Hello my Foodie Friends! 

Grilling up burgers is a summertime staple for many of us. How do you like your burgers? When you got your burger fresh off the grill and sitting there all juicy and delicious on that bun…how do you make this perfect food even more perfect? Cheese is a good choice. But which one? American? Cheddar? Swiss? Maybe some crisp, smoky bacon. How about barbecue sauce? We could go on forever. Making hamburgers seems like something that should be simple—how hard can it be to cook those beefy delights? Yet somehow, nailing the perfect burger can elude even the most seasoned home cook. Make the patty too thick and you risk biting into a raw mess. Leave it on the heat for too long, and it’ll end up dry. The secret to making juicy burgers at home is all in the meat. Did you burn your burgers while cooking them? The culprit is likely uneven thickness. While the shape of the patty doesn’t matter, the thickness does. You really want to make sure the patty is a uniform, even thickness, or it’s not going to cook properly, which can lead to a burnt outside and undercooked inside. A solution could be to flatten the patties by pressing them flat using a burger press. 

Burger presses create consistently shaped and sized burgers. The presses allow you to pack patties without squishing the meat between your warm hands. Heat radiated by your hands can cause proteins to denature. Using your hands to pack raw meat can cause the fat to melt and the meat to break apart which causes a mushy, unappealing texture when it’s time to devour your burger. The burger presses make uniform patties: same weight and diameter every time. Uniform patties cook evenly throughout and will come to temperature around the same time on the grill.

The presses also help achieve the weight you’re going for ¼, ⅓, and ½ lb patties. And you get a prettier burger patty. The burgers look good. Who doesn’t marvel at a perfectly round, evenly dense patty?

Elevate your grilling game this summer with less stressing and more pressing. Get the tools you need to make the burgers you yearn for. Stop by Compliments to the Chef, your Neighborhood Kitchen and Cutlery store for the burger presses and other cool tools to help you with your burger creations. Maybe even put on the SNL‘Cheeseburger Cheeseburger’ sketch with the original SNL cast. The classic skit of John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd at the Olympia diner yelling: “Cheeseburger and a Coke,” “Ah… no Coke… ah Pepsi,” replies Belushi. (And that’s the first time the catch phrase is uttered.) “Okay, Pepsi and french fries.”, “No fries… chips.” “Okay, chips.” Belushi barks out the order to Aykroyd: “One cheeburger, one Pepsi… chips.” “Cheeseburger,” confirms Aykroyd. And SNL history is made!! Have fun laughing and cooking. Remember my Foodie Friends, “Life Happens in the Kitchen” or even the grill. 

Take Care,
John & Paula