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.

A Weekend of Grilling and Graduation Parties

Besides delivering the main course for Saturday afternoon's graduation party for my nephew Gus, who graduated from Kennessaw Mountain High School this weekend, I was also called upon for some impromptu grilling on my brother-in-law's propane grill (a definite rarity for me).


Bubba's Burgers almost finished



A little Kosher salt, black pepper, and Dale's marinade made these hamburgers pretty tasty.



When all else fails, marinade your pork loin chops in some Dale's Marinade for a couple hours prior to grilling. 

Smoked Hamburgers via Indirect Grilling Technique

It's week two of the NFL regular season and I finished my second "tailgate grilling session" of the year. Last time I cooked ABTs. This time I stuck to the tried and true backyard bbq favorite....hamburgers. But, I put my own twist on grilled hamburgers.

Smoke & Spice introduced me to smoked hamburgers a couple of years ago.  If you've never tried low and slow hamburgers, you might want to give it a try sometime.

Here's how I made them today for lunch:

2 lbs hamburger

7 tablespooons vinegar

7 tablespoons water

3 oz Miner's Mix (TM) Carne Asada Marinade & Chorizo Mix

Combine hamburger, vinegar, water, and chorizo mix.  Mix thoroughly with hands and refrigerate. When grill is pre-heated, form hamburgers by hand and cook on smoker or grill with indirect heat at 275-300 degrees.  Cook to 160 degrees (medium) or 170 degrees (well done). Serve on hamburger bun or eat plain.  I prefer to add Blues Hog Original BBQ Sauce instead of ketchup and mustard. 

I didn't really follow the directions on the Miner's Mix (TM) package.  Half the fun of bbq for me is the trial and error experimentation that goes along with it.

I cooked these on my Weber Platinum charcoal kettle grill using the charcoal "triangles" on either side of the cooking chamber.  This provides reliable and controllable indirect heat in your kettle grill.

Close-up of the final results 60 minutes later just in time for kick-off of the Tampa Bay vs. Carolina game.

FTC Disclosure:  I received the Miner's Mix (TM) as a gift directly from the company as a "trial".  If I was not happy with the results of the spice mixture, I would not have posted this article.

Favorite Tailgate Food - Atomic Buffalo Turds (ABTs)

With college football season in full swing and professional football just around the corner, I thought I'd share a tailgate recipe Linda and I enjoy - Atomic Buffalo Turds (ABTs).

I make mine a little differently than most folks. Most people use cream cheese, but I'm not a fan.  I substitute sausage topped with shredded cheddar cheese instead.

How to Assemble a Weber BBQ Grill in 53 Seconds or Less

Well maybe it does take a little longer than 53 seconds to assemble in "real life", but in "video life" all things are possible. Right?

It's Here....and 2 Days Early

My Weber One Touch Platinum kettle grill arrived at my local Lowe's today. It's now setting in my living room in a prime location to make assembly easier and more comfortable. It is summer in Florida after all and my garage is not air conditioned.

My wallet is a little lighter, but I did save $25 at Lowe's compared to the price on Amazon.com.

I couldn't resist opening the box to take a look, but I'm not going any farther tonight.

Weber One-Touch Platinum Charcoal Grill

I've needed a new kettle grill for a while now and tonight I ordered a Weber One-Touch Platinum Charcoal Grill at Lowes.

I wanted a blue one, but according to the Weber sales literature at Lowes, it's only available in black.  They must not make the colors for the big box stores, but I swear I saw a blue one on Amazon.com a couple weeks ago.  Tonight Amazon.com only has black and red available.

Tip: If you tell the big box store you're also shopping and comparing prices on Amazon.com they might give you a discount.  I did and got a 10% price reduction, which turned out to be $20 cheaper than Amazon.com.

The best part is, I'll have the grill on Thursday.  Look for some future grilling recipes and videos.  I've always wanted to try a pork butt on a kettle grill.  I guess this is my chance.

Building Barbecues and Outdoor Kitchens

I've included product links from Amazon.com on my bbq blog and TheBBQGuy.com for about 9 years. During that time I've sold my share of Peace, Love, & Barbecue: Recipes, Secrets, Tall Tales, and Outright Lies from the Legends of Barbecue by Mike Mills and Dr. BBQ's Big Time Barbecue Cookbook by Ray Lampe, but without question the most popular selling bbq book on both sites combined together is Building Barbecues & Outdoor Kitchens.

It's a very inexpensive paperbook that sells for about $8 new and about $3 used on Amazon.com. It was published in 2001 and is only 144 pages, but it still outsells every other bbq book on my websites.

I don't own the book and I must confess that I am not very handy with a hammer and nails, bricks and mortar, or welders and plate steel, but I'm thinking about buying it to see for myself why it's so popular.

Although an outdoor kitchen is on my long list of needs and wants (Linda keeps shortening this list from time to time), I'll probably settle for updating my charcoal grill.  I've been using a very little and cheaply built "Little Grill That Could" for the past several years and I think the time has come to upgrade to a Weber One Touch Gold (I love the blue one) or Weber One Touch Platimum charcoal grill sometime soon. I'm not sure the stand is worth $100 extra or not, but I'm sure Linda will weigh in on that too if I'm lucky (or unlucky), depending on my ability to keep her in tune with my bbq wishes (or not).

Grilled Mahi Mahi

Sometimes when the urge for bbq strikes, you don't always have ideal equipment to work with, but you make do with what you have. I grilled this mahi mahi on this "park style" grill behind the home we rented on St. George Island on July Fourth Weekend.

Seasoned with simple sea salt, black pepper, brushed with a little olive oil, and grilled on a cedar plank.

It's been awhile since I used a grill sans lid, so toward the end of the cook I had to "turn up the heat" to finish things off.  It was getting dark when the second picture was taken, so the camera flash added some funny looking "wash out". 

Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Kabobs

We took a short drive down to St. Petersburg yesterday to visit the Saturday Market in the parking lot of Al Lang Stadium.

We purchased some fresh organic green peppers, oinions, and tomatoes and taste tested food from several of the vendors.  Fresh is always better, so we added some chicken to the mix and I fired up the grill.

The fine folks at McCormick and Lawry's sent me some Lawry's Szechwan Sweet & Sour bbq marinade and Tuscan Sun Dried Tomato marinade last week. I decided to try the Szechwan on the kabobs. 

I marinated the chicken in the Lawry's bbq sauce for about 4 hours and grilled everything using lump charcoal.  The marinade added a slight Szechwan heat to go along with the sweet and sour flavor.  I don't know the chemistry behind it, but the chicken breasts were very moist and tender. 

If I do this again I will sear the kabobs over direct heat and then move them into an aluminum foil pan or wrap. I think this will prevent the charring that occurs when the marinade begins to burn over the direct flame.

I can't wait to try out Lawry's Tuscan Sun Dried Tomato marinade on some pork chops next.

Simple Grilled Chicken Wings and Drums

--Marinade in Newman's Own "Olive Oil and Vinegar" for 5 - 6 hours (in the refrigerator)

--Start your charcoal and let it grey over a little, before adding chicken to grill
--Cook chicken slowly (around the edges of the grate) to reduce flare ups
--When it's done, brush with your favorite bbq sauce to finish
--Enjoy

 

The marinade will add moisture and internal flavor, while the bbq sauce adds a little kick.  No matter how you grill your chicken, I would not eat chicken that is not marinated in Newman's Own "Olive Oil and Vinegar". It really makes a difference.

Rain or Shine: Light the Fire

We spent the holiday cooking bbq. Some might even call it a “Stay-cation” of sorts. It was good eating and it’s a good thing, because we still have some leftovers.

I planned on eating some meals out at restaurants with Linda doing the rest of the cooking for the weekend, but Saturday night she pulled a pork loin out of the fridge and cheerfully announced that I was grilling it on Sunday. In the true spirit of a three day holiday weekend, I procrastinated and cooked it for supper.

I put the lump charcoal in the chimney starter and it started to rain. Luckily, it was just a slow moving typical Florida summer afternoon shower. I was able to get the charcoal in the pan before it got too wet and extinguished itself. My second lucky moment of the cook was a convenient break in the rain when it was time to put the kabobs on the grill. The rain picked up a little later on, but a golf umbrella works wonders for shielding a kettle grill.

After cooking barbecue in 20 degrees and blowing snow for two and a half years in Michigan, I didn’t dare wimp out over a little rain. Sometimes those gas grills that Linda calls “outdoor ovens” work well when it’s raining, but a little rain adds that extra touch of excitement when going head to head with Mother Nature.

Linda found the recipe on Hunts.com. It was developed by the Culinary Institute of America.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Ginger Dipping Sauce

Marinade:
1 cup sliced green onions
3 tablespoons Pure Wesson Vegetable Oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
2 tablespoons finely chopped jalapeno pepper
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 ½ pound of pork tenderloin, cut into 1-inch pieces

Ginger Dipping Sauce:
1 tablespoon Pure Wesson Vegetable Oil
½ cup chopped red onion
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
1 can (14.5 ounce) Hunt’s Petite Diced Tomatoes, undrained
¼ cup seasoned rice vinegar
2 tablespoons La Choy Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
10 wooden skewers (6-inch), soaked in water

Directions:

Prepare marinade. Place pork and marinade in plastic bag. Shake to coat evenly and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Prepare sauce over medium heat. When hot add oil and onion. Cook 4 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir occasionally. Add ginger and garlic. Cook 1 minute. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes. Pour sauce in blender and puree 1 minute. Keep warm.

Place pork on skewers and discard marinade. Cook on a hot grill for 5 minutes on each side, or until the pork is cooked and is no longer pink.

Start a Catering Business

Free BBQ Grill

I've got great news. Some the largest grocery stores and discount retailers in America are giving away free bbq grills. Isn't that exciting! I can't believe it.

Hurry before they are all gone. If you're lucky, you can still pick-up one one of the metal ones, but don't delay because once they are out of metal ones, all that will be left are the plastic ones, and they don't hold up as well.

I received this e-mail today and thought it was so funny that I'd pass it along here on the bbq blog.