National Hamburger Month 2011

By Diane Forrest

Is it a coincidence that hamburger month coincides with barbeque month?  I think not!  I can't think of anything better on summertime Saturday night than grilling some burgers and spending time with friends and family. 

A few years ago when I was a young girl (insert wink here) We would go to my grandmother's house on the coast, grill burgers on a charcoal grill, crunchy Cheetos on the side and  drink ice cold orange crush in bottles.  We would hand crank vanilla ice cream and show family slides from the projector on the side of the house.  The whole family was there...it was such a treat.  My great grandmother would eat as many hamburgers and someone would bring her.  So...to get her to stop eating they fixed her a burger with a slice of onion instead of meat topped it with hot peppers and tobacco sauce.  That little old lady ate every bite of that "burger" and would not give them the satisfaction of putting one over on her!

Everyone has their own secret recipe for grilling the perfect burger.  I like to keep it simple.  I just make the patties; put them on the gas grill, pre heated.  Then splash a little Worcestershire sauce, and then sprinkle a little McCormick grilling mate Montreal Steak seasoning.  I just put this on one side, and then cook on low heat for about 15 minutes.  Then turn and pour a little BBQ sauce on them.  I like Kraft hickory smoke or mesquite smoke.  Then let cook for another 5 minutes. 

I also have a special way of fixing my burger.  I use Mayo and mustard, cheese and tomato.  But....you have to put the mustard on the cheese side, and mayo on the tomato side.  Then slide the burger in the middle.  Yummy!!!  Now, I’m not opposed to other items on my burger, like onions, pickles, ketchup or lettuce.  I just normally don’t keep those things here. But If I go out to eat a burger, I will eat whatever they put on it....but I like it my way the best.

This weekend, fire up the grill, toss on some burgers and make some memories with your family.  Please share your favorite burger stories or recipes with us too.

Not too bad for a southern girl… but my daddy make a mean hamburger that still makes my mouth water just thinking about it. 

We would drive down to the country store where Dad would get about five or ten pounds of fresh ground hamburger for the butcher, potatoes, pickles, onions, fresh heads of lettuce, tomatoes (fresh from the garden), buns and other good things.

Once home, the wax paper came out, he would roll up balls of hamburger about the size of a baseball – lay another sheet of wax paper and use the roller to flatten out the patties.  Making sure they were about quarter inch thick.

While that was going on, one of us kids would be getting the potatoes cleaned, onions and pickles ready.  Now Dad’s favorite product he bought from a TV commercial was the ‘chopper’ and it did a great job.  Put some potato, pickle and onion on the cutting board and chop away.  Being sure to make enough for all the burgers and a little extra that he would cook in aluminum foil for the breakfast the next day.

Next came putting the mixture of potato, pickle and onion on the bottom patty, add a little salt and pepper, and then placing the second patty on top, pitching the two patties together.  Place them on a hot grill just long enough to brown the sides and set on the opposite side off the hot coals, cover and let it cook for about 30 minutes.  Season to your own taste and enjoy!  Breakfast the next morning was pretty special as well.