Grilled Burgers with Blue Cheese and Chive Topping
Simple and tasty grilled burgers with a savory topping full of blue cheese and chives. Perfect for pairing with a Belgian-style beer.
This week’s post is a little different – I’ve teamed up with our local brewery Goat Ridge Brewing Co. for a food and beer pairing. I’m all about locally produced goods and scratch making everything and these guys are just that. A few years ago, two guys with a shared vision and a serious love for beer got together and opened a brewery along with a taproom on a river in our little corner of rural Minnesota. ‘The taproom embodies the spirit of a small town watering hole where locals and visitors, bikers and bicyclists, old-timers and newcomers, aficionados and novices come to meet, swap stories and raise a pint.’ Every beer is handcrafted and brewed on site. The quality of the product is immense. You can taste the heart and soul of this stuff. One of my personal favorites in the Beelzebubba – a Belgian Golden Strong Ale brewed with local white clover honey. This thing packs a wallop of flavor and alcohol (it comes in at 8.5%). I thought the floral and earthy flavors in the beer would pair nicely with the pungent flavor of blue cheese. And beer just pairs well with burgers. So, here it is – Beelzebubba and Grilled Burgers with Blue Cheese and Chive Topping.
These burgers will work great on an outdoor grill or an indoor grill pan. I personally think fall is a great time to grill outside. The weather is nice and cool and most importantly – there are no mosquitoes. However, I just purchased an indoor grill pan and kind of wanted to test it out. The verdict? Burgers grilled indoors or out are equally delicious. I don’t eat burgers that often, so when I do, I make them count. I say make them half pound burgers. Take 2 lbs. of ground hamburger – I think a little bit of fat makes for a better burger. Super lean hamburger can tend to dry out, so I would recommend 85/15 or 80/20. You can go 70/30 if you want to get really serious about it. Split the ground hamburger into 4 portions and form them into patties. Make sure you don’t overwork the meat with your hands. This will make it tough. Quickly form the patties and be done with it. The next step is to sprinkle a generous portion of salt and pepper on both sides of the burger. This will form a nice crust on the outside and flavor the meat. I’m a spice-aholic, but when it comes to burgers, simpler is better. Salt and pepper and that’s it.
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