Dig Lounge

This week enjoy some food, friends and some lip smacking, finger licking burgers on the grill. We’ve provided some links to recipes that we’ve made, successfully, in the Dig Lounge kitchen. So crack open a bottle of red, take a dip in the pool and try not to talk with your mouth full.

The trick to these burgers is to use fresh ground chuck, not ground beef. Go to the Farmers Market at 3rd and Fairfax, stop at Huntington Meats and ask for the Nancy Silverton ground beef. Yeah, you heard me right. She’s got her own ground prime chuck blend at this Farmers Market stalwart. It’s 80% chuck with 20% added sirloin fat.

If you want to go the all natural, organic route, grab some Piedmont Ground Beef. You can get it regular, lean, or extra lean. But for a truly juicy burger, try and stay away from the lean cuts of ground beef. This meat can be found at Marconda’s Meats on the other side of the market. You can also pick up some homemade sausages at either location. Lay out some cheeses with some freshly grilled sausages, and it makes a great app for your friends to munch on. Monsier Marcel’s has a great selection of cheese to choose from.

When you form the burgers make sure they are slightly concave in the center, so it cooks evenly throughout. Cook 3-4 minutes on each side, only turning once. If you keep turning the meat, it makes for a dry and chewy burger. I prefer to prepare my burgers plain, with just some sea salt and pepper. Then adding things like cheese and sauces when you are ready to assemble the entire thing. Here are some recipes just in case you want to get creative.

Herb Butter Burger
Gorgonzola Burgers
Best Burger Ever
Ultimate Burger (with video)

Other burger resources:

Food and Wine Burger Challenge
Build a Better Burger Hall of Fame
Cheese-burger.net