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.)