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Have a hankering for beautiful burgers then perhaps some tasty tips from the kitchens of  junowolf

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Another instructional :)

The Perfect burger, there is no such thing. Just like steaks, everyone likes them differently. But this is how I do it:

What you need:

Meat
Seasonings
A grill (the fiery kind not a foreman)

Meat: The meat is very important, if you're buying pre-ground beef at the store, you're doing it wrong. Aside from paying too much, it just won't come out good.

Pre-ground meat, or any meat ground in a meat grinder, is going to have long strands of tissue because a grinder is nothing more than an extruder, it doesn't really chop up the meat. Long strands will make the meat feel tougher than it is, because it's harder to chew through, you want short strands. What you need to do is buy Flat Iron steak. You can also use top blade steak blended 50/50 with short rib meat. These cuts have a good percentage of marbling, and are cheap.

To get the perfect texture, you want to chop the meat, not grind. To do this, cube your steaks into 1/2" cubes, stash them in the freezer just to firm them up. Pull them out and toss them in your handy dandy food processor and pulse on and off until you think its just shy of the texture of normal ground beef.

Seasoning

I have my own special seasoning blend for burgers:

2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons ground mustard

You'll want to use about 2.5-3tsp of this per pound of meat. just lightly toss it into the meat, you don't want to squeeze the meat and squish it, yet.

Forming

Since this isn't ground in the normal way, it won't want to bind together very well. To fix this, you'll want to divide the meat into roughly 1/4 pound balls, and massage the balls in your hands like you were kneeding a dough. Do this until it just starts to get tacky. What you're doing is releasing and activating a natural enzyme that helps to bind meat, the same stuff that's in meat glue.

with your tacky balls formed, shape them into discs about 3/8th"-1/2" thick, with the patty slightly thinner in the middle. The thin spot will help to counter the tendency of the meat to shrink in diameter and gain thickness.

Grilling

With your grill clean and on high, wipe the grates with a good high temp oil like refined peanut or soy bean oil, and place your patties on the grill. It's gonna take about 3 minutes on each side to take the burgers to medium. Flip your burgers at 3 minutes, and add any cheese to them now if you like. After another 3 minutes kill the grill and serve.

Pro Tip: So you toast your buns like a good cook, but do you mayo the bottom bun? Lightly spread mayo on the bottom bun before you toast them. Not only does this add flavor and moisture, but it will prevent the burger juices from making the bottom bun soggy.

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