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).

Juicy Jalapeno Burgers

This dish is a rarity on this blog – something original! A few years ago, hubby and I didn’t have plans for Independence Day beyond going to see some fireworks at the community college down the road, so we decided to grill some burgers. Even better, we decided to make our own instead of buying frozen patties. I reviewed a bunch of different recipes online, talked over the differences with hubby, and together we ended up with these juicy jalapeno burgers.

First, start off with some fresh jalapeno peppers.

Remove the stems, seeds, and membranes, and then dice them. I wasn’t too careful about removing every speck of membrane and seed because I wanted the burgers to have some heat, so it didn’t take me too long.

Also dice an onion.

I’ve never been a fan of raw onion or pepper chunks in anything, and neither has hubby, so we sauté these before doing anything with them.

Next, it’s time to make the meat mixture. We use ground beef, an egg, bread crumbs, milk, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper, and minced garlic.

And, of course, the sautéed pepper and onion. Dig in with both hands, mixing everything together.

I subdivided this ball in half, then subdivided each half again, and then subdivided each piece again until I had 8 equal pieces. I mushed them together as best as I could, then formed them into patties. I left them thick so they could be squished on the grill.

Then I sent my daddy outside to grill them.

I mixed up a batch of my Chickpea Salad with Red Onion and Tomato to go with the burgers. This time I actually used fresh parsley. It was a good change!

Here we are: fat, juicy, burgers with a hint of heat. Topped with colby jack cheese, fresh tomato, and lettuce, they were perfect for a Memorial Day meal.

And certainly better than frozen patties.