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Grillin' With Dylan

For those of you who are intimidated by the barbecue grill and aren’t sure which kind you want, let me guide you with some suggestions.

In this day and age what kind of grill you should buy depends on convenience. If you want to come home from work and be able to have a steak cooking in ten minutes, then gas is your way to go. Gas is cheap, clean, and efficient, and most gas grills have a big surface and multiple dials to control the heat and flame. If you want to come home from work and have a couple or eight beers and get cooking an hour later, then charcoal is the way to go. Charcoal grills are great for slow cooking and they give the meat a great smoky flavor. So just decide what kind of grill you need, one that is fast and clean, or the one that takes some time but rewards you with a lot more flavor.

If you are having a BBQ on the weekend and aren’t really handy with the grill just yet, hamburgers and hot dogs are a surefire way to satisfy the crowd and not break the bank. My favorite hot dogs are Hebrew Nationals. They are just a really snappy frank with great flavor. Hot dogs are easy to cook on the grill. Find a back corner and let them sit, checking them once in a while until you get some char marks—then it’s time to rotate. For hamburgers I always use the 75 percent lean ground beef, because it still has some fat for flavor, yet most of that will cook out on the grill.

There are thousands of recipes on how you should season a burger. Some suggest using egg and bread crumbs as a binder. Some suggest onion to keep the meat moist and some people suggest adding vegetables like red bell pepper for flavor. But if I’m making hamburgers, I want them to taste like a freaking hamburger! So I don’t season the meat at all until they are about to hit the grill. Once the grill is hot I season the patties with Montreal Steak Seasoning. This seasoning has everything you need—coarse ground salt, black pepper, red pepper, garlic and a few other tasty spices. Flip the burgers on the grill non-seasoned side down. This way when the burgers start to heat up flavor penetrates the meat. Once the juices have risen (6 to 7 minutes) to the top it’s time to flip and season the other side. Let the burgers cook for a few more minutes then add the cheese, close the lid, and let that cheese melt. Once the cheese is melted it’s time to eat!

Patty-Time!

But before they hit the grill we have to make patties. I have two methods: One is long and makes perfectly flat and round burgers, the other is fast and usually makes a heartier burger. The first method will need a folded sheet of wax paper and two salad plates. Once you have a hand full of meat roll into a ball and place on top of the salad plate that is upside down and in between the wax paper. Take the other salad plate and use the bottom of it to smash down the ball and it will make it into a perfect hamburger patty. The other method is to grab a hand full of meat and form it into a patty. Then take your thumb and make a large dent right in the center of the burger. This will help keep the burger from turning into something that looks like a space ship while cooking on the grill.

Either way works great so again based on convenience use what works for you.