The Bergy Burger Recipes

THE BERGY BURGER

Steps:

• Season meat your favorite way and form three patties. Do not over work meat and make too compact or you will have meatloaf burgers. I think 1 pound of meat makes three perfect burgers.
• Lightly butter split hamburger/onion rolls and pan fry until toasted. Or you may just dry toast them if you wish without butter. (I get a wonderful jalapeño/cheddar bun from my grocery bakery).
• Chop onion and bell pepper coarsely and fry in a little oil until the onions are caramelized nicely and the bell pepper is wilted.
• Pour off excess oil and add the steak sauce and heat through and set aside in a bowl.
• Grill or pan fry hamburger patties (like Queen Bergy does!) until done to your liking.
• Heat broiler. Yes--you are reading this right-- heat your broiler!
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• Assemble your Bergy Burger.
• Spread mustard (if using it)on toasted buns. Place a hamburger patty on bottom bun and top with bell pepper/onion/steak sauce mixture. Add pickled jalapeño slices. (if you are using them) Lay a thick slice or two of pepper jack or Monterey jack cheese on top.
• Guess what? Put it under your broiler. After having made this a couple of times I find that doing this keeps the onion/pepper mixture in place while eating it and the melted cheese has a better flavor. Only broil for a minute or so. You just want the cheese to melt well and drape over the ingredients to hold them in place.
• Remove from broiler and add the top bun and serve with your favorite oven fries recipe. That's what Queen Bergy would do.

SUPER BURGERS

Steps:

• Mix meats, parsley and powders in a large bowl.
• Divide mixture into 8 equal portions (6 oz ea).
• Gently form into the desired sized disk, generally about 4" diameter, 3/4" thick seems to work pretty good.
• Don't overwork the meat, it takes the tenderness out of it.
• At this point you can place the burgers, wrapped in plastic, in the fridge for a day or so without any change of flavor.
• Could be frozen as well.
• Press your thumb in the center of each burger to form a depression about 1/2 the thickness of the burger.
• This prevents the football burger problem that everyone squeezes the burger for.
• Right before cooking brush a bit of olive oil on the burgers and season with garlic salt and pepper.
• Cook on a VERY hot grill, about 4 minutes.
• Extinguish flare-ups as required.
• Turn once and cook for an additional 4 minutes for a hot pink center (3 minutes for rare, 5 minutes for well done) Add cheese (if desired) for the last 60 seconds or so.
• The key here is to form a crust that will seal in the juices and yield a juicy, flavorful burger.
• Can also be done in a hot cast iron skillet on the stove.

THE PERFECT BASIC BURGER

Steps:

• Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat and lightly oil grate.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together egg, salt and pepper. Place ground beef and bread crumbs into the mixture. With hands or a fork, mix until well blended. Form into 4 patties approximately 3/4 inch thick.
• Place patties on the prepared grill. Cover and cook 6 to 8 minutes per side, or to desired doneness.