In Search of the Perfect Burger & Racing while Feeling Pukey

The Colorado State Road Race championship was on Saturday. It was a new course on new, smooth and lovely roads. But the course was tough. It had a mile long killer hill. Ellie woke feeling ill, like she was going to puke, but she still wanted to race.

It was also a hot race. The roads are new because the area is in the beginning stages of building a new neighborhood. That meant that there were no trees. That took its toll once the heat began to climb into the upper 90s.


I was proud of Ellie for her determination. Racing while you are sick has got to be pretty bad. I imagine she might have even wanted to stop, but she kept going and came in third place.

For a brief while there was an excellent burger place just across the lake near our house. My husband and son loved having dinner there and would pick it each time we would go out. It left as suddenly as it had appeared. That made my men unhappy. Thus, I started to look for the perfect burger recipe. Here's one I found online and altered to fit what I had in my kitchen. It made them happy and so they had grilled burgers for two meals in a row:

The Perfect Grilled Burger

1 slice of Bread, crusts removed, torn into small bits (it can be stale bread)
2 TBL. Milk
3/4 TBL. Salt
3/4 tea. Pepper, black ground
1 clove Garlic, minced finely
2 tea. Worchestershire Sauce (the original recipe called for steak sauce)
1 1/2 # Ground Beef, 80/20
1/4 cup Veg. Oil

Preheat the grill on high for 15 minutes.

Clean off the grill as it is heating up.

In a bowl mash up the bread, milk, salt and pepper until it is a mush. Garlic and Worchestershire sauce. Stir to mix. Put the meat in another bowl, pour the spiced mash on top of the meat and mix with your hands to incorporate the mixture into the meat.

Grab a ball of meat and form a patty about 4" across and 3/4" thick. Use your first two fingers to put a dent in the center of the meat so that the middle is about 1/2" thick. Do not press the meat too tightly. (I made 6 patties.)

Just before grilling, soak a paper towel with the veg. oil and use a pair of tongs to wipe it across the grate. Turn the heat down to medium. Place the burgers on the grill, close the lid and cook for 3-5 minutes, depending on how you like your burger cooked. Use a wide spatula to pick up each burger, apply another coat of veg. oil to the grate and flip the burger. Repeat with the remaining burgers. Cook for 2 minutes.

While the burgers are cooking you can toast the buns.

Serves 6 burgers