Bifteki Burgers Recipe

Making Caribbean Burgers

We planned to have burgers the other night but my 12 year old daughter decided she wanted to prepare them and use a recipe from a collection of recipes she received from her day camp. The booklet is called Gourmet Camper Caribbean Flair and is made up of recipes the kids could prepare at camp and at home.

You know I am a big proponent of Kids Can Cook because of the many benefits associated with teaching your kids how to cook including:

• Following a recipe
• Measuring and math skills
• Understanding various food groups
• Safety and lots more

The recipe she found in the camp recipe booklet was for Bifteki Burgers. What are Bifteki burgers?  I didn’t know so I looked them up on the Internet to find out they are Greek burgers and there are lots of variations for making them.

Here’s my daughter’s version of Bifteki Burgers. The original recipe is for twelve servings so we cut it in half.

Print Recipe

Bifteki Burgers

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time10 mins

Total Time30 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Caribbean

Servings: 6 burgers

Ingredients

• ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• freshly ground pepper to taste
• ½ cup breadcrumbs
• 1 small red onion chopped
• 1¼ pounds ground beef
• 6 burger buns
• cheese for cheeseburgers - optional
• fixings to serve with the burgers: fresh lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mustard

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Start by peeling and carefully chopping the onion to small pieces. If you are letting your kids do this, you may want to watch closely or do this with them.

  My 12 year old is very good with sharp knives, but I'm less inclined with my 10 year old daughter.
• Combine the ingredients together in the mixing bowl being careful not to over work the meat. The less you handle the meat, the better the burger turns out.
• Shape the burgers into 6 patties and here's where your kids can have some fun. Let them make their own favorite shapes like stars, hearts, squares.
• Grill the burgers for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. If you like them more rare, cook them for less time or if you like them more well done, let them cook longer. Please do not overcook them or they will taste like hockey pucks.
• If you are going to add cheese, wait until the last minute of cooking, top with cheese and cover your grill so the cheese melts quickly.
• While the burgers are resting, toast the buns on a cooler part of the grill. It takes less than a minute to toast them. Do not let them burn.
• Put the burgers on the buns and serve with your favorite toppings. We served ours with fresh farm corn on the cob and tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella.

Notes

It's the same as preparing any hamburger. You get the ingredients prepped and combine them in a large mixing bowl.

The burgers were delicious and having my kids prepare most of the meal made it even better.