Ask MIA: Burgers and Ham

ShrinkageThere seems to be a little bit of confusion out there when it comes to making and grilling burgers. People keep wanting to know how to make a juicy burger and how long to grill burgers. But the latest string of search engine hits keeps popping up "how to keep burgers from shrinking on the grill."

OK, let me just set the record straight. On this issue, you can't have your cake and eat it, too. You cannot keep burgers from shrinking on the grill. You can, however, reduce this effect.

One of the main reasons burgers shrink on the grill is because the fat gets rendered out, and the meat contracts to take its place. If you use an extremely low fat ground beef, you can reduce the shrinkage of burgers. But in this case, your burgers may come out slightly dry. As I have previously mentioned, juicy burgers are fatty burgers. So less fat is less juice.

Nothing but NetI was having internal conflict of emotions yesterday when I read what someone searched for on google.

Sigh. I applaud someone for doing a little research before the do something completly hideous like ingesting a little bit of plastic netting with their easter ham. But I'm kind of dismayed that this question even needed to be asked.

That cool netting that som hams come wrapped in is for carrying purposes only. Do not cook it in the netting, and do not eat the netting. It's plastic. Humans shouldn't eat plastic.