Barbecue a Hamburger

• TASK: Grill a hamburger in order to ensure that you can feed yourself and your friends at a barbecue.
• CONDITIONS: Given a barbecue, charcoals, lighter fluid, matches or lighter, a burger flipper, a wire brush, a thawed hamburger patty, a hamburger bun, additional toppings and condiments.
• STANDARD: You must be able to cook and serve a hamburger.

Barbecuing a burger is easy to do, but difficult to master. Just practicing this skill means that you get to spend time with your friends and eat a burger when you’re done. It’s a win-win either way.

Prep the Grill
There are other types of fuel besides charcoal, but for the sake of simplicity, we’ll only address charcoal barbecues in this set of instructions.

• Pour charcoal from the bag into the barbecue so that it forms as vertical a pile as possible.
• If the coals don’t come with soaked in lighter fluid, add some to the pile of coals.
• Light the coals and let them burn.
• Wait until the flame burns down and the coals turn white before putting a burger on the grill.

Grill the Burgers
Be sure to wait until the coals have stopped burning and have started turning white. If you start too early, your burgers will taste like charcoal and lighter fluid.

• Place the hamburger patty on the grill and close the lid.
• Check every 3-5 minutes.
• Use the flipper to flip the burger when juices gather on the top.
• Check the burgers every 3-5 minutes until the meat in the center of the burger is no longer pink.

Enjoy your Burgers
During the 3-5 minute checks, you should be prepping the buns and condiments so that you can serve your burgers as soon as they’re ready. Add whatever toppings and condiments you want and enjoy!

Clean Up
To clean up, wait for the charcoals to completely burn out and turn to ash. This can take several hours. When the grill is cold, you should use a wire brush to scrub the patty residue off of the grill so that it’s ready for next time.