Hamburgers?

[lovelymama]

What's the trick? I do everything I can think of to make my grilled burgers taste good but they always turn out like I rolled them around in the sand box. Does anyone have any tips and/or recipes for making really good, juicy hamburgers on the BBQ?

[Mamaka]

I usually season mine w/Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder & onion - the w.s gives it a good beefy flavor. My mil likes to marinate the meat in Italian salad dressing before shaping into burgers and that's pretty good :yum

[DogwoodMama]

It goes against instinct, but use the "fatty" beef, the 80% lean cut... some of the fat will cut off but the burger will still be nice & juicy. My dh did a wonderful job on some "gourmet" burgers recently... they were bacon-portabella mushroom burgers. Delish! :)

[beccafromlalaland]

Check your heat too. Cooking them too hot/too fast will turn them into charcoal briquettes.

[Punkie]

My dh always mixes some bbq sauce in with the meat before cooking it, and that works great!

[RealLifeMama]

my DH makes the very best burgers ever.
He uses only fresh ground chuck (although sometimes I get the lean kind, and I still think they are OK)
He pounds and pounds and pounds, then rolls them in balls, and throws them back and forth between this hands for a long time, then pounds them flat some more.
Then he sprinkles seasoning on them, pounds it in, then flips them over, then puts seasoning on the other side, then pounds it in.
Then he puts a little dent in the center of each burger and then he grills them.

he grills them on high heat first to seal in the juice, then turns the heat down.
Yum! These are the only burgers I like.

[lovelymama]

I had heard that over working the meat would cause it to be tough, but maybe I'm underworking it. I don't much enjoy sticking my fingers in raw hamburger. To think, I was a strict vegetarian before I got pregnant. My husband thought I had lost my mind before I knew I was pregnant and I kept saying, "I'm craving a bloody steak".

I put woo sauce, garlic, onion, bbq sauce and the works in my burgers and they have a nice flavor. I cook on a coleman camp stove/grill so maybe that's part of the problem. Also, I think I will buy higher quality meat with higher fat content next time. The last few times I bought pretty lean low grade burger. I watched a show on hgtv about the 10 best hamburgers and then I was so disappointed with mine. Off to try again!