Chus On Chow

Lonnie mentioned buying local ground beef from Kelley Meats in the previous post, and last night I decided to make a quick meal with it.  Hamburgers seemed like a good idea.  I recently learned a way to make them which almost guarantees juicy burgers, which I learned it from America’s Test Kitchen, the TV show.  They came out great, and Lonnie was raving about them.  Here’s how it goes:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• breadcrumbs
• milk
• salt
• pepper

Take a slice or two of bread and crush it into crumbs in a mixing bowl.

Add enough milk to cover the crumbs, and mix them.  There’s a French word for this mixture, and I can’t remember it!

Add the ground beef to the mixture in the bowl, and mix well.

Form 4 patties from the ground beef.  Add a small, round, shallow indentation in each side of each burger.

I used a stovetop grill; a good pan would also be fine.  Cook the burgers on very low heat until they’ve cooked halfway through, maybe about 8-10 minutes or so, then turn them over and repeat.  Add salt and pepper to taste after turning.  I don’t salt the first side because this tends to dry out the burger somewhat.  I like to cook until the burgers are medium rare.  Put them on your favorite buns, and serve!

This meatloaf-like preparation technique is the key to juiciness!  The indentations on each side of the burger also help; these form tiny pools while cooking so that the juice will stay more on the burger instead of running off.  In fact, the milk/breadcrumbs mixture allows you to commit burger heresy and cook them well done, but without drying it out!  I wouldn’t do that, but I know some of you like that kind of hamburger abuse.       Anyway, they came out juicy and delicious, and the very simple prep method allows you to taste the meat, which you want to do if you have nice, fresh local beef.