This month is officially burger month and that means the grills are going to come in handy. Making the perfect burger can be difficult but here are 10 tips from the Burger Lab on how to make burgers better than before.
1 Instead of purchasing beef from the local grocery store, grind your own beef. You can use a food processor or an attachment from KitchenAid. This ensures that the beef is fresh.
2 Make sure everything is ‘cold.’ This means the grinder, the plate and the meat itself. Warmth makes fat from the burger stick to your hands and anything else but the burger.
3 Always weigh the patties so that they cook at the same time and also finish with the same shape and size.
4 Using a thermometer is key to making better burgers. A thermometer will help determine how done a burger is without guessing. A cheap thermometer costs around $16.95.
5 Season those patties. Use freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt for a bolder taste.
6 When it comes to salt, do not salt the ground beef patties until they are properly formed. Sprinkling salt right before they are laid on the grill is an ideal time. Salting before patties are formed will ‘remove muscle proteins,’ which will then cause the patties to be ‘springy.’
7 It is completely acceptable to flip burgers numerous times. Flipping the burgers cooks the patties faster.
8 Don’t knead or mess with the ground beef too much. Simply morph patties and then set them on the grill. Working the patties too much will make them ‘dense’ and ‘tight.’
9 Buns are extremely important when it comes to completing a great burger. It depends what kind of burger you want. For thinner, smaller patties, soft buns are good. Burgers that are bigger and pub-style need a bun that is sturdy like Brioche.
10 What you put on your burger is entirely up to you, including condiments and other extras like lettuce, tomato, onion, avocado, etc. This is the part of burger creating that you have complete control over.
See the full story and list on SeriousEats.com.
Cheese Taco Shells
There is nothing like a delicious, classic taco filled with warm, seasoned beef topped with lettuce, cold tomatoes all held together in a tortilla taco shell. However, the key to making tacos even more heavenly is to use cheese taco shells.
These shells are made purely of cheddar cheese. And anyone can easily make them at home within minutes.
Simply bake piles of cheddar cheese and then shape them once they are out of the oven by using a spatula or spoon.
Cheddar cheese can be substituted for any other cheese if desired.
See the full story on Delish.com and the recipe for these tasty shells here.
Clean Your Dishwasher with Lemonade Kool-Aid
If you have nasty scum and stains in your dishwasher, Lemonade Kool-Aid has come to the rescue.
The citric acid in the Lemonade Kool-Aid works to loosen stains when mixed with the hot water from the dishwasher.
Simply pour the packet of powder where the detergent usually goes and then press start like you were washing dishes. Except make sure all the dishes, glasses and silverware are out of the dishwasher beforehand.
Once the wash cycle ends, the built up grime and stains can easily be wiped off. Ta-da!
See the full story on TheKitchn.com.