Originally Posted by JBord

I believe you about your burgers and agree in general. I consider it an absolute truth that there is currently no fast food burger that is better than a home-cooked burger done the right way. Not to say the fast food burgers don't have a time and place. I happen to like Five Guys, then Shake Shack, not a big fan of In-n-Out. But a homemade burger (preferably griddle cooked, but also great grilled) will beat them every time. And, assuming you have the ingredients on hand, it doesn't really take much more time than the restaurants.

Funny related story. In the first couple months we were first dating, I was grilling burgers for my now-wife for the first time. Knowing I was a good cook, she asked how I was going to prepare them. I said "what do you mean"? She says "my mom always puts x, y, z in her burgers and they're delicious. What do you do?"

I told her that I salt and pepper both sides. She thought I was insane and was shocked when it turned out to be one of the best she had tasted. Moral, it doesn't take a lot of time and tricks...