This week, I had a craving for a good homemade burger.  I’m not hugely picky with my burgers – I’ve tried a couple of the famed gourmet burger joints in the DC area, and they’re generally quite good, but I prefer one I can make up at home, just the way I like it.

But I’m faced with a burger problem:  my apartment complex doesn’t allow residents to have grills.  They’ve got a couple available to all residents by the community room, but I never end up wanting to make the trek over there.  And when the weather’s bad?  Forget it.

Surely, I thought, I’m not condemned to skillet-seared burger patties for all my days?  I like a good skillet-cooked burger, but it’s so messy.  Grease gets everywhere on my stove, and even with my biggest skillet, I only have room for three, maybe four patties at the most.  I suspect many of our readers around DC and the surrounding area are in the same boat – I’m told it’s illegal to put a grill on a balcony in Arlington County, for example – and I figured there had to be a kitchen hack that I could put to good use.  I considered buying Liquid Smoke or trying out a grill pan, but then I came across a suggestion to try roasting.

I was initially skeptical about the technique, as a good burger is usually seared or grilled at high heat to produce a beautifully browned, flavorful crust.  But the high heat means that it’s easy to overcook your burger, leaving you with a dried-out, inedible meat puck.  I’ve been to far too many family functions with those.  And forming them is especially important when grilling – if you don’t put a dimple into the patty, you’ll end up with the dreaded “flying saucer”-shaped burger.  Roasting, though, gets around a couple of those problems.  High-heat roasting still gives you some of that nice browned outside, though obviously not as much as you’d get on the grill.  But the real advantage is that it keeps the burger flavorful and moist.  And best of all, it’s an incredibly easy method.  I put my trusty probe thermometer in the biggest patty and then put my feet up until they hit temperature.

Give this technique a try next time the stove is clean and you don’t want to mess it all up.  I also think this would be a great way to cook for a crowd – 8 burgers could easily fit on a roasting pan, and since they only take 10-12 minutes to cook, you could keep more batches coming to feed a bigger group.  You won’t be stuck outside watching the grill the whole time, and you’ll be better company for it!

Roasted Hamburgers

Inspired by The Amateur Gourmet’s review of Molly Steven’s cookbook, All About Roasting: http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2011/10/oven-roasted-hamburgers.html

2 lbs ground chuck

1 ½ tsp kosher salt, plus more for the roasting pan

½ tsp smoked paprika

½ tsp onion powder

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Hamburger buns and your favorite toppings

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.  Line a roasting pan with a sheet of foil and sprinkle generously with kosher salt to absorb drippings, then set a cooling rack into the pan.

Break the beef up into small chunks in a large mixing bowl.  Add the salt, smoked paprika and onion powder (and feel free to substitute other spices if preferred – seasoned salt or garlic powder would be nice here, too).  Mix gently with your hands and divide into 6 equal portions.  You can use a scale to be exact if you’d like, but I just eyeball it.  Shape into patties (gently; work them too hard and your burgers will toughen up) and lay out on the cooling rack in the roasting pan.  Apply a healthy dollop of Worcestershire sauce to each patty and insert a probe thermometer into one burger.

Roast for 10-12 minutes or until the burger reaches about 135 degrees for medium-rare to medium.  Add your favorite cheese if desired and put back into the oven for a minute or so to melt.  I’m a cheeseburger purist – my burgers come with American, darn it – but you can change it up if you’d like.  Serve on a bun (or not!  We’re still low-carb in my household!) and garnish with pickles, onions, tomatoes, or any other burger topping you’d like.

Enjoy!

-HML

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