- Hey everybody, I'm Joey, and today we're firing up the grill for that summertime staple, the hamburger. Whether you're cooking for a few or a few more, we'll share tips and tricks for making tasty burgers every single time. We've all been to that summer barbecue where the burgers end up looking more like meatballs or footballs, and it leaves all this excess bun, nobody likes that. Or, on the other hand, they turn out burnt and dry like hockey pucks. Not cool, bro. And I really hope it wasn't your party. But whether you are the guy or you know the guy, we're here to help. This is not a video about crazy burgers stacked three feet high with aiolis and gravies and insane concoctions, and if you're looking for that mac and cheese stuffed burger with the flaming Cheetos dusted donut buns, you're gonna have to look somewhere else, because here at Red Meat Lover, we're all about cooking meat made easy. And that's what we're just gonna show you, some simple tips and tricks for making great burgers. First, you need to start with the beef. As a matter of fact, that's all you really need but we're gonna add some other ingredients as well. And when it comes to the beef, it's very important, you don't want anything too lean. I like an 80/20 ground chuck, and I like the ground chuck because I know exactly where it came from vs ground beef. So let's get started. The first thing you need to do is make the patties, and you can do them by hand or you can find something around the house. Here I have just an old pickle lid, you know, nice and round, or this small little egg skillet. Both of them will help you form perfect patties every single time. Whether you do it by hand or you use something around the house, be sure that you don't press the meat too tight. So here we're just gonna go ahead and press it in this pickle lid, again, not too tight. That will just help us get a nice round shape to it. Alright, now that we've turned them into patties, it's time to season them, but before we do that, what we wanna do is just take our thumb and put it right in the middle of this burger and press down. This will promote even cooking and it will prevent it from turning into a football or a UFO as we throw it on the grill. And then we're just gonna follow it up with a little bit of olive oil on both sides, a little kosher salt, and just like with a steak, be sure to apply it liberally. A lot of this will stick to the grill as you cook. It might look like too much, but it's usually just about right. And next, the pepper. And while I'm only showing one side here, make sure that you season both sides. Okay, now that these are seasoned, let's go ahead and put them in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes, allow them to firm up, and then we're gonna throw them on the grill. Alright, these are ready to go on the grill. This has been heating for about 20 minutes and we're using jumbo lump charcoal which burns hot and clean. A big mistake I see a lot of people make is use a fire that's actually too cold, if that makes any sense. So we're just gonna get these right on the grill, and they're a fatty cut of meat, so if you get some flare-ups, you're gonna wanna go ahead and throw the dome down and leave that grate open so you don't cool off the fire too much. Okay, these have been cooking now for three minutes, and we're gonna go ahead and give them a flip. If they stick to the grate, well then you know you tried to flip them too soon. As I mentioned earlier, you really only wanna try to flip your burgers one time. And now we're gonna go ahead and get the buns on. We wanna get these around the coolest part of the grill. We don't want these to burn, no one wants burnt toast. And there's one final trick here. Don't be the guy that presses the burgers and wastes all the juice. That basically turns them into hockey pucks. So just flip them one time and let them sit. I'm gonna let these cook for about another two to three minutes. Two minutes we'll come back and we'll add some cheese. Okay, so it's been about a minute and a half, this is going real hot, so I'm gonna go ahead and get the cheese on the burgers. Now you can use whatever kind of cheese you want, this is a mix of ground Fontina, some American, some Colby, and some Monterey Jack. So go ahead and get that on there. And then we're gonna go ahead and flip these buns. As I said, we don't want them burnt. Pretty hot part of the fire, I'm gonna throw it over here. Woo! Okay, now we're gonna throw the dome down and let this cook for another 60 or 90 seconds. Be right back. Alright, the cheese is nice and melted, I'm gonna go ahead and pull these buns off now. I forgot to mention it, but I did put a little olive oil on these buns to help promote that nice crunch. You can use butter, but I like olive oil. Alright, so get these burgers off that flame now, they've been on for about six minutes. Remember though, the actual cooking time will depend upon the thickness of the burgers themselves. Also, once you're done, don't put the burgers right on the buns. That would make them soggy. Leave them to the side until you're ready to build your burger. Which we're gonna do next, so follow me. Now it's time to build our burger. And I don't really have any set way or right way, I'd say put whatever on it that works for you. I do like to chop the lettuce instead of using whole pieces, that always seems to slide right off. So we'll just start at the bottom, add a little bit of lettuce. I like mine on the bottom because that helps prevent the bun from getting too soggy, no one wants to eat a soggy bun. Next, I'll just go ahead and throw on some of these sliced red onions right here. And now it's time for the meat. Look at that, does not look like a UFO or a football and it fits nicely on that bun. Next we're gonna take the top, tomato, couple of pickles. Again, I know that some of you have the right way to do this. I'm not big on that, it's just really whatever works for you. Little ketchup on there. And a little bit of mustard. I like my burgers cooked to about a medium well. 145 degrees or greater. When you grind beef, it can cause a lot of bacteria that's on the outside to get inside and so it's really for safety. I get it, there's a lot of people like their burgers rare and medium rare and it's whatever works for you, I just prefer mine medium well. So there you go. A perfectly-cooked medium well burger just the way I like it. So go ahead and give your grill a thrill and make this right at home. If you like our video, please give us a thumbs up, like or subscribe to our channel by hitting the big red subscribe button right below this video, you can't miss it and it will just take a second. Look, I know you have a lot of great tips and tricks on how to cook burgers yourself and we would love your feedback in the comments below or you can leave them on our website at redmeatlover.com. And remember, a burger with no cheese is like a hug with no squeeze, baby. You just gotta have it. I'll see you next time.