How To Grill Burgers Correctly (13 pics)
A mistake people often make when grilling up burgers is overlooking the bun. While the meat is certainly the star, the bun holds it together, and it's the first thing that hits your tongue as you bite into the bad boy. Bun choice is a big deal, so figure out what you like best, and go with that. (Potato buns are the best.)
While it is fun to get a little flame action going on the grill, it can cause more harm than good when it comes to a burger. Flare-ups can leave a burger burnt on the outside and raw on the inside. To avoid this, try and balance the heat of your grill with the fat content of the burger. A fatty burger + a very hot grill = a lot of flames spitting at you.
Due to the high protein in beef burgers, the meat has a tendency to want to stick onto the grill. You should never have to struggle to pull a burger out of a BBQ. To avoid this, pat your patties dry and apply a tiny amount of canola oil before letting it hit the grill.
It's easy to over-season anything, especially since we know that more seasoning typically equals more flavor. But we must remember that salt is very good at drawing up moisture, which isn't good for a nice juicy burger. Season with salt on the patty just before hitting the grill.
If you're a fan of having burger rare/medium-rare, then you should avoid letting the patties get to room temp before cooking. The best way to have a crunchy and flavour-packed crust with a medium rare middle is to keep the patties in the fridge until they're ready to hit the grill.
For anyone who's chasing a juicy burger and has yet to find it, be sure that your patties are thick. Patties that are too thin will dry out quickly and will leave you eating cardboard.
While most meats benefit from being allowed to rest for a bit after cooking, this doesn't apply to burgers.
Adam Parry Lang says "Burgers have so much cooked surface area that a lot of the juice just leaks out onto the platter. It's not contained like in a piece of beef that's a whole muscle. By the time you put it on the bun and hand it to somebody, the concept of resting just kind of happens."
While it's perfectly acceptable to toast a bun before assembly in order to keep it crispy. Lang offers up another additional step to take it up a notch: "One thing that essentially eliminates a soggy bun is if you just put the cold cheese on the bottom of the bread and place the burger on top. It acts as a liquid barrier for that bread."
If you want to check for the wellness of a burger, use a meat thermometer. If it's a thin patty, the temp will pretty much be irrelevant. However, you should never cut in to the patty to check.
Moving your burgers off of the grill too quickly is a common mistake one should always try to avoid. Allow them the time needed to develop a char, otherwise you'll end up with a floppy burger.
A lot of people, surprisingly, don't think about the quality of the meat they are using for a burger. Burger is burger, right? Lang says: “Pay attention to the meat you use, use high-quality beef and don’t go too lean. I recommend the chuck sirloin brisket, it provides depth of flavor and mouthfeel.”
A final mistake that people tend to make is sticking to the classics. A burger doesn't have to be just beef! By switching things up every now and again you just may find a new burger that you absolutely love. Turkey burgers, lamb burgers, chicken burgers, hell, even beyond meat burgers taste pretty good.
