The very idea of oven roasting a burger is something most burger purists won't consider. The flame broiled juiciness of a grilled burger, they say, cannot be duplicated indoors. And what if you want a burger in the winter months, and live in a place that gets snow? I have only met one person in my life who will actually dig out the grill and cook out in winter, and that is my crazy burger-purist mother.

I am here to show you that a grill is not necessary, and you do not have to bundle up in snow gear to have juicy, flavorful burgers in the middle of winter! The best part is that with this oven roasting process, you do not have to flip your patties. The juice seals in, the fat drips out and you've got yourself a delicious homemade roasted burger with less hassle than cooking on a grill or trying to pan-fry the patties. Even my mother agrees, oven roasted burgers beat the heck out of waiting until summer to cook out! She also says they are "every bit as delicious as grilled", and less greasy too! I just may have converted another grill traditionalist!

Ingredients:

80% lean ground chuck (do not go leaner - the fat helps bind the meat and will melt down)

Burger seasonings (use whatever you normally do)

Nonstick cooking spray

Materials:

Cookie sheet/jelly roll pan (you want a pan with a lip on it to catch the fat)

Aluminum foil

Roasting rack or cookie rack ( I used an oven safe cookie cooling rack)

Step 1: Prep Work

Pre heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Add your burger seasonings to your ground beef, and thoroughly mix it together. Form even patties (thinner patties cook faster). I used a patty former, to get even burgers.
Place a layer of aluminum foil over the cookie sheet, and place the rack on top, inside the lip of the sheet.
Spray the rack lightly with nonstick cooking spray.

Step 2: Roasting the Burgers

5. Place your patties on the rack, still on the cookie sheet. The cookie sheet will catch all the drippings, the aluminum helps reflect heat to the bottom of the burgers and helps clean up the grease.

6. Roast your burgers, timing based on the thickness of your patty. Mine were 1/2 inch thick and took 20 minutes to roast. My friend tried it with 1/4 inch patties and they cooked in 15 minutes. Thinner than that would probably be around 10 minutes.

*Once you know your cooking times, you can just set the timer and walk away. *

Step 3: Roast (and Test) the Meat

7. Do not flip your burgers! The air will circulate under the patties, cooking them evenly on both sides and sealing in the juice. The top will be nice and browned, ready for cheese if wish.

8. Test your meat for doneness. If you gently apply pressure and the juices are still red, nd the meat is still very squishy, you are in the rare zone. If it is a little firmer but still red in the juice, it is medium rare. Make a fist, and with your other hand feel the fleshy part of the palm under your thumb. if your burger is as firm as that, you are headed into the well done zone. This is how I test meat without cutting into it, I compare the "squishy-ness" of the meat.

If using an internal thermometer, use this guide for the temp. of the patty to gauge doneness:
For medium-rare, 130 degrees
For medium, 140 degrees
For medium-well, 160 degrees
For well done, 170 degrees

Step 4: Melt the Cheese Perfectly

8. We love cheese so we added some...I put a slice on each burger then turned the oven off, and waited around a minute, minute and a half then took the burgers out. the cheese was melted perfectly!

9. Enjoy your Snow Burgers! Gloat that you can have delicious homemade burgers in the middle of winter!

NOTES:

* Make sure your oven’s clean before roasting anything at a high temperature, otherwise it will smoke.

* Make sure you have proper ventilation, in case it does smoke. My oven range vent apparently is a fan that has no exhaust outlet...so it just circulates the smoke, doesn't get rid of it. It set my smoke detector off, led to some jokes about that being my oven timer, but all in all the experience was low hassle and easy to clean up, much easier than my grill! If you have a range vent like this, crack a window just in case.

So there you have it, "Snow Day" burgers roasted in the oven! There is no cooking over a hot pan, no grease splatter, and little clean up!