Did you know that May is National Hamburger Month? Bust out some Halal Hand-Cut™ Ground Beef and celebrate this fun, silly food holiday with us! Achieve the perfect grilled halal hamburger (or cheeseburger – we don’t discriminate here) – read on:

Pre-heat the grill:
Burgers cook best over medium heat. While gas grills heat up relatively quickly, it can be trickier to tell if a charcoal or wood grill is ready to go. Crescent tip: place your hand above the grill, if it’s warm to your hands it’s ready to go.

Handle the halal beef with care:
We all want the perfect patty, but don’t overhandle the meat. Overprocessed, hand-packed meat packed too tightly results in a dry, tough burger.

Shape it:
There are multiple approaches to forming the perfect burger – and almost all work best if you wet your hands before shaping.(Would you say this blog post is shaping up nicely?) Shaping tips:

• Form your burger to be approximately 1″ larger than your buns to account for shrinkage.
• Put an indentation in the middle of the burger to help prevent the burger from doming in the middle.
• Rather than using your hands, place your burgers on a tray lined with parchment. Flatten the burger with one hand, making a wide shallow dimple. Using the other hand, press against the side and form a circle. You successfully created a dimple without overworking or overheating your halal beef.

Do a dab:
Have you experienced your burger sticking to the grill? That is caused by protein. Dab that halal beef patty with a paper towel to make sure it is as dry as possible, and in turn, absorb some of the protein.

Keep your cool:
Prefer your thick halal burger a bit on the pinker side? Keep the patties refrigerated before grilling. This helps a nice crust to form while keeping the burger inside a bit rarer.

Create zones:
If you’re able to, create temperature zones within your grill. This will allow you to have more versatility with your cooking and achieve more evenly cooked burgers.

Patience is a virtue:
Flip that patty with care! If you’re too eager to flip, you could end up with a broken burger. The ultimate patience tester? Try not to flip your burger more than once. Heat pushes the juices to the top, so the more you flip, the more juice you lose!

Keep your lid closed:
Keeping the lid of your grill closed while cooking traps the heat and creates an oven effect, allowing for a more even cook.

Put down the spatula:
You are not the hulk, so please do not smash those burgers.

Hydrate!
You’ve finished the burgers – let them rest. Take this opportunity to ensure you’re hydrated. 🙂

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