From Scratch Burgers…

Memorial Day is a pretty big grilling holiday, and people love grilling burgers, right?

I’m asking because I wouldn’t know. I don’t do much grilling because it’s kind of cumbersome to haul a grill downstairs from my apartment. Yeah, I can go to a park or something to grill, but, c’mon, who wants to do that? (When I get a place where I can do it, I’m gonna do it right!)

In all seriousness, everyone can make great burgers, and doing so from scratch isn’t all that difficult. I mean even making the buns!

One night, I decided to start from the beginning. I made wheat hamburger rolls. I followed this very simple recipe, cut it in half, and subbed half of the flour with whole wheat flour. Even if I had used the most costly ingredients I could find, this wouldn’t have costed more than $2 to prepare.

I divided it into four portions, but even dividing it into six would have provided a formidable roll for a 1/2 pound burger. The best thing is that you can bake them in a cast iron skillet. Gotta love that!

Having the meat grinder gives me the luxury to start with a nice piece of chuck steak when I want burgers. I can’t recommend owning a meat grinder enough!

The best thing is that a cast iron skillet is my favorite cooking vessel for making burgers! Who needs a grill!?

The rest is really simple. I season the meat on both sides with salt and pepper and drizzle with a little oil to coat it. I heat the skillet over medium until it just starts to smoke. The burgers go on the hot skillet for about five minutes, and they don’t move during that time. Then, they get flipped onto a clean part of the skillet and a small pat of butter and slice of cheese goes atop each burger. After four or five minutes on the second side, the burger rests for 10 minutes.

I threw some bacon on our burgers that night, because, why not? And I baked up some crispy oven fries (sweet potato and regular potato) to have along side the burger, and we ate good that night!

So maybe you’ll be grilling up your own burgers today, or, if you’re like me, you’ll be cooking them on the stovetop, but, either way, consider putting in the small amount of effort necessary to really make it your own.