National Cheeseburger Day!

Where is your favorite place to get one? Type? What do you like on it?

I like my homemade ones, pretty simple, 80/20 ground round, pickeled jalapenos, BBQ sauce(Hog Heaven), two slices of cheddar. And horror for some, I prefer frying the burgers to grilling.

If I am out and about, I really like Smashburger, same toppings.

CB Potts or Rockbottom up north. I had the best cheeseburger at one of those. Several slices of cheddar cheese draped over the burger and allowed to melt off onto the griddle. So you got nice crispy cheese and melted cheese all together.

Ditto, LOL likes those Burgers at the Brewery joints too. Teds Montanas has good burgers too.

Smashburgers? Gotta check those out someday. But been eating more Chicken lately in honor of the Seattle Sea-Hens.

Go Broncos!

LOL

Rockbottom has added stuffed cheeseburgers. Pretty good. I had the jalapeno one. My wife enjoyed the one stuffed with brisket. You have to love meat on meat.

Plenty of places not too far away that make great burgers. Teddy's, Bud's Bar (I love the fries there and I always pay with a personal check), and Gunther Toody's is another favorite of mine.

Then again I make a pretty good burger myself; use 70/30 ground chuck (because fat ='s flavor) and fresh toppings, nothing exotic just sharp cheddar and swiss (two kinds of cheese is a minimal requirement). Gotta have a quality bun that can stand up to being buttered and toasted on the grill then not fall apart when you add on the mustard, mayo, catchup, dill pickle chips, thinly sliced red onion, lettuce, and sliced ripe tomatoes.

Patty up the meat fresh out of the grinder and cook immediately, season with salt, fresh cracked black pepper, onion and garlic powder, and some cayenne if you like it. Grill the patties over charcoal but never cooked beyond medium; yes, I know it's ground meat and there are potential health issues - grind your own or get meat from a source you trust. Butter and toast the buns, I like Kaiser rolls or Ciabatta rolls, sometimes you can find sourdough rolls that are about the right size to house a burger. Regardless of the rolls you select there is a rule that must be observed, the size of the bread can never exceed the amount of meat in the burger. Big bun, bigger patty.

The order of assembly is vital to achieving burger nirvana, ensure that the bottom bun gets the mustard and mayo, then a layer of lettuce, pickles, onions, and tomato last. Burger next, if you want cheese and or bacon, Jalapenos, or other stuff put it on the burger while it cooks for the last 45 seconds. The top bun get catchup or bbq sauce or other sauces you want (try peanut butter sometime - you're welcome in advance). Why does it make any difference what items go on the bun in a particular order? Moisture, gravity, and mouth feel. If you use 70/30 ground chuck and you don't destroy it by over cooking it there will be a lot of "juice" in the burger, the lettuce and other topping on the bottom bun help to protect the bun so you don't end up holding a hand full of mush. Having the correctly assembled burger helps to give you the right taste experience, you taste the ingredients without any single one of them over powering the other (unless you go with something really spicy or sweet - personal choice).

Then again, sometimes it's not all about the quality of the burger. Sometimes it's all about where you went and the atmosphere of the locale: