Best Burger With Blue Cheese Butter

Serves Four

Ingredients

One pound ground chuck steak.

Two teaspoons salt.

One teaspoon black pepper.

Four one-half-inch slices blue cheese butter (see below).

Four sesame hamburger buns, halved.

Preparation

Combine ground steak with salt and pepper. Divide into four equal-sized pieces and gently shape into four burgers about one-inch-thick. Grill burgers and warm buns according to instructions below. Top burgers with butter and serve hot in sesame buns.

Outdoor cooking:

Grill over hot coals for three minutes per side for rare, four minutes per side for medium rare, or five minutes per side for well done. Place buns cut side down on grill until warm and lightly golden, one minute.

Indoor cooking:

Preheat a ridged cast-iron grill pan over high heat. Cook for three minutes per side for rare, four minutes per side for medium rare, or five minutes per side for well done. Place buns cut side down on grill pan until warm lightly golden, one minute.

Blue-Cheese Butter

Makes 15 servings

16 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened.

Four ounces (one cup crumbled) blue cheese.

Two teaspoons black pepper.

Place ingredients in a food processor or blender; pulse until well blended. Wrap in foil. Place in the freezer until hard, about 45 minutes. To serve, roll back foil and cut into one-half-inch slices. When slicing from frozen, warm the knife under hot water first. After slicing, always tightly rewrap the unused flavored butter roll in the foil before returning to refrigerator or freezer.

Best Burger Variations

• Herbed Burger: Add two teaspoons fresh thyme leaves or one teaspoon dried thyme, one crushed garlic clove and one tablespoon finely chopped onion to the ground steak.

• Spicy Burger: Add one-half of a teaspoon tabasco, one tablespoon Worcestershire sauce and one teaspoon Dijon mustard to the ground steak.

Think Ahead

Shape burgers up to one day in advance. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Cooks’ Note: Overhandling the meat when shaping will result in a tough, dry burger. To guarantee a juicy burger, handle the meat as little as possible

Source: Metro.