Tags
bar-b-que, bar-b-que beans, bbq, grilling, hamburgers, hot dogs, sides, Weber
OK, no pics today, just a thought or 3.
Sweetie and I went over to a friend’s place on Saturday evening. He was having a little get-together and was going to do burgers and hot dogs. When it was time to get started, he brought out a frozen package of pre-prepared hamburger patties…..the name is kinda like what you’d call a “good ol’ boy” and can be found at Wallyworld…sprinkled them with some generic off-the-shelf grill seasoning (remember, they are still frozen!), fired up his gas grill (yep, gas NOT charcoal!), let it go for about 5 minutes, then put the burgers on, still frozen. He closed the top, gave it about 8 or 9 minutes, took a peek at them, waited until the juice started flowing out of the top, then turned them over. About this time, he put on some hot dogs fresh from the ice box on the cold side of the grill. After the burgers started oozing juice on the second side, he waited until the juice turned mostly clear, put on the buns to warm for a whopping 3 minutes, turned the hot dogs once, then took everything off, served burgers and buns, hot dogs and buns, some nice cheese, a slice or 3 of tomato, mayo and mustard, catsup, a little salt and pepper and some relish for the hot dogs. From start to finish, he was done cooking and preparing in about 20 minutes tops! Geez!! Tasty?? Yes indeedy!! Sides were potato chips and potato salad. Sheesh! It was freakin’ DELICIOUS!!!!
I’ve been grinding my own special blend of meats to make my hamburger, then seasoning it up and letting it sit for 24 hours, getting my fire juuuuuuuuuuuust right, doing a reverse sear, warming the buns so they are almost, but not quite, toasted, making some homemade sauce for the burgers, slicing tomatoes, lettuce, onions, using special jalapeno cheese, and serving up the burgers and hot dogs (hot dogs come from the package, let it warm to room temp, turn every 2 minutes for about 20 minutes total cooking time for the hot dogs) with all homemade ‘tater salad, deviled eggs, bbq baked beans, and maybe a nice dessert like my home made pecan pie or lemon meringue pie. It takes me a total of about 2 full days to do it “right”. And it took him 20 minutes. 20 MINUTES!!
I hate to say it, but his burgers and hot dogs were darn near as good as my 2 day prep burgers. 😦 Major wake-up call, though!
Is his way better? It for sure is quicker! Is it easier? Darn tootin’! Will I give it a try? With the exception of using my Weber Silver instead of a gas grill, you’re darn right I’m gonna give it a try! In fact, on the way home, Sweetie and I stopped off and got a couple of packages of the “good ol’ boy” (remember, this is a kind of nickname for the real name since I don’t have permission to use it on my blog) ready to cook burgers!
Yep, I’m thinking I may be overthinking this bbq thang.
Kajun
BBQHeresy 
Been there, done that! AND, them “good ol’ boy” burgers come in several flavors–Vidalia Onions are my favorite!
Oh man, those sound great! I’m definitely going to have to try some of the different flavors. Thanks!
It ain’t that you’re over thinking it or doin’ it wrong! It’s just your way. And as you sub-titles this here blog…it’s your way and it works for you! I do it both ways…the home made way and the fast way. Special BBQ’s call for the home made way and quickie get togethers on the patio with a cold beer and some friends usually just calls for the fast way. Though my fast way consists of stopping at our local butcher’s and getting some good ground chuck. I still hand form, press & season my patties even if I’m doin’ it the fast way. Have had the freezer to grill jobbies at friends’ houses and they are sure delicious, esp after a few of their cold beers, but I just can’t bring myself to cook ’em on my grill…
I really like your thoughts about doing things differently for different occasions! Quick and high for stuff like burgers and hot dogs with friends or our son’s guests and low and slow for the ribs, chicken and brisket. I hadn’t thought of doing things that way. Live and learn, eh? LOL
I went out and got some different kinds of frozen burgers at wallyworld last night. We’ll cook several of them up high and fast and I’ll post a report.
TXKajun
My first thought is it can really come down to the brand of burger. I have purchased some that were so bad tasting I could not bury the taste of them in my strongest chili. some had to hit the trash. my dog walked away from one of them. 😉 AzNuggetBob
Hey, Bob, nice to hear from you!
Yep, brand definitely matters! And sometimes choices within brands. I wasn’t going to mention brands, but I’m gonna have to since one of them was totally nasty. The best we’ve found so far is the Bubba’s Burger brand. I highly recommend these!
I was just told today that the Johnsonville Grillers are awesome.
We got some of the Sam’s Choice Black and Bleu that are ok and some of the Sam’s Choice Vidalia Onion that are ok.
But, and this is a capital BUT, we tried some of the Sam’s Gourmet Pubstyle Burgers. Those are downright NASTY! I choked one down and thought “It couldn’t possibly have been that bad. After all, it had the fewest packages left on the shelf.” So I tried another. I threw that one away and all of the uncooked Steakhouse burgers.
I am going to try the Johnsonville Grillers and report on those within the next couple of weeks. So far, my go-to-frozen-burger is Bubba’s and it’s far ahead of the competition.
Kajun