Grilled mini burgers are a tasty treat.
Mini burgers, or sliders as the high-priced caterers call them, are all the rage at receptions, parties and barbecues. While most burgers are made with ground beef, consider ground turkey for a lower fat alternative or ground pork for a different flavor. Pack the mini burger with all the flavor of a big burger suggests Jonathan King, author of "Stonewall Kitchen: Grilling: Fired-Up Recipes for Cooking Outdoors All Year Long." Mini burgers are even made with chopped fish bound with bread crumbs and eggs. Don't wait for the next special occasion to serve mini burgers. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Burger Pan
Several varieties of slider pans exist. One looks like a series of small tuna fish cans with their tops and bottoms removed. Once the pan is placed in a frying pan or roasting pan, the burgers are patted into each opening. The pan keeps the burgers all the same size and perfectly round. Another looks like a shallow pan for cupcakes, except instead of batter it's for burgers. The pan is placed in the oven or on top of the stove. It has a top which conducts the heat from the stove so both sides cook at once.
Electric Burger Pan
Based on the concept of an electric fry pan the mini burger, or slider pan, has indentations for each burger. Turn on the fry pan, roll the meat into a ball, then press the ball flat into each indentation. The pans are non-stick for easy clean p and to make it easy to flip the burgers over. One variety has a heated lid, like a waffle maker, so the burgers don't have to be turned over. Both sides cook at the same time.
Burger Press
Use the burger press to push the meat into the mini burger pans. It has a round circle of metal with a non-stick coating at one end and a handle on the other. It keeps your hands clean since you don't touch the meat. It also keeps your hand from touching the hot mini burger pan to avoid burns.
Grilled
Grilled hamburgers need to be exposed to the heat and smoke from the grill to get that charred flavor. Putting the mini burgers into a pan removes the possibility of that flavor. Putting them directly on the grill is tricky because the burgers are so small they may fall through the openings of the grill. Instead put the burgers in a hinged grill pan usually used for fish.
Biscuit Cutter
Biscuit cutters do double duty. Use them to cut regular-sized buns into mini burger size buns and to shape the burgers themselves. You can even cook the mini burger in the cutter on the frying pan if the cutter is made of metal and doesn't have a plastic handle.
DIY
You don't need any special tools for making mini burgers that you don't already have on hand. Use a skillet to cook the burgers on your stove. Flip them over with a spatula. The trick is to make golf-ball sized balls of meat and then press thinly to no more than 1/2 inch in diameter. Place the balls on sheet of waxed paper. Place another sheet on top and use a rolling pin to flatten the burgers. These will cook quickly. For fish burgers, use strips of folded-over aluminum fastened together into a circle with a 3 inch diameter. The aluminum keeps the fish from falling apart while it cooks.
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