Cookout season is upon us and it’s time for you to get your grilling skills down to a tee!

Whether it’s at the lake, by the campsite, in the backyard, or outside your college apartment, your friends are looking to you (the 5-star chef of the group) to provide a great, protein-rich meal outside of the regular canonical Chick-fil-A dinner. In this series, I will equip you with the skills necessary to provide a variety of tasty grilled meals. For today, we will go over the basics of grilling with the most classic staple of American BBQ— grilled beef burgers.

Patting the Patties

Before we start grilling, we need to prepare the meat. If you buy premade patties, you can skip this step. If you are working with just ground beef, first break apart the meat into small bits on a sheet of parchment paper. When selecting beef remember that a higher fat percentage may be less “healthy” but definitely tastier.

Next, you can add a variety of spices and seasonings to enhance the flavor of the burgers. You can add your seasonings before or after forming the patties. A simple yet tasty combo you can do if you’re a beginner is salt and pepper. Don’t feel the need to get fancy with spices on your first go-round. A great and well-balanced knowledge of spices takes time to develop!

Once you’ve sprinkled your seasonings over the meat, you need to even it out by scraping and lightly tossing the meat on the sheet with your fingers. Next, you will form the meat into ball/puck-shaped patties. You can flatten these out by lightly pressing down or patting them against your hand. Press your thumb into the center of your patties to keep them from balling up while they cook.

Preparing the Grill

Now we head to mission control: the grill. Before we cook, we need to heat up and prepare the grill. First, you need to use your grill brush to clean the grates. Once cleaned, proceed with heating the grill depending on which grill you are using.

For Charcoal Grill:

If you are using a charcoal grill, pour a fair number of charcoals into the bowl. Use your coal shoveler to form a centralized mini hill of coals. Once your coals are arranged properly, light the coals on fire. You can do this in a variety of ways. Some examples include using an electric fire starter or lighting other flammable substances on fire and setting them in the coals. Once the coals have caught fire, close the grill and allow the chamber to heat up. You can induce this process by opening the vents and damper and by blowing into the vents, remember that fire needs oxygen.

For Propane Grill:

Propane grills are a little easier to start. Begin by opening the gas valve at the top of the propane tank. Then, turn the knobs of your desired burners to the appropriate flame level and use a lighter to ignite the flame. Make sure your flame isn’t getting too high up on the grates. Once your flames are lit, close the cover and allow the grill to heat up.

For medium burgers, you should let the grill get to 350-400°F. Once the grill has reached this temperature, we’re ready to cook. If you are grilling on a propane grill, it’s less important to let the chamber heat up but is still recommended.

Let’s Cook

I’m going to let you cook! So, start by placing the burgers down flat on the grates. Get used to that beautiful sizzle sound! You should grill the burgers for 3 to 3.5 minutes on each side. Close the cover and allow the burgers to sweat.

Once your timer goes off, carefully open the cover and use your trusty spatula to flip each patty to the other side before restarting your timer. Make sure you push with your spatula fast and firm, so you don’t knock your patties off the grill. Lower the cover and let them sit again.

Once your final timer goes off, evaluate which burgers need more time, and let them cook longer. For the others, they are ready to be eaten! Once you’ve determined your final patties are done cooking, it’s time to serve the troops. Dress buns and invite the group to eat.

Get to flippin’!

Be Well, Auburn.