Grilling in the rain for Memorial Day as I grill up some hamburger perfection!
We have a tropical storm coming up through the Gulf of Mexico that is dumping copious amounts of rain on our area. I worked last night and after grabbing a couple of hours of sleep, I started making the preparations for grilling up some hot dogs and hamburgers.
I start out by getting the coals ready. I am a bit of a snob when it comes to grilling and it is my deepest conviction that only charcoal or wood fires should be used for grilling and that gas grills should only be used in the most extreme cases of emergency...lol. I refuse to use lighter fluid, so I utilize a chimeny style charcoal starter. If you are not familiar, it is basically a metal cylinder that has air holes around it and a cage in the bottom. The cage holds the charcoal about 3 inches from the bottom of the starter and you add paper beneath that as the catalyst to get the coals fired up and ready.
It takes about 10 minutes for the coals to get to the proper temerature. During this time, I usually go back inside and begin prepping the meat. With hamburgers, I add a low salt Dales liquid seasoning for them to briefly marinate in. These particular hamburgers we purchased by my wife and she choose hamburgers that were already patted out at the market and they included shredded sharp cheddar cheese and thick-cut hickory smoked bacon added to the ground beef. Trust me they are absolutely as good as they sound!
Once the coals are ready, I add a pretty heavy dusting of garlic powder and a pub-style hamburger seasoning just before adding them to the grill. If you add any salt-based seasoning too early, it will draw the moisture out of the meat and you end up with dry finished products.
The next step is where many people make rookie mistakes when it comes to grilling meat. When you put the meat on the grill, LEAVE IT ALONE! The more you open the lid the longer it will take for the meat to cook and the drier it will be. You should only flip any cut of meat about three times, maximum. The lid staying down longer also allows a more distinct smokey flavor to permeate the meat and the end result is a juicier, tastier burger.
We prefer our meat extremely rare, so it doesn't take too long before they are ready and being wolfed down. Thanks for taking the time to watch the vid and read the post. Happy grilling!
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