Ahhhh, summer. That beautiful time of year when you can cook outside at 9 pm over an open flame. I just popped my bbqing cherry tonight and it was FANtastic. Let me tell you about the experience.
My fridge is stocked with all kinds of bbqable goodies this weekend in anticipation of the ZERO people I will have over for 4th of July. Actually, I stocked it so that I could experiment with bbqing and then blog about it. Nerd.
I got some ground lamb (1 lb.), yellow onions (1/2 small), and blue cheese (about 2 tbsp) for the burgers. I chopped the onions real small, crumbled the blue cheese, and mashed everything together into some patties(four medium sized patties). I have a gas grill, so I cooked them over medium high heat for about 10 minutes and then put them on the second rack for about 5 more minutes. Remember to only flip once and never mash the burgers (that's how you lose that tasty juice). They turned out to be perfectly medium and tender, but not as flavorful as I expected. The onions weren't fully cooked and I don't like uncooked onions. Brendan thought it was great, though. If you don't like your onions mixed with meat, I would suggest something I learned from my hero, Alton Brown. Stick three skewers through an onion and then slice in between the skewers. This will give you nice onion slices that won't fall apart on the bbq. Check out foodnetwork.com for a video of Alton demonstrating this.
The next dish was my favorite and definitely the easiest: portabella mushrooms! Most people think that this is a vegetable, but it's actually a fungus...an organism that absorbs chemicals from decomposing matter. And it sure does make em tasty!! Liberally apply oil to the mushrooms, sprinkle a little Cajun seasoning, grill on high heat for 10-15 minutes and you have magic. They should be done when you see them get darker, wrinklier, and start to sweat. These mushrooms are big and meaty, so they are perfect for grilling. I have seen people marinate these babies in all kinds of things, so get crazy!
I want to talk a little bit about hamburgers. Most people immediately go for the beef burger, but there are millions of different variations on burgers: turkey, lamb, beef, salmon, soy, mushroom, pineapple, etc. Vegetarians actually have a lot of choices these days for pre-made soy and vegetable burgers that are quite tasty and healthy. Meat burgers can be pre-made, but homemade is always better. Turkey tends to be leaner than beef because fowl hold most of their fat in a layer above the muscle, while cows hold their fat in a layer above the muscle AND threaded through the muscle. Beef will always have more fat unless you buy the leaner versions which have had some of the fat removed. Also, animals that have been raised on their natural diet are always better. Making animals eat foreign food always does weird things to their bodies which can make it's way to the dinner table. For example, I just learned today that cows are not used to eating corn, so when they are on a corn diet, their stomachs become more acidic to handle the corn. After awhile their stomachs develop acid-resistant e. coli which could make you sick. ew. So get grass fed beef if you can. Anyway you want it, that's the way you need it. Just trying typing "burger" into a search engine and you will get millions of ideas to make that everyday patty transform into a little party for your tastebuds! I want to try the mozzarella stuffed turkey burgers next! mmmm...
Happy grilling!
Your Nerd, Cupcake
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