• A new strain of monkeypox virus is "the most dangerous" yet and could be a global threat, experts say.
• The new clade Ib virus emerged in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and spread to Rwanda's border.
• Experts say this mpox strain spreads in "worrying" ways and could end up on an airplane.

A deadly and fast-spreading new strain of mpox, the disease caused by the monkeypox virus, has global health officials ringing alarm bells.

The new virus is "undoubtedly the most dangerous of all the known strains of mpox," John Claude Udahemuka, a lecturer at the University of Rwanda, said in a press briefing on June 25. He said the virus has caused miscarriages and blindness.

An earlier, milder form of mpox — called clade IIb — circulated worldwide in 2022, ultimately infecting more than 32,000 people in the US and killing 58 of them. It prompted the World Health Organization to declare a public health emergency, which ended last year.

The new virus is called clade Ib, since it's a mutation of an even earlier form of mpox. It first appeared in a remote region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in September and has spread to towns along the Rwanda border, near Burundi and Uganda.

The new clade Ib virus could cause a global outbreak, experts fear, though they stopped short of warning of a pandemic.

"The pandemic question is difficult," Trudie Lang, director of the Global Health Network at Oxford University, said in the briefing.

"I think we need to be really vigilant now and move to try and contain this as quickly as possible in this region," she added. "There's definitely the opportunity for this to get on an airplane."

The new mpox strain spreads easily

Mpox spreads through close contact, especially skin-to-skin contact. It can cause flu-like symptoms and a painful or itchy rash that develops into puss-filled blisters, lesions, and eventually scabs.

Previous strains of the virus have had limited transmission abilities. The clade I virus that's long circulated in the DRC has been mostly associated with spread through families and within households, Land said. The clade IIb virus that went global was mostly sexually transmitted and mostly affected men who have sex with men.

The new clade Ib strain seems to do it all.

It began spreading through sexual transmission, via the local sex work industry, according to the researchers. However, they said the new virus has also spread within households, between mothers and their children, and there have even been cases of person-to-person spread outside households and without sexual contact.

That's "incredibly worrying," Lang said. That's because it has more opportunities to spread than previous strains did.

The clade I form of the virus, from which the new strain has emerged, is also more deadly than clade II. According to WHO, some outbreaks have killed up to 10% of sick people.

Researchers only see 'the tip of the iceberg'

It's not yet clear just how deadly the new clade Ib virus is, because researchers aren't sure how many cases there are.

Leandre Murhula Masirika, a research coordinator in the local DRC health department, said in the briefing that they had identified more than 600 cases so far.

"These are the severe cases that make it to hospital, so this will be the tip of the iceberg," Lang said.

The WHO's technical lead for mpox, Rosamund Lewis, also raised the alarm last week, saying "There is a critical need to address the recent surge in mpox cases in Africa," according to Reuters.

The researchers said they need to better understand the virus to identify the right safety measures and vaccines to contain its spread.

"We need to first carry out studies of serology and immunology in order to see what kind of vaccination we can propose," Murhula Masirika said.

He added that, in the meantime, he wants to give the smallpox vaccine to local sex workers and healthcare workers in hopes that it will confer some immunity to mpox.

Since launching its war on Ukraine, Russia has seen a boost in its GDP large enough that the World Bank reclassified Russia from an upper-middle-income to a high-income country.

• My family reviewed and ranked 15 prepared Kirkland Signature meals from Costco.
• Surprisingly, we weren't huge fans of the super-loaded chicken pot pie because it was too rich.
• The comforting and flavorful meatloaf and mashed Yukon potatoes with glaze came out on top.

As a busy dad, finding the time to prepare, cook, and clean up dinner can be challenging. So when I saw how many prepared Kirkland Signature meals were available at Costco on my most recent trip, I figured it might be time to see how good they actually are.

My family ate and ranked 15 Kirkland Signature meals to see which was the tastiest and easiest to prepare.

Here's how they stacked up, from our least favorite to our top pick. 

The Kirkland Signature mac and cheese looked promising.

I figured the macaroni and cheese would be the safest bet of the meals I took home, and nothing about how it looked changed my mind.

It was bright yellow and seemed amply portioned. My kids usually love mac and cheese.

The prep was straightforward, as I covered the tray in foil and threw it in the oven for 45 minutes.

However, the mac and cheese disappointed us all.

In my opinion, the mac and cheese was way too rich. There was a lot of cheese and a lot of sauce, and it was unpleasantly gooey and thick.

I ate a few bites before the grease started working on my stomach. Even my kids turned it away, deeming it "too cheesy."

It was the only Kirkland Signature meal we didn't eat to completion, and the sauce was so thick that I practically had to chisel out the refrigerated leftovers to recycle the tray. 

The bright-yellow tortillas and sun-dried-tomato spread made the Tuscan chicken wraps with sauce look exciting.

The Tuscan chicken wraps with sauce looked like something I might pack for an on-the-go lunch. The wraps, which came with a sun-dried-tomato spread, seemed like reasonably sized alternatives to similar options at a deli.  

There were a lot of different elements inside the yellow tortillas — Kirkland Signature rotisserie chicken, spinach, bell peppers, olives, cream cheese, and red-pepper pesto — but I was disappointed in how little chicken I found in the wraps I brought home.

I didn't love the meal's strong flavors, though the sun-dried-tomato spread was a hit.

The most prominent flavors in this wrap were the salty olives and oily red peppers. My first bite contained almost entirely olives, which turned me off slightly.

I thought the cream cheese and red-pepper pesto made the wrap a bit too soggy on the outside and goopy on the inside. The spinach inside the wrap was also wilted, so it didn't offer any crunch.

Though I ate the wraps the day I bought them, I thought they tasted like the flavors had started to meld together — like a meal that had been sitting in the refrigerator for a while. 

Still, I liked that the wrap was pleasantly sweet and didn't fall apart under the weight of its ingredients. The sun-dried-tomato spread also had a nice, almost cheesy tang and worked well when I repurposed it for other sandwiches. But overall, I'd skip this meal the next time I'm at Costco.

We figured we'd enjoy the shepherd's pie.

The shepherd's pie was filled with meat and vegetables and topped with mashed potatoes. My family already loves pie, so the novelty of mashed potatoes and pastry immediately appealed to my kids.

I removed the pie from its plastic container, placed it onto a baking sheet, and put it in the oven for about 45 minutes until golden. Individual pieces of pie fell apart as I served them, which wasn't surprising.

We weren't fans of the shepherd's pie.

I thought the mashed potatoes were mealy and dry, the vegetables were mushy, and the filling was overseasoned and too sweet.

The filling was stew-like, but the ground beef was dry and crumbly. I thought I noticed pieces of steak, but these were just hunks of ground beef resembling burger meat.

Overall, my family wasn't a fan of the meal.

The Kirkland Signature Southwest wrap with rotisserie chicken seemed like a good on-the-go option.

The Kirkland Signature Southwest wraps were the only meal that required no prep whatsoever, making it a good option for on-the-go eating.

They came with a pinkish chipotle sauce. When I unwrapped a wrap to put the sauce inside, I saw that the employee who made the meal sealed the wrap with a tangy, creamy spread.

The Southwest wraps were moist and flavorful.

I thought the wraps were good because they tasted fresh, and the spread that glued them together helped prevent dryness.

There was ample chicken, and the seasoned mix of corn and beans reminded me of a burrito from Chipotle. The pinkish chipotle sauce tasted like a Buffalo sauce to me, but that's not something I'd ever complain about.

Each wrap made for a viable lunch, and at less than $4 each, they're way less expensive than takeout. I could imagine buying them again when I need a lunch that saves time and money.

The chicken pot pie was huge.

At nearly 6 pounds, I thought the Kirkland Signature chicken pot pie was huge and surprisingly heavy.

Some of the latticework on top of the pie broke in transit, but it was only cosmetic damage.

The instructions called for at least an hour of baking time, which I thought sort of defeated the purpose of making it as a quick weeknight meal.

Nevertheless, I baked the pie until it was golden brown, which took about an hour and 10 minutes.

The chicken pot pie felt a little too heavy after a few bites.

The first bite of the pie was great.

The pie crust was sweet, flaky, and crisp, the hunks of rotisserie chicken were huge, and the pea-heavy cream and vegetables were rich and salty without being mushy or overcooked, as they sometimes are in pot pie.

But in subsequent bites, the initial richness became a goopy sort of heaviness that didn't sit well, and the whole pot pie started to taste a little too salty.

At the very least, the crust was good enough to make me want to try one of Costco's dessert pies.

The Kirkland Signature beef bulgogi Korean BBQ seemed like a meal my kids would enjoy.

The Kirkland Signature beef bulgogi Korean BBQ is one of the more bare-bones options among the meal selections at my local Costco. The container had a large portion of thinly sliced raw beef and white onions drenched in brown bulgogi sauce.

My kids don't have much experience with Korean-inspired food, but I thought the meal would appeal to them because it's sweet, tender, and gooey.

The meal was too sweet, and the beef fell apart while cooking.

I figured I'd cook the meal in a skillet over medium-high heat until the beef was browned. However, I quickly realized it was difficult to tell when the beef was cooked through because all sides of the meat were covered in a dark-brown sauce.

I went by instinct, stirring frequently to make sure it cooked evenly. Some slices fell apart due to the constant stirring, but the dish seemed fully cooked after five minutes.

Unfortunately, the small pieces of meat made the bulgogi look more like a stew, and its appearance alone turned off my kids.

We thought the meal was tasty but too sweet, as the sauce's flavor overwhelmed the beef. I'd prefer this dish if the beef came in thicker pieces that I could remove from the sauce before cooking.

I was impressed with the portion size of the Kirkland Signature meatballs with rigatoni.

This meal, which included rigatoni and six enormous meatballs, cost $20 and was enough to feed my entire family twice.

Unfortunately, we thought the meatballs and rigatoni were underwhelming.

The meatballs were a little spongy in texture, and something about how the ground-beef-and-pork mixture was seasoned tasted more like sausage than I expected (though that's hardly a bad thing).

The rigatoni held up surprisingly well after 50 minutes in the oven — not quite al dente but not at all mushy. However, the sauce was a bit too sweet and seasoned for me.

My kids liked the pasta but not the meatballs. I also thought the shredded cheese on top seemed like an afterthought, and I could've gone for more.

The Kirkland Signature udon-noodle salad with dressing and peanuts came together easily.

The Kirkland Signature udon-noodle salad was extremely easy to assemble — it already came with a shredded-vegetable slaw, peanuts, lime wedges, and a miso sauce.

I tossed all the ingredients into a bowl and served the finished salad alongside some chicken wings. 

The salad was fine, but I probably wouldn't buy it again.

The dressing was sweet and tangy with a strong miso flavor, but I thought the udon noodles were a bit mushy. I also wished the vegetable mix of shredded bok choy, broccoli, cabbage, and carrots was crisper to balance out the noodles' softness.

Overall, the salad wasn't too heavy or saucy, so it would likely be a nice, no-cook option for a quick meal or picnic.

The Kirkland Signature chicken quesadillas looked pretty large.

The Kirkland Signature quesadillas came with salsa, sour cream, and guacamole.

The instructions on the packaging called for heating them up in a frying pan with some oil, so my first batch got a chimichanga-esque crunchiness I don't always expect from quesadillas.

I thought it was a big portion, as there were eight wedges, and two of them felt like more than enough for an adult-sized meal.

The chicken quesadillas were quite satisfying.

It was sort of the perfect meal to suit my family's quesadilla needs.

The chicken was seasoned but not spicy, and there was tons of cheese without being too greasy.

The salsa, a sweet, fresh, restaurant-style dip with jalapeño, was the surprise star for me. The Kirkland Signature quesadillas were my wife's favorite of all the meals. 

The yakisoba stir fry with seasoned chicken was actually packed with veggies.

The Kirkland Signature yakisoba stir fry was a fun and easy-to-prepare dinner.

I heated the meal in a Dutch oven because I didn't have a wok or a large enough frying pan. Per the instructions, I heated up oil and first added the vegetables, then chicken, then noodles, and then sauce.

It was ready in less than 10 minutes. And because there were plenty of vegetables, including broccoli, carrots, onions, peppers, and snow peas, I didn't have to prep a side or a salad.

The yakisoba stir fry with chicken was really tasty.

We thought the yakisoba noodles were warm, comforting, and satisfying, with tender hunks of chicken and some nice texture from the fresh vegetables.

It was a bit sweeter than I usually like, but a hit of hot sauce helped balance out the sweetness.

If I bought this again (and I would buy this again) I'd use only one container of sauce. My kids liked the noodles, and we finished most of the portion in a single sitting.

My kids were excited about the ravioli lasagna with beef and pork Bolognese sauce.

I figured — correctly — that something called ravioli lasagna would appeal to my kids, who love a novelty.

The ravioli were stacked in twos and topped with a meaty Bolognese sauce and mozzarella. It was easy to prepare, as all I needed to do was cover it with foil and bake it for an hour.

At the end of the hour, I deviated from the instructions and gave it five more minutes uncovered in the oven to get the cheese nice and bubbly on top.

The ravioli lasagna was a pretty tasty, easy pasta dish.

The lasagna was good. The Bolognese sauce was hearty and sweet and my kids appreciated that the ravioli were glued together with melted mozzarella.

It was about a dinner and a half's worth of food for my family, though it felt like a smaller portion than a traditional lasagna made in an equivalent pan size.

The Kirkland Signature gyros came with a lot of ingredients, which impressed me.

This dish came with many components, which made me appreciate Costco's attention to detail and how much goes into prepping a gyro.

Only the gyro meat and the pitas needed to be heated, but the meal also came with a cucumber and tomato salad, red onions, feta cheese, and tzatziki.

Unfortunately, I needed to find my own hot sauce.

The finished gyros were delicious.

I thought the gyros were delicious. If there was a weak link in the sandwich, it was probably the gyro meat itself, which was a little heavy on the onion powder and heated up to a scrapple-like consistency.

That being said, the assertive seasoning on the meat was mellowed by the sweetness and crunch of the veggies and the tangy creaminess of the tzatziki and feta.

It wasn't better than a gyro I might get from a street cart, but the price was right, and there's no street cart inside my apartment.

I thought the container of Kirkland Signature chicken Alfredo was surprisingly heavy.

My first impression of the chicken Alfredo was that it was heavy. The label said it was a little over 4 pounds, and though it might not sound like much, it was a lot of food for my family.

There was an impressive amount of chicken but I expected a higher ratio of noodle-to-meat. Like the macaroni and cheese, the whole tray was covered with foil and baked in the oven.

The chicken Alfredo wasn't too overwhelming or rich.

The chicken Alfredo was better than I expected.

Alfredo sauce is often a bit too indulgent for my tastes, but I thought Kirkland Signature's version of the creamy, cheesy sauce wasn't overwhelmingly heavy. The chicken was also moist and flavorful.

My kids liked it even though they normally prefer their chicken and their pasta separated. Alongside some steamed broccoli, the chicken Alfredo stretched to two full meals for my family with little effort on my part. 

The Kirkland Signature chicken street tacos came in a hard-to-carry package.

For whatever reason, the chicken street tacos came in a longer container than the other meals.

I thought it was vaguely festive but difficult to fit into a shopping bag or a refrigerator. Like the gyros, the street tacos came as a kit.

I heated the chicken and tortillas and topped them with cheese, shredded veggies, salsa, cilantro-lime crema, and a squeeze of fresh lime.

The chicken street tacos were one of our favorite meals.

The chicken street tacos were excellent. The chicken was smoky with a chipotle flavor but not too spicy for my kids, the veggies were fresh and crunchy, and the sauces were tasty. I think the salsa was the same kind that came with the quesadillas.

If I were at a restaurant and got these tacos, I'd be more than satisfied with my purchase. 

I was skeptical of the meatloaf with mashed Yukon potatoes and glaze.

I'm normally not a big fan of meatloaf, and my kids' exposure to it has been limited. It's often grayish and covered in a dark red goo that looks like ketchup.

I'm also not much of a mashed potato guy and, in my experience, they never keep well.

By the time I put the Kirkland Signature meatloaf and mashed potatoes in the oven, they had been sitting in my fridge for a few days so I wasn't sure what to expect.

I didn't expect it, but the meatloaf was our winner.

Like almost every one of these meals, the meatloaf and mashed Yukon potatoes were surprisingly good.

It was heavy (but of course, most meatloaf is), and I don't think I'd usually choose it over tacos. But my family ate the meatloaf on an unseasonably cold day when I was hungry, and the sweet, juicy, and beefy dinner hit the spot.

My son, who's normally hesitant about unfamiliar foods, took to it like he was a paid spokesperson. "I'm very happy with this," he said.

I thought the mashed potatoes were just a touch mealy, but overall, they weren't bad.

Overall, the Kirkland Signature meals surprised us.

I normally cook for my family and, for whatever reason, prepared meals like those from Kirkland Signature have never been part of our dinner rotation.

But aside from the mac and cheese and rigatoni with meatballs, every one of the meals we tried was better than I expected it to be, and my kids enjoyed them more than I would've guessed.

Now, I'll likely regularly buy some of the Kirkland Signature meals when I don't have much time for meal prep.

This story was originally published on October 27, 2023, and most recently updated on July 1, 2024.

• On the Fourth of July, 1990, my brother Robbie was trying to save a swimmer in distress.
• The water was dangerous, and he drowned. 
• Now, I dread the holiday every year. 

When friends invite me to a Fourth of July party, I decline. I hate this holiday. While the rest of America is celebrating, I'm reliving the day my brother drowned, the day my family went from eight kids to seven.

Being the last in a long line of Funk kids was my whole identity growing up. Four boys and four girls were born in the span of 12 years: Paul, Sue, Tom, Carol, Ellen, Robbie, Dave, and me, but our dad introduced me as his caboose.

My family met up for a reunion on July 4, 1990

It was 1990, the summer before my last year of college, when my oldest brother Paul rented a beach cottage on Lake Erie for a Fourth of July family reunion. My brother Dave and I drove up together on July 3. My sister Sue was already there with my two young nephews. Grocery bag after grocery bag was unloaded into the small cottage kitchen, and we had enough alcohol to host a fraternity party. After my brothers Tom and Robbie arrived, we all ran down to the beach.

The weather was perfect that afternoon. We jumped waves and body-surfed in the bath-warm lake. We drank beer on the hot sand, passing cheese puffs and Pringles, telling jokes, and gossiping. We stayed up late around a bonfire, Robbie dazzling our nephews with his dramatic stories about magic and monsters.

The morning of the Fourth was hot and windy. After breakfast, we basked on the beach, enthralled by baby turtles washing up on the sand. The water was rough and dark, the color of chocolate YooHoo. My parents were due to arrive midday.

Robbie heard someone yelling from the water

"Do you hear that?" Robbie said. "Somebody's yelling for help." He popped up, trying to locate the sound.

"They're out there!" Robbie shouted as he started running. Paul, Dave, and Tom jumped up and followed him.

"If you're going into that water, you better know what you're doing," a woman yelled to them. That's when Tom told Paul, "I'm not a good swimmer," and instead veered to the dock to watch.

The wind was churning up white peaks atop jagged waves. Robbie waded into the water first, then Paul, then Dave. I was standing in the shallow water, watching, expecting to see my brothers heroically carrying the distressed swimmers to safety. They were halfway there when Robbie went under.

The water was incredibly dangerous that day

From the dock Tom started yelling, pointing to the last place in the water where he saw him. Someone called 911. Volunteer firefighters appeared and formed a human chain with belts and ropes, but the undertow was too strong, and their chain broke. Another rescuer was sucked under by the violent current; the firefighters now had one of their own brothers to save.

Next, they tried a boat, but it immediately capsized. I watched as Paul was pulled in with a life preserver, Dave was clipped onto the firefighters' rope, and dragged in. But still, no Robbie.

People were frantically running, yelling, and pointing. Loud whistles, loud crashing waves. I couldn't understand what was said, I couldn't see what was happening between the undulating waves, and I couldn't stop looking for my brother, willing him to emerge.

My parents pulled up, unaware of our family's fate. One firefighter was also lost. One of the two people yelling from the water was saved by a local with a dinghy, but the other one drowned. We stood on that beach, telling our parents what happened as we continued scanning the water, still hoping to spot him.

It was getting dark, but I didn't want to pull my feet out of the wet sand that was now up to my ankles, didn't want to turn my back and leave Robbie alone in the dark water. Shaking and crying, we helped each other up the wooden steps to the cottage.

Thankful for the copious amount of alcohol, we prescribed ourselves shots of whiskey, hoping to knock ourselves out, to stop the spiraling thoughts, the reliving of the day. We lit sparklers and shared stories. I told them about the game Robbie and I made up called "dial-a-shot." He used to call me in my dorm and we would do a shot of vodka together over the phone before we went out. We held our glasses high and toasted him.

As I waited for the effects to kick in, my mind dove into my childhood. I remembered when Robbie taught me how to play poker. I remembered when he slipped headphones on my ears and pressed play so I could hear a new punk band he bought on cassette. I saw him holding a sci-fi paperback, smoking cigarettes and weed. In our conservative Irish Catholic family, we were both non-conforming weirdos.

We waited for three days, floating in suspended disbelief, while they dragged the lake. His body was recovered by a scuba diver 200 yards in front of the cottage.

I still dread the Fourth of July

After the funeral, I had to return to school, but how could I go back to my regular life after I saw my brother die? School didn't feel important anymore. Stressing about grades seemed ridiculous. In our small town, everyone knew our big family. I thought leaving would feel like I was leaving Robbie behind, forgetting about him to focus on myself.

School ended up being a reprieve because there, no one knew my family was one less. I could decide who I wanted to share the tragedy with, I could process it on my own. I didn't have to witness my parents suffering.

The night before my graduation, Paul and I went out drinking and dancing and toasted Robbie again — he would have laughed at me for being so hungover when I walked across the stage for my diploma.

Robbie would be 60 now. I still cover my eyes during movie drowning scenes. I panic when my son goes swimming in the river. As the Fourth of July approaches again, I fear the dreaded question, "Do you want to watch the fireworks?"

Absolutely not.

The Supreme Court immunity ruling puts Trump in a favorable position ahead of the election in November.

• Democratic members of Congress are beginning to call on Biden to drop out of the race.
• The first two to do so — Reps. Lloyd Doggett and Raúl Grijalva — represent solidly blue seats.
• Two other lawmakers are flatly predicting that Biden will lose to Trump.

President Joe Biden is facing calls to drop out of the presidential race following his disastrous debate performance last week.

The first Democratic member of Congress to do so was Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas, who praised Biden's record of accomplishments but said an "authoritarian takeover" would come if former President Donald Trump won.

"Too much is at stake to risk a Trump victory — too great a risk to assume that what could not be turned around in a year, what was not turned around in the debate, can be turned around now," Doggett said. He later said on NBC that some of his House colleagues privately agreed with him.

On Wednesday, Doggett was joined by Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona, who told the New York Times that the debate represented an "opportunity to look elsewhere."

"What he needs to do is shoulder the responsibility for keeping that seat — and part of that responsibility is to get out of this race," said Grijalva.

Both men are in their mid-to-late 70s and represent solidly Democratic seats.

Separately, two members of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition — Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington — said that they believe Biden will lose to Trump.

Golden went as far as to say that he is "OK" with Trump winning, saying he rejects the idea that Trump is a "unique threat to our democracy."

Democratic politicians who don't hold elected office have also called on Biden to step aside.

Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, one of Biden's competitors in 2020, said that Biden needed to "allow a stronger Democratic candidate to prevent a disastrous second Trump term.

Another 2020 Biden competitor, former Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio, published an op-ed on Tuesday calling for Biden to be replaced with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Harris is one of several Democratic contenders who could replace Biden if he stepped aside.

• Brian Paquette, the head of culinary at Chili's, shared his tips for making the perfect burger.
• He said a great burger starts with the right kind of beef and a "really clean, really hot" grill.
• He also shared how to replicate popular Chili's burgers at home.

Fourth of July weekend means cooking out, and the process of making the best burger for your guests starts in the grocery store.

That's according to Brian Paquette, the head of culinary at Chili's, who spoke with Business Insider about how to make a restaurant-quality burger at home, from the meat he buys to his best grilling hacks and go-to toppings.

Before becoming Chili's head chef, Paquette ran his own catering company for five years. His day-to-day work involves brainstorming new menu ideas and conducting quantitative and qualitative testing to get dishes on the menu.

One of Paquette's recent initiatives has been revitalizing the chain's burger offerings. The chain just dropped its first new burger in three years, the Big Smasher, a process that involved multiple rounds of taste-testing and getting customer feedback.

After grilling up some burgers alongside Paquette in the company's test kitchen in April, we asked him his biggest tips for making the perfect burger at home, his grilling hacks, and how to pay homage to some fan-favorite Chili's burger recipes at home.

Here are nine tips for making the perfect burger at home, according to Chili's head chef.

Opting for ground sirloin or ground chuck will make a burger that’s "juicy and flavorful."

Paquette said the first step in making the perfect burger at home is choosing the right kind of meat, which often involves asking a butcher to grind up your preferred cut.

"A great burger starts with using high-quality beef," Paquette said, "so you should go for ground sirloin or ground chuck, to make sure you've got a burger that's juicy and flavorful."

Paquette also shared his preferred fat ratio when choosing burger patties.

"I'd stick to beef with an 80/20 lean-to-fat ratio," he said. "That will give you a nice juicy burger, and when you're grilling it, you'll see some of that juice drop through and vaporize, giving you more of that grill flavor," he continued.

Fresh meat is almost always better than frozen.

"We make and hand-smash all our burgers in-restaurant at Chili's and that's always my recommendation for people making burgers at home," Paquette said.

"That said, if you are buying a pre-made burger from the grocery store, I'd head to the meat case and buy the fresh pre-made patties there," he continued. "You'll get more flavor than you would from a frozen patty."

Make sure your grill is really clean and really hot before you put the burger patties down.

"The grill not being hot enough or the charcoal not being ready is one of the biggest mistakes I see people making," Paquette told BI. "That temperature is so key to getting everything else right."

"If you're cooking for a big group, you are going to want to clean up the grill and get that temperature up to high to make sure you're consistently delivering great-tasting burgers," he said.

Season one side of your patty before grilling it, and then season the other side once the burger is on the grill.

Before you put the meat on the grill, season the side of the burger that is going face down, he said. Once it's on the grill, season the top of the burger, too.

"People often don't season their burgers enough, either. You want to make sure it has good flavor, which comes from both the fat and the seasoning," he said.

"Some of it will inevitably melt off on the grill, so use an ample amount," Paquette added, saying that Chili's cooks use four "shakes" of seasoning on each side of the burger.

Once the burger is on the grill, turn the temperature down to medium.

"This is going to give you those signature char marks," Paquette told BI.

Paquette also recommended only flipping the burger once "to keep the burger tender and juicy" and using a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature.

"That's the only way to truly know your burger is cooked through and will help make sure you aren't overcooking and ending up with a hockey puck instead of a great burger," he said.

Don't overcook your burger just because you're afraid of it being undercooked.

Paquette said that each side of the burger should take about three minutes, but you can also use a meat thermometer to ensure the perfect medium cook.

"Make sure your burger is at a safe internal temperature of 157 degrees," Paquette said. "People tend to keep cooking to ensure it's safe, but they overcook it and it loses flavor."

For smash burgers, make the patties about an inch wider than the bun you plan to put them on.

"The burger will shrink a little and that's how you make sure you have those nice, charred bits hanging right at the end of your burger," Paquette said.

He added that if you're using a traditional grill with grates, never smash your burger with a spatula or other tool once it's on the grill, or else you'll lose all the juices. Instead, flatten it before you put it onto the grill.

"If you want to make a smash burger on your griddle, smash the burger as soon as you put it down to lock in those flavors, like we do every time at Chili's," he said.

When it comes to toppings, Paquette said he likes to keep things classic.

For burger toppings, he usually opts for tomato, lettuce, red onion, ketchup, and pickle. He added that choosing a great bun is key to ensuring your burger stays together and has solid flavor.

"At Chili's, we use a brioche-style bun, and I'd use a similar soft bun, like a brioche or potato roll, at home," he said. "Don't overlook toasting your bun, as well. You can add a little butter and put it on the griddle to take your burger to the next level."

However, you can also add more exciting toppings like jalapeños or Thousand Island dressing.

When we asked Paquette to name his favorite burger from Chili's, he picked the chain's new Big Smasher. To recreate it at home, you need American cheese, diced red onion, shredded lettuce, pickles, and Thousand Island dressing, he said.

After trying and ranking all of Chili's burgers recently, we also asked how to recreate our personal favorite, the Alex's Santa Fe burger, which comes with avocado, pepper jack cheese, red onion, jalapeños, tomato, pickles, cilantro, and the chain's spicy Santa Fe sauce.

"The key to recreating that flavor profile at home is roasted jalapeños," Paquette said. "While you're grilling your burgers, grill a jalapeño or two and use those to top your burger. You can also mix them with some ranch to create a sauce that's similar, but not exact, to our Santa Fe sauce."

"Another easy hack would be to pick up some fresh-made guacamole from the deli counter at the grocery store to top your burger, or you can use fresh sliced avocado on top," he continued.

• In May, a huge chunk of space debris crash landed in the mountains of North Carolina.
• After reviewing the incident, NASA confirmed that it came from a SpaceX Dragon Capsule.
• This, and other accidents, highlight how difficult it will be to reduce the risk of falling debris reaching Earth.

NASA has confirmed that a hunk of space junk as big as a car hood found in North Carolina belonged to a SpaceX Dragon Capsule, according to an agency statement shared on X.

The Dragon Capsule is a reusable spacecraft that carries astronauts and cargo to-and-from the International Space Station. But a part of it, called the trunk, isn't reusable and is discarded just before the capsule returns to Earth.

That trunk is what ended up crash-landing on a trail at a mountaintop resort just outside Asheville in May. "It was just wild. It was crazy-looking," groundskeeper Justin Clontz who stumbled on the large debris, told Space.com.

No one was injured from the impact. But the space junk shouldn't have been there in the first place. NASA said in its statement that evaluations of Dragon's initial design showed that it should fully break up in Earth's atmosphere. That's not what happens every time though.

A similar chunk of Dragon trunk was found in Franklin, North Carolina in June. And another landed in a farmer's field in Saskatchewan, Canada in April.

It's not just SpaceX junk falling to Earth. A two-pound piece of debris slightly smaller than a soda can fell from the International Space Station in March, crashing through a family's roof in Florida. The family is now suing NASA over the incident.

These series of recent accidents underscore how difficult it can be to predict and model when space debris will, and will not, burn up in Earth's atmosphere. Improving these models is more important than ever.

Humans are launching more into space than ever before

Space junk has been falling out of the sky since the 1960s, but humans are launching more stuff into space than ever before. According to the site "Our World in Data", in 2023, a record-breaking 2,664 objects, including satellites, spacecraft, landers, and more, were sent to, or beyond, Earth's orbit.

"Once those things die, then they're just abandoned. It's just like orbiting trash. And then it's up to mother nature to figure out how the thing re-enters," Moriba Jah, associate professor of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at The University of Texas at Austin, told BI.

Jah is referring to uncontrolled re-entries. It's when space debris free-falls toward Earth with no one controlling its course.

Modeling uncontrolled re-entires involves a lot of uncertainty and is, therefore, more complex than modeling controlled re-entries, which usually involve rockets that guide the debris' trajectory, ensuring it lands in a safe area, like the ocean.

"For uncontrolled stuff, all bets are off, because you don't necessarily know what the orientation of the object is as it hits the atmosphere, or how it's tumbling," Jah said.

Uncontrolled re-entry typically happens to smaller chunks of space debris that are expected to break up in the atmosphere before ever reaching the ground — like the Dragon Capsule's trunk.

Even though this space debris is relatively small compared to, say, car-sized satellites, it's not harmless. They're moving at thousands of miles per hour before impact.

If the piece of debris that crash landed outside Asheville, North Carolina in May had landed on a person, it would have certainly killed them, Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard and Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and leading space debris expert, told BI.

While the chances of space debris hitting a person are astronomically low, a 2022 study published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, estimated there's about a 10% chance one or more people will be struck within a 10-year period.

How to reduce the risk of falling space debris

NASA wrote in its statement that it'll use the debris recovered from the mountaintop resort in North Carolina to improve debris modeling.

Another option that NASA should consider, McDowell said, was to reduce the number of uncontrolled re-entries and use controlled de-orbit even for small space objects.

"Then you know exactly when and where it's gonna come down," McDowell said.

Right now, controlled re-entries are relatively uncommon. Roughly 200 to 400 objects big enough to be tracked re-enter Earth's atmosphere each year, and only a handful of them are controlled re-entries, according to The Aerospace Corporation.

Making controlled re-entry the status quo would require new laws, and federal funding to help NASA and companies like SpaceX clean up their junk, Jah said.

The Federal Government is responsible for approving space launches but doesn't hold launching entities like NASA or SpaceX responsible for disposing of objects safely. That needs to change, Jah added.

"Working in space always carries some uncertainty, but NASA works to ensure its operations are safe for the public, and it strives to continuously improve processes," NASA wrote in a statement to BI.

SpaceX did not respond to BI's request for comment.