Grilling Hamburgers for Memorial Day

Memorial Day is one of the biggest grilling and barbecue days of the year. It seems to kick off the grill season for many. Cooking for a large crowd kind be a little stressful but here’s some tips to help you survive the day.

Hamburgers on the grill are a favorite with most people and they are pretty easy to grill. Here’s a way to season the burgers and give them an extra special taste that will get you some nice comments.

Make sure to take the burgers out of the refrigerator at least a half hour before grilling. Prepare them by first liberally spreading meat tenderizer on them. Yes - meat tenderizer. I use it to get the good flavors it adds.

Next, sprinkle with Accent.

Finally, sprinkle on some black pepper. Some people like their food on the spicy side and others don’t. I like to do about half the burgers with a generous amount of pepper for those who like it hot. The other half I put some on but a small amount. Even my 4 year old grandson, who does not like pepper, likes them this way.

I actually like to do my steaks in this manner as well.

Now, let the burgers sit for a half hour so the flavors have time to take hold.

The grill should be hot when you put on the burgers. If cooking for a crowd, you do have to watch for hot spots and rotate the burgers, but on the whole I like to put the burgers on, grill one side until I see the top and sides of the burgers getting somewhat brown, then flip them. My goal is to do 1 flip. Watch for the juices to begin running clear and the burgers should be cooked to perfection.

Over cook them and you will have dried out hamburgers.

If you have a warming rack on your grill, open the buns and spread some butter and put the buns inside down on the warming rack. Let me tell you something. Doing it this way the buns become very soft in the center and somewhat crispy on the outside and really add to the flavor of the hamburger.

If you are making cheese burgers, put the cheese on once you see the juices running clear and close the lid for only about 30 seconds. The cheese will continue to melt when you remove the burgers.