Instructions: Few things are more satisfying than a juicy burger grilled to perfection and tucked into a toasted bun slathered with your favorite condiments. Everyone knows how to make hamburgers, but when was the last time that you actually ate a burger that made you drool with anticipation to gaze at it on the plate, moved you to tears of joy while savoring each bite, and caused you to have recurring dreams about it afterwards? Hamburgers can and should be that good, especially during barbecue season when hamburger heaven is only as far away as your own backyard! People around the world who scoff at hamburgers for being lowbrow American food have obviously never experienced a burger done right: smoky, char-grilled exterior, succulent interior, dripping with juice and sauce and cheese, all barely contained by a chewy, toasty roll-thats what a hamburger is all about!

Mix and Match
The kind of ground beef you use for your hamburger patties is completely up to you. Meat with a higher fat content will be juicier, but it will also shrink more when it cooks. If you shop at a grocery store or a butcher that grinds their own beef, choose coarsely ground beef for juicier burgers with a more pleasing texture.

Raw hamburger patties do not stand up well to marinades since, of course, they are made of ground beef and will fall apart if left to soak in liquid.

However, that doesnt mean that you need to forego the extra flavor that marinades add to meat. Burgers should never be mundane! You can mix all sorts of seasonings and surprises right into the ground beef before you form the patties.

Here are a few suggestions:
Fresh or dried herbs and spices
Dehydrated or fresh minced onion and garlic Seasoning mixes for soups or salad dressings Your favorite cheese, such as Blue cheese, goat cheese, Gorgonzola, Feta, Stilton, Cheddar, or pepperjack
Prepared sauces including barbecue sauce, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, Worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce, Hoisin sauce, plum sauce, oyster sauce, salsa, or salad dressing
Other tidbits like olives, capers, chopped tomatoes, diced chiles, crumbled bacon, or minced ham

You can add just about anything you like to your burgers, but whatever you do, DONT mix salt into the beef, especially if youre not going to grill the patties right away. Salt will extract moisture from the meat, leaving you with bone-dry burgers. Instead, sprinkle each burger with salt right before you put it on the grill. Use a light touch when combining seasonings and tidbits with the ground beef. If you mix it too much, your burgers will be dense and heavy.

Once you have concocted your ground beef masterpiece, you can leave it in the refrigerator for several hours to allow all the flavors to mingle and intensify.

To form the patties, wet your hands a little to keep the meat from sticking to them. For juicier burgers, make those patties nice and thick! The more fat your ground beef has in it, the more your burgers will shrink, so either buy extra-lean beef, or make the patties quite a bit bigger than the buns. You can form the patties ahead of time; just stack them on a plate with waxed paper between each one, and cover the whole plate with plastic wrap before you put it in the refrigerator.

Wonderful Buns
Choose a bun that will do justice to your burger! A hamburger bun is more than just an edible meat vehicle; opt for something that will enhance the total burger experience, adding taste and texture. Also, make sure you pick something substantial that will not disintegrate when those juices start flowing. Some of our favorites are sesame seed buns, French rolls, onion rolls, Kaiser buns, pumpernickel rye, ciabatta rolls, slices of focaccia bread, and slabs of hearty country-style bread. Its a crime not to grill the bread before you tuck a hamburger into it, so go the extra mile and start toasting those buns when the meat is almost done.

The Secrets of Sizzling Success
Its always better to be organized before you start cooking, but with barbecuing, its imperative. Barbecuing is a beloved activity for most people; for the wonderfully primal experience of cooking their food over open flames, and the refreshing sensation of standing outside with a cold drink in one hand and a spatula in the other, chatting with friends and family as they leisurely prepare dinner. So, make barbecuing the idyllic experience it should be by getting yourself organized before the meat ever touches the grill. You must gather everything you will need before you begin cooking, because you shouldnt leave the grill unattended-for the sake of safety, and for the sake of perfectly cooked, succulent burgers. In addition to the plateful of hamburger patties, you will need: dishes of salt and pepper for seasoning; whatever sauce you are using; veggies you want to grill alongside your burgers, such as sliced onions and bell peppers; buns to grill when the burgers are almost done; a clean plate or platter to place the burgers on when they are ready; and a heat-proof spatula.

Hamburgers should be cooked at high heat to give them a nice char-grilled exterior and seal in the juices. When you first slap your burgers onto the grill, they will stick there. Dont try to move them right away, though, or youll make a mess and tear apart your beautiful patties. After a few moments of sizzling over the coals, the burgers will begin to release some fat and firm up, and they will no longer be stuck to the grill. Check the facedown sides of the patties after a couple of minutes; if theyre dark brown, its time to flip them. Once youve flipped the burgers, keep a close eye on them; if it looks like theyre getting a little too blackened before the inside can catch up, you can move them to a cooler part of the grill to finish cooking.

Dont baste the burgers with sauce until they are partway done. As soon as the first side is cooked and you have flipped each burger, you can carefully brush sauce onto it, or lay a slice or two of cheese over the top. Just make sure not to flip it again, or your grill will be covered with a charred, sticky mess! And by the way, treat those burgers with loving care: dont press down on them with the spatula to speed up cooking time, or youll squeeze out all those precious juices and waste them on the hot coals below, leaving you with a tough, dry patty. Once your burgers begin to feel firm to the touch, check one of them for doneness. (If you put them all on the grill at the same time, they should all be ready at the same time.) The only thing left to do is flip them onto a clean plate (NOT the one that held them when they were raw!) and grill those buns to roasty, toasty perfection. Now slather on your favorite condiments and brace yourself for burger bliss!

What are you waiting for? Go fire up that grill!

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