The Secret to Great Grilled Cheeseburgers? Hint: It's Not the Cheese!
Everyone has a few favorite gadgets hanging around their kitchen, some that they use often, others on occasion for very specific tasks, and then their are those that just take up space.
This summer, what single purpose gadget have you relied on most often? The strawberry huller? The cherry pitter? The corn stripper? For my friends Zachary and Clark, it's the hamburger cover.
In fact, they might even say that burger covers are as essential to the cheeseburger as is the cheese itself.
If you've grilled burgers on the barbecue recently, only to watch in dismay as the burger went from rare to well while the cheese remained in its original, solid form, you too will agree.
The secret to heavenly grilled burgers with gooey, melted cheese on top? It's not the cheese. It's the gadget.
--Tracy Schneider
Parabellum on August 22, 2009 at 04:02 PM
Also known as "a lid".
MOFD on August 22, 2009 at 04:16 PM
Exactly. Turn down the heat, close the lid - and 30 seconds later, the burgers are covered with "gooey, melted cheese".
karen on August 22, 2009 at 04:26 PM
Cash for cheeseburgers.
Make the government buy everyone a cheeseburger cover.
Andy Gibson on August 22, 2009 at 04:32 PM
Even better, throw a couple of chunks of ice, or a drop of water next to the burger before you cover it. The steam will transform your cheese into oozing liquidy goodness. I've been doing mine that way for the last few months since I found out about it.
Cheers,
Andy
Rick T. on August 22, 2009 at 05:22 PM
Start toasting the buns on the other side of the grill when you put on the hamburgers. Flip the burgers, put on the cheese, and place the toasted tops of the buns on the burgers and the toasted bottoms on the top. When the hamburgers are done, simply pick up a bottom and slide the hamburger onto it. Could not be simpler.
AST1238 on August 22, 2009 at 06:00 PM
I think the real secret is to grind your own meat. Most ground beef you buy is made from trimmings, and whenever you hear about salmonella or e coli outbreaks it's usually in this kind of beef, which is why you're warned to cook it thoroughly. Buy a roast, grind it yourself and you don't run that risk, and the juices and flavor are there in the hamburger.
John Reece on August 22, 2009 at 06:37 PM
Sigh, more specialized gadgets to clutter up the kitchen. One could simply cover the burgers with a wok lid or an inverted roasting pan which are basic kitchen items one already has. One could also use shredded or grated cheese which definitely melts more readily.
Orion on August 22, 2009 at 08:47 PM
Saw this trick on Food Network's "Throwdown" a couple of weeks back, except Bobby Flay used small steel mixing bowls. He sprinkled a little water on the cheese first to make sure it steamed. You don't need a specialty gadget: just a small metal mixing bowl big enough to fit over the burger.
Chris on August 22, 2009 at 09:20 PM
And if you're cooking outdoors, odds are that your grill has one built-in. It's that big thingy on top with the handle.
open channel d on August 23, 2009 at 01:21 AM
Are you on crack? $12 plus $10 Shipping for a 6-inch burger cover?
You can buy a dozen domed 8-inch aluminum frying pan covers for $22 and free shipping from several restaurant supply houses. Throw a little onion juice, vinegar and water onto the grill and cover. 30-seconds later, perfect burger
$22 each??? Have you lost your mind?
Bird on August 23, 2009 at 01:37 PM
If you couldn't figure out how to melt cheese on a burger, you've really no business cooking in the first place.
What's the next great idea, a big plastic box filled with ice is a good way to keep something cold?
Bruce on August 23, 2009 at 02:45 PM
It seems like the last few years - with the plethora of cooking shows and its "stars" on TV - everyone has now discovered the next great idea. Wow - cover a burger on a grill! Who knew?
Well ... cooks knew. I've been doing this "new trick" for almost 40 years, and I learned it from my mom at least 50 years ago when she asked my dad to take one of her old SS mixing bowls, drill a hole on the bottom and put a door pull on it.
Woe - isn't technology great? What's old is new again.
Tracy Schneider on August 24, 2009 at 10:12 PM
Thanks, everyone! For more on cheeseburgers, check out The 10 Essential Steps to the Perfect Cheeseburger (http://www.aldenteblog.com/2009/08/ten-steps-perfect-cheeseburger.html), and then share your own kitchen wisdom with us.
Janett Blue on December 18, 2010 at 06:54 PM
Throw-out all the gadgets, to much trouble and the extra expense. I tell you what we do whenever a great cheese burger is the order of the day. Find yourself a Kutcharitaville Cafe', and order yourself a goody goody cheese burger, the best cheese burgers in the world. I tell you, no fuss, no mess, no trouble. Just 100% pure black angus, charbroiled to perfection with pure cheese melted on top, onion, lettuce & tomato and a big fluffy bun. Now that's what am talking about. Throw-in a big slice of Kutchie's world's greatest key lime and you will think that you died and went to heaven.