Basic thick burgers

RECIPE, MAKES TWO BURGERS

• 12-16 oz (340-450g) loosely packed, freshly ground chuck (or other ground beef at least 20% fat)
• 2-4 slices of cheese (American cheese melts great, but I like smoked gouda on indoor burgers)
• 2 buns (I look for particularly soft buns — they toast up better)
• toppings (I like lettuce, sweet onions, dill pickle chips, mustard and ketchup)
• oil (I only use this for the pan, not the grill)
• salt
• pepper
• garlic powder

Get your grill or pan heating to moderate heat. Divide the beef in two and form each half into a patty that's a little wider than you want it in the end. Be very careful to not overwork the beef — try to keep the internal structure of the patty as loose as possible. Press a valley into the center of the patty so that the outer rim is thicker — I think of it as an inverted lens shape.
If you're cook these in a pan, lightly coat them in oil. If you're cooking them on the grill, I'd skip the oil. Season the outsides heavily with salt, pepper and garlic powder right before you cook. Gently lay the patties on the grill or in the pan, and don't move them until the bottom has browned thoroughly — 5-7 minutes. Use a metal spatula to scrape the burger from the surface and flip it.
If you want a pink burger, wait until you see just a little juice pushing up from the surface. If you want your burger cook through, wait until a lot of juice starts to cover the surface. Put down your cheese, cover the burgers with a lid or foil or some such and cook until the cheese is melted. Remove the burgers to a plate and let rest a couple minutes while you toast the cut sides of the buns on the grill or fry them in the pan until lightly golden.
I like to put once big slice of lettuce on the bottom bun to serve as a moisture barrier, then some slices of sweet onion, pickles, ketchup and mustard. If you put the toppings under the patty, they hit your tongue before the meat does, which I like.