Best BBQ Burger and Fries

Welcome fellow grillers! I am about to share the secrets of my much loved and favoured burgers! I will also add some hints to make your burgers the best they can be. As with all cooking, the quality of the ingredients is important.

TLDR; Mix 2 parts lean ground beef with 1 part lean ground pork. Season the meat before mixing with garlic powder and good paprika. I put about 1/2 tsp of each for 2 lbs beef and 1 lb pork (3 lb meat). Use quality fresh meat. If you need to freeze because 3 lbs meat is too much, freeze premade patties, not the unmixed meat.

For ease of preparation, I am going to recommend buying prepackaged meat, however, if you have a good butcher, you can purchase exactly the amount of meat you will need for your dinner plans.

• 2 lbs (1 kg) lean ground beef
• 1 lb (500 g) lean ground pork
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp good paprika

Buns; for the buns, a good bun is as important as all other ingredients. Any hamburger bun will work, but try and get something like brioche buns, onion buns, or egg bread buns. In this example, I use an everything topped brioche buns.

Fries; you can cook fries in the oven or in a deep fryer, however, to keep the BBQ theme, I use a large, robust french fry like Steak Cut frozen fries on the grill.

Toppings; for topping your burger, again, quality matters. Many say not too many toppings, but I think we should all do what feels right when it comes to what we prefer to eat. I prefer to use Dill Bits from Bicks (now called Gourmet tangy dill relish), very much like dill pickle relish. I also like the Bicks Hot & Spicy hot pepper relish. Finally, I like a good mustard as well.

Preheat your BBQ. I use a gas grill (I know, charcoal tastes better, but for my style of grilling, gas is necessary). If you are using charcoal, I don't advise grilling the fries, as the temperature is far more difficult to regulate.

First step is to mix the ground beef and pork. Before you mix, add both meats to a large mixing bowl, dust with the garlic and paprika, and mix well. For mixing, I don't recommend folding and pressing down or together, I recommend folding and pulling apart. It crushes he meat less, and makes a little better texture in the final burger. See the video for the technique I used. If there are visible clumps of pork in the mix, don't worry. As long as they aren't too big (smaller than a lima bean ), they will be fine.

For forming the patties, I like to use either a half cup or 2/3 cup per patty. A half cup will give you 1/4 lb patties before cooking, and a 2/3 cup will give you 1/3 lb patties. I prefer the 2/3 cup sized patties.

Flatten the patties so they are about 4 inches wide, and ensure there is a finger sized hole in the middle. This helps with cooking, and the patties will shrink in diameter as they cook.

For the left over beef, I preform them into patties, and freeze them in numbers that I will use them, for example, I use and freeze my burgers 1 lb at a time, or in this example, 3 at a time.

This step is a bit of something you may wish to experiment with, and watch closely the first couple of times you try it, but you can grill your fries on the BBQ if you have the right vegetable grill and are able to well regulate the temperature of your grill.

I have a heavy based grill that doesn't have big holes in it. You want to use a more robust french fry, only because there is a greater chance it will survive overheating on the grill. This is why I recommend the steak cut fries. Add a few more than you think you will need, as a couple will get overcooked.

Once your BBQ is heated to the necessary temperature (for this product, it is recommended 425° F) spread the fries to an even layer on your cooking grill, and place in the BBQ. If your BBQ will continue to maintain the required temperature without the burner under the fries in use, turn it off. If the temperature drops too much, you will need to turn it back on, keep an eye on the fries, and turn as necessary. Cook for the required time (maybe add a couple of minutes), but in the final 5 minutes or so, you will test 2 or 3 fries to see if cooked.

In the final 10 minutes or so of cooking the fries, you will add the burgers to the grill.

Without letting too much heat out (if you are grilling the fries) add your burgers to the grill. Cook them for about 3 - 5 minutes on one side. On my grill, it takes closer to 5 minutes to get the good grill marks, but your BBQ will differ.

Flip the burgers and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes. You will know your burgers are done when you gently squeeze down on the patty to release the juices, they come out clear. If they are still red or pink, you need to cook a bit longer.

One last flip, add the cheese, and turn off the grill (hopefully your fries are done by this time, if not, turn the burners on so the heat is indirect). After a couple of tries, you will get the timing down for your grill.

With the fries and burgers cooked, now you can plate. You can see here that a couple of my fries did get burned, this is expected. Again, a good bun can make a great difference, as will good condiments. A good whiskey, scotch, or beer goes well. Try seasoning the fries with seasoning salt for a nice treat!