Last fall my nephew came for a visit. He got me to fry our burgers in bacon drippings. That's what I do now, when I'm the cook.
Sat. night I had Cheddar-mushroom burgers.
I buy 1/2 beef from local farmer (grass fed with two weeks of non GMO corn feed right before going to the butcher). About 40% is made into hamburger.
Take two pounds and mix with one pound of Jimmy Dean’s uncured sausage. Saute chopped Vidallia onion, green peppers, salt/pepper/one clove fresh crushed garlic. Mix this into meat with COSTCO organic seasoning to taste. Let stand overnight. Make into patties and cook to med/ med rare. Top with Sharp cheddar. mmm, mmm, mmm
I like to fry them in bacon grease as well, but blending the grease into the uncooked hamburger makes it even better.
Oddly enough, I learned the trick, after a fashion, from McDonald’s. They get their meat from steers, but they get their fat they use from dairy cattle, then they blend the two together before making frozen patties. This helps guarantee consistency in their cooking process.
However, as I mentioned before, beef fat is not as tasty as is bacon grease, so I get the 90/10 mix, then add in bacon grease until it is about the optimal 80/20 mix.
This would be about 3 Tablespoons of bacon grease.
And do try melting a pat of butter on each cooked burger, as it both enhances the flavor, and gives it a juicy look. It is often done to enhance cooked steaks as well.
(As you might imagine, I use a lot of bacon grease in cooking, so I’m on the lookout for cheap bacon, and just separate the fat from the meat, and render the fat in a large Pyrex bowl, storing it in a glass jar in the fridge.)