Montana BBQ Hack: The Perfect Hamburger Patty

I have been struggling with the decision to buy a new grill. I spent 3 hours shopping for a grill last week and ended up with nothing. I couldn't bring myself to buy a new grill when all my greasy old grill needs is some TLC. After giving the ol' flame spewer a tune-up, I decided it was time to test it out with some elk burgers.

For those of us familiar with cooking wild game on the grill, it is almost like dancing. Cooking time and technique have to be precise or the burger will dry out (approximately 90 seconds per side and let rest.) I prefer that my burgers don't get handled too much when forming a patty, as I have noticed it makes them dense and dry instead of thick and juicy. But keeping the patties uniform and consistent is key to making sure that each patty is properly cooked. If a patty is too thick or too thin, it won't cook the same as the others. Meaning that you could either have undercooked burgers or cremated burgers.

With Montana summers being so short, I learned an easy BBQ hack that will save you time and make perfect patties. It is easy. We have been getting a lot of take-out food lately. So the odds of you having a take-out container lid are pretty good. If not, I noticed that the lid of a sour cream container or even a salsa container will work. Check out the following video for details on making the perfect burger patty.

Another Montana summer staple in our household in the "Hamburger Steak." We grill up patties as big as a plate. Why? Because we use plates to form the patties. Simply take 2 plates and pile on 12-16 oz of burger on one. Then put down a piece of parchment paper on top of the meat. Slowly press the other plate down on top of the paper. You will have a similar result as the video above. Except this patty is the size of your head. Like Texas, everything is BIGGER in Montana.