You’ve made an investment in your Weber grill and we want to help you take good care of it to keep it working properly and looking shiny and new for as long as possible. Check out this handy guide from Weber to get your BBQ ready for grilling season!
Nothing says summer bbqs like a classic cheeseburger. Over the years we have collected tips to making the best burger and here are 5 key tips.
Once you are ready to grill up a burger scroll down to check out our Ideal Cheeseburger, which is a fan favorite from our newest cookbook, Weber’s Greatest Hits. Preview more recipes from the cookbook here.
5 Burger Tips
What Makes Them Juicy
Fat makes burgers juicy. That’s a big reason why ground chuck (from the shoulder) is better for burgers than ground round (from the rump). Chuck is typically about 18 percent fat, whereas round is often about 12 percent fat. The reality is that most ground beef in supermarkets comes from all kinds of parts of the animal. Ask the person behind the counter to grind some chuck just for you, maybe mixing in some sirloin for extra flavor.
Seasoning Works
Ground beef alone makes a pretty dull-tasting hamburger, so make sure the meat is mixed throughout with at least salt and pepper. Other ingredients, like Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, or grated onions, will improve not only the taste but also the juiciness of your hamburgers.
Shaping Up
The ideal thickness for a raw patty is 1 inch. If it’s any thinner, it’s likely to overcook and dry out before a nice crust develops on the outside. If it’s much thicker, the crust might turn black and unappetizing before the center reaches the safe internal doneness level of medium.
Level them Off
Burgers tend to puff up in the middle as they cook, making the tops rounded and awkward for piling on toppings. A good trick for avoiding this problem is pressing a little indentation into the top of each raw patty with your thumb or the back of a spoon. Then, when the center pushes up, the top of each burger will be relatively level.
Flip Only Once
You should flip each burger only once, and only when it’s ready to flip. You’ll know when it’s time by slipping the edge of a spatula underneath the edge of the burger and lifting up very gently. If the meat is sticking to the cooking grate, back off and try again a minute later. When you can lift the edge of the burger without sticking, it’s ready to flip.
Weber’s Ideal Cheeseburgers
by Jamie Purviance
For a cheeseburger to merit the word ideal in its title, the meat must ooze with beefy, seasoned juices, the cheese must melt into a smooth, rich blanket, the toppings must be fresh and crisp, and the whole ensemble must travel to your mouth on a toasted bun. Open wide. Here comes that ideal cheeseburger.
Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 minutes
Grilling time: 9 to 11 minutes
Ingredients:
Patties
1 1/2 pounds ground chuck (80% lean), preferably ground to order by your butcher
2 tablespoons minced white or yellow onion
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 hamburger buns, split
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 slices sharp cheddar cheese, each about 2 ounces
4 leaves butter lettuce Ketchup (optional)
Dill pickle chips
Instructions:
1. In a medium bowl mix together all the patty ingredients with your hands. Gently shape the mixture into four patties of equal size and about 1 inch thick. With your thumb or the back of a spoon, make a shallow indentation about 1 inch wide in the center of each patty to prevent it from doming as it cooks. Refrigerate the patties until ready to grill.
2. Prepare the grill for direct cooking over medium-high heat (400° to 500°F).
3. Brush the cooking grates clean. Lightly season the patties on both sides with salt and pepper. Spread the cut side of the buns with the butter. Grill the patties over direct medium-high heat, with the lid closed, until cooked to medium doneness (160°F), 9 to 11 minutes, turning once. During the last 30 seconds to 1 minute of grilling time, place a cheese slice on each patty to melt and toast the buns, cut side down, over direct heat. Remove from the grill.
4. Build a burger on each bun with a lettuce leaf, a patty, ketchup (if using), and 4 pickle chips. Serve warm.
©2017 Weber-Stephen Products LLC. Recipe from Weber’s Greatest Hits™ by Jamie Purviance. Used with permission. Reblogged from https://www.weber.com/US/en/blog/webers-ideal-cheeseburgers-with-5-burger-tips
#1 Wait to put the BBQ sauce on at the end
Putting BBQ sauce on the ribs at the beginning seems like it would be a good idea. After all, isn’t that BBQ sauce flavor going to get into the meat and make it taste better? Well, not really. What’s actually going to happen is the BBQ sauce is probably going to burn and create a layer of black char all over the surface of your ribs. Avoid this by adding the BBQ sauce only at the very end of the grilling session. After brushing the sauce onto the ribs they will usually take another 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the temperature you’re grilling at. You can also wait until you’ve taken the ribs off the grill before putting the sauce on them.
#2 A little flavor goes a long way
Once upon a time, I thought that I needed to go really heavy on using seasonings in order to give my ribs a good flavor, but it’s actually a much better idea to lean a little bit on the light side when it comes to seasoning in order to not overpower the flavor of the meat itself. You can always add more seasoning if you need to, but you can’t really take it off if you’d added too much. The same can be said about using woods to add a smoky flavor to the ribs. Too much smoke might end up making the ribs taste bitter.
#3 Boiling your ribs before grilling them is cheating
It’s not unheard of for some grillers to boil their ribs before grilling them. It’s a method that can be used to cut down the overall cooking time, and can also make for some very tender ribs, but if you’re using your stove to do most of the cooking and then just finishing them on the grill you may as well just cook them in the oven or broiler. Boiling your ribs will also remove a lot of flavor from them.
#4 Remove the membrane
On the back of most ribs, there is a thin connective piece of tissue called the membrane or silver-skin. It’s a good idea to remove the membrane from the rib otherwise it can become tough and rubbery during the grilling process. Click here for instructions on removing the membrane.
#5 Low and slow is the name of the game
Pretty much every rib recipe out there calls for using a low and slow, indirect grilling method. Grilling them over direct, high heat is a great way to overcook them and have them turn out tough. Indirect, low heat will help create tender meat that will easily tear off of the bone. It can be tempting to try and grill them faster over direct, high heat, but going low and slow will allow you to create some ribs that will impress your guests, and your taste buds.
Weber Rib Recipes
At some point, every meat lover has eaten boring, bland ribs that have been drowned with BBQ sauce to provide them with some flavor, but it doesn’t have to be that way! You might be surprised at how creative you can get with ribs. Check out some of our rib recipes here, here and here to help inspire your next grill session.
Baby back ribs are probably the most popular type of rib, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try one of the other ones! Check out our Rib 101 blog to learn about the different types of ribs!
To maximize the rib capacity of your grill, check out some of our rib racks here, here, and here.
Learn how to use a rib rack here.
Just because the days are getting shorter and the kids are heading back to school doesn’t mean backyard bbq’s have to come to an end. Make the most of the final days of summer with the Weber end of summer entertaining tips!
From chips to chunks, from apple to mesquite, wood smoke comes in various flavors and intensities. Check out this smoking guide to choosing what wood flavors go best with what food.
![Pinterest_WoodChips_062514_2[1].jpg](https://taappliancesblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/pinterest_woodchips_062514_21.jpg?w=634)
