Roof-Top Burgers

See the Freedom Tower?

Some of you may know and some of you may not know so now all of you can know that I live in New York City - Manhattan to be precise and with that comes a lot of advantages and a lot of disadvantages. I won't even go into all the perks to living here but I will dive right into the non-perks. Non perk number one is I don't have a yard and without a yard that could make grilling outdoors a challenge. 

I keep it chained up - New York City - its a jungle out there.

I have embraced that challenge and I grill on my roof top. I have been doing this for years now but last September the wonderfull people at Char-Broil asked me to be a Char-Broil All-Star and with that I received a fantastic Grill(that I have to keep locked so that no one steals the tank) and my rooftop experience has improved dramatically. I used to use a little portable propane grill or little charcoal grills and while those did the job they didn't get as hot or offer as much cooking surface so I had to do things in batches. Now with my InfraRed Quantum I am in grilling nirvana.

The stairs

Ok, you are wondering, whats the whole process like because you just walk outside to your deck or yard or whatever and you grill then you walk right back inside and Bob's your Uncle. Well I don't do too much different than that except I walk up two flights of stairs, I live on the 5th floor and the grill is on the roof of my 6 story building. What does that mean in everyday terms? Right above me is one more floor with apartments but above that is the roof, so I am not too far away.

Grind it twice

Where I cook it isn't nearly as important as what I am cooking, though. I am a labor intensive sort of guy when it comes to cooking, I like the process so it would only seem natural that I would grind my own meat for burgers, now wouldn't it. I get some chuck and I chop it up, I toss on some Memphis rub and I toss in a scallion and some garlic cloves then I run it through the grinder twice.

Burgers are like little soldiers they like to be uniform

Making the patties is just as crucial as everything else, I want them all to be the same so I use a ring mold and some plastic wrap to make sure that each and every little burger is just like the burger before it and just like the burger after. When all the burgers I am going to make are made then I press them down just a tiny little bit so that they will go from edge to edge of the bun.

Cant beat the view

All thats left now is to put them on the hottest part of your grill and take in the scenery.

Its like Margaritaville up here

Sometimes I cart the whole shebang upstairs and we enjoy them at the patio table but most often I just come back inside and we eat them at the kitchen table.

Hard to find a better burger - thats all I have to say! There you have it - grilling on a roof-top.