Beer Burgers

My brother called me up to invite hubby and I over for dinner. We can do that now that we’re in the same city. He announced that he wanted to grill something, but said that he didn’t know what and trailed off. Then he rattled off a handful of sides that he wanted to make. I asked if I should make burgers, and he got excited by that thought and promised to take care of all the toppings and condiments if I would. So I did.

I wanted to do something different than the jalapeno burgers that I’d made earlier in the summer, so I turned to allrecipes. I found one that was pretty simple, yet unique for the addition of beer. Hell yeah.

The original recipe called for one small onion, finely chopped. I was doubling the recipe, but I left this part as-is.

I was afraid that even this would still be too much onion, so I separated it and decided to mix in a little at a time until it looked like enough. In the end, I added most (but not all).

You’ll add it to the ground beef, of course.

The recipe also called for minced garlic. I used fresh homegrown garlic from my Aunt in Virginia, as I have for the past few recipes. The cloves are little so I used a lot of them. Who doesn’t like garlic, anyway?

In addition to the onions and garlic, I added some salt and pepper.

Finally, the good part. I’d never had this beer before, but a friend had given this to me a week or two beforehand. It was an amber lager and somehow seemed more appropriate than the Sam Adams Summer Ale or Shock Top that I had in the fridge.

I realized around this time that I didn’t have Worcestershire sauce. It’s one of those things I always have in my fridge and rarely use, but given our recent move, I had none. I decided to steal some from my brother’s fridge later.

Time to mix the beef. Put my ring someplace safe so it wouldn’t get covered in raw beef.

And dug in! Honestly, I know that it’s raw beef and all, but it smelled amazing. The garlic and the beer… something about it made me want to eat immediately. But I didn’t.

Fast forward. Forgot pictures of adding the Worcestershire sauce or forming patties or grilling them, but here’s the finished cheeseburger on my plate!

Okay, so I failed getting my patties flat enough. The burgers were kind of ball-like. Aside from that, though, they were perfect.

The beer was a good choice for the flavor and for the juiciness. I had used 80/20 beef, so that helped, but I think the beer made it. Everything else I added was just icing on the cake.

I will definitely make these again!

Here’s the recipe (or check the recipes tab, as always).