Perfect Patties; Clean Hands

It is grilling season!  At our house this means burgers every Saturday, and a lot of patty making.  It is usually cheaper for me to make our own patties rather than buying the premade ones.  (Especially since premade patties are 1/3 pound and that is too big for most of the people in my house, and I like to get our ground beef from the farmer.) 
Some people have a strong aversion to touching raw meat. Others of us have small fires to put out amongst small children every minute and a half.  It can be tedious to make a patty, wash hands, deal with issues, and repeat 7 times.  If either applies to you, you are going to LOVE this post!  I learned this trick by watching my mother-in-law so I can't take credit for it.  I can make patties that are evenly seasoned, the same size and never get my hands dirty!  There is one catch: I do have a hamburger press.  Mine happens to be Tupperware, but a quick Google search shows them everywhere.  (I think that the rest of the kitchen tools that I used were all non-specific, common tools.)

1.  Season the meat and mix in a flat pan or container.  Rachel Ray once said not to over season hamburgers.  Let the flavor of the meat speak for itself.  I believed her so we use pressed garlic, salt and pepper.  I was making 8 patties this day from two pounds of ground beef.  If I were using 3 or 4 pounds I think that I would use a 9x13.

2.  Spread out the meat and cut into equal parts.  Make sure that the beef is evenly spread in the container.  I used a spatula to "cut" the beef.  (This day I felt creative and did fancy triangle, but rectangles work too as long as they are the same size!)

3. Scoop out and press into patties.  Pretty self explanatory.  I used the same spatula from cutting to remove from the container and then used my hamburger press to shape the patties.

4. Flip the press upside down onto plate or waxed paper.  I ended up with clean hands and 8 grilltastic quarter pounders that looked like this:

This post is linked up at

Kitchen Tip Tuesdays @ http://www.tammysrecipes.com/

Penny Pinching Party @ http://www.thethriftyhome.com/

Health 2Day Wednesdays @ http://quickeasycheaphealthy.com/

Works for Me Wednesday @ http://wearethatfamily.com

Frugal Days Sustainable Ways @ http://frugallysustainable.com/