"Route 66" burgers

[addicted-to-smoke]

For Xmas i bought myself Weber's Big Book of bada-bing Bodacious Burgers, a few copies of which I understand are still available here: http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/member-sales-trades/wkc-member-exclusive-weber's-big-book-of-burgers-only-$12-shipped!!/

Our first day back home and the house is a freakin' wreck but since the kids and some of their friends were off school it became An Event. Burgers and Dogs, I can handle that.

Picked the simplest recipe in the book ("Route 66") and went shopping. Talked to @chuck s on the phone. He wanted pix, I got pix. Done, and happy to do it!

Got back at 6, a bit late. My fault. Should have left earlier, I know that. Hey, I specifically got the Boston lettuce and the beefsteak tomato and the shallots and the fresh bread et al, OK?

7:00pm was my "realistic" (no actually, best-case) target at that point. Began making the "corn and black beans" side dish in the book since I knew it would take the longest to prepare. As it was I still invoked some help with that and also with burger prep.


Coals ready




All things considered it was "impressive" (to me at least) that the burgers were great and bread not burned etc (in terms of timing). Here's the whole thing, finished up, not that there's much to see:




Food didn't get served until damn near 8:00. And then the "count" was wrong? ... I had been told 4 burgers, 4 hot dogs. I made 4 burgers and 4 hot dogs for 3 adults and 5 kids. Even now as I add it up it always equals 8.

But when it all came in from the grill there "wasn't enough." Wait, WHAT? Now we need 2 more hot dogs ... I put the last 3 dogs from the package onto the grill and open it back up. 15 mins later and it doesn't matter; they are luke warm; charcoal dies quickly in 39-degree temps. Fuck it, I bring them in anyway. One got eaten.

It's amazing where the time goes when you don't have ... sorry, I won't get into it here ... they all ate and bailed ASAP, naturally.

At 8:30 with everyone gone I made my burger. it was wonderful, even cold!




So, the corn and black bean salad recipe is, to those familiar with it, really a variation of "Texas caviar" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_caviar ) ... different enough not be a different "version" of it but similar in concept, and as Texas caviar has its history associated with New Year's (Eve) it seemed the right thing to do tonight. Here it is in the dish, with feta on the side, and all in a bowl.







Note: The Weber book makes a point of saying the correct layering is cold stuff (lettuce, tomato) goes on top, burger etc on bottom but this recipe shows the lettuce and tomato on the bottom; it works.)

[jcnaz]

Looks very good.

[chuck s]

you da man!! ...... Rock on Dude!!

[MikeRocksTheRed]

Everything looks awesome!  Haven't done a burger in ages, and that corn and black bean salad looks delicious.  I think its time to consult the handy dandy Weber's Big Book of Burgers!

[WNC]

You know it's done when it's done...
Been there though, people waiting for the food to get off the grill. It worse when it's your father in law...

Burger looks great, 1000 island is my go to burger sauce too.

[addicted-to-smoke]

There might be a burger resurgence in this house. I'd gotten away from it after getting into the habit of buying lean ground beef. I don't yet know what lean ground beef is good for ... but it's not for burgers. And yeah, every recipe in the book says stay with 80/20.

re: sauce
That was funny. I hadn't made 1000 Island before and so, didn't recognize the ingredients. So I got it all mixed, looked at it and said, "Oh, I could have basically just reached inside the fridge instead for the bottle!"

[MikeRocksTheRed]

@addicted-to-smoke - I totally agree on the ground beef.  Anything leaner than 80/20 or 85/15 (if I can't get 80/20) makes for a really dense burger.  And if you make burgers out of really lean ground beef, the normal method of making them larger than the buns backfires on you since the patty doesn't really shrink up.