It’s summertime and that can only mean one thing…it’s grilling season.
I, for one, am a huge fan of the grill. It means the husband is doing the grilling and, I, well, am not.
But I do enjoy the prep work. No really, I do. Especially when it involves hamburgers.
So this time I got all daring and used an actual recipe. Normally I just wing it. Use a little salt, some ground black pepper, maybe a little Dale’s seasoning for flavor. Nothing fancy here. But this time I used an Ina Garten recipe…and it had an extra ingredient that I had never considered. It called for dijon mustard to be mixed into the ground beef. Okay, so some of you probably already do things like this, but come on, this is me we’re talking about. I’m not exactly civilized.
But I’m happy to report that going forward, I will be. Because that touch of dijon mustard was just the flavor booster my burger needed.
What’s your secret ingredient when making burgers? Do you use bread crumbs? Maybe a little ranch seasoning? What makes your burgers pop?
Recipe adapted from Ina Garten’s niman ranch burger recipe.
Peanut butter (just a touch) and soy sauce gives it a satay sort of vibe.
A bit of french onion dried soup mix. Gives it that “grilled on a bed of onions” taste that White Castle promises.
white castle, huh? sadly, we don’t have those ’round these parts. but i like how you think ‘boo. this sounds fantastic.
We recently tried pesto in our burgers and it was fabulous! Granted, it could have also had something to do with the St Andre (ridiculously sinful cheese) we’d stuffed inside, as well.
I prefer egg & breadcrumb as binders for our burgers over bread & milk or even oatmeal.
Recently, I tried putting in pesto, bread crumbs, Zinfadel and chopped onions. SO GOOD. I highly recommend it.
wow Laura! you are not messing around. And it sounds amazing!
Bread crumbs in burgers? Do civilized people do such things?
I’ve read they do. 🙂
Just mayonnaise and ketchup… simply the best!
tes, i like the way you keep it simple. sometimes simple is best.
Crumbled blue cheese = YUM!!!
Also, try mixing ground pork & ground beef for an extra tasty yummy burger.
stacey- i love it. nothing tastier than mixing ground pork and ground beef.
I just saw a recipe where they put a pat of herbed BUTTER in the middle of the patty, so it it melted into the meat and seasoned it. I’m trying that out very soon!
A sprinkle of Tony Chachere’s More Spice seasoning for a little kick (this stuff is good on just about anything!). I don’t use any binder like bread crumbs or eggs. I’ve never had problems with my burgers falling apart if I use ground chuck with about 20% fat. Plus, you need the fat for flavor!
Well everyone else already mentioned my tips (guess I’m not as original as I thought), so I’ll just say that the best burger I’ve had recently was one I made out of freshly purchased organic grass-fed beef. I didn’t do much to it – just some good ole’ Worcestershire sauce, pepper, and a little mustard – but it tasted SO darn good.
I’ve also experimented with a secret sauce, trying to replicate the one at In-n-out burger. I mixed mayo, ketchup, mustard, and super-finely-chopped onion and used that as a topping. Not rocket science, but it sure tasted good!
sadly, i’ve never had the luxury of eating at in-n-out burger. one day. oh one day. but i love what the secret sauce sounds like. and i may just have to give this one a whirl. love it alyssa!
KC Masterpiece bbq sauce. Yumyumyum.
Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, worcestershire…and sometimes for kicks, fresh dill. It’s like having pickles in your burger!