Everyone has made hamburgers before. Have you ever put burgers on the grill and they end up falling apart and going through the grates? Or you wonder how to get those perfectly round hamburgers that look so nice on the bun? Well it’s really easy and I’m going to show you how in the video below.

Video Details

A lot of people use eggs or some other kind of binder in their hamburgers to make them stay together. You don’t need any binders. The hamburgers will stay together fine if you use these simple instructions:

Start by grabbing the amount of meat you want to use for your hamburger. This of course depends on how thick and how big around you want your hamburgers to be. For me I grab about 1/3 pound of meat. This make a hamburger that covers the bun just right and is just the right thickness. Just be aware that if you make your hamburgers too thick the outside may burn before the inside is cooked completely and that’s not good times at all.

I use my digital scale so that all the hamburgers are the same size and will cook in the same amount of time. Of course hamburger making is not an exact science and if you’re a bit off on the weight it won’t make that much difference.

Once you’ve grabbed off a portion of meat, start rolling it around and in your hands and squishing it between your fingers. What you’re trying to do here is warm up the fat in the hamburger. Once the fat warms up it acts kind of like a glue to bind the meat together. After about 20 or 30 seconds, the meats will come together as a nice solid mass. This is important. If the meat still has “layers” or big creases and cracks, keep working it.

Now that the meat is together, roll it between your two hands and form a ball. Flatten the ball between your hands. Take the patty in one hand and use your other hand to lightly squeeze the edges of the patty. Work your way around the patty a few times until it’s as large and thick as you like. Don’t go to fast or squeeze too hard or the patty will split.

Now lay the patties one of top of another with pieces of wax paper in between.

Ready for the super-complicated last secret step? Here it is: Put the patties in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before you cook them. What this does is resolidify the fat in the patties and help them stay together once you start cooking them.

Then you need a digital meat thermometer. With this baby you set your desired meat temperature and wait for the alarm to sound and your meat is done. No more cutting into your meat and letting juices out. Now more touching to feel doneness.  No more guesswork. Just meat cooked to the exact doneness you want – everytime! I lucked out and got mine at a yard sale for 5 bucks. Can’t beat that! They aren’t too expensive though and there are plenty of digital meat thermometers to select from online. Here are some features mine has:

Standard Timer: You can set a timer for however long you want and an alarm will go off once the time is up. Pretty simple.

Heat resistant temperature probe and cord: If you’re cooking a roast in the oven you can stick the probe into the deepest part of the meat and shut the oven door with the cord and display outside the oven. This is a great feature since you don’t have to keep opening the door to check the temperature of the meat. This is also a great feature for the grill. I put the probe in a chicken or steak and close the grill lid. The temperature probe detaches from the display unit so you can wash it easily and mine has a long cord.

Temperature alarm: Set your desired meat temperature and an alarm will sound when the temperature is reached.

Celsius/Fahrenheit Selection: A little switch on the back lets you select between celsius and fahrenheit temperature scales.

The thermometer will register up to 400 degrees which is way hotter than you would need to cook any meat that I’m aware of!

I have never had meat so tender and juicy as I have since I started using this thing. My thermometer has a mini chart on the back that has minimum temperatures for various meats. If yours doesn’t, the USDA has a handy downloadable PDF of safe meat temperatures.

I love to cook and eat meat and as far as I’m concerned this gadget is a must have.

Do you like pork chops? Since I discovered cubed pork steaks several monts ago I haven’t had a pork chop. I think most people are familiar with “cubed steak” made of beef. When the butcher is making various cuts of meat there are lean trimmings left over from cutting steaks and other pieces of meat. He uses a special machines to bind these separate pieces of meat together into one. This is cubed steak.

I didn’t realize until recently that butchers did the same thing with pork. Dollar for dollar you get a LOT more cubed pork steak than you do pork chops. And I can guarantee you that the cubed steaks are as tender if not moreso than the porkchops you’re used to.

I don’t get fancy with the preparation of mine. I just put a little flour in a bowl and then add in a bit of salt and pepper. I lightly coat each side of each piece of steak. I’m not trying to make a thick crust on them so I don’t use an eggwash or anything before coating them. I let them rest for about 10 minutes while the oil in my deep fryer is heating up. In a pan on the stove they take several minutes per side to fry but they get done in my deep fryer in about 3 minutes.