How To Make Really Juicy Hamburgers

All I wanted for dinner last night was a juicy hamburger like you can really only get by going out, but we’re trying to stick to a budget so I spent the afternoon researching how to make a really good burger.  In the end, I combined a few tips and went with:

• Using 80/20 ground chuck.
• Keeping it really cold and not preparing until just before I was ready to cook.
• Mixing a couple tablespoons of crushed ice into the meat.
• Handling the meat as little as possible to form into patties.  I just tossed the meat with the ice and a little Worcestershire and made the discs.
• Putting an indent in the middle of each patty.
• Cooking the patties in a couple tablespoons of melted butter over medium high heat in a cast iron skillet. You don’t get the pretty lines in the burger, but you’re going to stick it in a bun anyway, so it doesn’t matter.  I put the skillet on the grill outside to avoid the grease and smell in my house.
• Not salting the meat until it was on the grill.
• Cooking four minutes per side, then removing from heat and letting stand for another four minutes.

The result?  

I had really good, juicy burgers.  Seriously good.  Served on toasted buns of course because that increased the yumminess.

I want another one right now.

Rocky Mountain Beef Brisket with Barbecue Sauce

Adapted from Don’t Panic… It’s In The Freezer

Yield: 12-14 servings

Rub:

•  1 Tablespoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon pepper
• 2 teaspoons crushed bay leaves
• 1/4 cup Liquid Smoke
• 8 pounds beef brisket

 Barbecue Sauce:

• 6 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 - 14 ounce bottles catsup
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup Liquid Smoke
• 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tablespoons dry mustard
• 4 teaspoons celery seed
• 1 1/2 sticks butter
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1) Combine salt, pepper, chili powder and bay leaves.  Rub meat completely with Liquid Smoke.  Place meat, fat side up, in a large roasting pan.  Sprinkle dry seasoning mixture on top.  Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.

2) Bake, covered, at 300 for about five hours.  Scrape seasoning and fat off meat and cut in very thin slices across the grain or shred with 2 forks.

3)  Combine all the sauce ingredients.  Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Cook for 10 minutes.  Pour sauce over meat and mix well to distribute sauce evenly.  

Serve sliced brisket by itself or on hamburger buns.  Leftovers freeze really well.

Suggested side dishes:  Chili Corn Bread Salad, Southwestern Black Bean and Rice Salad, or Roasted New Potato Salad.

Celebration Flank Steak

3/4 cup oil

2 Tablespoons vinegar

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 Tablespoons chopped green onion

1 1/2 teaspoons ginger

1/4 cup honey

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

2 pounds flank steak (they usually run about a pound a piece, so you’ll want two)

Mix together the oil, vinegar, soy sauce, green onion, ginger, honey and garlic.  Pour over flank steak in a zip top bag.  Ideally, let this marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

Preheat grill.  When hot, place the steaks over medium flame and grill for seven minutes on each side.

It will end up being medium rare to medium in the middle.  You really don’t want it any more done than that or the meat gets tough.  Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes.  When you cut into meat straight off of the gril, all the juices run out and the meat can get dry.  Letting it stand makes for juicier steak!

After standing, slice meat against the grain.

If you have people who like their meat more well done, make sure they get slices from the ends.

Sirloin and Asparagus in Orange Sauce

The original version of this recipe called for green beans so you can use those in place of the asparagus if you prefer.  This would also be delicious served over rice.

One large orange should give you the right amount of peel and juice.

 2 tablespoons Splenda

1 tablespoon grated orange peel

3/4 pound sirloin steak, trimmed and cut into thin slices

1 tablespoon canola oil

3 cups fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1” pieces

2 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon corn starch

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

3 tablespoons orange juice

1. Toss sliced steak with orange peel and Splenda.  Set aside.
2. Put the asparagus and water in a microwave safe dish.  Cover and cook on high 3 minutes or until crisp-tender.
3. Combine corn starch, ginger, pepper, soy sauce and water.  Set aside.
4. Pour canola oil in a non-stick skillet over med-high heat.  When hot, add steak and cook 3-5 minutes or until browned.  Add asparagus and cook another 3 minutes, stirring often.
5. Pour in corn starch mixture and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Cook and stir one minute.

Nutrition Facts from Calorie Count

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 233 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories  259 Calories from Fat  81

% Daily Value*

Total Fat  8.9g 14%

Saturated Fat  2.4g 12%

Trans Fat  0.0g

Cholesterol  76mg 25%

Sodium  590mg 25%

Total Carbohydrates  14.0g 5%

Dietary Fiber  2.5g 10%

Sugars  9.2g

Protein  29.0g

Vitamin A 16% • Vitamin C 23% Calcium 4% • Iron 30%

Nutrition Grade A

Beef Barley Vegetable Soup

You do too like barley, you just don’t know it.  Remember Campbell’s Vegetable Beef soup?  Those little white things in it were barley.  It’s a grain just like oats or wheat.  It’s not scary at all.  In fact it’s delicious and nutritious and makes great soup.

1 (3 pound) beef roast or stew meat

Lawry’s seasoning salt

1 bay leaf

1 onion, chopped

4 cups beef broth

1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained

2-3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 Tbsp Soy sauce

2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp chili powder

(16 ounce) package frozen mixed vegetables

1/2 cup barley

hot water

salt and pepper to taste

If you’re using a roast (cheap meat is good here), cut it into bite sized pieces.  If you’re using pre-cut stew meat, just check it to make sure there aren’t any huge chunks.  Put the cut meat into a bowl and sprinkle fairly liberally with the Lawry’s.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, dump it into the crock-pot with the bay leaf, onion, broth, tomatoes, Worcestershire, soy sauce, basil and chili powder.  The longer you cook this, the better.  I started mine at 6:30 a.m. and cooked it on low all day. 

Around 1:00 I threw in the package of frozen vegetables.  If you aren’t home in the middle of the day, about an hour before serving microwave the veggies first until cooked through and put into the soup along with the barley .  While adding the veggies and barley, add enough hot water to get the consistency you like and then taste the broth and adjust seasonings as necessary.

After an hour, the barley will be cooked and your house will smell marvelous.  Ladle into bowls and enjoy.