I just polished off a wonderful cheeseburger, and I thought I'd write about
it and say how good it was!

Like many (perhaps most?) people, I get my burgers from a variety of places.
Sometimes I get them from fast-food joints. Sometimes I get them in a
really good bar or restaurant. And sometimes I make them out of ground beef
that I buy at the supermarket.

But today, I thought I'd splurge...at least a little bit. A chuck roast was
sitting in the refrigerator, ready to be made into some kind of braised
dish. Today is Saturday afternoon, however, and I had better ideas!

So I took a knife, sliced off a bit of the chuck roast, cut it into 1"
cubes, and tossed them into the food processor. I don't have a meat grinder
yet (even though I keep on telling myself to get one), so it's the food
processor for me.

For burgers, the chopped meat from the food processor works just fine. I
pulsed a few ounces of beef in the machine for about 10 seconds, pulled it
out, added a little bit of salt and pepper, and formed it into a round
patty.

That patty went right into the middle of a hot cast iron skillet. After 5
minutes, I flipped it over and put a slice of cheddar cheese on it.
(Wisconsin cheddar, of course...it's nice to live in a state with great
cheese!)

Another 5 minutes, and I took it off. The finished cheeseburger went right
onto a toasted hamburger bun, and onto a plate.

Add some potato chips and a Coke, and there you have it! A wonderful
Saturday afternoon lunch.

The burger tasted great, had wonderful texture, and believe it or not, it
didn't "weigh me down" like fast-food burgers do. I don't know why....maybe
it's the fat content or something.

Anyway, please do try grinding your own burgers. Even if you have to use a
food processor instead of a real meat grinder, the results will be
well-worth the effort.

-Dennis Spexet,