Guidelines for Building Better Burgers

We invite home cooks from the rocky shores of Maine to the sun-kissed beaches of Hawaii to ignite your imaginations, fire up your grills, and join in the fun of this summer’s annual search for America’s best burgers. You may choose to reinvent your favorite burgers with exciting new toppings, show off your ethnic or cultural background, or highlight the dishes or products of your part of the country.

Read more on the call for entries here.

Tips from Head Judge James McNair

Because any ground meat dries out quickly, purchase boneless meat and grind or mince it just before cooking, or buy freshly ground meat from a reliable butcher. To incorporate flavor into every bite, thoroughly mix seasonings into ground ingredients. Contrary to popular culinary myth, salting ground meat a few minutes before cooking will not draw out the moisture and create a dry burger. For my taste, one teaspoon of salt to every pound of meat is a perfect ratio.

If making beef burgers, keep in mind that the lower the fat content, the less flavor and the tougher the cooked patty. Ground chuck, usually around 24 percent fat, or other fatty cuts make the best patties.

When using lean meats, add a little ground fat, a bit of wine or broth, and extra seasonings to keep the patties moist and flavorful.

For a lighter texture and tender patties, handle the mixture as little as possible when mixing in seasonings and forming the patties to prevent compacting.

Cook patties shortly before serving.

Brush the hot grill rack with vegetable oil before adding patties to help keep them from sticking.

Place patties directly over the heat source if you want them well charred on the outside and moist and juicy inside.

When grilling patties with a high fat content or dripping marinades, offset them from the fire to prevent flare-ups.

To keep all of the delicious juices inside, avoid pressing down on the patties with a spatula during cooking.

I prefer burger patties cooked less done, but for optimal safety, the USDA recommends cooking beef, buffalo, lamb, pork, and veal patties to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F and poultry patties to 165 degrees F. To check the internal temperature, insert an instant-read thermometer into the center of a patty. If it is not thick enough to check from the top, the thermometer may be inserted from the side of the patty. Be sure to wash the thermometer after each trial. It is recommended that fish patties be cooked until opaque throughout.

When topping with cheese, wait until the patties are almost done, then close the grill lid for quicker melting.

Burgers taste best when the buns are warm and lightly toasted.

Serve assembled burgers immediately.

James McNair's Tips for Creating Winning Recipes

Here are some tips that may increase your chances of being selected as a BBB finalist, and many should also prove helpful in entering other recipe contests.

Read the rules very carefully before working on a recipe.

Check recipes that have won the contest in previous years. They are examples of how to write winning recipes and will also show you what has already been done and shouldn't be repeated.

Stay up to date. Read food magazines, newspaper food sections, and the latest cookbooks, and watch cooking shows on television to keep up with what's going on in the world of food.

Be creative and "think outside of the box." Keep in mind, however, that "original" does not equal weird, so make certain that the flavors of the ingredients all work together. Avoid being too trendy just for the sake of being different. Creative uses of traditional burger ingredients often work best.

Choose a good name. "Aunt Betty's Burgers" or "Daddy's Favorite Burgers" aren't going to get a second look, but "Black Thai Burgers" or "My Big Fat Greek Burgers" will definitely grab my attention. Descriptive straightforward names such as "Cajun Andouille and Shrimp Burgers with Fiery Tasso Mayonnaise" or "Caesar Salad and Flank Steak Burgers with Garlic Crostini" will also get noticed.

List ingredients, including the buns and condiments, in the exact same order that they are used. This one requirement lands more recipes in the disqualified pile than anything else.

Include every detail of building the burger in step-by-step directions, and double-check that you mention the ingredients in the exact same order that they are given in the ingredients list. If you list "6 sesame hamburger buns" followed by "1/4 cup softened butter" in the ingredients list, direct people to "Spread the buns with the butter." Don't say "Butter the buns," which is out of order and disqualifies a recipe.

Don't make a screener or judge count when reading directions by having them combine "the first 6 ingredients" or "the next 14 ingredients," but call for each ingredient. If you do choose to use this style, remember that "salt and pepper" listed on one line in the ingredients list are actually two ingredients, not one.

Don't end by saying, "serve burgers with condiments of choice and/or on bun of choice." This is your recipe and should be submitted exactly as you want it and would prepare it at the cook-off, so specify the exact buns and condiments to use. And don't forget to specify amounts of each in the ingredients list.

Use enough seasoning. Salt enhances flavor, so no matter how creative and interesting they sound, recipes that don't add enough salt to the patties won't make my first cut. BBB is judged by food professionals, including a lot of chefs, who are looking for the tastiest burger. The most frequent complaint from the judges is that the patties are under-seasoned.

Use fresh ingredients whenever possible. I'm more inclined to consider recipes that call for fresh garlic instead of garlic powder or fresh herbs instead of dried.

Toast or heat the bread. In the final round of selections, unless everything else is superior to the other recipes that I'm considering, I cast aside those that assemble the burgers on cold buns.

The use of Sutter Home wine and other sponsor's ingredients does not sway me in choosing the best recipes. On the other hand, these are the folks putting up the prize money, so it's nice to include their ingredients when appropriate. I definitely rule out a recipe that calls for wine produced by another winery or for a variety of wine that Sutter Home doesn't make, as that shows that you haven't done your homework for the contest.

Before submitting your recipe, either electronically or by mail, be sure that you have followed the rules exactly. Re-read the rules several times and double-check your written entry against them. For mailed entries, be sure to use the correct size of paper (BBB accepts only 8 1/2-by-11-inch sheets), staple pages together when more than one page is used, and be sure to put your name and contact information at the top of the page. For all submissions, be sure that your contact information is complete and correct.

If you're selected as a finalist, here are a few tips that may boost your chances of winning the top prize.

No matter how great the recipe, on cook-off day it all comes down to how well you can cook under pressure. Increase your odds of receiving that big check and chubby trophy with the same answer to the old joke about how to get to Carnegie Hall—Practice! Practice! Practice! Invite your family and friends, and stage your own cook-off "rehearsals" at home to prepare for your "performance for the critics" in California. Remember that it's too late to make any changes to the submitted recipe, but you can perfect your cooking techniques.

Good recipes have been done in at the cook-off because the finalists hadn't actually cooked their submissions on a charcoal grill before. The 2003 Grand Prize winner didn't have a charcoal grill on the balcony of her high-rise co-op in Jackson Heights, New York, so she made several trips to the home of friends with a grill to prepare her recipe before heading to Napa Valley.

At the contestant's meeting on the afternoon before the cook-off, check the ingredients and equipment carefully to make certain that everything meets your expectations. As soon as you arrive at the cook-off, re-check the ingredients and equipment before starting to cook.

Stay calm and focused. Don't be distracted by other contestants, visitors watching you from behind the ropes, television cameras, reporters, or photographers.

Watch the clock. Have a game plan for completing everything on time, and stick to it.

Keep a positive attitude. This is a cook-off where the judges can see you working and interacting with your fellow contestants, so don't turn us off before we even get a chance to taste your creation.