Burgers on the Griddle

I like burgers. I really do. I’ve tried cooking them on the grill with varying levels of success but they always seem kind of dry to me. Same thing with ones from the fast food places. Places like Burger King where they cook them “flame broiled” seem dried out to me. My wife prefers Burger King over places like McDonald’s and I’m sure plenty of others do as well. Nothing wrong with them but just not my preference.

We decided to try burgers on the griddle. We’ve got a little electric griddle that looks kind of like this:

Since we wanted to do bacon cheeseburgers, we needed bacon.  We bought a package from the store, opened it up, and removed the bacon from the package, and placed it on a baking sheet.  Spread the bacon out, don’t just but the whole clump right there on the sheet, only one piece deep.

Put the bacon in the oven and turn it on to 400 degrees.  Leave it there for 10-15 minutes.  Check it at around 10 minutes.  Different people like bacon at different crispy levels so take it out when it looks like you like it.

Using a kitchen scale, separate out 6 oz of hamburger meat.  If you don’t have a kitchen scale or you aren’t that picky, just wing it and get enough hamburger to make a decent looking patty.

Without over-working the meat, form it into a patty and put a small divot (indentation) in the top (this keeps you from having meatballs instead of burgers).

Salt and pepper both sides of the burger.

Lightly butter the parts of the bun that go towards the burger.

Salt and pepper both sides of the burger.

Pre-heat the griddle to 350 degrees.

Put the buns on the griddle for 2-3 mins.  Lift them off with a plastic spatula once they start getting a little brown.

Place burgers on griddle for 3 mins.

Flip them and cook them for another 3 mins.

Remove the burgers from the griddle and put on a slice of cheese if desired.

Add your desired condiments like ketchup, mustard, mayo, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, oh you get the point.

Eat.