Alright, ya'll. My gorgeously named sweet friend Megan of Fried Okra opened up her recipe files and commenced with revving up our taste buds with her top ten sizzlin' spring and summer recipes. (That creamy linguine with zucchini? Yum-O!) She has invited us to share our best o' the best, and I am only happy to oblige.
(First, apologies to Veggiemommy, Reesh, and my other vegetarian friends and readers. You may not find today's offering quite so sizzlin' . . .)
Spring and summer offers us the perfect time to fire up that backyard grill, and that is a double blessing for this mama in that 1) grilling keeps the heat outside where it belongs and 2) my man is all-too-happy to work his grilling wonders on that shiny monument to manly cooking. He really is quite the grill master, and his repertoire ranges from perfectly cooked steaks to deliciously grilled bananas and all manner of fare in between.
One of his specialties that we eat pretty much year 'round are hamburgers. Of course, this is a staple in backyard cuisine, but we were unsatisfied with just your average ground beef patty seasoned with a little salt and pepper. Rather than inventing new and unique ways to dress the grilled burger, my husband went a'hunting for a new and unique way to create the perfect patty.
A little digging led him to two schools of thought: be creative in the meats used in the patty or be creative in the seasonings you add in. It's no surprise that, as Texans, we take a more-is-more approach to dining, so we decided to combine the two schools of thought. The result - best burger ever!
Here's what we do:
1) Start with a pound of ground beef. Now, pick another kind of meat to add to the mix. We originally were going to add a pound of ground veal to ours, but our small town grocer doesn't keep ground veal in stock (go figure), so the butcher suggested we might try ground brisket. The result was pure burger perfection for us, but you might play around a little to find the taste, texture, and flavor combination you like best. Ground bison, perhaps?
2) So work your two pounds of meat together and prepare to add your seasonings. Sure, you could go with basic salt and pepper, but why stop there? I'll tell you our favorite way to season - add equal parts barbecue sauce and brown mustard. Add just a bit at a time, you don't want to overwhelm the meat and end up with raw hamburger mush. We've also used equal parts soy sauce and lime juice with great success. We've been known to add grape jelly in after we salt and pepper (you won't believe how smashing the result is), and once we even added in some leftover bean and bacon soup. Now, if you do find your meat mixture is getting too moist, you'll want to crumble a piece of bread (plain old white bread works fine) to sop up some of the juiciness. You want moist burgers, but too much moisture and those burgers will fall apart on our grill.
Pop those beauties on the grill, and you've got yourself some sizzlin' summer perfection!
You may find with such flavorful burger patties, you can dress them as minimally as you like so you can really appreciate the taste of the meat. We usually just have potato salad or chips on the side. Can't go wrong with a big pitcher of Texas sweet tea, but if you use our recipe, keep your toothbrush handy for efficient cavity prevention.
Make sure you head back to Megan's place to drool over all her recipes and see what everyone else has to offer up today!
(burger photo by (nutmeg) )
