Beer and Burgers - A Winter Evening Treat

Beer and burgers are the basic food at camp, back yard barbeques and fishing trips when you can't catch a fish. It is mid winter now with ice on the pond, the barbeque is put away, and no one in their right mind is camping....(which is not to say I wouldn't be if I could get someone to go with me). But right now I have a real yearning for a beer and a really good burger. That little yearning starts me looking for my big old cast iron frying pan which is the only way to cook a perfect burger in the kitchen in the middle of the winter. But I don't want to get ahead of myself here.....The important first ingredient is beer....Some for the recipe and some for me.

Beer comes in styles and flavors to fit any taste, enhance any occasion and match any culinary effort. For the ultimate beer and burger experience you may want to follow the advice of experts and find a good premium lager....or you may just want to follow your taste buds to your own personal favorite beer. If the gang is coming over to watch the game with you it might make sense to check on personal favorites before the game. I think Nancy likes Bud, Gene likes Miller, John likes Busch, and I like a locally brewed beer from Pendleton, Oregon called Dog Slobber....Hey, I can't be called dull, (yep, crazy maybe, but not dull). I like my burgers a bit rare, with lots of red onion, tomato, lettuce, pepper jack cheese and a mix of mayonnaise, ketchup and hot pepper sauce on a lightly toasted sesame bun. I like a real earthy, somewhat thick, dark beer with it...Dog Slobber does the trick.

Beers are properly served in perfectly clean glasses by placing the bottle against the glass and pouring quickly to produce a tight smooth head of foam. To many folks the niceties of perfectly poured beer are simply an affectation and they prefer you just get on with it. "It" of course means the party. You may offer glasses but you should also offer the choice of drinking from the bottle or can because some prefer their beer served that way.

Three pounds of freshly ground chuck will make eight burgers. I like to mix my burger mixture in a big stainless steel bowl but a glass bowl will work just as well. I skip the salt that many burger recipes have and use a generous amount of other seasonings. Here is one recipe that our group likes.

Pull the ground meat apart and toss gently with a table spoon of garlic and herb seasoning, a teaspoon of black pepper and a teaspoon of onion powder. Mix in one beaten egg and a quarter cup of beer. If the meat is very lean add a table spoon or two of olive oil and gently mix it in. I shape the patties in my hands but some people like to use a burger press. However you mix and shape the burgers just remember that too much handling makes the burgers a bit tough. Make your patties around a half inch thick.

Have a good pull on the beer you reserved for the cook and put the cast iron frying pan on the large burner and turn it on med high. Put a generous amount of olive oil in the pan and heat until a tiny drop of water hops and sizzles when you drip it in the pan. Carefully place your patties in the pan and cook for two and a half minutes on each side for rare burgers, three minutes for medium-rare, four minutes for medium, and five minutes for well done. Do not press on the burgers with the spatula because all the juice will come out and they will be dry and tough. Do not turn them back and forth from side to side for the same reason. If you press the burgers or flip them constantly back and forth just give them to the dog and start over.

When the time is up remove the burgers from the pan and place on a heated platter for about three minutes. This is a good time to open another beer.

Put all the ingredients for assembling the burgers on the coffee table and proudly bring in the burgers, the buns and some more beer for the gang. The jokes are good, the laughter is shared music, the burgers and beer are perfect.

The wind is howling, it is starting to rain again, the temperature is dropping and the roads are going to be icy out tonight. We all have a bit of a buzz on and are full of good burgers and beer. It is time to turn down the covers in the guest room and throw extra blankets and pillows on the couch. No one should drive home after drinking and certainly not on a nasty winter night.