Your Best Beef Burgers

We used thick strips of bacon, which worked nicely.

Amanda mixes 1/4 cup of maple syrup right into the beef, along with some salt and pepper. Make sure not to over-mix the meat!

Amanda pats the meat into 1/2-pound patties, while Merrill slices up an apple.

We used bulkie rolls -- perfect for a New England-inspired burgah!

When grilling the apple slices, be careful not to drop them through the grate -- we lost a few to the coals!

They only take a minute or so.

The burgers should take about 4 minutes per side on a hot grill for medium rare.

Once you flip the burgers, brush them with a little maple syrup -- this is to taste, but you don't want to end up with candied burgers!

With the buns now on the grill too, things are getting crowded.

Move the burgers off to the side a little, and stack 'em with the goodies: first bacon and apple...

then cheese!

A minute with the grill cover on...

And they'll look like this.

Transferring these giant burgers from grill to bun requires a little concentration.

Grass-fed beef, Worcestershire sauce, mushrooms, Gruyere, onion, pickle, rye bread, Dijon mustard, and butter.

The rye bread is key.

You begin by adding mustard, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce to the ground beef.

Merrill wipes the mushroom caps with a damp paper towel. Now that is love.

Amanda attempts to shape the patties to match the size of the rye bread slices. Merrill inspects her progress.

Not bad for government work.

Le patty.

We saute the mushrooms in a cast iron skillet.

Mushrooms, don't mess with us.

You want to keep the heat pretty high so the mushrooms brown without stewing.

Onions' turn.

Merrill butters one side of each slice of rye bread.

Toasting the rye bread, butter-side-down.

Cooking up the burgers.

Melting the cheese in sync with the burger cooking. We learn this takes practice.

Don't forget the pickle -- you need the occasional flash of acidity and crunch!