Build a Better Burger-

This weekend represents the “unofficial” start of summer here in the USA. Many of us will be enjoying our very first barbecue of the season. My sweet hubby and I enjoy grilling and we love to Build a Better Burger. Today is the perfect day to share a few of our burger grilling tips. We love to try new things with our burger recipes too. But I’ll save that for another day. Not all of our burgers are beef, we like a nice chicken and veggie burger too. But today it is all about the beef.

Build A Better Burger Tips–

• Always grill on a clean grill. Use a stiff wire brush to clean your grill. Wipe clean and then heat your grill while you prepare the meat.
• Try to avoid extremely lean ground beef use 80/20 its perfect on the grill– Low fat beef may dry out while grilling. Ground sirloin is our favorite.
• Seasoning– this is all you! Season your meat well using your favorite seasoning mixture. We use a simple mixture of equal parts garlic powder, onion powder and black pepper mostly.
• Score your meat in the bowl-to keep all of your burgers equal sizes. I mix the burger meat in a large bowl and then using the side of my hand I score the meat into equal sections. Then scoop out the meat in equal portions (about the size of a tennis ball) to create the burger patties. Don’t make your patties to thin ( don’t press them flat) Use your hands to “mold” a nice burger shape
• Divot your burger patty- press a thumb print into the center of the patty (do not go all the way through, only about half way through) this will help to avoid thin edges on your burger. As the burger “shrinks” during grilling the meat will be drawn into the center. This also allows for even cooking. The little divot is great for holding your condiments too.:-)
• Grill your burger with the barbecue lid open/off– you must keep a close watch while grilling burgers. Do not toss on the grill and walk away!
• DO NOT flatten your burgers with a spatula while you are grilling- this squishes out all of the juices that make your burger flavorful and thick.
• Flip –You only need to flip your burger once ,flip when you see the juices starting to pool on the top. Grills have varying temperatures so I can’t say for certain how long this will take for you. It takes about 4 minutes for our grill. Flip and cook for a remaining 4-5 minutes.
• Use a meat thermometer- food safety is a must-use the meat thermometer to make sure your meat reaches 160°.
• Add the Cheese- if you are a cheeseburger fan this is when you do need to close the lid. Place your cheese on the patties and close the lid for about 30 seconds and that should be plenty of time to melt the cheese.
• Rest-let your burgers rest on a plate for about 5 minutes before serving-this lets the juices settle and gives you plenty of time to prepare your buns too.

on a side note- know where your meat comes from, a trusted butcher is often your best place to buy meat.According to the US Department of Agriculture, the contaminated meat currently  being recalled may have been shipped to 10 states: Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Wisconsin and North Dakota.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. Be safe have fun! A lot of people travel fifty miles or more this weekend making the roads, parks and mountains in our area very busy places. We have some of the most beautiful mountains in America here in Utah. We take many trips to our nearby mountains. But we rarely travel during the Memorial Day weekend. Instead we stay close to home and enjoy our time together by playing in the yard, planting flowers and grilling!

You can still link up to yesterdays hop ♥
Will you be traveling or grilling this weekend?