't think so), so in the future I'd stick to 4 minutes per side... i think i was closer to 5. But the oregano/worcestershire combo is so perfect in a grilled burger. Definitely a great start to the charcoal-grilling season, and I can't wait to eat these guys all summer long.
