A Better with Butter Burger

As Summer winds down and cooking on the grill becomes less frequent, we are trying to squeeze in every chance we can to barbecue. I have seen articles in the food magazines we get about putting butter on burger patties before grilling them. But it was a segment on a Barefoot Contessa show where chef Laurent Tourondel of LT Burger in Sag Harbor showed his method that made me a convert. His basic burger is made with meat that has 20% fat, salt, pepper, and softened unsalted butter spread on the top of the burger. That was it. Nothing fancy, just basic stuff. The butter of course adds flavor, but it also caramelizes the burger a bit. We have tried it several times, and it really does create a pretty stellar burger. Add a sliced heirloom tomato and you are good to go. It is a tad indulgent, but hey, if you are going to have a burger, it might as well be as tasty as you can make it. Cheers to cooking on the grill in the sunshine!