Fall Tailgate Burger

Last month, I joined the BlogPal program and was paired with Amanda from Michiana (Michigan/Indiana border). We have been learning about each other and reading the other’s blog to learn more about the person. Then this week we are writing on a common topic and share this with our followers.

We selected “Fall” as our topic and as a food lover myself, I have a few recipes to share with you and Amanda will be sharing some great Fall makeup tips that I will share with you when her post is live.

Being from Wisconsin and an avid Packers fan, I look for any chance to light the grill and cookout. Amanda grew up in Canada and she is a hockey fan. I bet she knows just as much on Hockey as I do on Football, so we will have to trade playbooks to help each other understand the games.

This Sunday, the weather was looking great and I invited my friends over for a football viewing party on the patio. I set up a tent to block the TV from the sun (that never showed) and a few sprinkles. 

My boyfriend made us burgers the weekend before that were so juicy and delicious, I asked for his recipe to make them for my tailgate.

I estimated 12 people coming and bought about 4 pounds of meat. I added all the ingredients of spices, onion, egg, etc. and got my hands dirty to hand mix it.

The main ingredients – but I added a few more to really make them my own

I pulled out my mom’s scale and measured approximately 4 oz of meat for each burger.

My grandma used to have this fancy polish burger press, but the hinge snapped last year and so I have used two medium plates and wax paper to press the perfect burger.

I then let the pressed burgers sit in the oven for a few hours to marinate a bit more and then they were ready for the grill.

With all the action going on with the game, I forgot to take a final photo. We are avid Packer fans – even the 4-legged ones and so keeping my eyes on the game while watching the burgers meant no time for a picture.

He was giving the innocent puppy look all day to my mom!

My friends all brought a dish or two to pass and we had quite the feast. This would be one of my more successful Packer parties and the addition of watching the game outside really added to the affect. Let’s hope for some more beautiful Sundays so this tradition can continue.

Tailgate Burgers
4# ground beef
1/2 purple onion, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. Worchestershire Sauce
1 Tbsp. A-1 Steak Sauce
1 Tbsp. McCormick Steak house onion burger blend
1/2 Tbsp. garlic powder
1/2 Tbsp. garlic salt
1/2 Tbsp. onion powder
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. Penzey’s Turkish blend
1/4 cup (or less) bread crumbs
2 eggs

Add all into a large bowl, and with clean hands, gently mix together until evenly blended. Do not over mix or mix too aggressively.

Divide into 4 oz. meatballs and then press between two plates to form burger patties.  Let rest for 1 – 2 hours in the fridge. Bring out 1/2 hour before grilling to bring up to room temperature.

Heat grill and place patties over the heat and grill for 5 minutes per side or until cooked to your level of done (I like medium well). Add cheese in the last minute for a great cheese burger.