Buffalo Beef Burgers

One year since I started this blog. Week one was March 28, 2016 — a chili post written in the cab of my Peterbilt at a rest stop outside Hastings. Three years later, ten thousand followers, hundreds of recipes, and a life that has changed in ways I could not have predicted and would not have chosen. Larry is gone. The kids are older. Gayle is smaller. The chili is the same. The chili is always the same.

I did not write a special anniversary post. I thought about it and decided against it because I do not do special. I do ordinary. The whole point of this blog is that ordinary is enough — that a chili recipe and a story about your kids and a Tuesday night dinner are worth writing about, worth sharing, worth reading. If I start doing special I become something I am not, and the readers will know, because readers always know when you are performing instead of living.

Spring is here. Real spring, not Nebraska's lying version from two weeks ago. Sixty degrees Tuesday, sixty-five Thursday, the trees budding, the grass greening, the air smelling like dirt and growth and the particular promise of a Midwest spring that says: the hard part is over. It is a lie — the hard part is never over, not really — but it is a beautiful lie, and I choose to believe it every March.

I made my first grilling meal of the season: burgers. Just burgers. Ground beef, salt, pepper, a hot grill, sesame buns. Dave grilled because Dave is the grilling person and I am the kitchen person and this division of labor has not been renegotiated in fourteen years and will not be renegotiated in the next fourteen. The burgers were good. The evening was warm. The kids ate in the backyard. Josie got ketchup on her shirt. Tyler ate two. Justin ate three. Amber ate one and said it was fine, which is the fourteen-year-old version of delicious.

Dave grilled, I seasoned, and nobody talked about blog anniversaries or grief or the years between that first chili post and this one — and that was exactly right. If you’re going to fire up the grill for the first time in spring, you want something with a little more character than a plain patty, and these Buffalo Beef Burgers are just that: still simple, still fast, still a Tuesday-night meal, but with enough heat and tang to feel like a small celebration without announcing itself as one.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 12 min | Total Time: 22 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs ground beef (80/20)
3 tablespoons Buffalo wing sauce, plus more for serving
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 sesame seed hamburger buns, toasted
4 leaves romaine or iceberg lettuce
4 slices tomato
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese (optional)
Ranch or blue cheese dressing, for serving

Instructions

Heat the grill. Preheat an outdoor grill or grill pan to medium-high heat. Clean and lightly oil the grates.
Mix the patties. In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, Buffalo wing sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Mix gently with your hands until just combined — do not overwork the meat or the patties will be tough.
Form the patties. Divide the mixture into 4 equal portions and shape into patties about 3/4 inch thick. Press a shallow dimple in the center of each with your thumb to prevent puffing during cooking.
Grill the burgers. Place patties on the hot grill. Cook 5–6 minutes per side for medium, or until internal temperature reaches 160°F. Do not press down on the patties while cooking.
Toast the buns. During the last minute of cooking, place buns cut-side down on the grill until lightly golden.
Assemble and serve. Layer lettuce and tomato on the bottom bun, add the patty, drizzle with extra Buffalo sauce and ranch or blue cheese dressing, and top with crumbled blue cheese if using. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Buffalo Beef Burgers — The First Grill Night of Spring