You are what you eat. If I came back as a food group it would be as a burger. You also develop your tastes for food, much like your values, at an early age. Of course significant emotional events will change your values. As well as your gastronomic outlook on life.

My mother was a horrible cook. A bad cook. How bad was she?

Everyone now: HOW BAD WAS SHE?

She was SO BAD that when she cooked a roast, she cooked two roasts, a small one and big one. When the small roast was burned she knew the big one was done.

Growing up in an apartment, I remember at the age of 4 or 5 being loaded into the car, a blue, 1954 Pontiac 4 door sedan, and whisked away to Harriman State Park near Bear Mountain north of New York City.

There my father set up this charcoal grill, filled it withKingsford Briquettes and pour lighter fluid on it and whooosh as he stuck a match. A big flash of red that could probably been seen from space got the fire on the grill starter. What seemed like an eternity to me, about 45 minutes in real life,the coals started to ash and the burger ritual would begin.

The burgers were cooked rare, served without cheese, not kosher you know, and served with a toasted roll and a slice of raw bermuda onion. These burgers were memorable for the charcoal flavor, and for much of my formative years, they were the nirvana of my burger experience. 

Cookouts as these became known happened once or twice a year.  Burgers prepared at home were fried and never matched up to the burgers my dad prepared. You know who knew how to butcher any meal, and Mom's burgers were awful.

Burgers in restaurant were mostly fried, and they were in restaurants. I never saw the inside of a McDonald until 1970, and you could get 2 burgers, fries and a coke, and change back from your dollars.

As I became an adult, I would grill using charcoal, but the set up time just took too long. Eventually, I bought a gas grill and never looked back. My reputation as a "Burgermeister" came in the mid 1980s when friends came to drink and barbecue, which replaced cookout,  when I lived in New Hampshire.

I developed a concoction known as Sheepdog burgers. I would never reveal the ingredients because, they ingredients sort of jar with the perception of what you would cook with a burger. However, my guests always loved them, and for events like super bowl parties, yes I grill in the dead of winter, always requested them.

I still like burgers rare, and I still cook them on the grill. Though not as frequently as when I was younger. I now get the beef fresh ground, and I like a 75/25 mix. The higher fat content makes the burgers taste better, the fat tends to drip off; and the burgers shrink a bit, but they are juicier and tastier.

So now for the first time ever I will reveal the secret ingredients. They are soy sauce and garlic powder. Use two tablespoons of soy sauce for each pound of beef. Sprinkle in garlic powder to taste, and ladies and gentlemen START YOUR GRILLS and make your burgers.

I'm so hungry I have to run out to the store now. See ya!