Sundays with Sparky - Boy Meets Grill

For our next venture, we decided to move on to working with meat, and started with a very simple prep every young man should know: grilled burgers.


Mise en place:

2lbs hamburger meat (since it came from our frozen quarter-steer, affectionately known as Bossy, we didn't get too particular about meat types, but I usually prefer ground chuck in an 85/15 blend)
1/2 a small onion
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp steak seasoning of your choice
salt to taste
(few dashes worchestershire sauce)
pepper to taste
food chopper
saucer

First, we liquified the onion, garlic, and seasonings in our small food processor/chopper - you could use a blender if need be. Then, we loosely spread out the meat over a large plate, and sprinkled the liquified onion mixture over it. We gently folded the seasonings into the meat, taking care not to compress or overwork it.


After measuring our bun against the saucer, we used it as a guide to form our burgers, making them slightly larger than the buns to account for shrinkage.  Meat was piled loosely on, and then the whole thing was overturned, and the burger was dumped and formed in our hands.

Then, Dad and Sparky lit the chimney starter on the grill, got a nice hot fire going, and, after he oiled the grill grates well with a paper towel dipped in canola oil, Dad finished them off, along with some sweet corn.


And here they are: yield, 4 huge burgers, shown with the corn (that, incidentally, Sparky planted) and Mom's potato salad: