Is there anything more American than a big, juicy burger?
I’m not sure there is – except maybe a burger with various patriotic decorations sprinkled around it.
My goal with this recipe was to make the perfect hamburger for the 4th of July, which is right around the corner.
The red white and blue burger is not only made from scratch and delicious, but it has three fun toppings, each one representing a color of the flag!
Of course, step one to making any good burger, in my opinion, is to make your own patties with a good quality ground beef. I like to use a ground beef that is at least 15% fat, but 20% is even better. If you get any leaner than that, your burger will be a bit on the dry side.
Once you have picked your ground beef, form them into quarter pound rounds and season them really well with salt and pepper on each side. I’ve also found that making a small indent in each burger with my thumb, right in the center, helps them cook evenly (hard to see in these photos).
Besides the burgers, the only thing you need to prep for these guys is the roasted red peppers. You can certainly buy roasted red peppers in a jar if you’re in a rush.
If you do want to make them yourself and save a few bucks, just toss the whole peppers right on the grill or on a gas stove. Cook them for a few minutes, turning them regularly until they are nice and charred on the outside.
Then take them off the fire, put them in a bowl, and cover them with plastic wrap to steam for about ten minutes.
Once they come out you should be able to just rub off most of the skin from the peppers. Don’t worry if you can’t get all the skin off. It’s not a big deal.
Then just chop off the stems and slice the peppers into long, thin strips.
Ok. Time to cook up the burgers. Start them on very high heat and cook them for about four minutes. Then give them a flip!
Once you flip them, cook the burgers for another minute or two and then add the mozzarella cheese.
Put the lid on the grill at this point and turn the heat down to medium or move the burgers to a slightly cooler section on the grill.
After another minute or two the cheese should be melted and you can add the peppers.
And the blue cheese crumbles!
Cook for another minute or so and you should be left with about a medium burger. If you want it cooked more, just shut the lid and let it cook for another minute or two.
Serve these bad boys on toasted buns. That’s the only way to do it!
There’s so much flavor on these guys that I didn’t even think they needed ketchup or mustard, but feel free to add those if that’s your style.
You should definitely try out these burgers for 4th of July!
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Nick ate two of these burgers. He is just that patriotic. Be sure to check out his blog, Macheesmo, his book, Cornerstone Cooking.
