What’s fun about burgers, and about cooking in general, is that the joy is in finding the perfect version of something for your palate. There is no perfect burger, there is only your favorite burger. Reading articles like this, in addition to making me hungry, blast the doors wide open in terms of experiments I could try on my own!

Now, in the article, there is a named “perfect burger,” and it’s the Comme Ça burger made at Comme Ça burger brasserie in Los Angeles. I invite you to read about it in the NY Times article but one intriguing difference is that he grills it to give it sear, then finishes in the oven. That’s certainly a little different.

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The only one I’d really try (not counting the hot dog flower, that is really just a hot dog on a stick) is probably the Ditch Dog of Manhattan. It’s a little pricey at $14 but it’s a hot dog on a potato bun topped with “a Gruyere/American/Parmesan mac ‘n’ cheese blend.” It’s certainly not for those counting calories but it’s not a monster either.

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So these guys built a meat thermometer and used signal processing to help overcome that lag and distance. You can read more about it here.

I don’t ever expect to build one of these but I thought it was certainly interested enough to write about! It’s certainly very nerdy but also very cool in its cleverness. Personally, I’ll stick to gut feel and being able to know doneness by touch.

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Here’s a snapshot of all the ingredients laid out on my desk:

The products include onion powder, garlic powder, ground ginger, Colgin liquid smoke, Tropicana orange juice, Grandma’s unsulphured molasses, a 2 liter of Mug Root Beer, Worcestershire sauce, Hunts ketchup, lemon juice, a Mug root beer apron, and a Mug root beer soft cooler. That’s a lot of free stuff in there, just for doing a few simple things!

Here’s how you can win, all you need to do is leave a comment with either your best story about your father and why they deserve to receive the kit by Saturday.

Five winners will be selected and we’ll announce them on Father’s Day!

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1. Make a pyramid of charcoal briquettes.
2. Soak the briquettes in lighter fluid and then wait as it soaks into each coal.
3. Then, after about five minutes, pour on a little bit more.
4. Wait a few seconds, then light it.
5. Let it burn until the briquettes get ashy and gray, then spread across the bottom of the grill and add on any more if the heat isn’t hot enough.

That’s it!

The key to the process is getting the briquettes up to the proper temperature. Common mistakes are to overdo it on the lighter fluid, thinking that more fluid is better, and that usually results in food that tastes like lighter fluid!

Another way to simplify the process is to use a chimney starter. Chimney starters are great because they take an already great configuration (the pyramid) and make it better by confining it into a tube. Using only newspaper, you can get the coals up to the requisite temperature and avoid any potential for overdoing it with lighter fluid!

I reviewed a few chimney starters here in case you want to know what’s a good choice.

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To start, you have to be working with live or thawed lobster tails. It can’t be frozen. If it’s frozen, boil it for about three or four minutes before you start prepping it for the grill. If it’s live, you’ll want to boil the lobster to kill it – it should take seven or eight minutes.

Once you have the tails, you’ll want to cut open the underside shell. This is the translucent side, not the darker red side. I use scissors to cut through it because that’s easiest. If you want, you can butterfly it a little but cutting into but not through the tail.

Crucial step: Stick a skewer or two along the length of the tail. If you don’t, it’ll curl as it cooks and you won’t cook it as well. Now you can pack all the flavor and goodness you want into the tail, such as butter, salt, pepper, and all sorts of other seasonings you like.

Wrap the whole thing in some aluminum foil and cook until the meat is opaque, should be around 11 or 12 minutes.

Delicious!

(Photo: boyko)

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The primary appeal of chimney starters is that they’re safer than using lighter fluid, simply because you don’t use any flammable liquids. Another reason they’re appealing is because you don’t ever get any residual lighter fluid cooked into your food, since you never use it. We all know the smell of too much lighter fluid and chimney starters prevent that.

I was surprised to see them review four different starters because I thought a chimney starter was a chimney starter. How complicated can you really get? Well, it turns out that there are some designs that perform better than others. Fortunately Cook’s Illustrated reviewed four and were able to select a winner.

They looked at the Weber Rapid Fire Chimney Starter, the Lodge Camp Dutch Oven Charcoal Chimney Starter, Outset Stainless Steel Chimney, and the GrillPro Charcoal Starter. They highly recommended the Weber Rapid Fire Chimney Starter, which happened to be the cheapest at $14.95. The Lodge Camp, priciest at $25.46, was recommended with reservations (smaller capacity and fewer air circulation holes meant heating coals took 4 minutes longer). The Outset, at $22.46, was deemed too flimsey and the GrillPro’s finish melted from the heat, which took 27 minutes to heat the coals.

Here’s what they said about the Weber Rapid Fire:

Holds just enough charcoal (6 quarts) to handle the frequent grilling applications that require high heat. A design feature testers did appreciate was a second handle, which made for easier-to-control coal distribution. In the end, the no-frills Weber was adequate for most grill sizes.

Cheapest chimney starter beats out the competition? Sounds like a winner to me.

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If you click on one of the nine types, it explains the cut, the location on the cow, and gives you some suggestions on how to prepare it. For example, here’s the description for the Flatiron, located on the shoulder:

Named for its shape. Relatively tender even though it comes from the tough chuck. The gristle that runs down its center can be removed easily. Also called top blade steak.

Here’s top sirloin:

One of the leander, more tender steaks int he whole group. At a standard size of about 3 pounds, it’s a good cut to grill for a crowd. Also called top butt.

Give it a look!

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