Good Ol’ Beef and Pork Burgers

You can’t decide what is for dinner tonight. The thought of having to figure out what to make for supper, yet again, makes your insides cringe. It forces you not to want to go home. Face those restless children, who are hungry, eagerly awaiting for food. Because they’re always hungry. After all they’re growing seedlings. You’re tired of all the fast food joints. The greasy, unhealthy food beckons. It calls after you. “Come inside.” Why you might ask? Probably because it’s simple and quick. You don’t have to worry about anything. A quick fix solution. You might even justify it by telling yourself that you are saving time and money, in the long run. “Once in a while isn’t bad. I’ll just cook tomorrow, and the kids really wants burgers tonight.” It definitely  doesn’t help if all you get from the kiddies is “Oh please, can we please have burgers tonight?” Their taunts and yearnings are making you cave. Driving you crazy. “I’ll stop by the drive-thru on the way home and pick something up.” That’s settled. That’s what I’ll do. “Burgers sound good!”

Well, this is your conscious speaking. Fight the urge! Don’t go down that unhealthy path. You don’t want to keep feeding your children that garbage. You want to give them nutritionally sound meals. Or at the very least something homemade. It doesn’t have to be a five star gourmet meal. What’s more, you don’t have to be a gourmet five star Chef to feed your family right.

Try making you’re own “fast food.” By cooking it yourself, you can easily control the quality and freshness of the ingredients and the salt intake. So the troops back at home want burgers. Well then burgers they shall get! Better burgers! More flavorful burgers, without all the fat and salt found at those chain restaurants. So you think you don’t have time to make homemade burgers? Think again. These burgers are fast and delicious. You’ll feel a whole lot better feeding this to your loved ones, and they wont be dragged down by all the preservatives and additives. A much healthier alternative than those greasy options.

Let’s start with some ground sirloin and ground pork. I like the combination of both.

If you really want to make it even healthier, you can use fresh ground chicken or turkey breast.

Let’s season the meat. It’s a great idea to season the beef and pork entirely and then mixing it, rather than just forming the patties and seasoning the outside with salt and pepper. Not very flavorful that way, if you ask me.

Season with:

Worchestire  Sauce                       Onion Powder                         Garlic Powder

  

           Paprika                                  Salt & Pepper                              Hot Sauce

  

After you season the meat, mix it up. Go ahead use your hands. It’s fun.

Cooking is fun. Say it out loud. “COOKING IS FUN!” Shout it this time. “COOKING IS FUN!!”

Now look around, make sure no one is staring at you acting crazy. Stop talking to yourself and mix.

Grab a chunk and form it into a ball. Make them as big or as tiny as you want. Go ahead, this is your burger. You call the shots.

….No but really, it should be this size. Let’s not get carried away here. I still call some of the shots.

Shape it into a patty.

Finish forming all of the patties, and lay them out on a plate or platter or tray. This makes 8. Or you can make 16 slider patties.

Ah, before we shaped the patties, we should have pre-heated our grill.

Oh well. We’ll do it now and wait a bit…I guess.

Our handy dandy indoor, stove top grill. This is probably the best kitchen equipment out there.

Everyone should have one.

It makes winter days warm, because you still get to grill. Grill everything. You’ll become master indoor grillers.

Just make sure the vent is on, or you’ll be fanning the smoke detecter all night.

Once the grill is hot, and I do mean HOT. Not warm. Not Kinda hot. Smoking hot.

We want a nice char on these burgers. After all we’re trying to impress our loved ones. We’re trying to convince them, we’re better than those greasy chains.

Place the patties on the grill.

Cook the patties 7-10 minutes on the first side. Because of the pork in these burgers, you have to cook them all the way. None of this medium-well business. Well done, only. Let’s not make people sick, that wont impress anyone.

Don’t worry, they’ll still be juicy and moist.

The trick to grilling anything is not to mess with the food too much. Leave it alone and let it do it’s thing. It will tell you when its ready to be flipped, which is when it isn’t sticking. Once it easily comes off the grill, go ahead and make the flip.

Make the flip, you master griller.

Look at that. We’re doing great.

Continue cooking for 5-7 minutes. The second side cooks up a lot faster than the first.

Once the burgers are cooked through, let’s top them with some cheese action.

American.

I know. I know. But I couldn’t resist. American cheese is just so good on a burger. I’m a kid, what can I say? But you can go ahead and do cheddar, if you’d like. Fine, be that way. BUT if you like to live on the dangerous side, slap some American on them.

Come on, be bad with me. After all, we are saving all those calories and fat by making them ourselves. We can afford to be a little naughty.

You know you want to. Everyone is doing it.

That looks good to me! **Ring** **Ring** **Ring**

“Hello?”

“Howdy, this is Mr. Cheese. Mr. American Cheese, and I was just calling to tell you that you can’t resist me; so don’t try to fight it. I’m melty, yummy goodness on your burger.”

Putting a lid over the patties helps melt the cheese faster.

I mean come on, how can you even think about anything else?

To all you high end, farmer’s market, gelson’s, whole foods, trader joe’s loving hippy foo foo’s out there: Go on, put that all natural swiss cheese or gouda. It wont taste half as good as this, but go ahead.

Okay, it would taste good, but still. I’m trying to make a point here. Come on and board the American Cheese train with me. It’s a roundtrip to flavor town.

Back to business. Let’s assemble these burgers.

Grab your buns. No not those.

The burger buns please.

Toast them on the grill.

For those of you who have good memories, yes these are our Homemade Burger Buns! Which you can find here!

Homemade buns just make all the difference in the world. Beat that fast food hamburger joints! I dare you too!

Squeeze some mustard. Just regular ol’ yummy yellow mustard.

Some of our handy dandy Quick Sauce 1-2-3. See, I told you! It all makes sense now.

Our perfectly grilled and melty cheesy burger.

I like taking it over the edge with some homemade guacamole. But you can leave it out if you’d like.

But I have to warn you, if you skip it, you’ll miss out on an out of this world flavor experience. More like explosion.

If you do want to get in on the fun, well then step right up. Welcome to flavor town. Get the Holy Guacamole recipe here!

Let’s get a little healthy and add some lettuce.

We must set a good example. Veggies are good for you.

Veggies are good for you.

Veggies are good for you.

Some tomatoes? Yes, please!

Pickles? Why not?!?!

That’s all that I think will fit. Anymore, and we wont be able to bite into it.

Close it up.

Bring it on home.

Now that is a thing of beauty.

I’ll ride that train to Mount Homemade Burger, any day.

Serve it up with our awesome Potato Salad and Corn. Any one of the three ways!

This is your conscious again, go ahead, surprise your family with homemade burgers to night, rather than those soggy, fatty, nasty, drive -thru ones. Ignore those flashy, drawing lights.

Now this is something to look forward to, and you can definitely feel good about feeding this to your family. Enjoy.

Awesome Beef and Pork Burgers

Makes 8 regular sized burgers or 16 sliders.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound Ground Sirloin
• 1 pound Ground Pork
• 2 tbs Worchestire Sauce
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 tsp Onion Powder
• 1 tsp Paprika
• 1 tsp Kosher Salt
• 1 tsp Fresh Cracked Pepper
• A couple dashes Hot Sauce
• 8 Burger Buns
• 8 slices American Cheese (Or any cheese you’d like)
• Yellow Mustard for Spreading
• 1 recipe Quick Sauce 1-2-3, for spreading
• 1 recipe Holy Guacamole 
• Lettuce
• 2 tomatoes, sliced
• Pickles

Preparation:

Pre-heat a stove top or outdoor grill on medium-high heat.

In a large bowl combine the ground meats, worchestire sauce, hot sauce and seasonings. Mix until well combined, do not over mix. Form the meat into 8 or 16 balls, around the same size, and shape into burger patties.

Place the patties on the grill and cook for about 7-10 minutes on the first side. Do not mess with the patties, allow to cook. When the burgers no longer stick to the grill, flip them over. Allow to cook on the other side for 5-7 minutes.

Once cooked through, top the patties with the cheese slices. Melt cheese through.

To assemble to burgers; toast the buns in a toaster, oven or on the grill. Spread both sides with mustard and our Quick Sauce 1-2-3. On the bottom bun, place the cooked and cheese melted patty. On the top bun, spread the Holy Guacamole. Place lettuce, tomato slices, and pickles. Top the burger with the top bun and you’re done. Serve with our Not Your Ordinary Potato Salad, and Corn, or with a green salad, pasta salad, or potato chips. Enjoy.