The Great American Hamburger
The Great American Hamburger
Adapted from The Barbecue Bible
by Steven Raichlen
(Workman Publishing)
Total preparation and cooking time: 30 to 35 minutes
Makes 6 servings.
Ingredients:
1-1/2 pounds ground beef
2 to 3 tablespoons butter, melted or extra-virgin olive oil (optional)
6 Vidalia or other sweet onion slices, cut 1/2-inch thick (optional)
Coarse salt and pepper
6 hamburger buns, split
Toppings: Iceberg lettuce leaves, tomato slices, dill or sweet pickle slices, cooked bacon, ketchup, mustard and/or mayonnaise (optional).
Directions:
1. Lightly shape beef into six 1/2-inch thick patties. Brush onion slices with 1-1/2 teaspoons melted butter, if desired.
2. Place onion slices on grid over medium ash-covered coals. Grill, covered, 15 to 20 minutes (over medium heat on preheated gas grill, covered, 15 to 20 minutes) or until tender. Place patties on grid over medium, ash-covered coals. Grill, uncovered, 11 to 13 minutes (over medium heat on preheated gas grill, covered, 7 to 8 minutes), turning occasionally, until instant-read thermometer inserted horizontally into center registers 160 F. Season with salt and pepper, as desired.
3. Brush cut sides of buns with remaining butter, if desired. Place cut sides down on grid during last minute of grilling.
4. Serve burgers on buns and top with toppings, if desired. Close sandwiches.
Cook’s Tip: If using 95 percent lean ground beef, add 1/4 cup soft bread crumbs and 1 egg white to ground beef in step 1.
Courtesy of ARAcontent
“Get out of the kitchen! Light the fire! Start cooking outdoors”
“When it comes to serving a world class burger, the right preparation is just as important as the right ingredients,” says Raichlen. “Remember, the internal temperature for a safe and savory burger is 160 F. So every time you fire up the grill to make burgers, remember that your instant-read thermometer is just as important as your favorite tongs or spatula.”
Artichoke season is in full bloom and they are producing some very large artichokes. I have always wanted to try different ways of preparing these beauties, and grilling just made perfect sense. Adding some sausage, turkey kielbasa to be specific, made even more sense.
Now we need to do some trimming. Cut the stem down a bit, you won’t be eating all of it, the longer it is the tougher it gets. Trim the thorns of of the leaves if you like, I don’t have the patience for this, so be careful of getting poked. You can trim the bottom flat to get the last of the stickers also.
Now take a large butchers knife and split the artichoke right down the middle. this will expose the inside pith. Go ahead and core that out, right down the the main part of the artichoke. I used an ice cream scoop.
I decided to whip up a little garlic and herb baste for the grilling. Nothing fancy, I just minced up some garlic and olive oil, added some parsley, lemon pepper and salt. It wasn’t more than a toss of this and a toss of that. Very measured to be sure, then pour this on the open side of your artichoke.
Preheat your grill to 350° – 400°. If you can two stage your cooking area, then do that with the artichokes at the low side. Cook the artichokes for about 5 minutes on each side, the sausage cooks for just a bit longer to your personal taste.
