Burgers with Hot Pepper and Smoked Gouda

A great burger starts with great beef. You can make a great burger from ground chuck, round or sirloin, but I like chuck best for a juicy and delicious burger.

When you shape the beef into patties, don’t work the meat too much. Keep the burger texture loose, not dense like meatloaf. I divide the beef into equal sized portions and then ever so gently shape them into large thin burgers.

While you might like the thought of a big thick burger, thinner burgers cook quickly and fill up the bun nicely. Season the patties on both sides with salt and pepper and fire up the grill to medium. If your grill is too hot, the burgers will char long before they’re cooked. Here’s the hardest part to grilling a great burger- don’t fiddle with them! Let them go for 3 minutes before flipping for great grill marks –and no sticking. Promise me you won’t press on them with a spatula, you want to keep all those great juices in your burger.

The burger I’m just crazy about this summer is topped with a sun dried tomato mayonnaise, hot peppers and smoked gouda cheese. In this case, the hot peppers are poblanos, but you can explore lots of pepper options:

Sweet Bell Peppers are just what they sound like, sweet and crisp
Banana Peppers are another sweet variety though some can pack a little heat
Poblanos are commonly used in Mexican cuisine, and they have medium heat. Ancho chiles are dried Poblanos.
Jalapenos range from “warm” to very hot, depending on the age and time of year they are harvested. Chipotle peppers are dried, smoked Jalapenos.
Scotch Bonnets are the hottest pepper, a little goes a long way
So pick your favorite pepper and make a great Burger topped with Hot Pepper and Smoked Gouda. You can find lots more burger ideas, at Certified Angus Beef.com