Big Greek Burger

A Big Greek Burger and the perfect technique

Big Greek Burger

Randomly click on any page of this blog and you’ll be hit over the head with folks who can create a culinary masterpiece out of the most basic ingredients. Go ahead. Try it. Dave Martin, Zac Alft, Darryl Harmon, Cindy Hutson — even non-chefs like our overzealous Dr. Phil Bass (who makes his own sausage) and food writers Jennifer Schertz (our chili cook-off champ and cookie maestro) and Jennifer Kiko, who documents many of her culinary expeditions on her own blog, are well … well above the average hash slingers.

And then there’s yours truly. I don’t really cook, per se. I throw stuff together and hope like hotdogs it tastes reasonable. Sometimes it does. Often it doesn’t. But I do have one redeeming quality in my wife’s eyes — I grill a mean burger. It seems burgers are one of the few foods that are, for lack of a better term, idiot-proof. With a basic understanding of how heat affects meat and good ingredients, you can only enhance a burger — not ruin it.

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably spent time watching Food Network. Maybe you even classify yourself as a “foodie.” Think of all the preposterous things you see people put on a burger in the name of edgy food. Pineapple? Bratwurst? Jelly? Peanut butter? And what’s the end result? Every food-centric blogger this side of a Denver steak is stark raving about it to their legions of followers. That’s because burgers are the Superman of food — except they’d probably still be delicious with kryptonite on top. Burger 1, Superman 0. I am a living, breathing testament of this. I’ve cooked burgers all my life — even long before I was schooled in how to properly treat them. My old routine was this:

  1. Fire up the gas Weber® until there are lots of cool high flames everywhere.
  2. Drop the burgers on the grill and poke them mindlessly with a fork throughout the cooking process — ya know, so you can make sure the inside gets cooked, too.
  3. Make sure to press all the patties down so the juices spewing out make the flames shoot super high to impress onlookers.
  4. Then, just to make sure they’re done, cut one open on the grill to see the insides.

(Chef Michael Ollier just developed an odd twitch and he’s not sure why.) But I digress. You know what those burgers turned out like, despite my abuse? Not bad. Not bad at all, actually. Now that I’ve learned the intricacies of forming and grilling a burger properly, my creations far exceed “not bad.” But don’t take my word for it. Clearly, I’m far from the one to trust for cooking advice.

Chef Michael , however, has made some simple videos to help us along the way:

The Perfect Burger

Grilling Tips

Now that you’re an expert burger maker and grillmaster extraordinaire, it’s time to add some flavor. Try any one of our tasty burger recipes … and since it’s International Burger month why not start with the Big Greek Burger!

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Bryan Schaaf

Bryan is a modern-day Hamburglar, minus the mask and kitschy catch phrase. There’s not a burger on the planet he wouldn’t take on — even those token ones for customers with less-adventurous palates. In his spare time, he’s a soccer junkie, musician, husband and father of the most adorable little carnivores this side of Jurassic Park.