Sparrow Market - Ann Arbor

We stopped by Sparrow Market in downtown Ann Arbor today to investigate their ability to provide a whole shoulder for a cook in a couple of weeks.

The girl at the counter original replied that they had one in the meat case, but she was referring to a pork butt. I reminded her that I want the picnic, butt, everything before it's cut up. She started to get it but about that time a gentleman walked up and asked if he could help.

He told me they do have whole shoulder in the freezer available on two days notice.

We can't do it next weekend, but the week after is looking promising right now.

Grilled Hamburgers w/Sausage and Bacon

I like to experiment with food and a couple of weeks ago I had an idea. I combined the flavor of sausage with traditional charcoal grilled hamburger for something a little different. I liked it so much the first time I tried it, I wanted to share it on the bbq blog. I hope you like it.

Grilled Hamburgers w/Sausage and Bacon

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. ground CAB 80% lean / 20% fat hamburger
• 1 lb. ground pork sausage
• 1 large onion
• 6 slices of bacon
• Pepper jack cheese (or Swiss if you prefer)
• French’s original mustard

Directions: 

• Chop the onion.
• Combine the hamburger, sausage and finely chopped onion in a medium sized mixing bowl and mix thoroughly.
• Form meat into patties that are the size of half-a-fist
• Cook on medium hot (350-400 degrees) grill to medium-well (160-165 degrees internal temperature).
• Resist the temptation to "smash" or "flatten" the patties (you'll release all the juicy goodness) :-)
• Add a slice of pepper jack or Swiss cheese for each burger.
• Top with ½ slice of fried bacon.
• Serve with mustard on a plain hamburger bun.

Grilled hamburger, medium well

You could use almost any type of sausage, but I prefer something with a little heat and heavy sage seasoning. We used Jimmy Dean's for these, but Italian or Polish style sausage would also work. If you prefer to leave out the sausage, you could even use turkey and add some chopped onions to the mix.

Hamburger, pepper jack cheese, topped with bacon and French's mustard

Some of you may be wondering, "where's the lettuce and tomato?" I prepare mine without the "garden" items, but I don't hold it against anyone the prefers a "deluxe" burger. (That's what we called them when I used to flip burgers at the DQ in high school.)

We served our grilled hamburgers with zucchini fries

Here's a link to the zucchini recipe from Health.com. Basically we cut the zucchini into 3 inch strips; prepared an egg and milk mixture; dipped the sticks into the egg wash; rolled in bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese; and cooked at 425 degrees on baking rack on top of a baking sheet. The baking rack helps keep them from getting "mushy" and sticking to the baking sheet.