There's just something about a burger that gets my mouth watering. All those toppings, sauce, the fluffy bun with a side of thin and crispy fries and either an ice cold beer or a classic Coca-Cola. But hold up, I'm getting ahead of myself. . . we must first start with the patty.
Now I know what most of you are thinking when you see those Burger King or McDonalds or even Wendy's commercials, "hell that looks pretty damn good and it's cheap, nice." WRONG. First of all, yes we know it's cheap, that's what the dollar menu is, it's CHEAP. But what the average consumer doesn't realize is what exactly is that burger? Where's it come from? What are those cows being fed? Is this just beef in my beef patty? Well, we probably don't really know. You'd have to ask; good luck finding that information out because after all these movies like FOOD INC, the reporters usually can't find out everything because the mega-companies don't want to tell you. Simply put, these cows are fed CORN. Yep corn, it's in almost everything we eat in the grocery store. Sad thing is, cows can't naturally digest corn so e-coli grows in their stomachs, yea not good :(
Want an easy on your wallet solution? Well here in Charlotte it's simple. There's this family who has a farm in Kings Mountain, NC - the Proffitt's, and they raise their own grass fed cows. Yea, you know that green stuff that grows naturally in nature with no pesticides, grass, weeds like dandelions, clover, and guess what hay, it's grass too. Shelley then sends it to a specific butchering-plant where she tells the guys to make particular cuts for that weeks' orders. You can get her email every thursday night and older whatever on the list as much as she has and pick it up at the Charlotte Market, Atherton market, Kings Market or at the farm. Ribeye, New York Strip, London Broil, even marrow bones, organ meats, tongue, lunch meats like hot dogs and pastrami, as well as her famous 1/3 lb. - 4 pack pattys!
I love these pattys!! (I have gotten my family and a few friends addicted to them too; they're that good.)
There's just something about grass fed beef pattys. For one thing, grass fed burger pattys don't shrink up like corn-feed beef. When you ask for a 1/3 lb burger that's what you get. Also, the meat tastes well like meat should, "meaty". Like the meatiest steak you've ever tasted or really delicious dark beef broth, oh man. Simple ingredients make these burgers shine. Shelley even sells spice rubs you can use on these burgers or use your favorite (my family likes costco's steak seasoning or World Market's beef seasoning, salt pepper and some cayenne or paprika work great too.) Heat up your grill super hot, oil it, and these babies only take 2-3 minutes per side. You do NOT want to over cook these burgers. A perfect med-rare to medium is just what you want.
Now that you've cooked the burger, top it with anything you like on a nice soft, but toasted bun. I love potato bread or a Weagman's fennel seed roll, sesame seed bun is fine too. And now for the toppings. We already know I love bacon, mmm. Ripe avocado mash (just mash with a fork because slices tend to slide off when eating), real caramelized onions (low and slow is the way, yellow sweet onions work best), fresh sweet tomato slices, lettuce (arugula, butter lettuce, or plain old romain), aoili or mayo, mustard, ketchup, bbq sauce, cheese - can't forget the cheese (muenster, provolone, cheddar, blue, brie, feta, goat cheese even). You name it, it will probably taste good.
So there you have it. I love grass fed burgers, especially Shelley Proffitt's because they come pre-packaged 4 each, all 1/3 lb. Now that's (sorry Alton Brown, but I can't resist) GOOD EATS!!
Eat Local. Eat Fresh. Grass fed is always better. Eat Meat.
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