Tom's Special Hamburgers

Tom's Special Hamburger Ingredients

Summer time is great time for grilling hamburgers (or hamburgs as my mother calls them!).  For the July 4th holiday, we decided that hamburgers would be a nice treat to have for dinner. 

I had just read an article in our local paper about making the "perfect hamburger", and that inspired me to do just that.  One of the keys, the article said, is to use 80% lean ground beef.  I had been using the leaner variety, so this would be a change for me. 

Unfortunately the only package with 80% ground beef in our local Wegman's was the family pack, which came in at a hefty eight pounds!  A bit larger than I had desired.

I will give you what I did with the "hefty ground beef package", but adjust your proportions appropriately.

All in all, the hamburgers were delicious and we enjoyed them for several more meals throughout the weekend.

     ---Tom

Hamburgers a la Tom

8 pounds 80% lean ground beef (adjust appropriately for your meal(s))
2 pouches dry Lipton Onion Soup Mix
3 eggs
1/2 cup A1 sauce
3/4 cup unseasoned bread crumb
Hamburger buns

Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl several hours prior to cooking.  This will allow the dry Lipton Onion Soup Mix to hydrate, as well as the bread crumbs to absorb some moisture.  Cover the bowl and put back into the refrigerator.

30 minutes or so prior to grilling, pull the ground beef mixture out of the refrigerator.

Heat your grill to a medium high temperature.

Form your hamburger patties to an appropriate size.  I used about 2/3 cup of the ground beef mixture.  I rolled the ground beef into a ball in the palms of my hands, and then flattened to "bun size".

Time to grill.  The temptation is to turn the hamburger patties too soon, which will cause them to both stick to the grill as well as to start falling apart.  Another good trick is to wet a paper towel with vegetable oil and rub it over the hot grill grates.  Be careful though that you don't burn yourself.  A quick wipe is all that is needed.

Grill on one side for five minutes.  Time it and don't cheat.  Then flip the burgers over and grill to the "doneness" that you desire.  I grilled mine an additional three minutes, which made the burgers medium.

If you want, add a slice of cheese to each patty and cover the grill for about 30 seconds.  This will allow the cheese to melt but not become runny.

Place a burger on a bun, add whatever accoutrements that you want, and enjoy.


      ---Tom