There are many ways to grill up a burger, and everyone has their own opinion as to how its done best. Most prefer the open grill, so we are going to look at some tips from Adam Perry Lang, the author of Serious Barbecue. Hes going to explain some of the best methods for cooking burgers over the charcoal.

Encourage Flare-Ups – “You will be in trouble if you have a high fat burger on a very hot grill. It will cause a high flare-ups, especially if you have more than one burger on at a time. You’re going to get too much crust before the burger even cooks. If you really want to use high heat you can go with a leaner burger and put it directly on the grill.”

Promoting Stickage – ” The liquids and juices that come from a burger are not exactly water. They have a lot of protein in them and that’s what causes them to stick to the grill. To avoid this you can use this tip, always dry your burger patty after you form it, make sure its as dry as possible, then you season it and add a thin coat of canola oil. The oil prevents that protein-laden juice from adhering to the grill.”

Don’t Rely on Salt – “Try to avoid seasoning a burger mix with salt. Ground beef is at a high risk of losing all of its moisture, and the texture will change. It will not be as juicy and has the potential to become rubbery. You only want to season it on the outside, and only right before you put it on the grill. ”

Let Raw Patties get Warm – If you like your burgers on the rare side, but you still want a crust development, have the burger very cold before you put them on the grill. It will give your crust development a head start, because the inside will take a while to warm up.

Go Big – Avoid thinner burgers because they will dry out. Go with a thicker burger so the juicy texture comes from the slightly undercooked medium rare meat. it holds on to more of that juiciness because its thicker.

Don’t Let the Burgers Sit – “I’m not a big fan of resting burgers. I want it juicy and straight off the grill. I do understand the concept though. its thought that it lets the temperature penetrate a little bit more,but burgers for me are about the crust and juiciness. Burgers have so much cooked surface area that a lot of the juice leaks out onto the platter. By the time you put it on a bun and hand it to someone, the concept of “resting” has already happened.”