“I’ll have a ground turkey burger, no cheese and no bun, please”
Umm. No thank you. While that was something I maybe ordered once in my life years ago when I had some food issues, these days I’ll take a real beef burger, with cheese and with a bun, thankyouverymuch. A cheese burger isn’t something I eat on a weekly basis, so when I have the opportunity to eat one, I want it to be good. Real good. And to me, that’s accomplished when you use good, organic, grass fed beef, a nice strong cheese and a simple bun.
Over the weekend, RM and I grilled on my back deck and when I was going to the store to get the necessities, he specifically requested “those white buns, the cheap ones, with sesame seeds on top.” Granted, my first thought was “you’re kidding me, right?!”, because standard, basic, “cheap” white bread is not something we generally eat, but I have to say- it made for a pretty fantastic burger.
The thing is, when you get all fancy with a super big, bulky, non-white roll, it generally ends up taking over the lead role (I initially wrote ‘roll’… subconscious pun intended??) in the dish. No offense to all you bun lovers out there- I want the meat (and cheese!) to be the start of the show. That’s what I’m most looking forward to when I have a burger. And even though that’s the case, it doesn’t mean I am about to order a bunless burger because where is the fun in that?! I often pick off the extra bread/roll for my burger, but there’s something to wonderful about grabbing a bunned burger and taking that first bite. Summer perfection, in my eyes! Served with a side of corn, pasta salad and/or chips and I’m pretty darn happy 🙂
If you’re interested, here’s the “ingredients” list for the burgers we made over the weekend:
- 1lb. organic, grass fed beef (ours was Angus and delicious)
- 1/2 small onion, chopped very small
- 1/2 chopped red pepper, chopped very small
- garlic powder, salt & pepper, oregano and/or any other herbs/seasoning you prefer- to your liking (a few shakes for each is what I did)
- 8 slices of block pepperjack cheese
- 4 hamburger buns (we used standard Shaw’s brand white sesame seeded buns, but feel free to go a healthier route if you want!)
Chop your pepper and onion and use your hands to mix the beef with the veggies and herbs/seasoning. If you want big burgers, create 4 equal size patties and grill ’em up! I ended up making 6 smaller size ones and we froze 2 so that we could have them on hand for the next time we wanted a spur of the moment burger.
Questions for you: Do you like cheeseburgers? Do you prefer fancy rolls, simple white rolls or no rolls? What’s your favorite thing to grill?
Burpees to Bubbly 
I usually opt for no bun only because I want to fill up on the MEAT and not the bread! The fancy rolls we get are so huge that it swallows everything up! And the best way to eat them in the summer is with potato salad, fruit salad and BEEEEER 🙂
I hear ya with that reasoning! which is why I don’t dig fancy buns 🙂 yes, beer is a great accompaniment to a burger. My friends did a baby shower last year called “babies, burgers and beer” at the Shake Shack and it was perfect!
We grill EVERYTHING, so it’d be hard to say what our favorite is. And the actual Ol’ Miner grills seven days a week, every day of the year (yes, including Christmas and Thanksgiving!). Burgers are fun and easy so they make a nice change up. We, too prefer a regular old white bun – nothing fancy. We do use our Miners Mix Steak and Veggie Rub instead of salt and pepper.
WOW! That is a lot of grilling! Miners Mix Steak rub sounds fantastic- where can I get that?
We’re on line at http://www.minersmix.com! Thanks
I’m with you girl, I love a good cheeseburger these days!!
they’re just so good!!
i like putting carmelized onions,roasted red peppers and mushrooms on mine i saute them beforehand then put on the burger sans the bun
ohhh yum! Caramelized onions are one of my favorite things to put on a burger- so combine that with peppers and mushrooms would be amazing!
Nothing better than a good burger! Old Bay goes into the mix if Dennis is making them. I use seeded , white buns just as you did. Wonder where to find Miners Mix.
I was wondering the same thing about Miners Mix- maybe they will send me some!