Thebasisofahamburgeris,ofcourse,thegroundbeeffromwhichyoumakethe“patties.”

　　Inpreparingthepatties,Ihavetriedallsortsof“add-ins”tomixwiththebeef–everythingfromdriedonionsoupmix,toeggs,tobaconfat,togratedcheese.Theabsolutebesttoaddis…nothingatall!Whydilutethatpurebeefytaste?

　　Whenmakingyourownhamburgers,startwith1¼poundsofgroundbeefwith20%fatcontent.Thiswillbeenoughforfourbigpatties.

　　NormallyIbuyalesserfatcontent,butforreallytastyburgers,getthe20%.

　　(Usingcleanhands!)Dividethebeefintofoursections.Gentlyform

　　eachsectionintoaround“patty”shape.It’snotnecessarytotightly

　　packthebeefintoshape.Infact,youshouldtrytohandlethebeefas

　　littleaspossible.

　　Eachpattyshouldmeasureapproximately¾inchesthickand4½inchesacross.

　　Wraptheextrapattiesinplasticwrapandfreezethemfornextweek’sdinner.

　　Beforeyoustartcookingthehamburgers,toastthecutsideofthe

　　rolls.(Untoastedrollsgetsoggyveryquickly.)Laytherollsoutona

　　bakingsheetwithsidesandputthemunderthebroiler.

　　Itwillonlytakeaminuteortwo,sodon’tdoanythingbutstand

　　therewithpotholderinyourhand,readytoremovetherollsfromthe

　　oven.(Theygofrombeautifullytoastedtoburntintheblinkofaneye.

　　Thenthesmokealarmgoesoffand….youknowtherest!)

　　Preheatyourfrypan(onmedium-hightemperature)byputtingafew

　　dropsofwaterinthepan.Bythetimetheyhaveevaporated,yourpan

　　willbehot.

　　Makesurethefrypanyouareusingislargeenoughtoholdyourhamburgerswithoutsquishingthemtogether.

　　Cookthehamburgers(onmedium-high)ononesidethenflipthemonce,andthencookthemontheotherside.

　　Cookingtimesoneachside:

　　3minutesforRARE(caution-seenotebelow!)

　　4minutesforMEDIUM

　　5minutesforWELLDONE

　　Ifyouwanttomakeacheeseburger,placeasliceofcheeseonthe

　　flipsideabout1minutebeforetheburgersaredonecooking.Theheat

　　fromthehamburgerswillmeltthecheese.

　　Serveyourhamburgerswithslicedtomatoes,lettuce,adollopofmayonnaiseandsomesaltandpepper.