Truth be told, my poor husband is sent out to the backyard in hot or cold weather, dry or wet, pretty much year round!  When you have a husband who only makes pancakes and barbecued meats, you find a way to have pancakes and barbecue meats pretty much year round, every week or two.  It really helps to have someone else doing the cooking occasionally., my lovely husband made this last weekend, only days before Halloween and we had a wonderful autumn barbecue.

Ingredients (Hamburgers)

2 lbs 80% or 85% ground beef

2 Shallots

1 tbs butter

Salt and pepper

Ketchup and slices of American cheese

Cook the shallots in a small pot for 3-4 minutes until tender.  Mix into the hamburger meat, then form into 4 or 5 burgers.  Salt generously on both sides, and pepper on one side (we don’t love pepper so I don’t do both sides).  Grill and serve on a nice toasted roll.

Tips:  Don’t overwork the meat.  I use one of those plastic tupperware presses to make sure that the patties are tight and won’t fall apart on the barbecue grill.  I take the advise from shows and indent a thumb in each burger since they tend to expand in the middle.  Don’t smash the burgers on the grill or all the yummy juice is just being wasted!  I used to cook my burgers well done, now I have them medium rare, that one choice doubled the flavor!

Modification 1 – Pizza Burgers:  To make Pizza burgers put shredded mozzarella on the buns and put them under a broiler for 2 minutes or put a thin slice of fresh mozzarella on the burgers for the last couple of minutes to melt.  Use my fast sauce on them and viola!  pizza burgers.

Modification 2 – Swiss Burgers:  Put gruyere or emmenthaler cheese on the burgers the last couple of minutes to allow it to melt.  Cover the burgers with sauteed mushrooms or caramelized onions (just cook some sliced onions over medium low heat in some canola oil slowly for 20 minutes with a dash of brown sugar in them, if you want to encourage the caramelization).  And if you happen to have some bacon around, always know that adding a bit of pork is never a bad idea and put a couple strips of crispy bacon on each to push it over the top.

Ingredients (Sausage)

Package of Sausage (German Bratwurst or Sweet Italian)

1 bottle of your favorite beer (I like Beglian Leffe or Dogfish ale)

Cup of water

So simple, so tasty!   put the sausage into a soup pot and cover with the beer, then add as much water as needed to cover all the sausage well.  Set the pot on high until it starts boiling, then put a timer on for 20 minutes and put the flame down to medium high.  Once the 20 minutes passes they can be put on the grill.  Brown them on all sides and serve!

Tips:  I learned from my neighbor Yvonne, that if you are having a party and have a lot of different things to cook you can do the sausage first and lay a clean, wet table cloth over them and they will stay warm for a long time as you make the other dishes.  It really works!

Secret:  I learned from a cooking show at one point that you don’t actually need to pierce holes in the sausage, now I don’t do that anymore and it seems to keep in the juices and a sausage hasn’t exploded yet!

Serve with campfire potatoes and some winter corn or beans