Green Chile Burgers and Help Hints! about Grilling Hamburgers

Green Chile Cheeseburger

1 - 1/2 pounds ground chuck

1teaspoon salt

2 green chiles, roasted on a gas burner or under a 

   broiler until blackened. peeled, seeded and dices

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Mix together the ground chuck, salt and diced chili gently.  The more you handle the met, the tougher your burger will be.

Make patties thinner in the center.  Divide the meat into 4 equal portions and form patties about 3/4 inch thick at the edges and 1/2 inch thick in the center.  They'll shrink and even out when cooking.

Grill burgers on high heat.

Don't press on the burgers while they're cooking.  The juices that seeps out holds most of the flavor and moisture.

Let burger rest a few minutes before eating.  This allows them to finish cooking and allows their juices, which have collected on the surface during grilling, to redistribute throughout the patty.

Divided grated cheese into 1/4 cups and melt on patty.

YIELDS: four 6 ounce burgers.

New Mexico Green Chile and Frito Burger

1 pound ground chuck

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 teaspoons oil

2 fresh Hatch or Anaheim chilies or 1 can (7 oz.) Hatch or regular green chiles, sliced

4 slices pepper jack cheese

2 cups Fritos

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 teaspoons barbecue sauce

4 kaiser rolls, split

Heat grill to medium.  Mix ground chuck, salt and pepper in a large bowl until just combined (do nit over-mix).  Divide into 4 portions and form into 1/2 -in patties with a slight depression in the center of each to help them cook evenly.  Brush with 1 tsp. oil.

Rub fresh chile with remaining 1 tsp. oil, grill over high heat, turning often, until blackened, about 4 minutes.  Cover with a towel to steam, about 10 minutes.  When cool, rub off skins, then stem, seed and slice chiles into strips.

Grill burgers until cooked the way you like.  In last few minutes, lay a cheese slice on each burger and lay split rolls on grill.

Arrange burgers on bottom of the buns and top with one quarter of the chiles and Fritos.  Mix mayo and barbecue sauce and dollop about 2 tsp. onto each burger.  Set tops of rolls in place.

Notes: Canned Hatch green chiles are available in some grocery stores.

YIELDS: 4 burgers

GREAT! hints about hamburger meat. 

Buy the right meat.  For juicy burgers, get ground chuck with a fat content of at least 18%.  Lean and extra-lean meat make tough dry burgers.  

Use wet hands to form patties.  This keeps your hands from getting sticky.  It also allows the meat to come together faster and prevents over-handling.

Keep meat cold until it goes on the grill.  Put the patties in the fridge while the grill heats up.  This helps more of the flavors to stay in the meat.

Use a clean, well-oiled, preheated grill.  

Flip burgers once and at the right time.  Constant turning will toughen and dry out meat and if you flip too soon burgers will stick.  Cook 2 minutes per side for rare, 3 for medium and 5 for well-done.

This post linked to:

Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace
Tuesdays At the Table at All the Small Stuff

Totally Tasty Tuesday at Mandy's Recipe Box

It's Tasty Tuesday time!!